Introduction

T-13.in.1. If you did not feel guilty you could not attack, for condemnation is the root of attack. ² It is the judgment of one mind by another as unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. ³ But herein lies the split. ⁴ For the mind that judges perceives itself as separate from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing another, it will escape punishment. ⁵ All this is but the delusional attempt of the mind to deny itself, and escape the penalty of denial. ⁶ It is not an attempt to relinquish denial, but to hold on to it. ⁷ For it is guilt that has obscured the Father to you, and it is guilt that has driven you insane.

T-13.in.2. The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God's Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end. ² The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. ³ Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is so. ⁴ For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws that seem to govern it are the laws of death. ⁵ Children are born into it through pain and in pain. ⁶ Their growth is attended by suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death. ⁷ Their minds seem to be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are hurt. ⁸ They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. ⁹ They appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. ¹⁰ And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no more. ¹¹ Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel.

T-13.in.3. If this were the real world, God would be cruel. ² For no Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and be loving. ³ Love does not kill to save. ⁴ If it did, attack would be salvation, and this is the ego's interpretation, not God's. ⁵ Only the world of guilt could demand this, for only the guilty could conceive of it. ⁶ Adam's "sin" could have touched no one, had he not believed it was the Father Who drove him out of Paradise. ⁷ For in that belief the knowledge of the Father was lost, since only those who do not understand Him could believe it.

T-13.in.4. This world is a picture of the crucifixion of God's Son. ² And until you realize that God's Son cannot be crucified, this is the world you will see. ³ Yet you will not realize this until you accept the eternal fact that God's Son is not guilty. ⁴ He deserves only love because he has given only love. ⁵ He cannot be condemned because he has never condemned. ⁶ The Atonement is the final lesson he need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.