This article examines a systems view of cure. It proposes that a conceptualization of the notion of cure must include a perspective on the notion of failure. Failure and suffering are seen as integral parts of our subjectivity and serve as a valuable medium to allow us to learn how to be with one another. The interaction of differently organized subjective worlds in psychotherapy show how closely weakness and strength, cure and failure are entwined in any psychotherapeutic process. On the level of the bi-directional encounter, the process of cure has to do with how the idiosyncratic strengths and shortcomings of both participants become entangled and are subsequently dealt with in the working-through process. While the asymmetric setting is upheld and the focus of our work remains on our patients, any healing process will involve the personal transformation of both participants. Cure is, thus, understood as a razor's edge that cuts both ways. Inasmuch as we are able to come to terms with this, we may find ourselves released from an imperative to cure, but at home in a common humanity.