Healing and Atonement are not related; they are identical. 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. Partial
Atonement is a meaningless idea, just as special areas of hell in Heaven
is 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. The teacher of God has taken accepting the Atonement for
himself as his only function. What is there, then, he cannot heal? What
miracle can be withheld from him?

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. This, however, is comparatively rare. The
teacher of God may have accepted the 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. 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 will take. What more
was asked of him? And having done what was required, would God withhold
the rest?

That forgiveness is healing needs to be understood, if the teacher of
God is to make progress. 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
inviolate. If the body could be sick, Atonement would be impossible. A
body that can order a mind to do as it sees fit would 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 could the mind be
returned to the Holy Spirit unless the body is
killed? And who would want salvation at such a price?

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 that 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.

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.

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 as separate from you? It
is your task to heal the sense of separation that has made him sick. 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.

Who can limit the power of God Himself? Who then can say who 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 Him, 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 judgement 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, created
perfect and forever so.”