A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

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Chapter 26: The Transition

Section VII. The Laws of Healing

Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 26, Section VII. (pages 553-558)

Where does all sickness come from?

In paragraph two Jesus reminds us that sickness comes from what we are believing in —  from our belief in being separate from God, our Source. When we forgive, or let go of this false belief in being separate from God, the sickness falls away because our experience of sickness comes only from our belief in separation and nowhere else.

The ego thought system brings with it the idea that sickness comes from some cause in the outside world that we see through the body’s eyes. The ego belief system denies the fact that the effects we see in the world always come from whose hand we are joining with, the ego’s or the Holy Spirit’s. We have made separation real in our minds and it is there, in our minds, that all healing lies.

What does guilt ask for?

We may not realize it but tied with seeing guilt anywhere comes the call for punishment. In the ego’s world, guilt comes with the desire to see separation instead of God’s oneness. Jesus tells us here: “Guilt asks for punishment, and its request is granted. Not in truth, but in the world of shadows and illusions built on sin.” (3:1-2)

We may wonder why we punish ourselves with pain, lack and loss of every kind in our dream of separation from God. Jesus answers this question very simply and clearly. We hate the guilt we feel that comes with our belief in separation, so when we make the world we see real, we are joining with the ego’s call for punishment which, to its thinking, is justified. The self-hatred that lies beneath the belief in separation demands that the story of separation include sickness, scarcity and death.

Where does God’s answer lie?

God places in our mind the answer to all our experience of pain, sickness and death. As long as we remain closed-minded about the fact that separation is not real, we will not hear God’s answer. As long as we insist that our world of separation is real, so long will our delusions of reality appear to be real to us.

We are learning that we cannot keep one illusion by preferring one illusion over another. We must come to the truth that all illusions are equally unreal. When we are willing, the Holy Spirit brings to our mind a thought reversal, showing us that differences of any kind could never be real and that only God’s oneness is real. We are told, “Illusions are illusions and are false. Your preference gives them no reality. Not one is true in any way, and all [illusions] must yield with equal ease to what God gave as answer to them all. God’s Will is one. And any wish that seems to go against His Will has no foundation in the truth.” (6:7-11)

What brings joy to every aspect of God’s Son?

It is becoming clear that the cause of all our suffering comes from the wish to be separate and apart. Now we know that our only meaningful purpose is to let this wish to see separation go and be undone for us. This release of the belief in separation is called forgiveness. “Forgiveness is the only function here, and serves to bring the joy this world denies to every aspect of God’s Son where sin was thought to rule. (8:5)

What are we forgiving? Our belief in bodies, which has become the vehicle for our wish to be separate and alone. As we become willing to see past bodies to the one Light of God we all have and are, joy replaces the sorrow and anxiety we experienced with our belief in separate bodies.

What does salvation ask of us?

Salvation asks that “a little wish that what is true be true; a little willingness to overlook what is not there; a little sigh that speaks for Heaven as a preference to this world that death and desolation seem to rule. In joyous answer will creation rise within you, to replace the world you see with Heaven, wholly perfect and complete. What is forgiveness but a willingness that truth be true?” (10:1-3) As we become willing to see as our Creator sees, we receive salvation. We awaken from the lie of separation and death of God.

What is the Will of God?

Our Creator created us as one with Him. Our Creator has given us all of Himself and that means there are no differences between us. We are united as one eternally because we are in God’s Mind, which is One.

Early in the Text we are told that we are an idea in the Mind of God. This means that we cannot leave our Source. We are still the idea of Love in the Mind of Love, no matter what false ideas we dream up. In the lessons we are told to tell ourselves: “God is but Love and therefore so am I.” We are returning to the truth that we all are all the same Love and Love cannot be divided up or be different from what all of Love is. Because we are all in God, we share equally all of what God is because Love is sharing All with All That is. This sharing of God’s Identity is the Will of God.

What is the error that needs to be corrected?

The error is the belief that ideas can leave their source. Because God is our Source, we cannot be different from God and we cannot leave God. Jesus tells us, “God wills you learn what always has been true: That He created you as part of Him, and this must still be true because ideas leave not their source. Such is creation’s law; that each idea the mind conceives but adds to its abundance, never takes away. This is as true of what is idly wished as what is truly willed, because the mind can wish to be deceived, but cannot make it be what it is not. And to believe ideas can leave their source is to invite illusions to be true, without success. For never will success be possible in trying to deceive the Son of God.” (13:2-6 italics added)

We deceived ourselves into thinking that we could leave God’s oneness. We have dreamed up a world of separate bodies that makes it look like we have left our Source, but we are now learning that this can never really happen in truth. We are still safe in the Mind of God and have never left. Our dreams of leaving our Source mean nothing and are nowhere.

What happens when we open our minds to the miracle of correction?

As we open our minds to be corrected, the truth will return because “the truth is in your memory.” (16:1) As we become more and more aware of our oneness, we more easily see past the differences seen by the body’s eyes. We are able to recognize the one Christ Mind that is really there to see. We forgive instead of blame because we don’t take the thoughts that come from the ego mind seriously.

Jesus tells us how much we help every brother as we open our minds to the miracle of correction: “Forgiveness is the answer to attack of any kind. So is attack deprived of its effects, and hate is answered in the name of love. To you to whom it has been given to save the Son of God from crucifixion and from hell and death, all glory be forever. For you have power to save the Son of God because his Father willed that it be so. And in your hands does all salvation lie, to be both offered and received as one.” (17:2-6)

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