The violation of the laws of God or goodness. A real attack that causes real damage, violation, and injury, produces real moral and spiritual guilt, and calls for punishment and death. “To sin would be to violate reality, and to succeed. Sin is the proclamation that attack is real and guilt is justified” (see T-19.II.2:2-3). Also, the state of separation and inner corruption that results from the act of sin (see T-30.III.3:7).
- Sin is the ego’s foundation and most holy idea (see T-19.II.5). The archetypal sin was the separation. The ego sees sin as a power beyond God’s that attacked and overthrew His Will and wrenched His creation away from Him, shattering its oneness and corrupting its innocence (see T-19.III.8:1-3). The ego’s goal is to make this a permanent, eternal reality.
- Sin is the basis for the ego’s perception of the world. It sees sin everywhere and in everyone. This perception is the source of anger and fear.
- The Holy Spirit knows that sin is an illusion, a belief in something that can never occur (in fact, the word “sin” in the Course is often shorthand for the erroneous “belief in sin”). For God’s laws cannot be violated, attack and injury are unreal, guilt and death are impossible, and the separation from God never occurred. What we call sin is merely an error, a mistake. This means it can be corrected and calls only for correction, not punishment (see call for love/help). This is the basis for forgiveness.
See T-19.II-III, W-pII.4.