LESSON 70 My salvation comes from me.

1. 1All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe the idea for today. 2Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. 3So, too, does the source of guilt. 4You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. 5When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. 6In understanding this you are saved.

2. 1The seeming cost of accepting today’s idea is this: It means that nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. 2But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace or upset you in any way. 3Today’s idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong because of what you are. 4This is not a role that can be partially accepted. 5And you must surely begin to see that accept­ing it is salvation.

3. 1It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is in your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well. 2God would not have put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot help. 3That is the way your mind has work­ed, but hardly His. 4He wants you to be healed, so He has kept the Source of healing where the need for healing lies.

4. 1You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for which it was intended, and thus keep the sickness. 2Your purpose was to ensure that healing did not occur. 3God’s purpose was to ensure that it did.

5. 1Today we practice realizing that God’s Will and ours are really the same in this. 2God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because it makes us unhappy. 3Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are really in agreement with God. 4He does not want us to be sick. 5Neither do we. 6He wants us to be healed. 7So do we.

6. 1We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should last some ten to fifteen minutes. 2We will, however, still let you decide when to undertake them. 3We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it would again be well to decide in advance when would be a good time to lay aside for each of them, and then adhering to your own decisions as closely as possible.

7. 1Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, adding a statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside of you. 2You might put it this way:

3My salvation comes from me. 4It cannot come from anywhere else.

5Then devote a few minutes, with your eyes closed, to reviewing some of the external places where you have looked for salvation in the past;—in other people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in self-concepts that you sought to make real. 6Recognize that it is not there, and tell yourself:

7My salvation cannot come from any of these things. 8My salvation comes from me and only from me.

8. 1Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your salvation is. 2You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it is in them you have been looking for it. 3It is not there. 4It is past the clouds and in the light beyond. 5Remember that you will have to go through the clouds before you can reach the light. 6But remember also that you have never found anything in the cloud patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted.

9. 1Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to remain in the clouds, looking vainly for idols there, when you could so easily walk on into the light of real salvation. 2Try to pass the clouds by whatever means appeals to you. 3If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading you. 4And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy.

10. 1For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your progress. 2You are free from all external interference. 3You are in charge of your salvation. 4You are in charge of the salvation of the world. 5Say, then:

6My salvation comes from me. 7Nothing outside of me can hold me back. 8Within me is the world’s salvation and my own.