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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, Paragraph 12 10 17-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, P12
12 To communicate is to join and to attack is to separate. How can you do both simultaneously with the same thing and not suffer? Perception of the body can be unified only by one purpose. This releases the mind from the temptation to see the body in many lights, and gives it over entirely to the One Light in which it can be really understood. To confuse a learning device with a curriculum goal is a fundamental confusion that blocks the understanding of both. Learning must lead beyond the body to the re-establishment of the power of the mind in it. This can be accomplished only if the mind extends to other minds, and does not arrest itself in its extension. This arrest is the cause of all illness, because only extension is the mind’s function.

Jesus tells us that to communicate is to join and to attack is to separate. I was talking to a friend about something that was happening in her life. She was having problems with her family and this was not a new thing for her. She often saw herself stuck in the same place, confused about what to do about it. And she eventually comes to me to talk about it.

Here is what happens in my mind. I wonder why she asks me for help when she has no intention of listening to me. I think she should let this problem go finally. I can’t see why she wants to hold onto it because it is so painful to her and the solution is so simple. I wonder what I am supposed to say this time that would make a difference. I wonder if I will have time to eat lunch before my next appointment.

That is the ego chatter that I hear going on in my mind. That is attack and attack is separation. When I think like this and when I believe my thoughts, the mind is arresting itself at the body. I am this body, and this body has interests apart from that other body. It judges and resents, and is impatient. In doing these things, the body is made sick, because the mind misuses it.

At one time this seemed perfectly normal to me. In fact, I couldn’t imagine seeing it differently. I looked at someone else and really saw someone else. Now I cannot imagine looking at someone else and not knowing, at least on some level, that there is no one else. There is only the Son of God and we are all part of the Son.

When my friend called me to rehash the same tired old problem, I heard the thoughts in my mind and I completely disregarded them. It was like someone left the TV on in the other room. I could hear it, but I had no interest in it. I listened to my friend. I reminded her of the truth. I loved her. I knew that it doesn’t matter how many times she needs to look at that problem. She will look at it until she is ready to let it go and how long it takes is a non-issue.

I will play my part as listener and I will let the Holy Spirit speak through me as the reminder she came to receive. In my patience and my love and my willingness to play my part, and in my willingness to see my friend as part of my self, I am allowing the mind to extend past the body. I am joining and so I am communicating. I am communicating with words but that is not the important part. I am communicating through my willingness to allow love to flow between us unimpeded by a need for anything to be different than it is.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8, VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, P11. 10-16-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, P 11
11 The removal of blocks, then, is the only way to guarantee help and healing. Help and healing are the normal expressions of a mind that is working through the body, but not in it. If the mind believes the body is its goal it will distort its perception of the body, and by blocking its own extension beyond it, will induce illness by fostering separation. Perceiving the body as a separate entity cannot but foster illness, because it is not true. A medium of communication loses its usefulness if it is used for anything else. To use a medium of communication as a medium of attack is an obvious confusion in purpose.

I am reminded of times when I have had pain or sickness and chose healing. For instance, I had a migraine one day and remembered that pain and sickness are a defense against God. I asked Holy Spirit to help me see this differently. I was guided to see the value I place in migraines and was shown how they serve me. They get me out of doing things I don’t want to do. They get people to feel sorry for me and give me attention. And, the belief behind all the other beliefs is that the migraines prove I cannot be the Son of God, because a Divine Being would not have headaches.

These were some of the blocks prevent me from living through the body rather than living as if I am a body. As I saw these blocks I realized they were not worth keeping. In fact they were silly, something I used to believe I needed, and just an old habit. I let them go and the headache went with them. More importantly, the desire to hide out in a body was loosened, and I was open to knowing how Spirit would have me live through this body.

With the migraine, I was teaching, and so learning, that I am a body, governed by a body and all its weaknesses. I was teaching that I had to suffer to be loved. I was teaching that I am vulnerable and weak. This is not communication and it is not what I am. I was teaching a lie, a false story of pain and suffering.

Accepting the headache as inevitable and pretending to be helpless against it left the blocks to love in place and so was an attack on myself and on the Sonship. Having let go the beliefs that sourced the headache, I was teaching that I am love and so I was learning that I am love. I am more than the body you see. I am not subject to the body; the body is used by me.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8, VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, P 10. 10-15-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, P 10
10 Healing is the result of using the body solely for communication. Since this is natural it heals by making whole, which is also natural. All mind is whole, and the belief that part of it is physical, or not mind, is a fragmented or sick interpretation. Mind cannot be made physical, but it can be made manifest through the physical if it uses the body to go beyond itself. By reaching out, the mind extends itself. It does not stop at the body, for if it does it is blocked in its purpose. A mind that has been blocked has allowed itself to be vulnerable to attack, because it has turned against itself.

I remind myself that the body is just a vehicle that mind uses to experience separation. I am not the body and that is a very important thing for me to remember. I feel like the body, but I am not the body. If I believe I am the body then I am going to be very protective of it. Being protective I will justify defense of the body and since attack is a defense, I will justify attack as normal and necessary.

If I believe I am a body, I believe that I am, necessarily, separate from others since I would end at my body. Separation would then be a fact. This would make salvation impossible since salvation is the return to God. God is whole and separation and attack cannot enter into God or God would no longer be God. He would be ego.

As I remember that I am spirit, I am not bound by the body. I am learning that I do not stop at the body. In truth, I am beginning to see the body as a thought in my mind projected outward, rather than me in a real thing called a body. Knowing that I am not the body there is no need to defend it, nor do I believe that anyone else is their body. I imagine us as light hanging out in bodies so that we can have this experience. Seeing it this way helps me to understand that we are one.

I am not consistent in this belief. I often feel like I am this body and I still defend it in a number of ways. But because I have come to doubt that this is true, and I have come to accept, at least in concept, (and really more than just in concept) that I am spirit, I am free to extend past the body. The way this unfolds in my life is that when I am in my right mind, I see past appearances and behold the other as my brother even when he doesn’t know who he is.

I see with the eyes a sick body, but I know that it is an illusion and that my brother is light and light cannot be sick. I see an angry brother attack me with words, or even physically, and I know that only an illusion attacked another illusion. My brother continues to be light and love and I continue to be light and love, and nothing is actually done because light and love cannot be harmed.

Someone I have had problems with in the past (when I forgot who I was) said something unkind to me. I felt the ego response in my mind. I felt it, and I watched as it formed words of defense and urged me to return the attack. Because I forget my true identity at times I do not always extend love, but on this day I was filled with the joy and peace of God and I could afford to laugh at the ego response. Instead of hunkering down in the body and planning a retaliatory attack, I extended beyond the body (ego) and offered love instead.

There was a time when this would have felt like a sacrifice, like I was giving up something in order to do the “right” thing. But it did not feel like that at all. I just felt like love and the natural thing to do was to share that love. I allowed the insult to flow past me like it had not occurred, like it could not hurt me because it couldn’t. When I remember what I am, ego attacks are harmless and meaningless. I moved the conversation into something helpful, something kind.

As I said, I do not always remember what I am and so I sometimes respond as a body to a body rather than as love to love. But each time I have a holy moment like the one I had with this brother, I am less likely to forget the next time. Each of those moments is precious and I am grateful for them.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, Paragraph 9 10-1414

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication P 9
9 In this world, not even the body is perceived as whole. Its purpose is seen as fragmented into many functions with little or no relationship to each other, so that it appears to be ruled by chaos. Guided by the ego, it is. Guided by the Holy Spirit, it is not. It becomes a means by which the part of the mind you tried to separate from spirit can reach beyond its distortions and return to spirit. The ego’s temple thus becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, where devotion to Him replaces devotion to the ego. In this sense the body does become a temple to God; His Voice abides in it by directing the use to which it is put.

My practice of asking the Holy Spirit to decide for me is helping me to use the body as the communication devise it could be. It feels so good to do this, so freeing. Even when I am feeling guilty or regretful about something I said or did, I ask Holy Spirit to decide for me how I should feel about this, because I know I am not meant to suffer and so I must have decided on my own what my actions meant.

My body is the vehicle I use to navigate the illusion and though I made it for the purpose of experiencing separation, I am ready to awaken from this dream now, and so I have decided to use it for the purpose of awakening instead. Up until now the body has been the home of the ego, in service to the part of the mind that chose separation. Now it is becoming the home of the Holy Spirit, the Voice for God. It is becoming a temple devoted to my Father and used for His purposes.

I say becoming rather than is, because I still fall back into ego sometimes. But more and more my devotion to the Christ mind is strengthening and so my loyalty is shifting. As this happens, I use the body to extend love rather than to defend myself and to attack a perceived enemy. I feel so much better when I do this. I feel happy and peaceful, and I see brothers instead of enemies.

I see that in listening to the ego I believe that I must be my own guide, and that I must find a source for what I need. For instance, I must find the best source of income, and then I must defend that source even though that means attacking perceived threats. When I ask Holy Spirit to decide what my fearful thoughts and defenses mean, I remember that the job is not my source and that if I leave everything to Holy Spirit I can relax and enjoy what is before me without feeling the need to defend it.

The fear about the future falls away. The fear of loss falls away. With nothing to defend, the need to see my brother as my enemy becomes senseless and it falls away, too. I am free to enjoy my life without the constant anxiety of protecting it. I am free to love, and when I was defensive that was not true.

Now I also understand better why it is that in my defenselessness my safety lies. In using my body for the purposes of Love, there is no concern for myself, and no need to defend anything. Without being in defense mode, I am aware of my safety.  In God’s Hands I am perfectly safe.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VII. The Body as a Means of Communication, Paragraph 8 10-13-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication P 8
8 There is nothing so frustrating to a learner as a curriculum he cannot learn. His sense of adequacy suffers, and he must become depressed. Being faced with an impossible learning situation is the most depressing thing in the world. In fact, it is ultimately why the world itself is depressing. The Holy Spirit’s curriculum is never depressing, because it is a curriculum of joy. Whenever the reaction to learning is depression, it is because the true goal of the curriculum has been lost sight of.

Why is the curriculum of the world depressing? It teaches me that the way to be happy is to win and this keeps me in constant competition with everyone. I cannot win every time so I can only be happy sometimes. Even when I win, what is my prize? A short adrenaline rush, bragging rights for a bit. That is the most I can hope for. Is this a prize worth sacrificing perfect peace, eternal happiness, unbroken communication with God, Heaven?

In winning, I lose. I lose everything worth having. I am whole, complete; in God and with my brothers I am an eternal Divine being, but to win over a brother I must be separate from all that. I must be an individual separate small and vulnerable self who sometimes wins and sometimes loses. How is that a goal that I would want? And when I achieve it, what have I achieved? And the achievement is always momentary, followed by fear of loss. This is why the curriculum of the world is depressing.

I cannot learn the world’s curriculum because it is senseless.  It promises me happiness but there is no happiness in the world. It promises riches only to teach me fear of loss. It promises love, only to teach me to defend against the thing I want. At its best it gives me a goal and means to achieve the goal and once achieved I realize it is not worth the effort. I am no happier, and only more discouraged.

The Holy Spirit’s goal has always brought me happiness and it is true happiness. He shows me the beliefs in my mind that are hurting me and as I let go of them I discover what they hid from me, my true self. I have, step by step, won for myself peace and joy, and in so doing discovered there is no one to compete with. My joy and peace grow as I give what I received. My win is everyone’s win.

There can be no loss because I am winning what was always mine and what could never be lost. It comes at no cost to me because I give up nothing of value to have it. Because the win is inevitable and the prize was always mine anyway, there is no fear of loss. And for the same reason, the joy of the win is eternal.

So if I feel depressed or even simply unhappy or less than joyful, I know I have lost sight of my goal. I have a purpose and that purpose was not chosen by the ego part of my mind. My purpose was given me by God. My goal is to awaken from the dream of separation. Knowing my goal and having a clear vision of how to achieve it, I walk steadily toward the Kingdom.

When I become distracted by some lesser goal that will not fulfill my purpose, I temporarily lose my way. I now this has happened because I am not at peace and happiness is like a light that flickers on and off to finally be extinguished and leave me in darkness. But even from this darkened frame of mind, I can rediscover my purpose because the Holy Spirit holds it for me in constant and patient readiness knowing I must return my attention to the only thing that promises me unending joy and peace.

This was once a hope in my mind, but through choosing God over and over, and being answered every time; through witnessing that answer and experiencing the love that it brings into my awareness, hope has become certainty.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text, Chapter 8, VII.The Body as a Means of Communication, P 7. 10-19-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication P 7
7 The Bible says, “The Word (or thought) was made flesh.” Strictly speaking this is impossible, since it seems to involve the translation of one order of reality into another. Different orders of reality merely appear to exist, just as different orders of miracles do. Thought cannot be made into flesh except by belief, since thought is not physical. Yet thought is communication, for which the body can be used. This is the only natural use to which it can be put. To use the body unnaturally is to lose sight of the Holy Spirit’s purpose, and thus to confuse the goal of His curriculum.

Again, in this paragraph I am reminded that I can make form through my belief, but I cannot make it real. My thoughts are powerful and what I believe, is true for me, and so becomes my experience. I am perfectly safe, however, because they do not become reality. Still, my experience can be one of extreme suffering if I misuse the power of thought, and real or not, this is not something I am willing to continue. That is why I am a student of the Course and why I am willing to be led to the truth that has always been in my mind, but which I have hidden from myself with the illusions I made.

I am also, again, being reminded that I have made an illusion of a body and have used that body to prove to myself that I am separate. Because I am ready to awaken from this dream, the Holy Spirit is helping me to use the same body to guide me from the illusion. Instead of using the body to prove I am separate, I am learning to use it to prove I am one with all other Sons of God. I do this as I use the body for communication. As he says, this is the only natural use to which it can be put.

I use the body to maintain the illusion of separation when I judge others as if they really were others. I use it for communication when I look past the behavior and the visual impact of my brothers and sisters and see the light of their being instead. It is a seeing that has nothing to do with the eyes. It has taken me a long time, it seems, to experience this. I began by trying to see with the body’s eyes something different and this didn’t work. Then I would ask to see more or to see differently, but I could only see what I believed. I could only see in others what I saw in myself.

As I continued to accept the Atonement consistently and my mind began to heal, I was treated with moments of clarity in which I saw only love everywhere I looked. Now it is expanding so that it is happening more often. I am also very much more aware of when I am judging or even when I am off my game and feeling isolated. It feels uncomfortable and wrong, and I want to move out of that feeling. I think that one big difference is that, more often than not, I am automatically rejecting the ego judgments that flow through the mind, and what is really there simply shows its self to me. I think this is using the body for communication.

I have known for awhile now that I have a purpose and no matter what kind of process I was passing through, or how confused I became in my ego mind, I remained true to that purpose. So while I have slipped in and out of ego thinking, I have not forgotten for long what I am here to do. Maybe this guiding vision of purpose is what alerts me to the misuse of the body.

When I return, however long or however briefly, to using the body for separation purposes, I have moved away from my purpose and I feel that. It is like being unmoored, drifting and lost, and because I have been exposed to the certainty and safety of the Holy Spirit’s purpose for me, I feel the loss acutely. I return my mind to Him as quickly as I can, and gladly give my body over to His use.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8, VII. The Body as a Means of Communcation, P 6. 10-8-14

VII. The Body as a Means of Communication P 6
6 Rejoice, then, that of yourself you can do nothing. You are not of yourself. He of Whom you are has willed your power and glory for you, with which you can perfectly accomplish His holy Will for you when you accept it for yourself. He has not withdrawn His gifts from you, but you believe you have withdrawn them from Him. Let no Son of God remain hidden for His Name’s sake, because His Name is yours.

I am intrigued by the last sentence, “Let no son of God remain hidden for His Name’s sake, because His Name is yours.” How do I remain hidden? I hide my true nature beneath a thin veneer of ego. I see myself as weak and vulnerable. I pretend to be sad and fearful and filled with guilt. I refuse to look at the power and glory that remain in me because God put it there. Now the Son of God is hidden and all I see is my little made up self.

This smallness is not God’s Will for me. He wants me to know my Self and to live from that Self. He wants me to be joyful and peaceful. My Father wants me to return to full, unbroken communication with Him. If the ego was truly a creation and I was actually alone as this self, I could not do this. I would be stuck in the maddening cycle of wrong-minded thinking. But I am not alone.

I am joined with my brothers, with Jesus, with my God. I have His Voice as a permanent part of me, guiding, healing and comforting me. Through His Voice, God speaks to me all through the day, gently reminding me of my Home and my true nature. I am one with All That Is, and there is nothing I can do about that. In this Onenes, I am holy, I am powerful, I am glorious! I can blind myself to this truth, but I cannot change it, and through the power and glory that was given me I can come out of hiding as soon as that is my desire for myself and all my brothers.

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