Salvation is the only cure.
1. No remedy the world considers helpful can truly be called a cure.
²The world’s therapeutic remedies merely “improve” the body.
³When they attempt to heal the mind, they treat it as though it were part of the body, and located within it.
⁴Their methods of healing only exchange one illusion for another.
⁵The belief in sickness now takes a different form, and the patient sees himself in this new way. I
2. But he has not been healed.
²He merely dreamed he was sick, and in the dream, he found a magic formula for a cure.
³Yet he has not awakened from the dream, and so his mind remains exactly as it was before.
⁴He has not seen the light that would awaken him and end the dream.
⁵What does the content of a dream truly matter? II
⁶For one is either asleep or awake.
⁷There is no in-between.
3. The happy dreams the Holy Spirit offers are different from the dreams of the world, where all one can do is dream of being awake.
²The dreams forgiveness brings to the mind do not reinforce the sleep, and so the dreamer can dream a different dream.
³Now his happy dreams are messengers announcing the dawn of truth in his mind.
⁴They lead from sleep to gentle waking, until all dreams vanish.
⁵And in this way, these dreams do heal for all eternity.
4. Atonement heals with certainty and cures all sickness.
²For the mind that understands sickness can only be a dream is not deceived by any form the dream may take.
³Where there is no guilt, there can be no sickness, for sickness is but another form of guilt.
⁴Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not healing.
⁵Atonement undoes the guilt that made sickness possible.
⁶And that is true healing.
⁷For now sickness has disappeared, and there is nothing left for it to return to. III
5. Peace be with you, who have been healed in God and not in idle dreams.IV
²For healing comes from Holiness, and Holiness cannot be found where sin is valued.
³God dwells in holy temples.
⁴He is forbidden entry where sin has entered.
⁵Yet there is no place where He is not.
⁶Therefore, sin can have no home where it hides from His Lovingkindness.
6. There is no place where Holiness is absent, nor any where sin and sickness can abide.
²This is the thought that heals.
³It makes no distinctions between one unreality and another.
⁴Nor does it attempt to heal what is not sick, for it knows where healing is truly needed.
⁵This is not magic.
⁶It is simply an appeal to truth, which cannot but heal, and heal forever.
⁷It is not a thought that judges an illusion by its size, its seeming gravity, or by anything that pertains to how it appears.
⁸It focuses only on what is real, and in truth, it knows no illusion can be real.
7. Let us not attempt to heal today what cannot be sick.
²Surely healing must be sought, but only for what can be sick—and then it must be applied, that it may be healed. V
³None of the remedies the world provides can change anything at all. VI
⁴What truly changes is the mind that brings illusions to the truth.
⁵There is no other change but this.
⁶For how is one illusion different from another, except by attributes that lack all substance, reality, essence, or anything truly distinct?
8. Today we seek to change our thoughts about the source of sickness, for we seek a cure for every illusion, not the exchange of one illusion for another.
²Today we will attempt to find the Source of healing, which lies within our mind, because our Father placed it there for us.
³As close to us as we are to ourselves.
⁴As near as our own thoughts, as immediate as breath itself—impossible not to see. VII
⁵We need only seek it, and we will find it.
9. Today we will not be deceived by what seems to be sick.
²We go beyond appearances to reach the Source of healing, which affects all things.
³We will succeed to the extent that we realize there is no meaningful difference between what is false and what is equally false.
⁴There are no degrees here, and we will not believe that what does not exist can be more real in some forms than in others.
⁵All are false, and all can be healed, because none are true.
10. So we lay aside our talismans, our charms and medicines, our spells and tricks of magic—whatever form they take. VIII
²Today we enter deep stillness, and listen to the Voice of healing, which will cure all ills as one, restoring sanity to the Son of God.
³No voice but This can truly heal.
⁴Today we listen to one Voice alone, Which speaks of truth where all illusions end, and peace returns to God’s eternal, quiet home.
11. We awaken by hearing that Voice, and we let It speak to us for five minutes.
²And we close the day by listening once again for five minutes before we go to sleep.
³We prepare by letting go of every interfering thought—not one by one, but all at once.
⁴For they are all the same.
⁵There is no need to distinguish them, and so delay the moment when we can hear our Father speak to us.
⁶We hear Him now.
⁷Today we go to Him.
12. Holding nothing in our hands, with hearts uplifted and minds attentive, we pray:
²Salvation is the only cure.
³Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed.
⁴And we shall feel salvation cover us in gentle protection and in peace so deep that no illusion can disturb our mind or prove to us it is real.
⁵This is what we will learn today.
⁶We will repeat our healing prayer each hour, and give one minute to hearing the response that is given us in answer to our prayer, waiting in happy silence.
⁷Today is the day when healing comes to us.
⁸This is the day when separation ends, and we remember who we truly are.
I The world is an illusion, and every experience you have of it arises from what the mind believes, for illusions are nothing but beliefs.
Thus, the world believes in illness, believes in health, and also believes that a certain product or intervention can cause the body—also a belief—to heal (which is another belief), or not to heal (also a belief).
The world is built upon beliefs, for everything that exists within time and space—also beliefs—is illusory. The world “exists” in the mind that believes in it, for that is how the mind conceives and perceives it.
To believe is the power to create the impossible: what neither exists nor can exist, because it is different from its maker.
II This is precisely the foundation of forgiveness, the true reason why you must forgive the world: because it is a dream, and dreams are but dreams. So let them pass; no matter what form they take, they are not reality and therefore irrelevant. This is also the reason why the second principle of miracles says that they are not important.
III Notice that, although this Course constantly uses the verb to heal, it employs to cure only on very few occasions—and almost all of them in this Lesson. This is because this is a Course about causes, not about effects, which are irrelevant. The term to cure refers to symptoms—that is, the manifestation in the body (an idea in the mind) of the opinion the mind holds about itself. And that is always false—an illusion.
Curiously, the Spanish edition of the FIP reverses these terms. The word sanar (to heal) comes from the Latin sanare (to restore health), and this from sanus (sound, sane, not insane). The word curar (to cure), however, comes from the Latin curare, meaning to care for, to attend to; it has a more physical character. Thus, when you “cure” (care for, attend to) a wound, it “heals.”
IV John 20:19 “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”
John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”
John 20:26 “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you.
V What cannot be sick is the body, for the simple reason that the body does not exist. The body is an illusion dreamt by the mind, which is real; therefore, the mind is the only thing that can be healed.
Today’s Lesson is unequivocal regarding what true healing is. Healing has nothing at all to do with curing the body, because this Course is about truth, not about improving illusions—even though that is what most of its students initially seek when they first approach it.
At this point, having accepted to some degree that the world is an illusion and that the idea of being a person is a consideration of the mind stressed by the idea of separation, it is understandable that the body is only a symbol the mind uses to articulate its dream of independence from God.
The body, in itself, is nothing. It is but a fabrication of a mind terrified by a truly frightening idea: the idea of being alone—separate from everything and confined within a fragile, temporary container. If you identify yourself with that idea, you cannot help but feel threatened and endangered. The story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is precisely the teaching that this is not true—that death is but an unfounded fear and that the body has no importance whatsoever.
This Course is about the healing of the mind. The curing of the body and the miracles that may occur as a consequence of that healing are but symbols within the dream, signifying that the mind is awakening to its true identity. That is why the second principle of miracles says that miracles are not important; illusions never can be. The purpose of this Course is not to perform miracles—though you will see them everywhere around you—but to heal the confused mind. Miracles are the effect of that healing, of that new way of understanding your reality and that of your brothers.
Notice how the Course uses the word healing when referring to what is real, and curing when referring to what is illusory. The body is an effect whose cause is the mind. A sick mind, harboring feelings of guilt and unworthiness, will conceive a sick and distorted body, for it projects in its dream something that reflects the idea it holds of itself.
A mind that is healing and awakening will see itself in a healthy, functional body, wholly dedicated to the healing of a world as illusory as the body in which it perceives itself.
A perfectly healthy mind is perfectly awake and does not dream at all. It conceives no forms nor relates to them in spatiotemporal terms; a healed mind creates in eternity.
VI Because the remedies of the world are illusions—effects—just like the symptoms they intend to cure, which are also effects, manifestations of the mind’s idea of itself. And effects do not relate to other effects, for they can do nothing of themselves.
Effects merely bear witness to what the mind thinks, and they have no power in themselves to accomplish anything. All power belongs to the mind.
VII Deuteronomy 30:11–14 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”
VIII Jesus knows perfectly well that as long as you are identified with the idea of being a person, you are prone to fear. In fact, that tendency has made you addicted to frightening yourself, and you will find it difficult to let pass any opportunity to instill fear and guilt within yourself. You will even use this Course to do so. Try to restrain yourself a little, and do not punish yourself for failing to meet the lofty goals this Course proposes.
If your body falls ill, look within your mind—without obsession and with detachment—for possible unforgiveness your mind may have been harboring. It is a good opportunity to review your life and heal guilt, sin, and old grievances. Let them go. Do not hold them against anyone. Let them pass, and ask with all your heart for Jesus and the Holy Spirit to remove them from your mind forever. They cannot remain there without your active participation. Be very honest about this.
Pray, forgive, and trust. If you do this rightly, you will not heal—you are already healed—and the symptoms will disappear. Yet if doubt and fear still linger in your mind—even in their mildest form—do not worry, and resort to whatever curative (magical) means seem reasonable and appropriate to you. But above all, do not stress or feel guilty.
Be sure of two things: you are not yet ready for miraculous healing, but you are walking in the right direction. Relax and persevere. Jesus needs miracle workers like you—those who can face any difficulty and are not stopped even by their own weaknesses.