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July-September, 2015

Addressing Issues on Healing, Sickness and Death

by Rev. Linda Wisniewski, O.M.C.

The Chronic and Critical Illness Support Group that meets on a monthly basis has started addressing some of the questions that come to the group. Each participant in these meetings volunteers to address one of the questions and then everyone else in the group adds their comments.

We invite everyone to join in our monthly meetings and share in these discussions. We meet the first Sunday of every month at 11:30 a.m. CT. The telephone number is: 1-712-775-7031 and the access code is: 399-899-796. The following is a discussion we had on the following question which I volunteered to address, followed by group discussion.

When someone dies from a certain illness, does that mean they were not healed?

The first thought that came up was: What does it mean to be healed? When we talk about healing, what are we talking about? If we are talking about the mind needing to be healed and not the body, what do we mean by a healed mind? The Course says that a healed mind is a mind that no longer believes in the separation story.

So what is the separation story? It is a story of the cycle of birth and death that was made up by part of the mind (the ego) that believed it separated from God’s Love. It’s the story that the egoic split mind made up of lost innocence. It’s the belief that because we believed we separated from our Source, which is Love, we are guilty and the consequence of that guilt is punishment. What can be the greatest punishment that the ego could make up to “atone” for that “guilt”? The greatest punishment is to punish the body with sickness and death.

The ego has us believe we were birthed into a body to hide from God; that body then suffers and dies because we believe that God is punishing us for separating from Him.

So, what is death? In the Manual for Teachers, page 66-67, it states:

“Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem.” (1:1)

“Death is the symbol of the fear of God.” (3:1)

“His Love is blotted out in the idea, which holds it from awareness like a shield held up to obscure the sun.” (3:2)

“Death denies Life.” (4:3)

“And what is the end of death? Nothing but this; the realization that the Son of God is guiltless now and forever.” (7:8)

So, do we die from illness or is death the symbol of an unhealed mind that believes it is so guilty that it deserves the punishment of death?

And just because we believed we made a body to separate from God, do we have to punish this body?

In the Course we are learning that we were given the Holy Spirit to help us remember the Truth and return to our Source, which is Love. While we are in the dream, the Holy Spirit can use what we made for a Holy purpose. The body can then be seen as a communication device to extend God’s Love out into the world; it doesn’t have to be used as a vehicle for punishment and projection of our fear and guilt.

In the illusion, we have been taught by the ego that the body gets old, suffers with sickness and then dies. This indeed is a fearful image. But the Holy Spirit tells us that the body can be gently laid down when it’s usefulness is complete and no longer needed, not in death, but because it no longer means anything.

“Forgiveness lets the body be perceived as what it is; a simple teaching aid, to be laid by when learning is complete, but hardly changing him who learns at all.” (W-pI.192.4:3)

So healing comes from forgiving the sick thoughts in our mind that makes us believe we are guilty, and that we are apart from God and deserve sickness and death. Forgiveness is our only function in the dream.

We give our willingness to the Holy Spirit to help us let go of the belief in fear and guilt that we projected onto the body that appears as sickness and death. As Holy Spirit works with us, the Mind returns to our Oneness with our Source, which is Divine Love. We ask the Holy Spirit for help in releasing thoughts of guilt and fear and to embrace our innocence.

In the process of awakening from the dream of death, we need to be gentle with ourselves and forgive ourselves for wanting to punish our bodies and for not being “further along” or not knowing “quickly enough.” We need to forgive ourselves for the stories we have made up.

As the illusion of the dream is undone, the concept of death will be undone along with it. As long as we are giving our willingness to the Holy Spirit to help us awaken, we are healing. Forgiveness is our function. That is the proper use of time while we believe we are dreaming.

So when someone leaves the body through illness, does that mean they were not healed? No!

Healing is a continuum, even after we gently lay the body down; it is not time-based. Our Mind doesn’t die and healing goes on until the learning is complete and we fully awaken and return to our awareness of Oneness with our Loving Creator.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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