Salvation comes from me.

1. Every temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe today’s idea.

²Salvation seems to come from anywhere except yourself.

³The same is true of the source of guilt.

⁴In truth, you see both guilt and salvation only in your own mind, and nowhere else.

⁵When you realize that all the guilt you perceive is merely a product of your own mind, you will also understand that guilt and salvation must be found in the same place.

⁶And when you understand this, you will be saved. ^I

2. The apparent “cost” of accepting today’s idea is this: it means that nothing outside of you can save you, and nothing outside of you can bring you peace.

²But it also means that nothing outside of you can hurt you, disturb your peace, or upset you in any way.

³Today’s idea puts you in charge of the universe, and places you where you belong as the Son of God. ^II

3. This is not a role that can be accepted partially, and by now you will likely have begun to see that accepting it is salvation.

²But it may still not be clear to you why recognizing that guilt is in your own mind also entails the understanding that salvation is there as well.

³God would not have placed the remedy for sickness where it could be of no use.

⁴That may be how your mind has worked, but it is not how His works.

⁵He wants you healed, and so He has kept the Source of healing where the need for healing lies.

⁶You have tried to do just the opposite, doing everything you could—no matter how twisted or absurd—to separate healing from the sickness to which it was meant to apply, in order to keep the sickness.

⁷Your goal was to prevent healing; God’s goal was to ensure it.

4. Today we will practice recognizing that the Will of God and our own are truly the same in this.

²God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to remain sick, for sickness makes us unhappy.

³Therefore, by accepting today’s idea, we are aligning ourselves with God.

⁴He does not want us to be sick.

⁵We do not want that either.

⁶He wants us to be healed.

⁷So do we.

5. Today we are ready to do two longer practice periods, each lasting ten to fifteen minutes.

²But you may choose for yourself when to do them.

³We will follow this pattern for several lessons, and once again you are encouraged to decide in advance the best time for each session, and to follow your own schedule as closely as possible.

6. Begin these practice periods by repeating today’s idea, and then adding a statement expressing your recognition that salvation does not come from anything outside you.

²You might say something like this:

³Salvation comes from me.

⁴It cannot come from anywhere else.

⁵Then spend a few minutes, with your eyes closed, reviewing some of the external things in which you have sought salvation in the past—people, possessions, various situations and events, and self-images you tried to make real. ^III

⁶Acknowledge that salvation was never found in any of these.

⁷Then say to yourself:

⁸My salvation cannot come from any of these things.

⁹My salvation comes from me, and only from me.

7. Now we will once again try to reach the light in you, where your salvation truly is.

²You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and you must realize that you have been searching for it in those clouds.

³Your salvation is not there.

⁴It lies beyond the clouds, in the light that shines behind them.

⁵Remember, you must pass through the clouds before you can reach the light.

⁶But also remember that you have never found anything lasting or desirable in the cloud formations you imagined. ^IV

8. Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to keep searching for meaningless idols in the clouds, when you could so easily reach the light of true salvation.

²Try to pass through the clouds by whatever means appeals to you.

³If it helps, think of me as taking your hand and guiding you.

⁴And I assure you, this will not be a mere illusion. ^V

9. During the shorter and more frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that salvation comes from you, and that nothing but your own thoughts can hinder your progress.

²You are free from all external interference.

³You are in charge of your salvation.

⁴You are in charge of the salvation of the world.

⁵Then say:

⁶Salvation comes from me.

⁷Nothing outside of me can hold me back.

⁸Within me is the salvation of the world and of my own.

^I All the ideas in this Workbook are important, but no words can do justice to the importance of today’s Lesson.

Your entire world is in your mind, because nothing exists outside it. Everything that seems to exist in that world is there because you have placed it there, for no will operates in your mind but your own. Nothing external can affect you, because nothing is external to you. If you now believe this is not true—that you are a body doomed to die, living a brief life marked by limitation and helplessness—it is because you have also placed that idea in your mind. That is precisely your ego—that way of thinking. Your ego is not someone who believes this; your ego is the belief that this is so.

Your life, at its core, is nothing but a story you tell yourself. When someone asks you, “How are you?” and you answer, “I’m very happy!” or “I’m miserable,” you are merely expressing an opinion. Your condition of being happy or unhappy is something you yourself establish, and it will depend on the standard of evaluation you have chosen at that moment. Yet you will insist again and again that this condition is an “objective” fact—but could there be anything more subjective?

The first line of this Lesson is crucial. The basic temptation is to think that you are not responsible for your life and therefore to blame something external. When you feel tempted by something you find morally objectionable, realize that the moral standard that condemns it is one you have created, the desire to uphold it is also yours, and—though it may be hard to accept—the perception of that event is likewise of your own making. You simply take no responsibility for the contents of your consciousness and call “temptation” the relationship between something you label as “external” and impulses you claim come from a dark “subconscious.” Of course, that is one way of telling the story—but it is merely the way you have chosen.

To think of yourself as a helpless being subject to the whims of life is a choice. Jesus now invites you to consider another, entirely opposite one. This Course presents the dilemma very clearly. You now know you can choose between two very different ways of seeing yourself. The first, which you know all too well, is that proposed by the ego and the world. The other is what Jesus or the Holy Spirit offers you. Each will lead you along very different paths through the dream, toward vastly different goals. The ego’s proposal leads you in agony toward death; Jesus urges you to choose better and to recognize your power to shape your reality. That power is absolute because it is the Power of God within you—His Gift. Use it well and do not waste it on dreams of fear.

The entire strategy of the ego in your mind is based on convincing you that you are not responsible for your mental states, making you believe that the cause of your suffering lies in something external, when in truth you are the one who has placed it there. Its aim is to diminish you, to weaken you, and to plunge you into helplessness by projecting its own fragility onto you.

^II You are the Son of God, created perfect by your loving Father—free and capable of creating as He creates. In your freedom, you can extend Love infinitely, for that is your very condition. You can do this, and indeed you do, in eternity, for that is your will, identical to your Father’s. But you cannot create the impossible, because the impossible does not exist.

Nevertheless, if that is your desire, you can also “create” the impossible—but in that case such “creation” is not real; it is real only to you, and you then call it “belief.” You can believe in the illusions you yourself have made, and thus you conceive them as absences expressing your longing to regain your true condition. That is why the illusions you seem to perceive on the imaginary screen of your consciousness are inversions of the values you already enjoy in Heaven.

^III These “self-conceptions” are roles you have deemed desirable—being a good mother, an excellent professional, a loyal friend, more intelligent, wealthier, more compassionate, or any other appealing idea you may hold of yourself. It has always been your ego that desired all those things. You, as the Son of God, are infinitely beyond any possibility of “improvement.” Remember—you were created perfect. Your salvation lies precisely in remembering that.

^IV While the clouds of yesterday’s Lesson were composed of your resentments, today’s clouds consist of “…the things outside you in which you have sought salvation in the past” (6:5).

^V Believe Jesus in this. It is impossible that He could be deceiving you. He is here to guide you—that is His function. If you wish, you may travel the path thinking you walk alone, but you do not. Jesus accompanies you at every moment. He speaks to you, counsels you, and comforts you without ceasing. If you do not hear Him, it is because you are not paying attention, and deep down you still trust more in your own judgment. The journey would be far easier if you became aware that Jesus walks beside you.

He is not some imaginary friend nor the voice of a deranged mind. He is your elder brother who loves you, walks with you, and guides you toward your happiness—which is also His. Try it. Give Him a chance to be included in your awareness. He will not disappoint you. It is the best way you can use your mind.

Do not regard forming a personal relationship with Jesus as something strange or different from establishing any other relationship; it is exactly the same—a matter of will, trust, and purpose. And be sensible: use that relationship for its own purpose, not yours. In truth, they are the same—but you are not yet fully convinced of it, for you are still almost blind.