To Deny the Body is "Unworthy" of Your Mind
To Deny the Body is “Unworthy” of Your Mind (March
10, 2017)
All students come to A
Course in Miracles identified with the ego (personal thought system), which
is another way of saying that they come with their mind steeped in guilt. So
when they read that the body is not real they think that they are guilty for
identifying with it. Actually, they do feel,
unconsciously or consciously, guilty for identifying with it, but that does not
mean that they are guilty for
identifying with it. However, reading that the body is not real only increases
their guilt at first and they attempt to deal with this guilt by pretending
that they do not identify with it (“I know I’m not a body, but…”) or by denying
or repressing their body’s feelings or desires.
Denial is never the way to deal with guilt. It suppresses
the source of guilt (the belief that the body is real) instead of undoing it.
And denying your experience also denigrates the power of your mind, which leads
to feeling powerless.
“The body is merely
part of your experience in the physical world. Its abilities can be and frequently
are overevaluated. However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence in
this world. Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of
denial. The term "unworthy" here implies only that it is not
necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful. If one denies this
unfortunate aspect of the mind's power, one is also denying the power itself.”
(T-2.IV.3)
This is one of the most important quotes in ACIM because it
means to prevent the very common mistake of dealing with guilt through denial.
As it says, the body is only a part of your experience of the physical world.
It is not wrong. You over-evaluate the body’s ability to make you feel whole,
which is a mistake, not a “sin”. If you deny the experience of the body you
deny the power of your mind, the source of your experience of it. And then you
cannot move past the experience.
To move past your identification with a body you need to
first acknowledge that you are the source of this identification. If you don’t
you will feel some other power is the source of your identification and that
you are powerless to change your mind. But once you acknowledge the power of
your mind and the power of its choice to identify with the body you can use
this identification to grow your awareness of Truth. Invite the Holy Spirit (the
Awareness of Truth in your mind) to be your partner in everything to do with
the body: Its health, its diet, its relationships, its work, its interests –
everything. In time, as the Holy Spirit becomes real to you and you learn to
trust It, It will lead you past your identification with the body and into the
Awareness of Truth. This, not denial, is what ACIM teaches you to do with the
body.
>>>>
Do you have questions about or blocks to making the Holy Spirit your partner in everything? My job as a mentor is to help you hear the Holy Spirit within your own mind. Learn more about what I offer at www.acimmentor.com.
Comments
The term "unworthy" here implies only that it is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful. If one denies this unfortunate aspect of the mind's power, one is also denying the power itself.
i believe my mind is powerful and doesnt exist in a bubble. if i can sometimes hear others thoughts and feel what they are feeling, then others cannot be immune to my thoughts.
oh.
Denial is never the way to deal with guilt. It suppresses the source of guilt (the belief that the body is real) instead of undoing it.
well, i can understand that intellectually. i can see how my thinking that the body is real is the only reason i could feel guilty about my thoughts and feelings. and because i think the body is real i think it can be effected by outer causes. but liz.. thats so damn hard! how do i not repress this self, when it has thoughts that would/could make others i believe in feel uncomfortable or afraid without knowing why they are feeling it? it seems so unkind, and yet i CAN see how that belief is just a trap. i feel trapped, by myself, by my thoughts, and by caring for how others feel and wanting them to feel safe and un-threatened. and i feel angry. cos it FEELS like the only way out is to .. well.. be harmful without holding back. oh, thank god for bridges.. HS and you.
Do you think you are the only one going around having negative thoughts about others? Everyone has them. It's how we know what others think! You are claiming too much power! You are no different from anyone else. Why are you the only one responsible?
And do you think that repressing those thoughts mean that they are not there? Repression does not get rid of them. It's the way you hold onto them. Let them come up and then let them pass and choose to come from the other place.
You are giving these thoughts and feelings way too much power. They are just thoughts and feelings!
i had to look up intuit, and it said 'understand or work out by instinct'. and that is how i understand humans to work, how we read others, including body language etc. but sometimes something happens that is different than that. (will, id not say psychic, because its rare, random, not something i can choose and so far has never been useful.)(except.. maybe right now, laugh!) i'll give a quick example, to show how its not intuition, liz, or at least not as the definition that i just read.. maybe you mean something different?
my friend ness and i went to visit another friend, elf, and as i walked through the front door i heard the words, very loud and clear, 'i shat myself' and my reaction to that was 'woah hannah, boy you think some random s***" and i dropped it, which in itself was odd for me, id normally go into self analysis, but i was busy socialising. half an hour later i could see elf (who is in her late 70's) was working up to telling us something, and she told how the week before she had been out with a friend and had an 'big accident' while on a long drive, and how she dealt with the extreme embarrassment, guilt for making a mess, and how she was struggling to cope with a body that was no longer functioning as it was 'supposed' to. it was obviously on her mind to talk about it with people she trusted, and that was basically what i heard walking through the door. and thats what scares me, liz. im not different, mind is just mind. i know i was just talking with nikki about different ways to look at others responses to ourselves if they feel hurt or something, then feeling guilty .. and its obviously something im only barely learning myself.
i think im edging toward being able to let go of projecting responsibility for feelings where responsibility isnt. inner and outer, all the same. i guess.. i basically always feel responsible for how everyone is feeling. whether ive felt that ive caused their feelings or not, ive felt deeply that it was my job to alleviate others pain. even as i kid if i didnt like someone, or was scared of someone, if they were angry or hurting i couldnt bear it. im finding that idea/feeling, so far, the very hardest one to drop, and its the biggest whip. my biggest special relationship self image. ah, liz. i just got another part of the higher miracle dream. golly, thank you. i guess i always felt, i was the only one responsible, because very often it seemed that no one else was interested in helping the person in pain, and if id didnt try and alleviate the pain, no one else did. so i felt i had to try and protect everyone.
bloody hell. ive used moths as a symbol for 'allies, friends' after reading carlos castaneda. one just flew under my thumb as i was typing and i killed it. this is part of the higher miracle dream too liz. i feel so damn guilty. meaning to or not, i killed it. i feel no desire to go into drama right now liz, or beat myself up.. but i KNOW this is the heart of the big block. i believe that moth was innocent and i killed it. its like.. i chose that, IT chose that, and that insanity is unbearable. except its not now. that other place is real, not this madness. but i believe in death still.
Keep in mind that your one responsibility is to accept the Atonement (correction of your perception that you are separate from God) FOR YOURSELF.
Write less, listen more.
Is it not just "willingness" that is required to see things differently? ... a surrender to be open to receive through HS rather then trying to do it for ourselves? Me thinks me thinks too much. Lol
I ask myself, "Can we really cause our own illnesses with our our thoughts? Is there some boogeyman around every bush ready to judge and criticize and punish?" You can't make this stuff up, as the saying goes. But that's the point - we do, and suffer for it. Time to choose.
'the ego thought system is 100% hate. 100% self hate, which is guilt. it never changes, or diminishes. it will only disappear in that instant we choose to accept the atonement for ourselves. and then, its just gone. until then it remains what 100% hate.
the holy spirits right minded thought system is 100% forgiveness, love, peace. this difference in the thought systems is the only difference that is 'allowable' in terms of making sense to us in the world of illusion.
both thought systems are illusory, but the egos roots us in the illusion. the holy spirits corrects what never happened, so it is also illusory, but it leads us out of perceiving illusion as truth.
it shines a light on the thought system of sin, guilt and attack. and then the darkness just dissolves back into the nothingness from which it came. it doesnt diminish - what diminishes is the amount of time we spend with what causes us pain.
it sounds easy when you read it like this.. but letting go of attachment to the ideas of what will make the self happy? letting go the self we know? it feels like committing suicide. like self harm! ah, time to choose. now i have the simpsons in my head.. a valentines card with 'i choo choose you' make that a capital Y and abstract and see where the train goes?
Yes, the ego will tell you that you are "killing yourself" by letting it go. But of course it always speaks for itself. You are "killing" it, not yourself. It's just a thought system with which you mistakenly identify. And you don't have to worry about it falling away before you are ready. It will be natural when it happens.
'something wild'
You had your maps drawn
You had other plans
To hang your hopes on
Every road they led you down felt so wrong
So you found another way
You've got a big heart
The way you see the world
It got you this far
You might have some bruises
And a few scars
But you know you're gonna be okay
Even though you're scared
You're stronger than you know
If you're lost out where the lights are blinding
Caught in all the stars are hiding
That's when something wild calls you home, home
If you face the fear that keeps you frozen
Chase the sky into the ocean
That's when something wild calls you home, home
Sometimes the past can
Make the ground beneath you feel like quicksand
You don't have to worry
You reach for my hand
And I know you're gonna be okay
You're gonna be okay
Even if you're scared
You're stronger than you know
etc..
but.. i think am slowly learning that as liz says.. its time to stop working so damn hard. continuing to work so hard would be.. holding peace at arms length. i mean.. i am who i am, im interested in what i am.. but that part, that focus, the interest and magnetic pull of this path, that in itself doesnt feel like work. i cant imagine really focusing on anything else like this. but .. oh! as liz wrote, as far as the part that DOES still feel like hard work, (ie. when guilt is present as real and i feel i need to solve a problem)
"Whenever you feel like working at it remind yourself that you are in that process and it will happen organically."
isnt organically a great word will!? i mean.. when i feel super low, i could poke the word in the eyeball, but otherwise.. so very relaxing!