Ask: How can people with brain diseases choose the Holy Spirit?

“I would like to know how ACIM deals with Alzheimer's, dementia and mental illness. These illnesses seem different from say from cancer, paralysis or heart issues. The latter seem to leave room to make decisions with the Holy Spirit. But what about diseases such as the ‘brain’ related ones mentioned above. How can these patients choose again for Spirit?” – J

A Course in Miracles does not address specific illnesses because from the perspective of Truth all illusion is illusion. The specific form of an illusion does not make it any less an illusion.
The mind is not in the brain but as long as you identify with a body you will allow your thinking to be affected by the brain as though it is. However, the Truth in your mind goes on untouched in any way by anything that seems to happen in the illusion. Your awareness or lack of awareness of Truth has no effect whatsoever on the Truth in your mind. So if a person’s identification with a body keeps them from being consciously aware of the Holy Spirit (the awareness of Truth in their mind) it does not affect the Truth in their minds. They just remain unaware of It.

Remember, your lack of awareness of Truth is temporary. In other words, it only affects what you think of as you in the story that you are that which is in time. That story is an illusion whether you are or are not aware of Truth. It falls away whether or not you become aware of Truth. Only the Truth in your mind is eternal. So no one has to become aware of Truth. It’s an individual choice of a mind that thinks it is in time and wants to find lasting peace.

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Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.
If you have a question the answer to which you think will help others send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog.

Comments

jacomina said…
That's interesing Liz.
" No one has to become aware of Truth". And yet I'm doing exactly that. It is my goal. Is it not?

love Jacomina
11:17 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
I'm not sure what you are asking. Yes, it's your goal. The emphasize in the line you quote should be on "has to". You can choose to, but it is not required that you do so.
11:34 AM
Anonymous said…
That is absolutely correct. There is "no one"..in Reality there is only Truth and Truth need not have to become aware of Itself...IT just is.
12:45 PM
jacomina said…
No one "has to" become aware of Truth unless they want peace, - the story to dissolve.

sorry for my confusion.

What could be more clear.

Thank you.

Jacomina
10:43 AM
will said…
I feel well taken care of by the Holy Spirit. I'm covered. But I have not remembered to ask first on any kind of consistent basis. Ego arrogance. No ask, no cover.
1:20 PM
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
5:48 AM
Aleta said…
In his last two years, my Dad had dementia and was pretty "bad." He only lived in the moment and didn't recognize other "selves" and of course couldn't function in this world. It occurred to my husband and I that perhaps he was more aware of Truth then because he no longer had the experience of self. It is just a thought.
6:35 AM
Layla M said…
I have worked for several years with people with mental illness and addiction,and taught meditation to the ones who were attracted to my class. It amazed me how easily these folks diagnosed with mental illness could sit and go into that silence that is asked of us repeatedly throughout the ACIM workbook. Yes, even the ones with ADD. Many would report a profound realization that there was a feeling deeper inside, beyond their thoughts, that was better than drugs. One women said she felt God was holding her in His arms. The key here is what I said above: "the ones who were attracted" to my class. When the separated self is ready to realize Truth, it doesn't matter what condition the brain is in, Holy Spirit responds and a way to Truth that can reach that self will be made available. Amazing! peace to all, Layla
11:52 AM
Christine said…
Will, I think we are always "covered", by the Holy Spirit...as separated split personal self minds we don't realize the coverage and perhaps by way of guilt (chosen) stuff could seemingly happen. Asking is I guess tuning into an awareness of the HS's care, etc. A few months ago - maybe four or five now, I distinctly "heard" the Holy Spirit "say" , "Jesus Six", as I awakened one morning. I had never heard that term before!! I forgot about it...a few days later, I broke for lunch (I work at home) so I watched TV for the news and was flipping around and I saw the tail end of a commercial (I had not seen before, nor since) that was something to do with Got Your Six...and the marines, or army or something...I Googled the term, it came forth during WWII and "Got Your Six" meant "got your back", I think like the two people in a plane flying a mission - the one in back of the pilot "had his back" or was the look out. It had something to do with the numbers/time on the clock face. So, Jesus Six! We just don't acknowledge it.
1:08 PM
will said…
That is quite a post Christine!

You sent me back looking for where that idea came from and it was Chapter 30 Rules for Decision and is that timely! Exactly what I want to be reading. Much Thanks
2:20 PM
will said…
Christine,

After reflecting on your post for a few minutes, it feels like the Holy Spirit is talking directly to Me through You. I love this stuff.
2:46 PM
will said…
A dementia story:

A few years back I had been living with my parents because my mothers dementia/Alzheimer's had become severe enough that my father could no longer take care of her. They were both in their 80's at that time. Even after caring for her for years she did not know who I was. Most of the time she said I was the gardener. My sense was she knew my dad but probably not as her husband more like her security. My sister had come down to visit which was about every six months. Mom didn't know her either. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my mother and my sister was standing next to the table and all of a sudden my mother WAS BACK like she had never been gone. She was laughing and joking with my sister. Something like that is so startling that I sensed immediately that there was something other worldly taking place. Mom was like that for a few minutes with my sister and then went away again never to come back. She died shortly thereafter and it gave me comfort to think she was saying goodbye to my sister.
3:01 PM
will said…
I was thinking after writing the dementia story how women have something going on between them that men are unlikely to ever be aware of let alone understand. That being said I realize how little I know about what is going on around me. It's like I put on a pair of blinders years ago so I could deal with the world and that's all I have ever seen.
3:36 PM
Christine said…
In "Dialogue on Awakening: Communion with a Loving Brother", 1992, (pretend title is underlined), in Chapter 8, "On the Physical Experience" Jesus/the Holy Spirit talks about senility and Altzheimer's disease. Tom Carpenter asked: Why does the mind lose its short term memory as people get older?
HS: "It is not a question of the mind losing anything, nor is it a function of age or time. Your mind is ageless. However, when you accept your body as being the total identification of you, then naturally the mind is associated with the body. And as you believe the body should deteriorate, you create the belief that the mind will follow the same pattern"....skipping down to, "In societies in which age is valued, equated with wisdom and usefulness, you do not find short term memory loss or senility in older people". On Altzheimer's he says, :" It is a form of retreat from dealing with pain when one has reached a point in his life where an accumulation of fears makes him unwilling to cope with life as he is experiencing it. The pain will most often have been accumulated from a central feeling of rejection and that rejected feeling becomes pervasive throughout his other experiences. ...because his perception has become overwhelmed with a feeling of lack of worth due to rejection, he then sees all of his experiences as being confirmation of this rejection. A general feeling is developed that whatever experience is taking place would take place better without them in it, and they therefore retreat from the experience." There's more and I have edited, but this is just one chapter with questions that we seem we feel need to have some kind of answers now.
9:31 AM
Anonymous said…
Someone I know exhibits absolutely no guilt or remorse ever. It seems progressively more apparent that he comes under the label - as much as a person ever can - of psychopath. The course in Miracles makes it clear that the Truth is that we don't indeed have any guilt, and that guilt is of the ego. If so, wouldn't this make a psychopath, who experiences no guilt, someone who is actually already free of the ego and possibly spiritually advanced! And, if we don't feel guilt and are free of it, what prevents us from ending up with some sort of what is usually called a personality disorder? Because somewhere along the line we believe we are above it and everything we do - good and bad (should such labels have relevance) - is already forgiven, and therefore guiltless.
9:18 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
The blog for November 21 answers this so you may want to check that out!
10:21 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
Also, there is a difference between a social conscience (which a psychopath lacks) and guilt (which their rage reveals they subconsciously feel). I go into this in my book, "Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace". You can find this for only $5 at www.amazon.com or www.lulu.com.
10:55 AM
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