Introduction to Final Lessons: 361-365

What if the peace you’ve been chasing is already here, waiting behind a small shift in willingness? We close a year of practice by stepping past explanations and into a gentler kind of certainty, where words point beyond themselves and inner guidance does the real work. I share how forgiveness stops being a moral task and becomes recognition: the moment you see that the story you wrote about your brother was a fearful script, not the truth of who he is or who you are.

We explore the claim that salvation is sanity restored rather than punishment removed, and why the “wrath of God” dissolves under honest inquiry. Instead of doubling down on self-judgment, we notice upset as a clear signal—I did not understand—and let correction arrive without pain. That shift from fear to love isn’t dramatic; it’s practical. It shows up as a calmer nervous system, softer relationships, and a steady confidence that you’re guided even in the messiness of daily life. Your brother becomes the way, the living curriculum through which the memory of love returns whole and complete.

You’ll hear a simple rhythm for practice: dedicate your thoughts to serve forgiveness, pause when any brother comes to mind and remember he is how you remember God, and in the evening rest in the recognition that all is forgiven now. We trace the arc from words to guidance to recognition to peace, not as a loop you’re stuck in but as a spiral that rises into effortlessness. No striving, no spiritual grade card—just following what is sure and resting in what has always been true. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs some relief today, and leave a review to help others find their way to this practice.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And Purpose Of Final Lessons
• 0:19 Beyond Words: Turn To Inner Guidance
• 2:14 The Shared Goal Of Forgiveness
• 4:33 Salvation As Sanity Not Punishment
• 6:23 Your Brother As The Way
• 8:24 Forgiveness Reinterpreted: It Didn’t Happen
• 10:54 From Fear To Love Through Willingness
• 13:16 Practicing: Let Thoughts Serve Forgiveness
• 15:02 Evening Rest: All Is Forgiven Now
• 16:18 From Words To Guidance To Recognition
• 18:06 Acceptance, Trust, And Gentle Continuance

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Aloha! This is the introduction to the final lessons of a course in miracles. Lessons 361 through 365 with Hope Johnson. Introduction. Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them. Let us turn to him who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To him we leave these lessons, as to him we give our lives henceforth. For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain. His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is his way that everyone must travel in the end. Because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time, it seems to be far off, and yet, in truth, it is already here, already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way but find it not. And to this purpose, let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is his ending to the dream we seek and not our own. For all that we forgive, we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus his memory is given back completely and complete. It is our function to remember him on earth as it is given us to be his own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God and points the way to him and to the heaven of his peace. And shall we not forgive our brother? Who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him, our brother, resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him, our brother, once again. We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to his holy son. We are forgiven now and we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane. Attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth? We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand and ask him to help us to learn his lessons through the voice of his own teacher, the Holy Spirit. Would he hurt his son? Or would he rush to answer him and say, This is my son, and all I have is his? Be certain he will answer thus, for these are his own words to you, and more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity. That concludes the text. Ooh. Yeah. Words fall away, and guidance remains. These final five lessons are intentionally loosening the hold of language on your mind. Words have served their purpose. Now they're pointing beyond themselves. Practice now is less about understanding and more about following, trusting the voice for God, the one who leads without any ambiguity and total certainty. There's one way to peace. It's not a way that you've invented, it's not something you get by debating. It's discovered over time, the way to peace. That's what time is for. Discovering the way to peace and following the way. It's here now. It's guiding your willing mind. What seems distant in time to you, you know, because you're looking at the world and it seems like it's a mess. You seem like you're a mess. Maybe your relationships are hard. It's actually immediate. This is immediate in truth. Guidance is always functioning in you. Your willingness lets you hear it and lets you follow it. Forgiveness is the single shared purpose we have. Our guidance directs all of our thoughts toward our function, which is forgiveness. See what the guidance is? It's just guiding us toward what we really want. We gain through forgiveness. We reveal through forgiveness. It's not a moral thing, it's recognition. What's forgiven is recognized as part of God. So it comes back to us. It's like something we fragmented out and it's coming back to us. So God's memory, the memory of who we are, returns to our mind whole and complete through forgiveness. Our brothers are not obstacles to our peace. They are the way itself. They are the way. Your brother is the living curriculum. The way, the truth, and the life as you learn to see him rightly. See that? Forgiveness of your brother is what restores your mind, your memory of God. And it's not like this. It's not like I forgive you for this. It's not like that. Forgiveness reveals it didn't happen. What you thought happened didn't happen. It was an imagination. You projected it, you scripted it, you made him play it out. You're not seeing him as he is. Forgiveness restores your memory of him and your memory of yourself. Salvation is basically sanity restored to you. Not punishment removed from you. There was never any punishment. The wrath of God here is being revealed as a misunderstanding. A dream that you dreamed, a dream of guilt. What ends through forgiveness in your sanity is not God's anger, it's your belief in it. Your belief in God's anger toward you is what's having you manifest brothers who don't appear totally loving to you. Healing is the realization that you were mistaken. Healing is where your mind shifts from fear to love. That's induced by your willingness to see your brother as perfectly sinless. Correction comes without punishment because you allow it. God would never punish you. But what happens is you punish yourself thinking that could substitute for God's punishment, which you're making up in the first place. You don't need to punish yourself anymore. God loves you. That has never changed. You don't need to suffer any loss. You don't need to suffer any shame first. You just allow your mind to be corrected. Once again, forgiveness. Not I forgive you for doing something, recognizing that what you thought happened didn't happen. Allowing your mind to be guided toward seeing that your brother has only been helpful to you. That induces the miracle. Forgiveness induces a miracle. Okay, that establishes in your mind that you're dreaming a dream and none of it is true, which leads to healing. Shifting your mind from a fearful perspective to a loving perspective. That's all you want. That's all time is for. God's answer to all of your problems has never changed. When you notice any kind of upset feeling, you did not understand. God answers you completely when you're willing to hear from him any problem you seem to have. His answer is, This is my son, and all I have is his. These words, they're meant to be seen beyond that you have everything: identity, inheritance, safety, love, eternity. So if you're practicing for today with this introduction, you did not understand. I did not understand. Now I'm willing to be taught. Anytime there's an upset feeling. And you might start your practice for today with let my thoughts serve forgiveness. That's where your happiness is. Letting your thoughts serve forgiveness. Be guided into forgiveness. Then rest. Don't try. Just allow. Sit with that for as long as it feels like it's fruitful. One minute, ten minutes, one hour. It's not the time that you spend practicing this. It's how impactful it is for you. Whatever you feel that you need to let it be really impactful. So you go about your day letting your thoughts serve forgiveness. And whenever any brother comes to mind, present, absent, passed away, whatever, he is the way by which I remember God. That's enough. Just that insight. He is the way by which I remember God. What a joy. And in the evening, at the close of the day. Just rest in this recognition. All is forgiven now. I am saved from what never was. All is forgiven now. I am saved from what never was. Yay. So we have a progression here. Words. The words we're using through Course in Miracles, this is just the beginning, the words. The guidance. That's beyond the words. The guidance is toward forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to recognition. You remember yourself and you have peace. This isn't a cycle that you repeat endlessly. It's a spiral. It resolves into perfect wholeness, oneness, one with God. Heaven, you could say. From this point forward, there needs be no effort. Not even practice, not even striving. Just following, remembering, resting in the truth. The year of practice doesn't end in an accomplishment. You don't get a diploma for this. You don't get a certificate. It ends in your acceptance of what's true. It concludes with trust. The voice answers, the voice will answer as it always has and always will. This is my son. And all I have is his. So hooray. Twice a day and every hour. Rest in the awareness that you are so so loved and wholly loving and wholly lovable. Have a beautiful remembrance. I love you.