ATONEMENT
KEYS – T28f/33=TEXT pages 28&29 in 1st edition – page 33 in 2nd edition. W=Workbook. M=Teachers Manual. SOP=A Song of Prayer. PPP=Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice.
Miracles are part of an interlocking
chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement. Atonement works
all the time and in all the dimensions of time. Miracles represent freedom from
fear. "Atoning" means "undoing." The undoing of fear is an essential part of the
Atonement value of miracles. T2f/4f
I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. When
you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to yourself
and me. The reason you come before me is that I do not need miracles for my own
Atonement, but I stand at the end in case you fail temporarily. My part in the
Atonement is the cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise
correct. When you have been restored to the recognition of your original state,
you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. As you share my
unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great
crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to
correct it. The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the
opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing. Doing them will
bring conviction in the ability, because conviction comes through
accomplishment. The ability is the potential, the achievement is its expression,
and the Atonement, which is the natural profession of the children of God, is
the purpose.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away" means that they will not continue to exist
as separate states. My word, which is the resurrection and the life, shall not
pass away because life is eternal. You are the work of God, and His work is
wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his
heart, because this is what he is. The forgiven are the means of the Atonement.
Being filled with spirit, they forgive in return. Those who are released must
join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement.
Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the Holy Spirit unite with me for
the salvation or release of all of God's creations.
I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, because I am the
Atonement. You have a role in the Atonement which I will dictate to you. Ask me
which miracles you should perform. This spares you needless effort, because you
will be acting under direct communication. T6f/8f
Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed towards those
who can use them for themselves. Since this makes it inevitable that they will
extend them to others, a strong chain of Atonement is welded. T8/10f
Reality belongs only to spirit, and the miracle acknowledges only truth. It
thus dispels illusions about yourself, and puts you in communion with yourself
and God. The miracle joins in the Atonement by placing the mind in the service
of the Holy Spirit. This establishes the proper function of the mind and
corrects its errors, which are merely lacks of love. Your mind can be possessed
by illusions, but spirit is eternally free. If a mind perceives without love, it
perceives an empty shell and is unaware of the spirit within. But the Atonement
restores spirit to its proper place. The mind that serves spirit is
invulnerable. T9/11
The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to you; or rather, to
restore it to your awareness. You were given everything when you were created,
just as everyone was. T9/11
When the Atonement has been completed, all talents will be shared by all the
Sons of God. T10/12
All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that you have the
ability to usurp the power of God. Of course, you neither can nor have been able
to do this. Here is the real basis for your escape from fear. The escape is
brought about by your acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to realize
that your errors never really occurred. T15/18
The Atonement is the only gift that is worthy of being offered at the altar
of God, because of the value of the altar itself. T19/22
The Atonement is the only defense that cannot be used destructively because
it is not a device you made. The Atonement principle was in effect
long before the Atonement began. The principle was love and the Atonement was an
act of love. Acts were not necessary before the separation,
because belief in space and time did not exist. It was only after the separation
that the Atonement and the conditions necessary for its fulfillment were
planned. Then a defense so splendid was needed that it could not be misused,
although it could be refused. Refusal could not, however, turn it into a weapon
of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of other defenses. The Atonement
thus becomes the only defense that is not a two‑edged sword. It can only heal.
The Atonement was built into the space‑time belief to set a limit on the need
for the belief itself, and ultimately to make learning complete. The Atonement
is the final lesson. T16f/19f
Evolution is a process in which you seem to proceed from one degree to the
next. You correct your previous missteps by stepping forward. This process is
actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because you return as you go
forward. The Atonement is the device by which you can free yourself from the
past as you go ahead. It undoes your past errors, thus making it unnecessary for
you to keep retracing your steps without advancing to your return. In this sense
the Atonement saves time, but like the miracle it serves, does not abolish it.
As long as there is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the
Atonement as a completed plan has a unique relationship to time. Until the
Atonement is complete, its various phases will proceed in time, but the whole
Atonement stands at time's end. At that point the bridge of return has been
built.
The Atonement is a total commitment. You may still think this is associated
with loss, a mistake all the separated Sons of God make in one way or another.
It is hard to believe a defense that cannot attack is the best defense. This is
what is meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth." They will literally take it
over because of their strength. A two‑way defense is inherently weak precisely
because it has two edges, and can be turned against you very unexpectedly. This
possibility cannot be controlled except by miracles. The miracle turns the
defense of Atonement to your real protection, and as you become more and more
secure you assume your natural talent of protecting others, knowing yourself as
both a brother and a Son. T17/20f
The Atonement can only be accepted within you by releasing the inner light.
Since the separation, defenses have been used almost entirely to defend
against the Atonement, and thus maintain the separation. This is
generally seen as a need to protect the body. The many body fantasies in which
minds engage arise from the distorted belief that the body can be used as a
means for attaining "atonement." Perceiving the body as a temple is only the
first step in correcting this distortion, because it alters only part of it. It
does recognize that Atonement in physical terms is impossible. The
next step, however, is to realize that a temple is not a structure at all. Its
true holiness lies at the inner altar around which the structure is built. The
emphasis on beautiful structures is a sign of the fear of Atonement, and an
unwillingness to reach the altar itself. The real beauty of the temple cannot be
seen with the physical eye. Spiritual sight, on the other hand, cannot see the
structure at all because it is perfect vision. It can, however, see the altar
with perfect clarity.
For perfect effectiveness the Atonement belongs at the center of the
inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the wholeness of the
mind. Before the separation the mind was invulnerable to fear, because fear did
not exist. Both the separation and the fear are miscreations that must be undone
for the restoration of the temple, and for the opening of the altar to receive
the Atonement. This heals the separation by placing within you the one effective
defense against all separation thoughts and making you perfectly invulnerable.
The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter of time. T17f/21
God is lonely without His Sons, and they are lonely without Him. They must
learn to look upon the world as a means of healing the separation. The Atonement
is the guarantee that they will ultimately succeed. T19/22
Our emphasis is now on healing. The miracle is the means, the Atonement is
the principle, and healing is the result. To speak of "a miracle of healing" is
to combine two orders of reality inappropriately. Healing is not a miracle. The
Atonement, or the final miracle, is a remedy and any type of healing is a
result. The kind of error to which Atonement is applied is irrelevant. All
healing is essentially the release from fear. To undertake this you cannot be
fearful yourself. You do not understand healing because of your own fear. A major step in the Atonement plan is to undo error at all levels.
Sickness or "not‑ right‑mindedness" is the result of level confusion, because it
always entails the belief that what is amiss on one level can adversely affect
another. T19/23
The value of the Atonement does not lie in the manner in which it is
expressed. In fact, if it is used truly, it will inevitably be expressed in
whatever way is most helpful to the receiver. This means that a miracle, to
attain its full efficacy, must be expressed in a language that the recipient can
understand without fear. T20/24
The healer who relies on his own readiness is endangering his understanding.
You are perfectly safe as long as you are completely unconcerned about your
readiness, but maintain a consistent trust in mine. If your miracle working
inclinations are not functioning properly, it is always because fear has
intruded on your right‑mindedness and has turned it upside down. All forms of
not‑right‑mindedness are the result of refusal to accept the Atonement for
yourself. If you do accept it, you are in a position to recognize that those who
need healing are simply those who have not realized that right‑mindedness
is healing.
The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement
for himself.
This means you recognize that mind is the only creative level, and that its
errors are healed by the Atonement. Once you accept this, your mind can only
heal. T22/25f
Only your mind can produce fear. It does so whenever it is conflicted in what
it wants, producing inevitable strain because wanting and doing are discordant.
This can be corrected only by accepting a unified goal.
The first corrective step in
undoing the error is to know first that the conflict is an expression of fear.
Say to yourself that you must somehow have chosen not to love, or the fear could
not have arisen. Then the whole process of correction becomes nothing more than
a series of pragmatic steps in the larger process of accepting the Atonement as
the remedy. These steps may be summarized in this way: Know first that this is
fear. Fear arises from lack of love. The only remedy for lack of love is perfect
love. Perfect love is the Atonement.
I have emphasized that the miracle, or the expression of Atonement, is always
a sign of respect from the worthy to the worthy. The
recognition of this worth is re‑established by the Atonement. It is obvious,
then, that when you are afraid, you have placed yourself in a position where you
need Atonement. You have done something loveless, having chosen without love.
This is precisely the situation for which the Atonement was offered. The need
for the remedy inspired its establishment. As long as you recognize only the
need for the remedy, you will remain fearful. However, as soon as you accept the
remedy, you have abolished the fear. This is how true healing occurs. T26f/30f
Any part of the Sonship can believe in error or incompleteness if he so
chooses. However, if he does so, he is believing in the existence of
nothingness. The correction of this error is the Atonement. T29/33
A further point must be perfectly clear before any residual fear still
associated with miracles can disappear. The crucifixion did not establish the
Atonement; the resurrection did. Many sincere Christians have misunderstood
this. T32/36
I was not "punished" because you were bad. The wholly benign
lesson the Atonement teaches is lost if it is tainted with this kind of
distortion in any form. T32/36
Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything, because the innocent mind has
everything and strives only to protect its wholeness. It cannot project. It can
only honor other minds, because honor is the natural greeting of the truly loved
to others who are like them. The lamb "taketh away the sins of the world" in the
sense that the state of innocence, or grace, is one in which the meaning of the
Atonement is perfectly apparent. The Atonement is entirely unambiguous. It is
perfectly clear because it exists in light. Only the attempts to shroud it in
darkness have made it inaccessible to those who do not choose to see.
The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore epitomizes
harmlessness and sheds only blessing. It could not do this if it arose from
anything but perfect innocence. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of
evil, and evil does not exist. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything
that is true. The resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. Good
can withstand any form of evil, as light abolishes forms of darkness. The
Atonement is therefore the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that
all the other lessons I taught are true. If you can accept this one
generalization now, there will be no need to learn from many smaller lessons.
You are released from all errors if you believe this.
The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state
your mind knows God, for God is not symbolic; He is Fact. Knowing His Son as he
is, you realize that the Atonement, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift
for God's altar, where nothing except perfection belongs. The understanding of
the innocent is truth. That is why their altars are truly radiant. T33f/38f
The Son of God is part of the Holy Trinity, but the Trinity Itself is one.
There is no confusion within Its Levels, because They are of one Mind and one
Will. This single purpose creates perfect integration and establishes the peace
of God. Yet this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. Because
their hearts are pure, the innocent defend true perception instead of defending
themselves against it. Understanding the lesson of the Atonement they are
without the wish to attack, and therefore they see truly. This is what the Bible
means when it says, "When He shall appear (or be perceived) we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." T35/39
It is hard to understand what "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" really
means. This is because it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it
as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word
"within" is unnecessary. The
Kingdom
of Heaven is you. What else but you did the Creator
create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? This is the whole
message of the Atonement; a message which in its totality transcends the sum of
its parts. You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased
to create because of the ego's illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless
than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never be co‑creators, but your
spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your creations are as
safe as you are. The Kingdom is perfectly united and
perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen. T54/60
When you feel guilty, remember that the ego has indeed violated the laws of
God, but you have not. Leave the "sins" of the ego to me. That is
what Atonement is for. But until you change your mind about those whom your ego
has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you. While you feel guilty your ego is in
command, because only the ego can experience guilt. This need not be.
T57/63
I have said before that I am in charge of the Atonement. This is only because
I completed my part in it as a man, and can now complete it through others. My
chosen channels cannot fail, because I will lend them my strength as long as
theirs is wanting. T62/68
What fear has hidden still is part of you. Joining the Atonement is the way
out of fear. The Holy Spirit will help you reinterpret everything that you
perceive as fearful, and teach you that only what is loving is true. T74/81
The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind which is aware of the knowledge that lies
beyond perception. He came into being with the separation as a protection,
inspiring the Atonement principle at the same time. Before that there was no
need for healing, for no one was comfortless. The Voice of the Holy Spirit is
the Call to Atonement, or the restoration of the integrity of the mind. When the
Atonement is complete and the whole Sonship is healed there will be no call to
return. But what God creates is eternal. The Holy Spirit will remain with the
Sons of God, to bless their creations and keep them in the light of joy.
God honored even the miscreations of His children because they had made
them. But He also blessed His children with a way of thinking that could raise
their perceptions so high they could reach almost back to Him. The Holy Spirit
is the Mind of the Atonement. He represents a state of mind close enough to
One‑mindedness that transfer to it is at last possible. T68/74
The Holy Spirit is God's Answer to the separation; the means by which the
Atonement heals until the whole mind returns to creating. T69/75
The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When
the ego was made, God placed in the mind the call to joy. T69/75
The Atonement is the guarantee of the safety of the Kingdom, and the union of
the Sonship is its protection. T74/81
I have come to give you the foundation, so your own thoughts can make you
really free. You have carried the burden of unshared ideas that are too weak to
increase, but having made them you did not realize how to undo them. You cannot
cancel out your past errors alone. They will not disappear from your mind
without the Atonement, a remedy not of your making. The Atonement must be
understood as a pure act of sharing. That is what I meant when I said it is
possible even in this world to listen to one Voice. If you are part of God and
the Sonship is one, you cannot be limited to the self the ego sees. T75/81
The Holy Spirit atones in all of us by undoing, and thus lifts the burden you
have placed in your mind. By following Him you are led back to God where you
belong, and how can you find the way except by taking your brother with you? My
part in the Atonement is not complete until you join it and give it away. As you
teach so shall you learn. I will never leave you or forsake you, because to
forsake you would be to forsake myself and God Who created me. You forsake
yourself and God if you forsake any of your brothers. You must learn to see them
as they are, and understand they belong to God as you do. How could you treat
your brother better than by rendering unto God the things that are God's?
The Atonement gives you the power of a healed mind, but the power to
create is of God. Therefore, those who have been forgiven must devote themselves
first to healing because, having received the idea of healing, they must give it
to hold it. T76/82
In Heaven there is no guilt, because the Kingdom is attained through the
Atonement, which releases you to create. T77/83
If the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement
for himself, and I assure you that it is, then the responsibility for what
is atoned for cannot be yours. The dilemma cannot be resolved except by
accepting the solution of undoing. You would be responsible for
the effects of all your wrong thinking if it could not be undone. The purpose of
the Atonement is to save the past in purified form only. If you accept the
remedy for disordered thought, a remedy whose efficacy is beyond doubt, how can
its symptoms remain? T79/85f
Your mind does make your future, and it will turn it back to
full creation at any minute if it accepts the Atonement first. It will also
return to full creation the instant it has done so. T79/86
The wicked shall perish" becomes a statement of Atonement, if the word
"perish" is understood as "be undone." Every loveless thought must be undone, a
word the ego cannot even understand. To the ego, to be undone means to be
destroyed. T80/87
Excluding yourself from the Atonement is the ego's last‑ditch defense of its
own existence. It reflects both the ego's need to separate, and your willingness
to side with its separateness. This willingness means that you do not want to be
healed. T82/89
The Holy Spirit begins by perceiving you as perfect. Knowing this
perfection is shared He recognizes it in others, thus strengthening it in both.
Instead of anger this arouses love for both, because it establishes inclusion.
Perceiving equality, the Holy Spirit perceives equal needs. This invites
Atonement automatically, because Atonement is the one need in this world that is
universal. T89/97
The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the recognition that the
separation never occurred. The ego cannot prevail against this because
it is an explicit statement that the ego never occurred. T90/98
By accepting the Atonement for yourself, you are deciding against the belief
that you can be alone, thus dispelling the idea of separation and affirming your
true identification with the whole Kingdom as literally part of you. T122/131
The Kingdom cannot be found alone, and you who are the Kingdom cannot find
yourself alone. To achieve the goal of the curriculum, then, you cannot listen
to the ego, whose purpose is to defeat its own goal. The ego does not know this,
because it does not know anything. But you can know it, and you will know it if
you are willing to look at what the ego would make of you. This is your
responsibility, because once you have really looked at it you will
accept the Atonement for yourself. What other choice could you make? Having made
this choice you will understand why you once believed that, when you met someone
else, you thought he was someone else. And every holy encounter in
which you enter fully will teach you this is not so. T132f/143
Atonement is for all, because it is the way to undo the belief that anything
is for you alone. To forgive is to overlook. Look, then, beyond error and do not
let your perception rest upon it, for you will believe what your perception
holds. Accept as true only what your brother is, if you would know yourself.
Perceive what he is not and you cannot know what you are, because you see him
falsely. Remember always that your Identity is shared, and that Its sharing is
Its reality.
You have a part to play in the Atonement, but the plan of the Atonement
is beyond you. You do not understand how to overlook errors, or you would not
make them. It would merely be further error to believe either that you do not
make them, or that you can correct them without a Guide to correction. And if
you do not follow this Guide, your errors will not be corrected. The plan is not
yours because of your limited ideas about what you are. This sense of limitation
is where all errors arise. The way to undo them, therefore, is not of
you but for you.
The Atonement is a lesson in sharing, which is given you because you
have forgotten how to do it. The Holy Spirit merely reminds you of the
natural use of your abilities. By reinterpreting the ability to attack into the
ability to share, He translates what you have made into what God created. If you
would accomplish this through Him you cannot look on your abilities through the
eyes of the ego, or you will judge them as it does. All their
harmfulness lies in the ego's judgment. All their helpfulness lies in the
judgment of the Holy Spirit. T156f/168f
When you have accepted the Atonement for yourself, you will realize there is
no guilt in God's Son. And only as you look upon him as guiltless can you
understand his oneness. For the idea of guilt brings a belief in condemnation of
one by another, projecting separation in place of unity. T222/238
God wills you perfect happiness now. Is it possible that this is not also
your will? And is it possible that this is not also the will of your brothers? Consider, then, that in this joint will you are all united, and in this
only. There may be disagreement on anything else, but not on this. This, then,
is where peace abides. And you abide in peace when you so decide. Yet you cannot
abide in peace unless you accept the Atonement, because the Atonement is
the way to peace. T163/175
There is no situation to which miracles do not apply, and by applying them to
all situations you will gain the real world. For in this holy perception you
will be made whole, and the Atonement will radiate from your acceptance of it
for yourself to everyone the Holy Spirit sends you for your blessing. In every
child of God His blessing lies, and in your blessing of the children of God is
His blessing to you. T214/229f
The Atonement is the final lesson he need learn, for it teaches him that,
never having sinned, he has no need of salvation. T221/237
Accepting the Atonement teaches you what immortality is, for by accepting
your guiltlessness you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is
needless and will not be. T222/239
The Atonement has always been interpreted as the release from guilt, and this
is correct if it is understood. Yet even when I interpret it for you, you may
reject it and do not accept it for yourself. T224f/241
You may wonder why it is so crucial that you look upon your hatred and
realize its full extent. You may also think that it would be easy enough for the
Holy Spirit to show it to you, and to dispel it without the need for you to
raise it to awareness yourself. Yet there is one more obstacle you have
interposed between yourself and the Atonement. We have said that no one will
countenance fear if he recognizes it. Yet in your disordered state of mind you
are not afraid of fear. You do not like it, but it is not your desire to attack
that really frightens you. You are not seriously disturbed by your hostility.
You keep it hidden because you are more afraid of what it covers. You could look
even upon the ego's darkest cornerstone without fear if you did not believe
that, without the ego, you would find within yourself something you fear even
more. You are not really afraid of crucifixion. Your real terror is of
redemption. T225/242
Atonement brings a re‑evaluation of everything you cherish, for it is the
means by which the Holy Spirit can separate the false and the true, which you
have accepted into your mind without distinction. Therefore you cannot value one
without the other, and guilt has become as true for you as innocence. You do not
believe the Son of God is guiltless because you see the past, and see him not.
When you condemn a brother you are saying, "I who was guilty choose to remain
so." You have denied his freedom, and by so doing you have denied the witness
unto yours. You could as easily have freed him from the past, and lifted from
his mind the cloud of guilt that binds him to it. And in his freedom would have
been your own. T243/261
See no one, then, as guilty, and you will affirm the truth of guiltlessness
unto yourself. In every condemnation that you offer the Son of God lies the
conviction of your own guilt. If you would have the Holy Spirit make you free of
it, accept His offer of Atonement for all your brothers. For so you learn that
it is true for you. Remember always that it is impossible to condemn the Son of
God in part. Those whom you see as guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you,
and you will see it there, for it is there until it is undone.
Guilt is always in your mind, which has condemned itself. Project it not, for
while you do, it cannot be undone. With everyone whom you release from guilt
great is the joy in Heaven, where the witnesses to your fatherhood rejoice.
T244/261f
The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God's Son was the beginning of the
separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end. T220/236
As long as you believe that guilt is justified in any way, in anyone,
whatever he may do, you will not look within, where you would always find
Atonement. The end of guilt will never come as long as you believe there is a
reason for it. For you must learn that guilt is always totally insane, and has
no reason. The Holy Spirit seeks not to dispel reality. If guilt were real,
Atonement would not be. The purpose of Atonement is to dispel illusions, not to
establish them as real and then forgive them. T246/264
The moment that you realize guilt is insane, wholly unjustified and wholly
without reason, you will not fear to look upon the Atonement and accept it
wholly. T246/264
There is no compromise that you can make with guilt, and escape the pain that
only guiltlessness allays. Learning is living here, as creating is being in
Heaven. Whenever the pain of guilt seems to attract you, remember that if you
yield to it, you are deciding against your happiness, and will not learn how to
be happy. Say therefore, to yourself, gently, but with the conviction born of
the Love of God and of His Son: What I experience I will make manifest. If I am
guiltless, I have nothing to fear. I choose to testify to my acceptance of the
Atonement, not to its rejection. I would accept my guiltlessness by making it
manifest and sharing it. Let me bring peace to God's Son from his Father.
T255/274f
The joy of learning that darkness has no power over the Son of God is the
happy lesson the Holy Spirit teaches, and would have you teach with Him. It is
His joy to teach it, as it will be yours. The way to teach this simple lesson is
merely this: Guiltlessness is invulnerability. Therefore, make your
invulnerability manifest to everyone. Teach him that, whatever he may try to do
to you, your perfect freedom from the belief that you can be harmed shows him
that he is guiltless. He can do nothing that can hurt you, and by refusing to
allow him to think he can, you teach him that the Atonement, which you have
accepted for yourself, is also his. There is nothing to forgive. No one can hurt
the Son of God. His guilt is wholly without cause, and being without cause,
cannot exist. T256/275f
Those who accept the Atonement are invulnerable. But those who
believe they are guilty will respond to guilt, because they think it is
salvation, and will not refuse to see it and side with it. They believe that
increasing guilt is self‑protection. And they will fail to understand the simple
fact that what they do not want must hurt them. T257/276
When you accept a brother's guiltlessness you will see the Atonement in him.
For by proclaiming it in him you make it yours, and you will see what you
sought. You will not see the symbol of your brother's guiltlessness shining
within him while you still believe it is not there. His guiltlessness is
your Atonement. Grant it to him, and you will see the truth of what you
have acknowledged. Yet truth is offered first to be received, even as God gave
it first to His Son. T259/279
Ask not to be forgiven, for this has already been accomplished. Ask, rather,
to learn how to forgive, and to restore what always was to your unforgiving
mind. Atonement becomes real and visible to those who use it. On earth this is
your only function, and you must learn that it is all you want to learn. You
will feel guilty till you learn this. For in the end, whatever form it takes,
your guilt arises from your failure to fulfill your function in God's Mind with
all of yours. Can you escape this guilt by failing to fulfill your function
here? T260/279
Peace abides in every mind that quietly accepts the plan God set for its
Atonement, relinquishing its own. T257/277
The Atonement was established as the means of restoring guiltlessness to
minds that have denied it, and thus denied Heaven to themselves. Atonement
teaches you the true condition of the Son of God. It does not teach you what you
are, or what your Father is. The Holy Spirit, Who remembers this for you, merely
teaches you how to remove the blocks that stand between you and what you
know. T261/281
Everyone has a special part to play in the Atonement, but the message given
to each one is always the same; God's Son is guiltless. Each one
teaches the message differently, and learns it differently. Yet until he teaches
it and learns it, he will suffer the pain of dim awareness that his true
function remains unfulfilled in him. The burden of guilt is heavy, but God would
not have you bound by it. His plan for your awaking is as perfect as yours is
fallible. You know not what you do, but He Who knows is with you. His gentleness
is yours, and all the love you share with God He holds in trust for you. He
would teach you nothing except how to be happy. T262/282
Your only calling here is to devote yourself, with active willingness, to the
denial of guilt in all its forms. To accuse is not to understand.
The happy learners of the Atonement become the teachers of the innocence that is
the right of all that God created. Deny them not what is their due, for you will
not withhold it from them alone.
The inheritance of the Kingdom is the right of God's Son, given him in
his creation. Do not try to steal it from him, or you will ask for guilt and
will experience it. Protect his purity from every thought that would steal it
away and keep it from his sight. Bring innocence to light, in answer to the call
of the Atonement. Never allow purity to remain hidden, but shine away the heavy
veils of guilt within which the Son of God has hidden himself from his own
sight.
We are all joined in the Atonement here, and nothing else can unite us in this
world. So will the world of separation slip away, and full communication be
restored between the Father and the Son. T262f/282f
Teachers of innocence, each in his own way, have joined together, taking
their part in the unified curriculum of the Atonement. There is no unity of
learning goals apart from this. There is no conflict in this curriculum, which
has one aim however it is taught. Each effort made on its behalf is offered for
the single purpose of release from guilt, to the eternal glory of God and His
creation. And every teaching that points to this points straight to Heaven, and
the peace of God. There is no pain, no trial, no fear that teaching this can
fail to overcome. The power of God Himself supports this teaching, and
guarantees its limitless results. T263/283
The Atonement does not make holy. You were created holy. It merely brings
unholiness to holiness; or what you made to what you are. Bringing illusion to
truth, or the ego to God, is the Holy Spirit's only function. T270/291
The crucifixion had no part in the Atonement. Only the resurrection became my
part in it. That is the symbol of the release from guilt by guiltlessness.
T264/284
Each one you see you place within the holy circle of Atonement or leave
outside, judging him fit for crucifixion or for redemption. If you bring him
into the circle of purity, you will rest there with him. If you leave him
without, you join him there. Judge not except in quietness which is not of you.
Refuse to accept anyone as without the blessing of Atonement, and bring him into
it by blessing him. Holiness must be shared, for therein lies everything that
makes it holy. Come gladly to the holy circle, and look out in peace on all who
think they are outside. Cast no one out, for here is what he seeks along with
you. Come, let us join him in the holy place of peace which is for all of us,
united as one within the Cause of peace. T264/284
From everyone whom you accord release from guilt you will inevitably learn
your innocence. The circle of Atonement has no end. And you will find
ever‑increasing confidence in your safe inclusion in the circle with everyone
you bring within its safety and its perfect peace. T263/283
Merely by being what it is, does truth release you from everything that it is
not. The Atonement is so gentle you need but whisper to it, and all its power
will rush to your assistance and support. You are not frail with God beside you.
Yet without Him you are nothing. The Atonement offers you God. The gift that you
refused is held by Him in you. The Holy Spirit holds it there for you. God has
not left His altar, though His worshippers placed other gods upon it. The temple
still is holy, for the Presence that dwells within it is
holiness. T271/291
Atonement teaches you how to escape forever from everything that you have
taught yourself in the past, by showing you only what you are now.
T275/296
The Atonement is in time, but not for time. Being
in you, it is eternal. What holds remembrance of God cannot be bound by time.
T283/304
The necessary condition for the holy instant does not require that you have
no thoughts that are not pure. But it does require that you have none that you
would keep. Innocence is not of your making. It is given you the instant you
would have it. Atonement would not be if there were no need for it. You will not
be able to accept perfect communication as long as you would hide it from
yourself. For what you would hide is hidden from
you. T289f/311
You cannot love parts of reality and understand what love means. If you would
love unlike to God, Who knows no special love, how can you understand it? To
believe that special relationships, with special
love, can offer you salvation is the belief that separation is salvation. For it
is the complete equality of the Atonement in which salvation lies. How can you
decide that special aspects of the Sonship can give you more than others? The
past has taught you this. Yet the holy instant teaches you it is not so.
T290/312
Remember that you always choose between truth and illusion; between the real
Atonement that would heal and the ego's "atonement" that would destroy. The
power of God and all His Love, without limit, will support you as you seek only
your place in the plan of Atonement arising from His Love. Be an ally of God and
not the ego in seeking how Atonement can come to you. His help suffices, for His
Messenger understands how to restore the Kingdom to you, and to place all your
investment in salvation in your relationship with Him. T325/350
Atonement cannot come to those who think that they must first atone, but only
to those who offer it nothing more than simple willingness to make way for it.
Purification is of God alone, and therefore for you. Rather than seek to prepare
yourself for Him, try to think thus: I who am host to God am worthy of Him. He
Who established His dwelling place in me created it as He would have it be. It
is not needful that I make it ready for Him, but only that I do not interfere
with His plan to restore to me my own awareness of my readiness, which is
eternal. I need add nothing to His plan. But to receive it, I must be willing
not to substitute my own in place of it. T355f/381f
It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin.
T363/389
Never approach the holy instant after you have tried to remove all fear and
hatred from your mind. That is its function. Never attempt to
overlook your guilt before you ask the Holy Spirit's help. That is His
function. Your part is only to offer Him a little willingness to let Him remove
all fear and hatred, and to be forgiven. On your little faith, joined with His
understanding, He will build your part in the Atonement and make sure that you
fulfill it easily. And with Him, you will build a ladder planted in the solid
rock of faith, and rising even to Heaven. Nor will you use it to ascend to
Heaven alone. T357/383
You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. What plans
do you make that do not involve its comfort or protection or enjoyment in some
way? This makes the body an end and not a means in your interpretation, and this
always means you still find sin attractive. No one accepts Atonement for himself
who still accepts sin as his goal. You have thus not met your one
responsibility. Atonement is not welcomed by those who prefer pain and
destruction.
There is one thing that you have never done; you have not utterly
forgotten the body. It has perhaps faded at times from your sight, but it has
not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more
than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement
happens. Afterwards you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And
every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view
of it when you return. T362/388
To have faith is to heal. It is the sign that you have accepted the Atonement
for yourself, and would therefore share it. By faith, you offer the gift of
freedom from the past, which you received. You do not use anything your brother
has done before to condemn him now. You freely choose to overlook his errors,
looking past all barriers between yourself and him, and seeing them as one. And
in that one you see your faith is fully justified. There is no justification for
faithlessness, but faith is always justified. T373/400
No one can look upon the fear of God unterrified, unless he has accepted the
Atonement and learned illusions are not real. No one can stand before this
obstacle alone, for he could not have reached this far unless his brother walked
beside him. And no one would dare to look on it without complete forgiveness of
his brother in his heart. T393/422
Beside you is one who offers you the chalice of Atonement, for the Holy
Spirit is in him. Would you hold his sins against him, or accept his gift to
you? T394/422
This holy relationship, lovely in its innocence, mighty in strength, and
blazing with a light far brighter than the sun that lights the sky you see, is
chosen of your Father as a means for His Own plan. Be thankful that it serves
yours not at all. Nothing entrusted to it can be misused, and nothing given it
but will be used. This holy relationship has the power to heal all pain,
regardless of its form. Neither you nor your brother alone can serve at all.
Only in your joint will does healing lie. For here your healing is, and here
will you accept Atonement. And in your healing is the Sonship healed
because your will and your brother's are joined. Before a holy relationship there is no sin. The form of error is no
longer seen, and reason, joined with love, looks quietly on all confusion,
observing merely, "This was a mistake." And then the same Atonement you accepted
in your relationship corrects the error, and lays a part of Heaven in its
place. T448/481
Accepting the Atonement for yourself means not to give support to someone's
dream of sickness and of death. It means that you share not his wish to
separate, and let him turn illusions on himself. Nor do you wish that they be
turned, instead, on you. Thus have they no effects. And you are free of dreams
of pain because you let him be. Unless you help him, you will suffer pain with
him because that is your wish. And you become a figure in his dream of pain, as
he in yours. So do you and your brother both become illusions, and without
identity. You could be anyone or anything, depending on whose evil dream you
share. You can be sure of just one thing; that you are evil, for you share in
dreams of fear. T555/598
Uncertainty about what you must be is self‑deception on a scale so vast, its
magnitude can hardly be conceived. To be alive and not to know yourself is to
believe that you are really dead. For what is life except to be yourself, and
what but you can be alive instead? Who is the doubter? What is it he doubts?
Whom does he question? Who can answer him?
He merely states that he is not himself, and therefore, being something else,
becomes a questioner of what that something is. Yet he could never be alive at
all unless he knew the answer. If he asks as if he does not know, it merely
shows he does not want to be the thing he is. He has accepted it because he
lives; has judged against it and denied its worth, and has decided that he does
not know the only certainty by which he lives.
Thus he becomes uncertain of his life, for what it is has been denied by him.
It is for this denial that you need Atonement. Your denial made no change in
what you are. But you have split your mind into what knows and does not know the
truth. You are yourself. There is no doubt of this. And yet you doubt it. But
you do not ask what part of you can really doubt yourself. It cannot really be a
part of you that asks this question. For it asks of one who knows the answer.
Were it part of you, then certainty would be impossible.
Atonement remedies the strange idea that it is possible to doubt yourself,
and be unsure of what you really are. This is the depth of madness. Yet it is
the universal question of the world. What does this mean except the world is
mad? Why share its madness in the sad belief that what is universal here is
true?
Nothing the world believes is true. It is a place whose purpose is to be a
home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what
it is they are. And they will come again until the time Atonement is accepted,
and they learn it is impossible to doubt yourself, and not to be aware of what
you are.
Only acceptance can be asked of you, for what you are is certain. It is set
forever in the holy Mind of God, and in your own. It is so far beyond all doubt
and question that to ask what it must be is all the proof you need to show that
you believe the contradiction that you know not what you cannot fail to know. Is
this a question, or a statement which denies itself in statement? Let us not
allow our holy minds to occupy themselves with senseless musings such as this.
We have a mission here. We did not come to reinforce the madness that we once
believed in. Let us not forget the goal that we accepted. It is more than just
our happiness alone we came to gain. What we accept as what we are proclaims
what everyone must be, along with us. Fail not your brothers, or you fail
yourself. Look lovingly on them, that they may know that they are part of you,
and you of them.
This does Atonement teach, and demonstrates the oneness of God's Son is
unassailed by his belief he knows not what he is. Today accept Atonement, not to
change reality, but merely to accept the truth about yourself, and go your way
rejoicing in the endless Love of God. It is but this that we are asked to do. It
is but this that we will do today. W260f/267f
Atonement heals with certainty, and cures all sickness. For the mind which
understands that sickness can be nothing but a dream is not deceived by forms
the dream may take. Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but
another form of guilt. Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure.
It takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible. And that is cure
indeed. For sickness now is gone, with nothing left to which it can return.
W263/270
My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love,
freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering.
And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I
do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing
more. God has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need
do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for
me, now already mine, to feel God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand
my Father loves His Son; to know I am the Son my Father loves. W461/471
Atonement corrects illusions, not truth. Therefore, it corrects what never
was. Further, the plan for this correction was established and completed
simultaneously, for the Will of God is entirely apart from time. M4/5
The teacher of God has seen the correction of his errors in the mind of the
patient, recognizing it for what it is. Having accepted the Atonement for
himself, he has also accepted it for the patient. M19/20
Whenever a teacher of God has tried to be a channel for healing he has
succeeded. Should he be tempted to doubt this, he should not repeat his previous
effort. That was already maximal, because the Holy Spirit so accepted it and so
used it. Now the teacher of God has only one course to follow. He must use his
reason to tell himself that he has given the problem to One Who cannot fail, and
must recognize that his own uncertainty is not love but fear, and therefore
hate. His position has thus become untenable, for he is offering hate to one to
whom he offered love. This is impossible. Having offered love, only love can be
received.
It is in this that the teacher of God must trust. This is what is really
meant by the statement that the one responsibility of the miracle worker is to
accept the Atonement for himself. The teacher of God is a miracle worker because
he gives the gifts he has received. Yet he must first accept them. He need do no
more, nor is there more that he could do. By accepting healing he can give it.
If he doubts this, let him remember Who gave the gift and Who received it. Thus
is his doubt corrected. M21/22
In order to heal, it thus becomes essential for the teacher of God to let all
his own mistakes be corrected. If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation
in himself as he responds to anyone, let him instantly realize that he has made
an interpretation that is not true. Then let him turn within to his Eternal
Guide, and let Him judge what the response should be. So is he healed, and in
his healing is his pupil healed with him. The sole responsibility of God's
teacher is to accept the Atonement for himself. Atonement means correction, or
the undoing of errors. When this has been accomplished, the teacher of God
becomes a miracle worker by definition. His sins have been forgiven him, and he
no longer condemns himself. How can he then condemn anyone? And who is there
whom his forgiveness can fail to heal? M45f/48
Healing and Atonement are not related; they are identical. There is no order
of difficulty in miracles because there are no degrees of Atonement. It is the
one complete concept possible in this world, because it is the source of a
wholly unified perception. Partial Atonement is a meaningless idea, just as
special areas of hell in Heaven are inconceivable. Accept Atonement and you are
healed. Atonement is the Word of God. Accept His Word and what remains to make
sickness possible? Accept His Word and every miracle has been accomplished. To
forgive is to heal. The teacher of God has taken accepting the Atonement for
himself as his only function. What is there, then, he cannot heal? What miracle
can be withheld from him?
The progress of the teacher of God may be slow or rapid, depending on whether
he recognizes the Atonement's inclusiveness, or for a time excludes some problem
areas from it. In some cases, there is a sudden and complete awareness of the
perfect applicability of the lesson of the Atonement to all situations, but this
is comparatively rare. The teacher of God may have accepted the function God has
given him long before he has learned all that his acceptance holds out to him.
It is only the end that is certain. Anywhere along the way, the necessary
realization of inclusiveness may reach him. If the way seems long, let him be
content. He has decided on the direction he wants to take. What more was asked
of him? And having done what was required, would God withhold the rest?
That forgiveness is healing needs to be understood, if the teacher of God is
to make progress. The idea that a body can be sick is a central concept in the
ego's thought system. This thought gives the body autonomy, separates it from
the mind, and keeps the idea of attack inviolate. If the body could be sick
Atonement would be impossible. A body that can order a mind to do as it sees fit
could merely take the place of God and prove salvation is impossible. What,
then, is left to heal? The body has become lord of the mind. How could the mind
be returned to the Holy Spirit unless the body is killed? And who would want
salvation at such a price? M53/55
The offer of Atonement is universal. It is equally applicable to all
individuals in all circumstances. And in it is the power to heal all individuals
of all forms of sickness. Not to believe this is to be unfair to God, and thus
unfaithful to Him. A sick person perceives himself as separate from God. Would
you see him as separate from you? It is your task to heal the sense of
separation that has made him sick. It is your function to recognize for him that
what he believes about himself is not the truth. It is your forgiveness that
must show him this. Healing is very simple. Atonement is received and offered.
Having been received, it must be accepted. It is in the receiving, then, that
healing lies. All else must follow from this single purpose. M54/56
Who can limit the power of God Himself? Who, then, can say which one can be
healed of what, and what must remain beyond God's power to forgive? This is
insanity indeed. It is not up to God's teachers to set limits upon Him, because
it is not up to them to judge His Son. And to judge His Son is to limit his
Father. Both are equally meaningless. Yet this will not be understood until
God's teacher recognizes that they are the same mistake. Herein does he receive
Atonement, for he withdraws his judgment from the Son of God, accepting him as
God created him. No longer does he stand apart from God, determining where
healing should be given and where it should be withheld. Now can he say with
God, "This is my beloved Son, created perfect and forever so." M54/56f
The emphasis of this course always remains the same; ‑ it is at this moment
that complete salvation is offered you, and it is at this moment that you can
accept it. This is still your one responsibility. Atonement might be equated
with total escape from the past and total lack of interest in the future. Heaven
is here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time. No
teaching that does not lead to this is of concern to God's teachers. All beliefs
will point to this if properly interpreted. In this sense, it can be said that
their truth lies in their usefulness. All beliefs that lead to progress should
be honored. This is the sole criterion this course requires. No more than this
is necessary. M58/61
To follow the Holy Spirit's guidance is to let yourself be absolved of guilt.
It is the essence of the Atonement. It is the core of the curriculum. M67/70
This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with
precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of
perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. M73/77
Knowledge is not the remedy for false perception since, being another level,
they can never meet. The one correction possible for false perception must be
true perception. It will not endure. But for the time it lasts it
comes to heal. For true perception is a remedy with many names. Forgiveness,
salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one. They are the one beginning,
with the end to lead to Oneness far beyond themselves. True perception is the
means by which the world is saved from sin, for sin does not exist. And it is
this that true perception sees. M81/85
What must the teacher do to ensure learning? What must the
therapist do to bring healing about? Only one thing; the same requirement
salvation asks of everyone. Each one must share one goal with someone else, and
in so doing, lose all sense of separate interests. Only by doing this is it
possible to transcend the narrow boundaries the ego would impose upon the self.
Only by doing this can teacher and pupil, therapist and patient, you and I,
accept Atonement and learn to give it as it was received. PPP6/8