1. Do not mistake effect for cause, nor think that sickness is apart and separate from what its cause must be. ²It is a sign, a shadow of an evil thought that seems to have reality and to be just, according to the usage of the world. ³It is external proof of inner “sins,” and witnesses to unforgiving thoughts that injure and would hurt the Son of God. ⁴Healing the body is impossible, and this is shown by the brief nature of the “cure.” ⁵The body yet must die, and so its healing but delays its turning back to dust, where it was born and will return.

2. The body’s cause is unforgiveness of the Son of God. ²It has not left its source, and in its pain and aging and the mark of death upon it this is clearly shown. ³Fearful and frail it seems to be to those who think their life is tied to its command and linked to its unstable, tiny breath. ⁴Death stares at them as every moment goes irrevocably past their grasping hands, which cannot hold them back. ⁵And they feel fear as bodies change and sicken. ⁶For they sense the heavy scent of death upon their hearts.

3. The body can be healed as an effect of true forgiveness. ²Only that can give rememberance of immortality, which is the gift of holiness and love. ³Forgiveness must be given by a mind which understands that it must overlook all shadows on the holy face of Christ, among which sickness should be seen as one. ⁴Nothing but that; the sign of judgment made by brother upon brother, and the Son of God upon himself. ⁵For he has damned his body as his prison, and forgot that it is he who gave this role to it.

4. What he has done now must God’s Son undo. ²But not alone. ³For he has thrown away the prison’s key; his holy sinlessness and the remembrance of his Father’s Love. ⁴Yet help is given to him in the Voice his Father placed in him. ⁵The power to heal is now his Father’s gift, for through His Voice He still can reach His Son, reminding him the body may become his chosen home, but it will never be his home in truth.

5. Distinctions therefore must be made between true healing and its faulty counterpart. ²The world of opposites is healing’s place, for what in Heaven could there be to heal? ³As prayer within the world can ask amiss and seeming charity forgive to kill, so healing can be false as well as true; a witness to the power of the world or to the everlasting Love of God.