The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of that wish. For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping [the mind] separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it.
You are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, you are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. …You are actively trying to hold him to [the body] by confusing it with him, and judging them as one.
And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It overlooks entirely what your brother is. It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it.
While the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.
It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already. (, A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 72,W-pI.72.2:1-3;4:1-2,4;5:6-8;7:4;9:2-6. See also ACIM Lesson 72 Insights.)
The recognition that the body is not our identity is central to our release from fear and guilt. Only the body can seem to harm or be harmed. Our true Identity as Love’s Creation remains united in the oneness of Love. We are invulnerable in this oneness. This is why the most repeated affirmation in the Course is, “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”
This applies to everyone. When a brother offends us it is time to remind ourselves that, along with us, he is not a body. He is still as Love created him.
As we practice stepping back from our identification with a body and asking the Holy Spirit to help us see the truth in our brother and ourselves, we shift our attention from the appearance of bodies to the vision in our mind that shows us that only Love is real. This is the vision that reveals the Son of God in every brother along with us. Together we are His one Son. Together we are united as God’s Love.
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