1. Healing and Atonement are not related; they are identical. There is no order of difficulty in miracles because there are no degrees of Atonement. Perception is corrected and fear is undone – or it is not; there is no halfway mark. 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; to truly forgive one is to forgive all. The teacher of God has accepted the Atonement for himself as his only function. So what is there he cannot heal? What miracle can be withheld from Him?

2. 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 this 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. (“A happy ending to all things is sure.”) 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 can be asked of Him? And having done what was required, would God withhold the rest?

3. That forgiveness is healing needs to be understood, if the teacher of God is to make progress. (Therefore, forgiveness, healing and Atonement are the same.) 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 intact. Yet 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, then, could the mind be returned to the Holy Spirit unless the body is killed? And who would want salvation at such a price?

4. Certainly sickness does not appear to be a decision. Nor would anyone actually believe he wants to be sick. Perhaps he can accept the idea in theory, but it is rarely if ever consistently applied to all specific forms of sickness, both in the individual’s perception of himself and of all others as well. Nor is it at this level that the teacher of God calls forth the miracle of healing. He overlooks the mind and body, seeing only the face of Christ shining in front of him, correcting all mistakes and healing all perception. Healing is the result of the recognition, by God’s teacher, of who it is in need of healing. This recognition has no special reference. It is true of all things that God created. In it are all illusions healed.

5. When a teacher of God fails to heal, it is because he has forgotten Who he is. Another’s sickness thus becomes his own. In allowing this to happen, he has identified with another’s ego and has thus confused him with a body. In so doing, he has refused to accept the Atonement for himself, and can hardly offer it to his brother in Christ’s name. He will, in fact, be unable to recognize his brother at all, for his Father did not create bodies, and so he is seeing in his brother only the unreal. Mistakes do not correct mistakes, and distorted perception does not heal. Step back now, teacher of God. You have been wrong. Lead not the way, for you have lost it. Turn quickly to your Teacher, and let yourself be healed.

6. 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, your brother, as separate from you? 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. Let us, then, receive and accept the Atonement for ourselves.

7. 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 God, 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 (brother), created perfect and forever so.”

AMEN

MANUAL FOR TEACHERS

22. HOW ARE HEALING AND ATONEMENT RELATED?

RECAP

1. Healing and Atonement are identical.

2. 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, where everything and everyone are seen through Christ’s vision. Know this: it is possible to heal every dark cornerstone of the mind. Partial Atonement, or partial correction of the mind, is a meaningless idea, just as special areas of hell in Heaven are inconceivable.

3. Accept Atonement in its entirety, then, and you are healed! Atonement is the Word of God. God cannot create unlike Himself and so in truth you cannot be “sick.” God’s Word is:

“I am as God created me.” (W-110h)

“My Son is pure and holy as Myself.” (W-276.1:1)

4. 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. Allow Jesus to correct every false perception in the mind. Save no areas for your “self” to heal.

5. Forgiveness** is the means for Atonement. To forgive is to heal. Remember that the idea that a body can be sick is a central concept in the ego’s thought system. This thought gives the body autonomy. Yet if the body could make decisions or could order the mind to think it is sick, then the body would be taking the place of God.

6. This cannot be, though the ego would have you think that it can. The body cannot be lord of the mind. We have a Kingdom we must rule. That Kingdom is the mind. To give it over to the ego to rule will result in sickness and all other forms of death. This is not a wise choice – is it?

7. Forgiveness, though, sees that the ego is not real and therefore cannot be the ruler of the mind. Anything whatsoever that the ego says is wrong, wrong, wrong. The forgiving mind does not listen to ego, knowing it is a waste of time. Saving time is the function of the teacher of God.

8. When a TOG fails to heal, it is because he has forgotten Who he is. Another’s sickness thus becomes his own. In allowing this to happen, he has identified with another’s ego, and has thus confused him with a body. Mistakes do not correct mistakes; distorted perception does not heal.

9. Step back, now, teacher of God. You have been listening to the ego, and you have been wrong. Turn quickly to your teacher and be healed, and then you can heal your brother as well.

10. Healing is actually very simple. Withdraw the ego’s judgment from the Son of God, accepting him as God created him. Remember “to judge His Son is to limit his Father.” Instead say with God: “This is my beloved Son (brother), created perfect and forever so.” AMEN

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*Atonement – correction of perception, undoing fear; it is the Word of God

**Forgiveness – looking beyond the perceived error to the truth/light. “God’s Son is guiltless and sin does not exist.” This is the one true judgment of yourself and of your brother.