The acceptance [that] sickness [is] a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that [sickness is a decision of the mind] is so, and he recovers. If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. Special agents seem to be ministering to him, yet they but give form to his own choice. He chooses them in order to bring tangible form to his desires. And it is this they do, and nothing else. They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, “I have no use for this.” There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.
What is the single requisite for this shift in perception? It is simply this; the recognition that sickness is of the mind, and has nothing to do with the body. What does this recognition “cost”? It costs the whole world you see, for the world will never again appear to rule the mind. For with this recognition is responsibility placed where it belongs; not with the world, but on him who looks on the world and sees it as it is not. He looks on what he chooses to see. No more and no less. The world does nothing to him. He only thought it did. Nor does he do anything to the world, because he was mistaken about what it is. Herein is the release from guilt and sickness both, for they are one. Yet to accept this release, the insignificance of the body must be an acceptable idea. (A Course in Miracles, M-5.II.2-3)
Elsewhere in the Course we are told that the ego tries to discredit the power of the mind. It attempts to make the body the central figure in its world. The ego assigns attributes of the mind to the body to make the body seem to be capable of making decisions on its own and subject to external forces.
A Course in Miracles is teaching us to reclaim the power of our mind which is an extension of the Mind of God. Our true Self is united with the Mind of God and shares all Its power, Its strength, peace and Love.
As we practice opening to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, we learn to recognize the insignificance of the body. Because the body is an illusion made by the ego, it has no value of its own. Its only seeming value comes from our belief in it.
As we withdraw from believing the body is our identity, the shadows the body seems to cast on our existence fade. The Light of the Love we are shines the shadows away. When we have wholly accepted our true Self as Mind at one with God, we are free of the limitations of the body image. We remember that we are eternally at Home in the Heaven of God’s Love.
© Copyright 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.
Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution in support of this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution or become a member online, go to http://www.pathwaysoflight.org/polshop/home.php?cat=254.
Or send a check or money order to Pathways of Light, 6 Oak Court, Ormond Beach, FL 32174-2623 (USD only, please) Thank you for your support.