1. Decisions are continuous. 2You do not always know when you are making them. 3But with a little practice with the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. 4It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. 5The proper set, adopted consciously each time you wake, will put you well ahead. 6And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. 7Do not fight yourself. 8But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there is a way in which this very day can happen just like that. 9Then try again to have the day you want.
2. (1) The outlook starts with this:
2Today I will make no decisions by myself.
3This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do. 4But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. 5For if you judge them, you have set the rules for how you should react to them. 6And then another answer cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear.
3. This is your major problem now. 2You still make up your mind, and then decide to ask what you should do. 3And what you hear may not resolve the problem as you saw it first. 4This leads to fear, because it contradicts what you perceive and so you feel attacked. 5And therefore angry. 6There are rules by which this will not happen. 7But it does occur at first, while you are learning how to hear.
4. (2) Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to you, and the things you would experience, and say:
2If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.
3These two procedures, practiced well, will serve to let you be directed without fear, for opposition will not first arise and then become a problem in itself.
5. But there will still be times when you have judged already. 2Now the answer will provoke attack, unless you quickly straighten out your mind to want an answer that will work. 3Be certain this has happened if you feel yourself unwilling to sit by and ask to have the answer given you. 4This means you have decided by yourself, and can not see the question. 5Now you need a quick restorative before you ask again.
6. (3) Remember once again the day you want, and recognize that something has occurred that is not part of it. 2Then realize that you have asked a question by yourself, and must have set an answer in your terms. 3Then say:
4I have no question. 5I forgot what to decide.
6This cancels out the terms that you have set, and lets the answer show you what the question must have really been.
7. Try to observe this rule without delay, despite your opposition. 2For you have already gotten angry. 3And your fear of being answered in a different way from what your version of the question asks will gain momentum, until you believe the day you want is one in which you get your answer to your question. 4And you will not get it, for it would destroy the day by robbing you of what you really want. 5This can be very hard to realize, when once you have decided by yourself the rules that promise you a happy day. 6Yet this decision still can be undone, by simple methods that you can accept.
8. (4) If you are so unwilling to receive you cannot even let your question go, you can begin to change your mind with this:
2At least I can decide I do not like what I feel now.
3This much is obvious, and paves the way for the next easy step.
9. (5) Having decided that you do not like the way you feel, what could be easier than to continue with:
2And so I hope I have been wrong.
3This works against the sense of opposition, and reminds you that help is not being thrust upon you but is something that you want and that you need, because you do not like the way you feel. 4This tiny opening will be enough to let you go ahead with just a few more steps you need to let yourself be helped.
10. Now you have reached the turning point, because it has occurred to you that you will gain if what you have decided is not so. 2Until this point is reached, you will believe your happiness depends on being right. 3But this much reason have you now attained; you would be better off if you were wrong.
11. (6) This tiny grain of wisdom will suffice to take you further. 2You are not coerced, but merely hope to get a thing you want. 3And you can say in perfect honesty:
4I want another way to look at this.
5Now you have changed your mind about the day, and have remembered what you really want. 6Its purpose has no longer been obscured by the insane belief you want it for the goal of being right when you are wrong. 7Thus is the readiness for asking brought to your awareness, for you cannot be in conflict when you ask for what you want, and see that it is this for which you ask.
12. (7) This final step is but acknowledgment of lack of opposition to be helped. 2It is a statement of an open mind, not certain yet, but willing to be shown:
3Perhaps there is another way to look at this.
4What can I lose by asking?
5Thus you now can ask a question that makes sense, and so the answer will make sense as well. 6Nor will you fight against it, for you see that it is you who will be helped by it.
13. It must be clear that it is easier to have a happy day if you prevent unhappiness from entering at all. 2But this takes practice in the rules that will protect you from the ravages of fear. 3When this has been achieved, the sorry dream of judgment has forever been undone. 4But meanwhile, you have need for practicing the rules for its undoing. 5Let us, then, consider once again the very first of the decisions which are offered here.
14. We said you can begin a happy day with the determination not to make decisions by yourself. 2This seems to be a real decision in itself. 3And yet, you cannot make decisions by yourself. 4The only question really is with what you choose to make them. 5That is really all. 6The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a simple fact. 7You will not make decisions by yourself whatever you decide. 8For they are made with idols or with God. 9And you ask help of anti-Christ or Christ, and which you choose will join with you and tell you what to do.
15. Your day is not at random. 2It is set by what you choose to live it with, and how the friend whose counsel you have sought perceives your happiness. 3You always ask advice before you can decide on anything. 4Let this be understood, and you can see there cannot be coercion here, nor grounds for opposition that you may be free. 5There is no freedom from what must occur. 6And if you think there is, you must be wrong.
16. The second rule as well is but a fact. 2For you and your adviser must agree on what you want before it can occur. 3It is but this agreement that permits all things to happen. 4Nothing can be caused without some form of union, be it with a dream of judgment or the Voice for God. 5Decisions cause results because they are not made in isolation. 6They are made by you and your adviser, for yourself and for the world as well. 7The day you want you offer to the world, for it will be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule of your adviser in the world. 8Whose kingdom is the world for you today? 9What kind of day will you decide to have?
17. It needs but two who would have happiness this day to promise it to all the world. 2It needs but two to understand that they cannot decide alone, to guarantee the joy they asked for will be wholly shared. 3For they have understood the basic law that makes decision powerful, and gives it all effects that it will ever have. 4It needs but two. 5These two are joined before there can be a decision. 6Let this be the one reminder that you keep in mind, and you will have the day you want, and give it to the world by having it yourself. 7Your judgment has been lifted from the world by your decision for a happy day. 8And as you have received, so must you give.