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October-December, 2015

How Practicing the Course Lessons Brings True Salvation

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

One of the challenges that keeps coming up for me is what to do when I perceive there is something wrong with the body. Do I rush to the doctor or rush to the medicine cabinet for a pill to take care of the problem? Thank goodness God put the Holy Spirit in our minds to help us sort out what is real from what isn’t. I’m learning that the purpose of every challenge that presents itself to me is only an opportunity to show me where there is still a need to heal my thinking about what I think the problem is.

However, sometimes, when I am experiencing a lot of fear, I am not sure whether I am listening to Spirit or the ego that at times can sound so spiritual.

I had this experience when I experienced eye blurriness resulting from a long history of chronic eye inflammation. In the past, the first thing I would do is rush to the doctor for the steroids. But this time, I thought, “No! I can heal this with my mind.” And so I tried and tried but the blurriness continued and so did the fear and then the guilt. I thought, “If I go to the doctor, then I’m admitting I’m under the laws of the world instead of the laws of God. I’m not being a good Course student. If I don’t go to the doctor, what if I go blind.” Soon, I was in such a state of confusion that it grew into panic.

Of course what I am learning is that when a decision needs to be made, the ego thoughts always come in first to make me believe there is something to fear. The ego thought system also tries to convince me that what I see with the body’s eyes is real. Then the ego thought system will consistently have me make decisions that will make me believe I am guilty. The ego thought system put me in such a bind believing there was no way out.

Well, I am learning also that the reason I was in such a state of confusion was that I was trying to made a decision on my own from a place of fear and guilt I am learning that it’s the fearful and guilty thoughts that could literally kill me and not the disease. I am learning that when these fearful and guilty thoughts come up, I am listening to the wrong teacher, ego.

Finally after weeks of torturing myself with indecision, I went within and listened to the gentle and loving voice of Spirit. I rested in this stillness and became very peaceful. I then realized that it didn’t matter whether I went to the doctor or not; what Holy Spirit was teaching me was that I am not guilty; I am innocent no matter what decision I made. That was the lesson that Holy Spirit wanted me to learn. And, as I realized this, I did go to the doctor from a place of peace, not guilt and it was no big deal.

Then the ego thought system came rushing in again trying to take that peace away from me. As long as I am in peace, the ego believes it is losing control over my mind. So, then the ego brought out it’s biggest weapons to try to return me to fear and guilt. In the dream, my biggest fear was that I would get cancer and die. Cancer to me is the symbol of death and my punishment for believing I separated from my Creator. If I succumbed to cancer, the ego finally would convince me that God was absent and had forsaken me.

So guess what, I started feeling lumps all over my body and immediately panicked. “Oh, I have Cancer and this is my punishment for having sinned against God.”

But this time, when fear reared its ugly head, I didn’t panic and rush to seek a magical solution. Instead I rushed into stillness and asked the Holy Spirit to help me sort our what was real from what was unreal. I asked Holy Spirit to help me work with some lessons from the Course.

First I asked Holy Spirit to help me with Lesson 128: “The world I see holds nothing that I want.” What Holy Spirit was teaching me was that as I open to Love’s Presence, all will perfectly unfold from that. As I dis-identify from the forms of the world I see with the physical eyes, I am connecting more with Truth. Holy Spirit is helping me realize that a loving God doesn’t create sickness, pain or suffering. I am learning that God’s will for us is happiness. As I rest in the peace of God, I am beginning to experience more peace and Love. This experience shows me that Love is real and fear isn’t.

So then I asked Holy Spirit to work with me on Lesson 129: “Beyond this world is a world I want.” As I went into quiet, I asked Holy Spirit to reveal more of this Real World to me. And again, I experienced so much peace. And from this place of peace, fear couldn’t rear it’s ugly head.

The next lesson Holy Spirit worked with me was Lesson 130: “It is impossible to see two worlds.” In this lesson, the practice is to ask Holy Spirit: “Let me accept the strength God offers me and see no value in this world, that I may find my freedom and deliverance.” (8:6) As I worked with this in silence, I did actually begin to feel God’s strength. This felt so good. I started to spend more of my day in quiet than in the activities of the world. I realized for the first time, not intellectually, but in my heart, that God has not forsaken me or anyone else and is with me all the time. Even in the midst of chaos, I still felt His strength and comfort and more and more could remain in peace.

Then I came to one of my favorite lessons in the Course: Lesson 132: “I loose the world from all I thought it was.” The central message in this lesson is: Nothing in this world is real. What my body’s eyes show me is not real. This lesson could not be more clear: “There is no world. This is the central thought the Course attempts to teach.” (6:7-8) “The sick are healed as you let go of all thoughts of sickness and the dead arise when you let thoughts of life replace all thoughts you ever held of death.” (8:4)

This is why Jesus was able to heal the sick and raise Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t see with the body’s eyes. He didn’t see a body; He only saw wholeness, innocence and Love.

Then Holy Spirit worked with me on Lesson 131: “No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.”

After working with this lesson, this is my prayer: Holy Spirit, this is my deepest desire. Let the Truth be revealed by You, dear Spirit and this Truth will set me and my brothers free. Help me, dear Spirit, know that if I choose wrongly, I am still innocent.

As my confidence grows as I experience the evidence of good outcomes from going to Holy Spirit for guidance, I choose more of Spirit’s guidance. Working with the Holy Spirit with these lessons is casting out fear and guilt and returning me to the experience of God’s Love and Care for me. These lessons are the journey towards freedom and salvation from the chains with which the ego tries to bind us to a world that is not even real. Thank you Holy Spirit.

Rev. Linda Wisniewski, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Plymouth, Wisconsin. E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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

Miracles News, July-September 2015

 

“Glory is God’s Gift to
you, because that is what
He is. See this glory
everywhere to remember
What you are.” ACIM T-8.iii.8:7-8

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

How Does True Healing Occur?

by Rev. Rosemarie Tropf, O.M.C.

Is it possible to achieve healing from God when this illness has gone on for so long? This is the question we discussed as a group recently at our monthly call for the Chronically Ill Support Group. It was my turn to answer that question. Here is what I answered:

ACIM Lesson 136 says healing is of the mind, not the body. I can remember as an eight year old faking pain to stay home from Sunday School. It worked until about 30 minutes after I said it. Then I was jumping around on the bed with my sisters and my mum said, “You aren’t sick. Get dressed Missy, off to church with you.” I crumpled onto the bed and tried to insist that I was sick. “Please believe me,” I said. That is making use of the mind to create a sick body.

As a child there were other times I told my parents I was sick or in pain but I wasn’t really sure about that. Years later I realized that saying I was sick or in pain was a reaction to the stress I was feeling. I had no words for the stress or chaos at home, but I knew how to say I don’t feel well. Everybody knew that meant your body felt bad. But it wasn’t true.

I was sad, I was anxious and I was afraid. I felt unloved but when I was sick I got love. That love felt great! My dad would actually sit on the bed and say, “How are you doing?” I used my pain as a cry for love. My mum got angry at me sometimes and accuse me of faking it. Now that created a ton of guilt because I was faking it sometimes but I didn’t know how to stop it. It was my only way of expressing my anxiety. I wished that instead I could say, “Please stop fighting. Please stop yelling. It makes me feel very bad and afraid I will lose my family.” But no one ever dared mention that stuff. We all buried that and said nothing to anyone. I buried mine deep in my body.

When I read lesson 136 as part of ACIM Practitioner course 909: Wellness Through Mind Healing, it also said sickness is a defense against the truth, therefore it cannot be the truth. What is that truth, I wondered? It is the truth we are not the body. The body is neutral. It’s my thoughts that create whatever is happening in the body, not the other way around. I have decided that I am sick or in pain? A couple of years ago I would have raged at anyone who said that to me. I chose this? My response would have been to sputter with indignation.

This lesson also says we forgot we decided on this illness due to guilt. I could identify with that guilt due to my shenanigans as a child. Plus as a young adult I had developed a heavy pattern of doing this over and over.

My anxiety increased as the years went by. I never felt safe and due to the fear of feeling small, alone and abandoned, I talked more and more about feeling pain. Nobody believed me because the doctors said there is nothing wrong me. “You are faking it,” they would say. I dug in and wanted to prove to them I was sick. I just knew I had an exotic disease and one day they would find a name for it.

I still could not state any of my emotions honestly. I didn’t know what feelings were. I was angry? No way. Not me! I pasted a smile on my face. I cared for others all the time. I was loving and happy. My childhood was great! If I had ever been abused, it didn’t bother me. I was tough. “Don’t be a big baby” I would think then the pain would increase. Once in a while, I would erupt in a great heaving, sobbing, ragged breathing type of crying. I could not understand that at all. Where was that coming from?

I was a spiritual student. I was reading all the right books, doing all the right meditations. Feelings about me for me were completely foreign to me. I could feel for others very well, but not for me.

I learned in course 909 that we need to review this type of belief system. I had made decisions along the way and they had stuck. My mind was in charge! Wow. You mean I am creating this? What a relief. I can change me!

You mean I don’t have to wait for an MRI to say I’m okay? I can just decide to be okay? You mean I don’t have to have the doctor verify my tests are okay? I can just decide I am okay?

Well, yes and no. I alone cannot deal with this. I alone am small and weak and afraid. But I can do this with Holy Spirit. I can do this with Jesus as my teacher. God is the healer, not me! The few times I had tried to apply mind over matter or positive affirmations, I didn’t really believe I could do it because I imagined I was doing it all alone. And I was far too guilty to be worthy of healing myself by myself, without one thought about love. How could I heal myself when I lived in self hatred, lacking any sense of joy? I can be healed only with Holy Spirit and Jesus teaching me that God loves me.

Jesus said, “Ask and ye shall receive.” Yes, but only if my beliefs don’t block that help. Beliefs like, “I can’t be helped until the doctor says I’m over it. I can’t be helped if the MRI says there’s something there, can I?”

I can ask but not receive if I believe that I have to be in white knuckled control of my whole life now and in the future. Gritting my teeth, clenching my muscles, I knew I could make myself heal. I can heal but I must, must, must control my vitamins, my exercise, my weight, my thoughts. I must!

How can I receive when my mind is so busy and so blocked?

One more huge block? Because I finally had an exotic name for my pain, I felt really special. This seemed to be my only claim to specialness, so I had to talk about this with everyone all the time. (I saw how tedious that was for them, creating more guilt.) Naming the disease and claiming it for myself, I made the pain more and more solid. Every time I claimed it and imagined it getting worse, the energy of my thoughts solidified the molecules in my body into blockages of energy. My life long pattern made these blockages very solid. My neutral body became exactly what I imagined it to be.

I now know I need to ask Holy Spirit to help me change my perceptions. I also need to ask for help to let go my need for specialness. I know I need to do this over and over, because my mind is stuck in a pattern. It takes repetition to undo thought patterns, but that is the way to a miracle. I am open to spontaneous healing, but I don’t count on it. I follow Holy Spirit’s lead and change my mind daily.

Holy Spirit tells me I am a creative being. I create every moment of my life. What am I creating? Do I create pain and fear or Love? That’s my choice. I can create Love if I practice. That is my purpose now. I changed my purpose from being special and crying for Love through creating my pain to having the purpose of extending Love to others. That changes the solidified energy of pain to the energy of Light and Love. That is a miracle!

If I am extending Love to others and someone complains about their pain, am I going to tell them they decided to create that pain? No, because that is not loving. I will say or do whatever is loving for that person. My mother is 91 years old without any spiritual beliefs. Would I say to her, “You are creating this and just let God heal you?” No! I would make her comfortable. Instead I would rub her feet. I would agree that she doesn’t deserve this. I would tell her she is loved.

As Christine said in the meeting, I can see her as whole. I can see her from my Holy Mind to her Holy Mind. I can ask Holy Spirit to help her know she is innocent… but in silence. I would do this from my heart, not from my mouth.

With Jesus as my teacher, miracles abound in my daily life. My mind is healing and that is the only healing necessary.

Rev. Rosemarie Tropf, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Safety Harbor, Florida. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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

Rev. Linda Wisniewski is a Pathways of Light minister living in Plymouth, Wisconsin. E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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