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July-September, 2020

Healing

by Rev. Joyce Peebles, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

A Course in Miracles (P-2 VI.1:5-8) says, “Healing occurs as a patient begins to hear the dirge he sings and questions its validity. Until he hears it, he cannot understand that it is he who sings it to himself. To hear it is the first step in recovery.”

Notice it says the first step. We do not advance to step two until we get step one. The ego fights “tooth and nail” against us understanding this step. It is the secret to salvation. In Chapter 27 of ACIM, Jesus says, “The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. No matter what the form of the attack, this still is true.” (T-27.VII.10:1-2) The ego screams that you do not understand. The reason I am unhappy is someone else’s fault or if the world were different, I could be happy.

ACIM tells us happiness cannot be found in the world because it was made by us as a place to escape from God. There is nobody to blame for the dirge we sing because there is nobody outside our mind. That leaves only me.

Consider the idea that you are doing this to yourself, whatever your source of unhappiness. Who made the decision to want specialness and believe in the separation? That would be me. Who decided there was such things as sin, guilt and fear? That would be me. Who decided I could escape from my mistaken thoughts by making an ego and illusory world to project my ideas onto? That would be me. Who suffers loneliness believing he has separated from his source of Love? That would be me.

The ego puts before me endless things it says will give me satisfaction and fill my aching void. ACIM tells me what I want is the Love I thought was possible to separate from. I have not lost Love but it is obscured by my faulty beliefs. This undoing of my mistaken thinking is what ACIM is all about.

The process is forgiveness and there is really only one person to forgive. That would be me. I can choose to think with the Holy Spirit or with the ego. Only one Teacher brings me peace and joy. As I listen to the Holy Spirit, It reminds me of who I really Am, safe, innocent, and holy. Who is the only one that can decide to believe this? That would be me. When I take responsibility for my mistaken thinking, healing must occur. Nobody I think ever mistreated me needs to change, nothing that happens in the “world” is wrong or bad. There is only one who needs to be healed. That would be me.

Jesus likens our “world and life” as being in a self-made prison. The good news is there is a key to get out of jail. Who has it? That would be me. “I have done this thing and it is this I would undo.” (T-27.VIII.11:6) This is about changing our mistaken beliefs — a process we joyously accept once we decide our previously held beliefs did not bring the happiness we thought. It is true the Holy Spirit heals our minds but who allows the Holy Spirit to do this? That would be me.

“You have never given any problem to the Holy Spirit he has not solved for you, nor will you ever do so. You have never tried to solve anything yourself and been successful.” (T-16.II.9:1-2) Jesus is saying all my efforts have not given me the outcome I sought.

Before I discovered ACIM I used to belong to a fundamentalist church. One evening I sat there listening to the minister giving the “invitation” to the congregation, telling them to accept Jesus as the savior for their sins. He told them that, “feeling conviction was not enough. Stay seated as you were not ready yet.” He mentioned that there were some in the audience who felt they had nothing to offer of value to God, they did not even feel worthy to ask for forgiveness. He said, “Those of you who feel this way, you are ready.”

ACIM puts it this way, “Come unto me with wholly empty hands.” What this is saying is we need to empty our minds of all thoughts the ego taught us and come with an “I don’t know” attitude. An attitude of “I have it all to learn.” We cannot hear the Holy Spirit unless we empty our mind to fill it with His thoughts. The older I get the less I know. I don’t know why I made some really dumb decisions in the past. I sure do not know what you or anyone else should do with their life. I have no suggestions about how to fix the world or anything else. But I do know and believe the Holy Spirit can heal my mind IF I let Him.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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