1. 1Injury is impossible. 2And yet illusion makes illusion. 3If you can condemn, you can be injured. 4For you have believed that you can injure, and the right you have established for yourself can be now used against you, till you lay it down as valueless, unwanted and unreal. 5Then does illusion cease to have effects, and those it seemed to have will be undone. 6Then are you free, for freedom is your gift, and you can now receive the gift you gave.

2. 1Condemn and you are made a prisoner. 2Forgive and you are freed. 3Such is the law that rules perception. 4It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge. 5To condemn is thus impossible in truth. 6What seems to be its influ­ence and its effects have not occurred at all. 7Yet must we deal with them a while as if they had. 8Illusion makes illusion. 9Except one. 10Forgiveness is illusion that is answer to the rest.

3. 1Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, and though it is it­self a dream, it breeds no others. 2All illusions save this one must multiply a thousandfold. 3But this is where illusions end. 4For­giveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of waking. 5It is not itself the truth. 6Yet does it point to where the truth must be, and gives direction with the certainty of God Himself. 7It is a dream in which the Son of God awakens to his Self and to his Father, knowing They are one.

4. 1Forgiveness is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and finally away from death. 2How could there be an­other way, when this one is the plan of God Himself? 3And why would you oppose it, quarrel with it, seek to find a thousand ways in which it must be wrong; a thousand other possibilities?

5. 1Is it not wiser to be glad you hold the answer to your problems in your hand? 2Is it not more intelligent to thank the One Who gives salvation, and accept His gift with gratitude? 3And is it not a kindness to yourself to hear His Voice and learn the simple lessons He would teach, instead of trying to dismiss His words, and substitute your own in place of His?

6. 1His words will work. 2His words will save. 3His words contain all hope, all blessing and all joy that ever can be found upon this earth. 4His words are born in God, and come to you with Heaven’s love upon them. 5Those who hear His words have heard the song of Heaven. 6For these are the words in which all merge as one at last. 7And as this one will fade away, the Word of God will come to take its place, for it will be remembered then and loved.

7. 1This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and attack appears as justified. 2Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God’s Son and to his Father. 3You may think They have accepted. 4But if you will look again upon the place where you beheld Their blood, you will perceive a mir­acle instead. 5How foolish to believe that They could die! 6How foolish to believe you can attack! 7How mad to think that you could be condemned, and that the holy Son of God can die!

8. 1The stillness of your Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like these, and unaware of any condemnation which could need forgiveness. 2Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth. 3And what but truth could have a Thought which builds a bridge to it that brings illusions to the other side?

9. 1Today we practice letting freedom come to make its home with you. 2The truth bestows these words upon your mind, that you may find the key to light and let the darkness end:

3Only my condemnation injures me.
4Only my own forgiveness sets me free.

5Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought. 6Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal.

10. 1Accept the one illusion which proclaims there is no condemna­tion in God’s Son, and Heaven is remembered instantly; the world forgotten, all its weird beliefs forgotten with it, as the face of Christ appears unveiled at last in this one dream. 2This is the gift the Holy Spirit holds for you from God your Father. 3Let today be celebrated both on earth and in your holy home as well. 4Be kind to Both, as you forgive the trespasses you thought Them guilty of, and see your innocence shining upon you from the face of Christ.

11. 1Now is there silence all around the world. 2Now is there stillness where before there was a frantic rush of thoughts that made no sense. 3Now is there tranquil light across the face of earth, made quiet in a dreamless sleep. 4And now the Word of God alone remains upon it. 5Only that can be perceived an instant longer. 6Then are symbols done, and everything you ever thought you made completely vanished from the mind that God forever knows to be His only Son.

12. 1There is no condemnation in him. 2He is perfect in his holiness. 3He needs no thoughts of mercy. 4Who could give him gifts when everything is his? 5And who could dream of offering forgiveness to the Son of Sinlessness Itself, so like to Him Whose Son he is, that to behold the Son is to perceive no more, and only know the Father? 6In this vision of the Son, so brief that not an instant stands between this single sight and timelessness itself, you see the vision of yourself, and then you disappear forever into God.

13. 1Today we come still nearer to the end of everything that yet would stand between this vision and our sight. 2And we are glad that we have come this far, and recognize that He Who brought us here will not forsake us now. 3For He would give to us the gift that God has given us through Him today. 4Now is the time for your deliverance. 5The time has come. 6The time has come today.