"I am not a body, I am free..."

Sometimes when I share with my clients that I used to take certain ideas and phrases in A Course in Miracles and meditate on them to take them deeper they want an example. So here is an example of what I mean by meditating on a concept:

“I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.” (W-Review VI-intro.3)

Notice how this phrase begins with a negative but quickly fills in the blank: “I am not a body. I am free.” It is never a good practice to stay in a negative or “not” phrase. It would leave me in emptiness. The obvious question that arises in my mind with the negative “I am not a body” is “Then what am I?” So the answer is immediately given: “I am free.”

What is fascinating is that what I am is not described as something abstract like “I am Spirit” or “I am Mind”. Instead ACIM gets to the experience of what I am: Limitless. It also reveals with the word “free” that my identification with a body is the reason that I feel limited. So instead of trying to conceptualize what I am in Truth, I should pay attention to my experience. I recognize that I am aware of Truth by the experience of freedom or liberation or limitlessness.

Then: “For I am still as God created me.” “For” meaning “because” and “still” meaning “nothing has changed”. I am still Limitless because God’s Creation is not changed by my temporary experience of the limited body. Elsewhere in ACIM it redefines “creation” as “extension”. The limitless Extension of God’s Being is God’s “Creation”. I am Limitless because God’s Limitless Being extends into me. This is just another way of saying that, in Truth, God and I are one and the same.

In my translation of the Workbook of ACIM into plain, everyday language (Practicing A Course in Miracles) I bring all of this forward:


“I am not a body. I am Limitless, because I am Eternally One with God.” (P-Review 6-intro.3)

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Learn about one-on-one mentoring, how to send a donation for this blog, and 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.

Comments

will said…
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1:04 AM
nicci said…
both of liz's text and workbook translation books have been immeasurably helpful for my understanding and deepening of practice. i use them along with the ACIM book for contemplation and meditation on the Course teaching ~
unending Love . . .
7:34 AM
ACIM Mentor said…
Will, the extension of God is not into something that never was or that God was never was aware of. The extension of God into your mind is into the part of your mind that is part of God. In other words, God is always in your mind whether you are aware of It or not. This is the central message of this passage as well as of ACIM as a whole.
7:39 AM
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
9:53 PM
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
10:52 PM
will said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
11:21 PM
will said…
I picked up the UR TEXT this evening. No particular reason, it was lying on the floor by the bed. I never read it. I skimmed some of it when Jesus was talking directly to Helen but that's about. I have years behind me with the course so it is no longer difficult to understand as I read. But the UR Text is still almost impossible to understand. What I'm reading is Helen's first dictation to bill from her steno book. It is the direct quotes of what Jesus is saying to Helen. The difficulty I am talking about has nothing to do with the accuracy of what she has scribed. The things Jesus is saying are so...I don't know what word to use, heavy(?) Maybe? The concepts he puts together in a single sentence are just very difficult to make sense of.
2:36 AM
will said…
Writing on this kindle leaves something to be desired. I meant the text of ACIM is no longer difficult not the UR.
2:39 AM
Matthew Judge said…
Good blog Liz...
1:34 PM
Anonymous said…
Great post Liz!
1:56 PM
Unknown said…
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7:41 AM
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