Search in this category
SearchDoes my brother's pain exist?
Question:
Last night, my boyfriend of four years and I broke up. He has had an unusually troubled childhood, and I'm sure my friends and family will be happy that I "got away" from such a cynical, childish person. But now all I can think is that all the things that disgusted me in the end—the dirty house, the dark clinging attitude, the irresponsible behavior and his seeming pain, were really just his belief in the lack of love.
Why is the "seemingness" of things always dismissed in ACIM? If he experiences pain, then I don't care if it's not real—it's still cause for my concern! It seems that if I followed the Course principles, I could just go do my lessons and feel happy and loving while he rots in his own self-created hell. Or maybe his pain really doesn't exist on ANY level, and therefore I should just not give a crap about other people's suffering.
I hope you understand the issue I'm trying to get at. Or maybe this is all just ego talk, and I don't even know what I'm saying? I don't know any more. Perhaps you can see through all this better than me. Thank you so much for your love and patience!
Answer:
Thanks for sharing what is on your heart. Your question about the perception of pain is a good starting point in clearing the mirror of the mind. This mirror must be cleared of false beliefs and concepts and thoughts if you are to radiate the Light that is ever Present. Pain is always a misperception, for God has nothing to do with pain. If God is real there is no pain. If pain is real there is no God. The illusion of pain always stems from wrong-minded thinking, and this is what must be exposed and released to experience lasting peace and happiness.
Concern is another word for worry, and this emotion has nothing to do with compassion or true empathy. Concern is an emotion that is painful and arises from a desire to be right about a particular person, situation, or event. One aspect of such concern is the belief that something false has already happened. Another aspect is the belief that past events caused the fear and pain. This misperception gives reality to the past and denies the Present Solution offered by the Holy Spirit. When you pray for a miracle you are praying for a change in your perception. Even when you seem to pray for "another," this is still the case. If you seem to have continuing concern for a brother after asking for a miracle, you are not allowing the miracle to be as it is. Miracles do not create or really change, they simply look calmly upon the false and see that it has no consequence. Miracles offer only Joy, and when Joy has come all pain is over now.
The concept of leaving someone behind is a strange belief, for in God's Love there is no such thing as leaving. The ego is the belief in possession, and what seems capable of being possessed also seems capable of being lost. Loss is the ego's story and originated with the belief that it is possible to separate or "fall" from God's Eternal Love. This error seems to be acted out and repeated in human relationships, just as the past seems to repeat. The miracle Awakens the mind to the awareness that the past is over and only a blessing remains.
Pain is correctly perceived as a Call for Love, and this is always one's own Call to release the false perception of pain. Looking through a glass darkly never brings peace, happiness, love, or joy, so any seeming upset is a Call to empty the mind of false concepts and thus clean the mirror. This is the mind training that is required to accept the Atonement and remember God. Atonement is the awareness that the separation never happened. Until this Correction is accepted, the world will seem real and the unreal emotions of the ego that are one with the world will seem to persist in awareness.
Let the feelings come up into awareness. Then, with deep honesty and sincerity, give the thoughts and judgments and interpretations and feelings over to the Spirit. When darkness is raised to Light the darkness is gone. Do not protect the darkness, for the Spirit will not dissolve what has not been willingly offered for release. You have the Answer within but have been unwilling to let go of the ego definition of the problem. The Holy Spirit must wait until you see that you have had a perception problem based on belief in the ego. Until this point is reached the "problems" will seem to be projected to the world and to brothers that seem apart from the mind. They are not. There are no problems apart from the mind. Healed perception will spring to awareness the instant the misperception is seen exactly as it is and not concealed or projected as "something else."
All illness was mental illness, and all perceived pain was nothing but a faulty formulation of Reality. Reality is Love, and Love is created Eternally Perfect. Love has no opposite.
Love & Blessings,
David
What about the Holocaust? Couldn't ACIM be used to condone attack by saying "it never happened"?
Question:
I have got a big question. When we use Course principles, we say that what hurt us in the past never happened. What exactly does that mean? For example, if the Course is saying that the Holocaust never happened, this is shocking and can be used by certain groups to justify anti-Jewish feelings. Can you help me to understand?
Answer:
Miracles collapse time and offer a Correction for all misperception. The ego is the belief that it is possible to be unfairly treated. It matters not whether the error of abuse seemed to take the form of mild annoyance or mass murder, for there are not different forms of the same illusion. Forgiveness lets go of all illusions together, and in forgiveness Innocence is recognized. Forgiveness is always a gift to One Self, for only the error of attack seemed to veil the Love within. The Spirit teaches that pardon is always justified, and peace and understanding go together. Pardon what never happened and accept What Is is the pathway to the Happiness of Being Present.
The ego may seem to quote scripture and justify an "anti" feeling or opinion, yet the ego has no seeming existence or power or life unless it is believed. It is helpful to question the unconscious ego belief system in abuse and victimhood, for once it is exposed as false it disappears from awareness.
I am joined with you in forgiveness, and complete forgiveness is the awareness that the separation from God never happened. Indeed only forgiveness is a worthy goal for your time and effort, for forgiveness yields peace of mind. Nothing can prevail against a Child of God Who knows of God's Eternal Peace.
Love,
David
Fear, Sickness and Concepts video: How to look at sickness and what to do about it, including the helpful use of magic.
Description of video:
Jesus says that use of magic, such a medicine, can be helpful in reducing extreme fear. As you continue practice and to follow prompts, you find it becomes easier to let go of concepts. The Holy Spirit will never take away anything you don't want to give up.
Watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=354fsQs_6DI
How to respond to my drunk, madman husband?
Question:
When I see my husband getting drunk and behaving like a raving madman it's not real? It's only an image? What is the best response?
Answer:
What you describe is a call for love. The ego sees attack, for that is what the ego is. The Spirit within sees everything as either a call for love or an expression of love. If you align with the Spirit you will extend love and sanity when you perceive a call for love, and thus experience that you have love and are love. By giving love in all circumstances it becomes clear that love is Who I Am, and that love is without limit. See the call for love and you extend sanity and feel sane and at peace. See attack and you will be defensive and feel insane yourself. As you stay focused on what you want to experience (love), you will see witnesses to your desire for love. This is saying that what you sow (thoughts in mind) is what you reap (perceptions), for the world but witnesses to our inner state of mind. A happy dream of non-judgment and acceptance precedes a gentle Waking from the dream of the world. Divine Love is no illusion, yet anything that seems to cover over Love in awareness must be released or forgiven.
Blessings always,
David
Sickness and Laying Aside the Self-Concept videos
Five-Part video series: Sickness and Laying Aside Self-Concept
General description of Part 1:
It's all about mistaken identity and that's the reason why we have to expose and release the self concept. It's being held to take the place of our true identity and as long as we hold the self concept and value it in our mind that means we are not valuing the self that we truly are, which is pure Divine love. David quotes a line from ACIM: "Sickness is anger taken out upon the body." There is guilt in the mind, and there is anger, and self hatred that comes from believing that you are an ego, instead of being the Christ self that you are. And sickness is just one of those attempts to fend off Divine love and say to God: "Here is proof that I'm weak and little and vulnerable." And to prove that I'm not worthy of that love. It's a trick -- the mind is calling forth a witness to prove its littleness. Sickness is a wrong- minded decision so it has to be exposed. Sickness seems to hold a value to the mind that is afraid of healing.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUWNh5LbphQ
General description of Part 2:
Healing is about dropping deep into the mind to see what the sickness is really about, to release anger and who you think you are. What purpose does illness serve for the ego?" We are trying to avoid something with the sickness. We use sickness to avoid school, work and life. The mind believes it's a helpless child and believes that there are parents and authority figures out there, and that it's stuck in a world -- and that's the self concept. The self concept is so firmly held in place and it's such a feeling of being suffocated or trapped, that sickness seems like a pretty good option. Sickness is often used as an avoidance to face some kind of issue deeper down in the mind, which it would be good to put your full attention on. What is that that I'm not facing? It's an invitation to go much deeper into the mind.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7y286uw2w
General description of Part 3:
Sickness in any form is a perceptual problem. What are the underpinnings underneath it?. Look at the pain as a gift to give you the opportunity to look deeper into the mind. Only forgiveness heals a grievance, which can be buried deep in the unconscious. Sometimes it seems treatment works even if you don't change your mind. It is a shift in mind, but it may not be in awareness. Things don't just disappear or appear -- the mind is deep and has many tricks. You begin to open up to the idea that the mind is extremely causative, and that the world of effects has no causation. Quotes are from A Course in Miracles.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Em1Tepddg
General description of Part 4:
Every symptom is a form of self punishment. We have to let ourselves feel that desire to punish ourselves, to feel the actual self hatred and the shame. Allow it up into awareness and see it for what it is. Expose it so fully that there is no part of the psyche that tries to hide it anymore. David quotes the workbook (ACIM): "I am not a body and my mind cannot attack. So, I cannot be sick." If my mind cannot attack, why do I have all these attack thoughts? In lesson 23 (ACIM) Jesus says: "I can escape the world I see by giving up attack thoughts". The original attack thought, the belief in separation -- that you can leave heaven -- is such a horrific thought, that it is pushed completely out of awareness.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvW4xsoHbYo
General description of Part 5:
The ego is trying to play a trick with the mind and cover over the original attack thought with these other surface attack thoughts. Until you go deeper and get down to the core attack thought (that you separated from your Father) and allow that to be released from your mind, these tricks of the ego will seem to go on and will seem to have real consequences. The belief that I can be in competition with God or to attack God is the same. If it is possible that attack is real in any way, shape or form, then guilt would be real as well. And innocence would be impossible. That is what forgiveness is all about. Enlightenment is the experience of the complete impossibility of attack, and hence of your own innocence. Trust is key when you're on this journey. The mind won't open up to miracles if it's too terrified.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlUsnMEPgI
How can I help my drug-addicted son without "enabling" him?
Question:
I've been studying ACIM for about four years and I thank Jesus every day for ACIM. Here is what seems to be my last "stumbling block": My precious son (David) is an alcoholic and drug addict. He wants to stop and tries again and again. He's been in and out of AA many times, he has OD’d and almost died, and has recently seen a new counselor but now he feels that everyone is “fed up" with him.
Everything seems to smooth out if I follow God, and I know the course says that all struggle is the attempt to deny One's True Identity as Christ. But I am ready for this to end and I don't know how much more David can endure. I would love to hear from you. Thank you for BEing there, thank you for sharing.
Answer:
Thanks for writing and opening to the Holy Spirit to unburden your mind. You have seen the Call for Love in David and have allowed the Holy Spirit to Answer in Love. Now you are ready to see that the Call for Love is always one's own Call to release all little concepts and tiny, mad beliefs and accept the Atonement or Correction of the Holy Spirit. The one "addiction" of the mind asleep and dreaming is judgment, and this stems from the belief in private minds with private thoughts. Judgment is an ego device for ordering illusions, in order to bring a sense of calm to what seems to be chaos. Your encounters with David have offered the ongoing opportunity to release the sense of personal responsibility you feel toward him. The ego made the roles of wife and mother and child to contain What cannot BE contained. They are but concepts, garments made to cloak the belief in private thoughts and private minds. The responsibility to be accepted is for the state of mind God Wills for You as the Christ: Peace.
Pain, no matter what the form, no matter if it seems physical or psychological, no matter if it seems "here" or "there,” is always a wrong-minded perception. Pain is the misperception that comes from the belief in private minds with private thoughts. Pain is the belief that One Mind can be broken apart and divided into pieces. True empathy comes from aligning with the Holy Spirit and seeing the impossibility of separation, of judgment, of sickness. It is humility to accept the wholeness of mind which reflects the Oneness of God's Mind. What is the same cannot be different, and what is one cannot have separate parts. The simple logic of the Holy Spirit is as follows: If God is real there is no pain, and if pain is real there is no God. Forgiveness returns the awareness of wholeness to the mind which, for an instant, seemed to doubt. Atonement is the Correction to the struggle of false identification with the ego, and as you shared: "all struggle is the attempt to deny One's True Identity as Christ."
I have received 2 songs from Resta that address the opportunity which is now presenting itself. By releasing the concept of David the mind simultaneously is freed to release its tiny self-concept and accept itself as the Living Christ. The I Am Presence is far beyond the roles and distinctions and demarcations of "identity" that the ego sponsors. It cannot be difficult to "let go" what never was. This final "leap" or "surrender" entails no loss, for the acceptance of Christ as Christ is the recognition of Spirit, Which is ever the Same in God's Love. Here are the helpful songs:
I RELEASE YOU
You don't have to pretend to be someone you're not, a puppet who moves on the strings of my thoughts. The role I've assigned you has cheated us both of the light and the glory that lives in the soul, but patiently yields to each mask we put on that proclaims we're not children of God.
I release you, my brother, to be who you are, my savior, the Christ who abides in God's heart. And I'll be there with you, for we're truly one, beloved of the Father, His Son.
You don't have to be little, unloved and unknown, clothed in a body that you call your own. You're not a husband and I'm not a wife, for mind has no gender and form has no life. It's time to remember what we always knew, that God has one Son, and not two.
You are not a person and neither am I. We forgot we were dreaming and living a lie. Now Spirit is calling, My dear child, awake, let God's sweet love heal you, correct your mistakes. Be married to all, for the all is just One, God's holy and blessed Christ Son.
SHADOWLAND
"Be willing to forgive the Son of God for what he did not do. The shadow figures are the witnesses you bring with you to demonstrate he did what he did not. Because you bring them, you will hear them." - ACIM
Shadows dwell in Shadowland and you can never understand their shadow talk and shadow deeds, their shifting thoughts and shadow needs. They tell you all about their hurts, how they are victims of this world. They search for other ghosts to blame the ones who caused them so much pain.
Shadowland, so sad and desolate. Shadowland, where all are separate. Where nothing lives and nothing dies. Nothing is. There's only lies in Shadowland.
Pain and pleasure, guilt and sin: the bait they use to pull you in. From God they say you've gone apart, and He has cast you from His heart. Shadow figures from the past steal the moments from your grasp, hide the lovely and the real, fill your mind with spiteful dreams.
Let them go. Turn to the Light. Shadows cannot bear the sight, the Face of Christ that is revealed when you let your mind be healed. Although they seem to really live, they'll disappear when you forgive to be replaced with happy dreams where only peace and love are seen.
No more Shadowland, sad and desolate, Let go of Shadowland, and be not separate. In joy you'll live, and you can never die, when you forgive, laugh at the lies of Shadowland.
Blessings of healing be upon you. Nothing can separate Whom God created as One in Spirit. I suggest you let the Holy Spirit nourish and nurture your holy mind through the songs on this website: http://musicofchrist.net
Everything that comes from the Holy Spirit is freely Given and freely Received. You are deeply Loved!
Love always,
David
How can something so perfect as the human body NOT have been created by God?
Question:
It seems difficult to believe that something so perfect as the human body is not created by God.
Answer:
If you take an honest look at the human body, your perception of perfection may change! It seems to be born, but then it seems to die. It seems to bring many pleasures, but it also seems to bring many pains. The ego hates the body. It believes it deserves a better home. The ego does not know of heaven, and the body was made as a substitute home. It tries to dress it up and make it pretty, like painting lipstick on a skeleton. Yet to the Holy Spirit, the body is neutral. It is neither beautiful nor ugly. It is neither good nor bad. It is a symbol, just like a tree or a car or a pencil. To the Holy Spirit the body is a learning device, or more accurately, an unlearning device. It helps you unlearn a sense of pride, of uniqueness, of individuality. The ego seems to be insulted at every turn of the spiritual journey. So coming back to your original question, that which is eternal is perfect. God is perfect. Christ is perfect, and creation, which is spirit, is perfect. The body, the sun, the stars, the planets, even the black holes, seem to have a beginning and they will seem to have an ending. In that sense nothing in form and nothing in time and space is perfect because it will not last.
Love,
David
Why would the so called "master teacher" defend a copyright? Does Awakening involve a "physical transformation"?
Question:
I have followed a teacher for years who has been called and declared himself an awakened master teacher. He has taught that mind is singular, that this world was over long ago, that he speaks from out of time, and that he and all of us followers are going to flash out of time together. He makes many references to the Bible and "A Course In Miracles," yet in the Bible Jesus teaches to turn the other cheek, resist not evil, and says if someone asks you for your coat to offer them your cloak as well. In ACIM, Jesus even teaches: In my defenselessness my safety lies. My teacher has in recent years, however, advocated and participated in an ongoing campaign and lawsuit against the copyright holders of ACIM and justifies this action as taking a stand for Christ against those who would attempt to distort the teachings and block the spreading of the His Word. This is confusing. I do not understand how it is possible to engage in a lawsuit, have legal representation, prepare a case against a brother, and defend a position—all in the Name of Jesus Christ? In ACIM Jesus says: If I defend myself I am attacked. Could you explain this?
My second question has to do with the teachings from my teacher about physical transformation. If the body is an illusion, how is it possible to transform or change an illusion? My teacher refers to the transfiguration of Jesus, yet I cannot understand how a change in form or in the physical has anything to do with the transformation of mind called Enlightenment? Am I missing something in the teachings of ACIM?
My third question has to do with spiritual specialness. My teacher has referred to himself, and has been referred to, as an insertion of light into the time-space continuum. At the same time, he speaks of being out of time. There is great importance placed on being WITH the master teacher, and staying in the high energy and fast time of the master teacher and the association. Yet in ACIM I read that the holiest spot on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. Would you speak about the trap of making somebody special and different from everybody else? I have heard this called the “guru trap” and it seems to be yet another ego ploy to set one brother above others, and to maintain a sense of uniqueness, specialness, and separation in a subtle way. If we are One Mind then it seems that no person, place, event, or thing will have MORE importance and that there is nothing to compare in truth. Is this so?
Answer:
Hello Beloved one. Christ is Spirit, created by God, and needs no defense. Concepts were made by the ego and thus seem to need constant defense. Truth needs no defense, for Truth has no opposite or opposition. Concepts of self are fragile and no matter how puffed up they may seem to get in this world, they have no foundation in truth and offer no peace of mind, safety, or security. Mastery through Love sees the folly and the impossibility of defense. Mastery through Love sees that a lawsuit is a joke, for defense and authentic spiritual practice have no meeting point. Defense is an ego attempt to teach that vulnerability is real, and that something exists which is in need of protection. Yet the central teaching of "A Course In Miracles" is "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." Peace and understanding go together and cannot be found apart. Be glad that you CANNOT understand a lawsuit which has been justified and engaged in under the Name of Jesus Christ. What you have described is a good example of the joke of the world, the foolishness of the ego's antics under the pretense of a "spiritual cause."
In Answer to your second question,”physical transformation" is an oxymoron or contradiction in terms. This is the error of the world of contradictions. It is indeed impossible to transform or change the physical, for the change of illusion is simply the illusion of change. That is why I say: "Seek not to change the world. Rather change your mind about the world." The Serenity Prayer is the same reminder: The world cannot be changed, the mind can change by accepting its changelessness, and the Holy Spirit is the Wisdom to know or discern the difference. The transfiguration of Jesus described in the Bible was a "phenomenon" or window dressing. It is seen—at best—as a symbol or representation of going beyond the veil of images, to the Light of Christ beyond. It is helpful to be reminded, however, that all perceptions are false. Abstract Light is Universal and not specific or particular. Spirit never comes into matter, and Truth cannot be brought to illusions. Eternity never comes into time, and Infinity never comes into the finite. This is why the concept of an "insertion of Light" is impossible, for the Word does not literally become flesh. Reality cannot be translated or transformed into unreality. Instead, bring the darkness of false belief—including the physical world—to the Light of Truth and Know Thy Self as Spirit. Time-space-matter-physical dissolves, and the Spirit remains. Accept Atonement and this realization is obvious.
In Answer to your third question, the ego IS the belief in specialness or uniqueness. The attempt to single out a person, place, thing, situation, or event from the whole tapestry of the cosmos IS the attempt to make and worship an idol or God-substitute. This ego temptation—which is the wish to make illusions real—of "guru worship" is but one example of the death wish of specialness. Whenever a comparison is made, duality has been accepted as real, and Divine Love is seemingly blocked from awareness. Yet Love simply Is. Spirit Love is the Energy of Life in God. This Energy is never high or low, bright or dim, strong or weak. Spirit is Timeless and Changeless. Time is an illusion, and thus there is no "fast” time or "slow” time. It is impossible to be close to or far away from Spirit because Spirit transcends the false concepts of distance and increments of measurement. The ego attempts to use such concepts to maintain its existence, and its existence rests on the belief in differences and uniqueness. Happily Oneness cannot be broken into different, unique pieces or parts. Wholeness means One!
You speak of the master teacher and the association. In an earlier post I addressed the illusion of an "enlightened person,” which is another oxymoron or contradiction in terms. Divine Mind is real. Personhood, a concept of body-mind-soul, is not. It is impossible for a concept to be real, for God did not create concepts. God creates Spirit and Spirit shares in God's Reality. ACIM is but one seeming pathway of releasing past associations, accepting the wholeness of the forgiven world, and remembering Self and God. Where would the association begin? Where would the association end? You see, the false is false and cannot be broken into parts or pieces. There is no we/they split, no in/out split. The association or group is but another self concept. Remember that only self concepts require the illusion of defense, and this will offer you insight to the Answer to your first question about the lawsuit. Salvation is nothing more than the escape from self concepts. Forgiveness, the last illusion, the last self concept is not made by you alone. The Holy Spirit offers Atonement as the Perspective of wholeness that transcends the ego's personal perspective of parts. To the Holy Spirit GURU means Gee You are You. The I Am Presence is Spirit, One Self forever in the Mind of God. Nothing else exists.
Truth is an experience. It cannot be organized. Look not to the flesh for the experience within. Look not to man or woman or "master teacher" in form. Spirit neither leads nor follows. Spirit simply Is. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. Atonement is the Point of recognition which transcend the ego traps of "leader" and "follower." There is nothing outside of Oneself. Such is Enlightenment!
Love & Blessings,
David
Thoughts and Actions: What we do follows from what we think.
Thoughts and Actions
General description of video:
What we do follows from what we think. We must become consistent and clear in our thought processes in order for our actions to flow clearly from them. When we think of them as not connected there is not a sense of harmony. This whole world is the Pinocchio syndrome. Human beings believe that they are autonomous people. We have to start to acknowledge the invisible strings and conditions. There is a very direct connection between action and thought. It seems invisible because the ego belief is that we have minds, thoughts and bodies of our own which all support the belief that we are autonomous individuals. Nothing could be further from the truth. To the ego pure Oneness is boring. We want to let the Holy Spirit guide our thoughts and let the actions flow from this clarity in mind.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHypm_cZ0Oo
If the body is symbol of the ego, what happens to the ego when we are no longer in a body?
Question:
The body is a symbol of the ego. When the body is no longer necessary and we are out of the body, what happens to the ego?
Answer:
One assumption in your question is that the mind could even come into a body. You must believe this before you believe you can leave the body. I once went to a Course group, and they said, “David, be practical. We are all in bodies.” I said, “We must look at those assumptions. Who is the we?” Jesus asks this in "A Course in Miracles": Who is the you who believes he is in a body?
So we might say that it is impossible to lay aside a body and leave a world still going. When you ascend, as Jesus did, you lay aside the body and the cosmos; it is all the same hallucination. Many times people will ask, “Where did Jesus go?” But there is no "place" in Heaven. Jesus says in the workbook,”We say God is and cease to speak." God does not know of time and space. The world is the sleep of amnesia.
Even quantum physics now is coming to this same conclusion. One quantum physicist in Australia came to the same conclusion as Jesus. He used the exact words that Jesus uses in Lesson 132: "There is no world!" When Jesus adds an exclamation point, he is making an emphatic statement. As we give up all judgments of specifics, the mind remembers its abstract state that has no limits or barriers.
The ideas of incarnation and reincarnation still imply soul or spirit coming into form or the body. The experience of healing sees that the mind or soul never enters the body. Jesus taught in the Bible: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit." Never the two shall meet!. Spirit is eternal and the world of flesh is temporary. When you bring darkness to the light, only the light remains. The light does not battle the darkness. Just like when you walk into a room at night and turn on the light switch, there is no battle. The darkness is gone.
Question:
Can you talk about true joining with a brother and true healing?
Answer:
Yes. Joining together often implies bodies coming together, like with "A Course in Miracles" groups or Course conferences. But the joining is never in form. You can only join in purpose; joined in one purpose to heal what never was. Peace is our purpose, forgiving and living in love. Until you are aware of the purpose, you may seem to join with your brothers and sisters and feel sad when the bodies go apart, just like in relationships when there seems to be a parting. But what could come apart was never truly joined.
It is the same with healing. Healing is associated with the body, yet in "A Course in Miracles," Jesus tells us not to ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body. That can seem like a striking statement, but it points to a deeper understanding of healing. The Holy Spirit sees the body as neutral. It is just a neutral device. It cannot be endowed with the attributes of spirit or ego. It cannot be sick or healthy. It is not really born and does not really die. You can think of it like an object such as a pen. It would seem ridiculous to say, “Your pen is looking well today,” or,”Your pen is looking pale today." or, ”I think your pen is dead. No, it's still alive! It was dead, but I brought it back to life."
This is as ridiculous as thinking of a body in the same way. As long as you attempt to heal the body, you are attempting to heal something that cannot be healed. All healing is of the mind, and you will know that you are healed by the peace and joy and happiness you feel. There is no sense of pain. There is no sense of conflict. You will even lose a sense of fatigue in listening with the Holy Spirit. You will feel a sense of vitality, a sense of alertness, and this is healing.
It is fragmented perception that is the sickness. The entire cosmos is one beautiful tapestry to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not pull one thread out and say, ”This one I like the best." The Holy Spirit does not compare one thread to another thread. The Holy Spirit sees the tapestry as whole. If you read Lesson 136 closely, which says: "Sickness is a defense against the truth", you will see that the sickness is an attempt to pull apart from the whole. The ego attempts to do this and, for example, pulls a body out of the cosmos, gives it a name, puts all kinds of characteristics on it: male or female, young or old, tall or short, and sick or well.
Pulling the part out from the whole is the sickness. Therefore, what is projected onto the part is just a further error. That is why the most important realization in awakening to Heaven is that the problem is a perceptual problem, looking through a darkened glass, as it says in Corinthians. You cannot see with the vision of Christ if you keep looking through the ego lens. So "A Course in Miracles" is simply a way of clearing the glass and learning to see the whole as whole.
Love,
David