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− | #REDIRECT [[ACIM Workbook - Lesson 137]]
| + | [[Image:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Acim_small.jpg|right|frame]] |
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| + | <center>'''Only salvation can be said to cure.'''</center> |
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| + | Only [[salvation]] can be said to [[cure]]. |
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| + | "Cure" is a word that cannot be applied to any remedy the world [[accepts]] as |
| + | beneficial. What the world [[perceives]] as therapeutic is but what will make |
| + | the [[body]] "better." When it tries to heal the [[mind]], it sees no [[separation]] from |
| + | the body, where it thinks the mind exists. Its forms of healing thus must |
| + | [[substitute]] [[illusion]] for illusion. One belief in sickness takes another form, |
| + | and so the patient now perceives himself as well. |
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| + | He is not healed. He merely had a dream that he was sick, and in the dream |
| + | he found a [[magic]] [[formula]] to make him well. Yet he has not [[awakened]] from |
| + | the dream, and so his mind remains exactly as it was before. He has not |
| + | seen the [[light]] that would awaken him and end the dream. What [[difference]] |
| + | does the content of a dream make in [[reality]]? One either [[sleeps]] or [[wakens]]. |
| + | There is nothing in between. |
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| + | The [[happy]] [[dreams]] the [[Holy Spirit]] brings are different from the dreaming of |
| + | the world, where one can merely dream he is awake. The dreams |
| + | [[forgiveness]] lets the mind [[perceive]] do not induce another form of sleep, so |
| + | that the dreamer dreams another dream. His happy dreams are [[heralds]] of the |
| + | dawn of truth upon [[the mind]]. They lead from sleep to [[gentle]] waking, so that |
| + | dreams are gone. And thus they cure for all [[eternity]]. |
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| + | [[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. |
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| + | Peace be to you who have been cured in [[God]], and not in idle [[dreams]]. For |
| + | cure must come from [[holiness]], and holiness can not be found where sin is |
| + | cherished. God abides in holy [[temples]]. He is barred where [[sin]] has entered. |
| + | Yet there is no place where He is not. And therefore sin can have no [[home]] |
| + | in which to hide from His beneficence. There is no place where holiness is |
| + | not, and nowhere sin and sickness can abide. |
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| + | This is the [[thought]] that cures. It does not make distinctions among |
| + | unrealities. Nor does it seek to heal what is not sick, unmindful where the |
| + | need for [[healing]] is. This is no [[magic]]. It is merely an [[appeal]] to [[truth]], which |
| + | cannot fail to heal and heal forever. It is not a thought that judges an [[illusion]] |
| + | by its size, its seeming [[gravity]], or anything that is related to the form it |
| + | takes. It merely [[focuses]] on what it is, and knows that no illusion can be real. |
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| + | Let us not try today to seek to cure what cannot suffer [[sickness]]. [[Healing]] |
| + | must be sought but where it is, and then applied to what is sick, so that it |
| + | can be cured. There is no remedy the world provides that can effect a |
| + | [[change]] in anything. [[The mind]] that brings illusions to the truth is really |
| + | changed. There is no change but this. For how can one illusion differ from |
| + | another but in [[attributes]] that have no substance, no [[reality]], no core, and |
| + | nothing that is truly different? |
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| + | Today we seek to change our minds about the [[source]] of [[sickness]], for we |
| + | seek a cure for all [[illusions]], not another shift among them. We will try today |
| + | to find the source of healing, which is in our minds because [[our Father]] |
| + | placed it there for us. It is not farther from us than ourselves. It is as near to |
| + | us as our own [[thoughts]]; so close it is impossible to lose. We need but seek it |
| + | and it must be found. |
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| + | We will not be misled today by what appears to us as sick. We go beyond |
| + | [[appearances]] today and reach the [[source]] of [[healing]], from which nothing is |
| + | exempt. We will succeed to the extent to which we [[realize]] that there can |
| + | never be a meaningful distinction made between what is untrue and equally |
| + | untrue. Here there are no [[degrees]], and no [[beliefs]] that what does not exist is |
| + | truer in some forms than others. All of them are [[false]], and can be cured |
| + | because they are not true. |
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| + | So do we lay aside our [[amulets]], our [[charms]] and [[medicines]], our [[chants]] and |
| + | bits of [[magic]] in whatever form they take. We will be still and [[listen]] for the |
| + | [[Voice]] of healing, which will cure all ills as one, restoring saneness to the |
| + | Son of God. No voice but this can cure. Today we hear a single Voice |
| + | which speaks to us of [[truth]], where all [[illusions]] end, and peace returns to the |
| + | [[eternal]], quiet [[home]] of God. |
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| + | We [[waken]] hearing Him, and let Him speak to us five minutes as the day |
| + | begins, and end the day by [[listening]] again five minutes more before we go |
| + | to [[sleep]]. Our only [[preparation]] is to let our interfering thoughts be laid aside, |
| + | not separately, but all of them as one. They are the same. We have no need |
| + | to make them [[different]], and thus [[delay]] the time when we can hear [[our |
| + | Father]] speak to us. We hear Him now. We come to Him today. |
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| + | With nothing in our hands to which we cling, with lifted [[hearts]] and listening |
| + | minds we [[pray]]: |
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| + | <center>''Only salvation can be said to cure.''</center> |
| + | <center>''Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed.''</center> |
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| + | And we will feel [[salvation]] cover us with soft [[protection]], and with peace so |
| + | deep that no [[illusion]] can disturb our [[minds]], nor offer [[proof]] to us that it is |
| + | real. This will we learn today. And we will say our prayer for [[healing]] |
| + | hourly, and take a minute as the hour strikes, to hear the answer to our |
| + | prayer be given us as we attend in [[silence]] and in [[joy]]. This is the day when |
| + | healing comes to us. This is the day when separation ends, and we |
| + | remember Who we really are. |
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| + | [[Category: Workbook I]] |