"The world will end in an illusion, as it began.
"The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it."
— A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers, M-14
How Will the World End?
Can what has no beginning really end? ²The world will end in an illusion, as it began. ³Yet will its ending be in an illusion of mercy. ⁴The illusion of forgiveness—complete, excluding no one, limitless in gentleness—will cover it, hiding all evil, covering all sin, and ending guilt forever. ⁵So ends the world that guilt had made, for now it has no purpose and is gone. ⁶The father of illusions is the belief that they have a purpose; that they serve a need or gratify a want. ⁷Perceived as purposeless, they are no longer seen. ⁸Their uselessness is recognized, and they are gone. ⁹How but in this way are all illusions ended? ¹⁰They have been brought to truth, and truth has seen them not. ¹¹It has merely overlooked the meaningless.
Until forgiveness is complete, the world does have a purpose. ²It becomes the home in which forgiveness is born, and where it grows and becomes stronger and more all-embracing. ³Here it is nourished, for here it is needed—a gentle Savior, born where sin was made and guilt seems real. ⁴Here is His home, for here there is need of Him indeed. ⁵He brings the ending of the world with Him. ⁶It is His Call God’s teachers answer, turning to Him in silence to receive His Word. ⁷The world will end when all things in it have been rightly judged by His Judgment. ⁸The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it. ⁹When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over. ¹⁰It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. ¹¹It will merely cease to seem to be.
Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. ²“When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a long-range goal indeed. ³But time stands still and waits on the goals of God’s teachers. ⁴Not one sin will remain the instant any one of them accepts the Atonement for himself. ⁵It is no easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. ⁶The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. ⁷One sin perfectly forgiven by one teacher of God can make salvation complete. ⁸Can you understand this? ⁹No, it is meaningless to anyone here. ¹⁰Yet it is the final lesson in which unity is restored. ¹¹It goes against all the thinking of the world, but so does Heaven.
The world will end when its thought system has been completely reversed. ²Until then, bits and pieces of its thinking will still seem sensible. ³The final lesson which brings the ending of the world cannot be grasped by those not yet prepared to leave the world and go beyond its tiny grasp. ⁴What, then, is the function of the teacher of God in this concluding lesson? ⁵He need merely learn how to approach it; to be willing to go in its direction. ⁶He need merely trust that if God’s Voice tells him it is a lesson he can learn, he can learn it. ⁷He does not judge it either as hard or easy. ⁸His Teacher points to it, and he trusts that He will show him how to learn it.
The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. ²When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. ³The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. ⁴When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? ⁵The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. ⁶Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? ⁷And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. ⁸In blessing it departs, for it will not end as it began. ⁹To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. ¹⁰And now sit down in true humility and realize that all God would have you do, you can do. ¹¹Do not be arrogant and say you cannot learn His Own curriculum. ¹²His Word says otherwise. ¹³His will be done. ¹⁴It cannot be otherwise. ¹⁵And be you thankful it is so. - [CE M-14]