More on A Different Approach to the Body
Last week’s article, “A Different Approach to the Body”,
resulted in a wave of comments and questions at my blogsite and in my email. The
central point of the article was to give an example of how one should be led
from within rather than from a teaching in the world. However, the comments and
questions I received were largely about the example rather than the central idea.
Here I will attempt to clear up some points that seemed to confuse some
students:
First, I did not mean to imply that the different approach
to the body to which I was led by the Holy Spirit (the awareness of Truth
within me) was wholly out of line
with what A Course in Miracles teaches.
Some sent me quotes from ACIM that were in line with what I teach. However, if
I stopped with those passages from ACIM I’d be disregarding significant portions
of what else ACIM teaches. So, yes, much of what I teach about the body is in
line with ACIM. But I’ve also been led away from its core teachings about the
body. ACIM puts a lot of emphasis on how the mind causes illnesses in and is
the source of healing the body. My awareness of Truth (Holy Spirit) has led me
to see form as all one illusion and to disregard it as a whole. This includes
the level of mind that makes decisions about the body’s condition.
Second, this part of my article confused many. They could
not see the distinction I was making:
“For example I would read in ACIM that illness in the body
is caused by my identification with the body. In my guilt I would feel fearful
when I read this. But later when I would think of those passages the Holy
Spirit in my mind would explain that I experienced illness because of my
identification with the body. This, of course, makes perfect sense. I would not
experience illness otherwise.”
Here’s the distinction: ACIM says that illness in the body
is caused by one’s identification with the body. If one withdraws their
identification from the body, the body will be healed:
“The idea of
separation produced the body and remains connected to it, making it sick
because of the mind’s identification with it.” (T-19.I.7)
“The body, valueless
and hardly worth the least defense, need merely be perceived as quite apart
from you, and it becomes a healthy, serviceable instrument through which the
mind can operate until its usefulness is over.” (W-135.8)
What I have learned from the Holy Spirit is that like all
form, the body is limited, changeable, and open to manifestations of
dysfunction in many forms. This is so because the experience of form is the
opposite of eternally perfect, limitless, formless Truth. Medicines,
treatments, etc. for the body are available at the level of the body (form). I
only experience illness when I identify with an ill body. However, as mind I
can detach from the experience of the body, whatever its condition, and watch
it in the recognition that it is not real and is a passing experience.
So, to sum up: ACIM teaches that illness in a body is caused
by the mind that perceives itself in that body. It teaches that one only has to
choose to not be ill and they will not experience illness or a manifest illness
will disappear.
What I have been taught is that illness in the body is the
result of causes (genes, environment, attitudes, behavior, lifestyle choices,
energy) at the level of form. Some causes (attitudes, behavior, choices,
energy) can change if one changes them and this may result in illness not
manifesting, being mitigated, and perhaps healing. One’s willingness to have
the body be well results in their becoming aware of the appropriate medicines,
treatments, diets, etc. at the level of form.
The significant distinction here is that ACIM teaches that
the body can be perfected by one withdrawing their identification from it.
Where I have been led is to see that one can withdraw their identification from
the body and experience detachment from its conditions. But the body continues
on as inherently limited, occasionally or chronically dysfunctional,
deteriorating form that eventually ceases to be animated (“alive”) and decays if
it is not preserved (mummified, etc.) or destroyed.
Why is this distinction important? Because ACIM’s way kept
me focused on the body’s condition as an indicator of my state of mind. The way
I have been led has allowed me to be at peace no matter the condition of the
body. I accept that the experience of form will never be perfect. This sets me
free to detach from it and to focus on mind instead of the body. The result has
been for my awareness of Truth and peace to be my focus as the body falls into
the background of my experience.
For me, anyway, ACIM’s way blurred the line between Truth and
illusion; between Formless Mind and form-bound thinking. The way I have been
led has made the distinction between Truth and illusion clear to me. Any
concern with form is limiting.
Third, ACIM does not
say that the goal is to heal your mind to heal the body. (Again, I have culled
what ACIM says about the body and healing at my website, www.acimmentor.com/acimandbodydisorders.com).
Nor was I suggesting that this is what ACIM teaches. What it does teach is a
result of health for the body as the mind is healed. In other words, physical
healing is not the goal for healing the mind, but is a side effect. Where I
have been led is to attend to mind and let the self (body, personality) be as
it is without judging it. This is how I detach from it. And I have experienced
a mind growing in its awareness of Truth and peace while the body continues on with
many of the typical issues of middle age. My experience seems to be in line
with other spiritual teachers, mentioned by some readers, who no longer
identified with a self and yet whose bodies died of illness. (I do not yet
claim to not identify with a self at all. But it is harder to find).
Having written all of this, I hope readers will eventually
come to realize that we are talking about
nothing. Attend to the body and it will grow in your awareness. So will
guilt and a feeling of vulnerability and fear. Attend to Truth and It will grow
in your awareness. So will the awareness that you are whole and perfect in
Truth and that the body is nothing.
Comments
You're right the Truth is not different for everyone. But I wasn't writing about Truth.
Michael
Michael
Most everything that is written in the comment section is the personal mind with a name attached. It's something I'm just beginning to learn and use in the world.
Michael
Then I am reassured in Lesson 155 “I will step back and let Him lead the way.” and cautioned, “9. Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you.”
In ACIM, it is pretty clear that it says it is OK to use "magic" (which I assume is ANY "cure" found in the realm of form) to heal your body... and you've already stated that these "causes" (of both illness and healing) include: genes, environment, attitudes, behavior, lifestyle choices, energy. So, my question is, wouldn't the use of "energy healing" (reiki, chakra, chi, etc.) and/or things like affirmations, visualizations, prayer, etc. simply be part of the use of "magic within form", with the distinction that the "personal thought system" (ego) was being called on. Anyone using this type of "healing modality" could still use these "natural remedies" (as an alternative to other magical "pills") and see them as NOT a part of the more desired healing of the MIND (through the Atonement/forgiveness)and therefore remain DETACHED from the outcome while still seeking to make the body more comfortable to live in while participating in the "dream"?
It seems to me that it is pretty much a scientific fact that the "mind" contributes to healing the body, and if you are going to say it is OK to go to the doctor, take pills, watch your diet, etc. to cure an illness in the body, then the use of mind (within the dream) should be considered at least as valid and as practical as the "normal" medical practices... thoughts??
I thought what you posted made complete sense. It has to come down to the body being an illusion in the sense of not real, not truth. This is obvious because it does not last, decays, etc. and what is real does not. Nonetheless, I deal with pain daily and it is a struggle because the body seems completely real, in fact the dominant experience. I think there is more to learn here, for me at least. I appreciate what you shared. It helps to think about this more, ponder it, because it is such an important part of our experience.
— Richard
And, once again let me say that reading of your statement of this distinction is very helpful for me. Thank you!!
As for Liz's assertion that one is able to be sick and pretty much ignore it and focus on the Truth - it is possible of course but it takes a very powerful mind. I read somewhere that some spies and prisoners of war were able to transcend torture by somehow disconnecting from the body certainly has a ring of truth, but again it takes an incredible strength of mind to be able to do this. I have lived with a dysfunctional body for over twenty years now and given it involves eating I am faced with the issue multiple times during the day. I finally realized my focus was in the wrong place and the result was extreme guilt for not being able to heal my mind and thus heal the body. I have finally let go the focus on the body even though I still accept that the body's condition is a result of the condition of the mind, but my focus is now seeking the Truth while watching the body's emotions expose my thoughts that were forever hidden from me before.
Thank you Liz, you are such a wonderful Teacher of God.
When I experience pain, I tell myself that the pain is happening, but it isn't happening to "Me." It works sometimes . . .
i love this... "The central point of the article was to give an example of how one should be led from within rather than from a teaching in the world."
i enjoyed what liz said around the discrepancies in ACIMs teachings. i believe they are there purposefully, though i could be wrong of course ;)
ACIM (usually i am sure, though maybe some come to it having learned much of it already!) has the seemingly gargantuan purpose of meeting us more or less fully immersed in mistaken identity with the world and ourselves in it as bodies which are real. and it speaks to us in ways that introduce truth gently, because if it gave us purely the simple truth we would run away as fast as we could, our egos defences fully up in some form or another, away from what we see as our sure demise!
as we go along studying the course, the discrepancies of some of its teachings containing 'more individual identification' and those containing 'more true identification' become apparent. as we go along we are strengthening our identification with truth, which lessens the fear of letting go of bodily identification. as the course says, it is a beginning, not and end. its main purpose is to help us get in touch with the teacher of truth within us, to trust that. the teacher of truth will then sort out the parts of acim that were speaking to the fully body identified from the parts that were leading away from that identification. its very helpful when seen from that point, to have these obviously incongruent teachings! they lead us gently from what seems loving to what really is loving, though they are sure confusing when you first notice them!
"The central point of the article was to give an example of how one should be led from within rather than from a teaching in the world." im laughing at how threatened i felt by my interpretation of that article.. now im grateful for the sense of threat cos i used it to remember that truth cannot be threatened!
a funny (to myself at any rate ;) ) aside.. when liz posted that first article, i was in the middle of the longest lasting and most intense illness ive ever experienced. and it was one of the most joyful times in my life, the last two weeks of it at any rate! because i was practising the awareness that being ill did not mean i was a victim, either of forces from outside or from thoughts within me, and this led to my experiencing peace which came from knowledge that what my body was experiencing had no power to effect the truth in any way, or to even affect my awareness of truth unless i actually WANTED to feel like a victim, or like i was being punished for something!! now to just remember that i can choose that kind of peace without the prompting of illness!
acim i feel is, in the end, kinda.. setting us free from itself as another part of the external world!