Do not mistake effect [sickness] for cause, nor think that sickness is apart and separate from what its cause must be. [Sickness] is a sign, a shadow of an evil thought [the cause] that seems to have reality and to be just, according to the usage of the world. It is external proof of inner “sins,” and witnesses to unforgiving thoughts that injure and would hurt the Son of God. Healing the body is impossible, and this is shown by the brief nature of the “cure.” The body yet must die, and so its healing but delays its turning back to dust, where it was born and will return.
The body’s cause is unforgiveness of the Son of God. [The body] has not left its source, and in its pain and aging and the mark of death upon it this is clearly shown. Fearful and frail it seems to be to those who think their life is tied to its command and linked to its unstable, tiny breath. Death stares at them as every moment goes irrevocably past their grasping hands, which cannot hold them back. And they feel fear as bodies change and sicken. For they sense the heavy scent of death upon their hearts.
The body can be healed as an effect of true forgiveness. Only [true forgiveness] can give rememberance of immortality, which is the gift of holiness and love. Forgiveness must be given by a mind which understands that it must overlook all shadows on the holy face of Christ, among which sickness should be seen as one. Nothing but [a shadow]; the sign of judgment made by brother upon brother, and the Son of God upon himself. For he has damned his body as his prison, and forgot that it is he who gave this role to it. (A Course in Miracles, S-3.I.1-3)
The body is an ego construct made to reinforce the belief in being separate from God’s Love. It denies the Son of God’s eternal unity with his Creator. As part of the ego’s belief in death (separation from the Source of all Life) sickness seems to make the belief in separation real. All this cannot be true because only Love’s oneness is real.
This is a central message of the Course. It is so important that Review VI of the Workbook lessons directs us for 20 days to affirm the thought, “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” This thought, fully accepted, would free us from the body’s limits and unify our minds with the Mind of God. We would remember that we are united as God’s one Son, the extension of His Love. This is true healing, for Love sees no sin. It sees only the innocence of Christ as real.
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