LESSON 135, If I defend myself I am attacked.
From A Course in Miracles Experience by Rev. Devan Jesse Byrne
May 27, 2026 · 10 min · Season 1 · Episode 135
About this episode
This episode discusses the concept that defending oneself is rooted in the belief of being attacked, which creates illusions and increases fear.
LESSON 135 If I defend myself I am attacked. Who would defend himself unless he thought he were attacked, that the attack were real, and that his own defense could save himself? And herein lies the folly of defense; it gives illusions full reality, and then attempts to handle them as real. It adds illusions to illusions, thus making correction doubly difficult. And it is this you do when you attempt to plan the future, activate the past, or organize the present as you wish. You operate from the belief you must protect yourself from what is happening because it must contain what threatens you. A sense of threat is an acknowledgment of an inherent weakness; a belief that there is danger which has power to call on you to make appropriate defense. The world is based on this insane belief. And all its structures, all its thoughts and doubts, its penalties and heavy armaments, its legal definitions and its codes, its ethics and its leaders and its gods, all serve but to preserve its sense of threat. For no one walks the world in armature but must have terror striking at his heart. Defense is frightening. It stems from fear, increasing fear as each defense is made. You think it…
People in this episode
Host: Rev. Devan Jesse Byrne
Topics covered
- self-defense
- illusion
- fear
- spirituality
- self-improvement
Keywords
- defense
- attack
- illusion
- fear
- self-protection
- spirituality
- A Course in Miracles
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