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SearchHow 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