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January-March, 2021

Pain Is Not Real — Could This Be True?

by Rev. Myron, Jones, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I am ready to let go of the physical symptoms I have experienced in the body, and like everything else I have done with the Course, I am taking it one step at a time. I have an ongoing conversation with Jesus about this and have had some helpful thoughts given to me.

For instance, once he told me I was paying way too much attention to the body. I knew immediately he was right. I would have pain and have this inner conversation about what it meant and what I would maybe tell the doctor and what he would say. It was ridiculous. I would have inner conversations about what I should eat or not eat, worried conversations about weight gain.

So, when I catch myself doing that now, I put an immediate stop to it. I look at the thoughts with the Holy Spirit and release them. I ask Him to correct my thinking and heal my mind. I surrender the body and all its problems and needs to the Holy Spirit. I do this as often as I need to and the inner conversations about the body are becoming rarer. I have learned to trust His promises. “Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience, if I but test them out.” (W-pII.327.2)

Included in body issues is pain and recently I had an interesting and promising experience with this.

Recently, having gotten through two back-to-back hurricanes, I am dealing with the aftermath. I don’t have a ceiling in my kitchen which means I am exposed to the fiberglass, dust and mildew etc. I had a headache every day for weeks and it was getting worse. Finally, I decided that I should use this as a healing opportunity. I told Jesus that I didn’t want to keep taking medicine. I wanted my mind to be healed of the belief that something outside me could affect me.

I decided I was through with the headaches. He kept giving me more thoughts, more insight. I remembered he said in the Course that I am not this body. I am not in this body. He also said that this body could not contain me. And, at no instance has the body ever existed. So, who has a headache? It can’t be me. I don’t even have a head.

He also said that the body itself is a neutral event. It is itself an effect and cannot have effects. This means that the body cannot be the source of pain. If the body is not the source of the pain, what is? It is my thoughts. I am now often asking myself, “Who am I? I am not this woman who thinks she has a headache. I am that which is aware of the woman in pain, the observer of this situation, the dreamer not the dream. 

And speaking of pain, I remembered what he told me in “If God is real, there is no pain. If pain is real, there is no God.” (W-pI.190.3:3-4) With all this information, and with the absolute certainty that Jesus knows what he is talking about, I gave the headache over to him along with all the thoughts and beliefs that are the cause of the headache. And the headache dissolved instantly! I had that headache for a good month, and it was just gone. I noticed a few times when I would start to feel the headache trying to return and I just refused to accept it. After all, “I rule my mind, which I alone must rule.” (W-pII.236)

One interesting moment came when I had a hectic day of trying to juggle monkeys (get the contractor, insurance adjuster and SBA all on the same page). I began to feel the headache trying to return. I had a clear thought that I should just give into it. Take some medicine, watch TV for the rest of the day. It felt almost comfortable to think about it. I was astounded! Wow! That’s how the ego works. It tries to convince me that pain is valuable and my old friend. I laughed and then shooed it away. I’m onto you, ego. Pain is not real and has no value.

Jesus says in Lesson 190 that pain is not a fact at all and I have tested this and seen it is true. If my headache was a fact then there would be no way for me to let it go. I could take aspirin and get temporary relief because I believe in aspirin. But to simply decide against the headache and watch it vanish proves that Jesus is right, pain is not a fact.

He also says this about pain: “There is no form it takes that will not disappear if seen aright.” (W-pI.190.1:4) So, I wondered what my headache miracle meant as far as other pains go, and if it would apply to sickness. Of course, it does! If pain is not real this time, it is never real, neither is sickness. I remember listening to a talk by Dr. David Hawkins. He believed lesson 190 completely. He said that he had two surgeries in which he did not have anesthesia to block the pain.

What about me? Am I done with pain? I am not ready for Dr Hawkins’ level of faith, but I keep using these truths and reminding myself of them often. I don’t want to let this experience fade in my mind. I want to emphasize it. I had some other aches and pains and I noticed that the ego doesn’t want to give up one of its favorite separation tools. It argued that there was a reason of this pain or this ache and why not just take an aspirin? But so far, I have remained steadfast. On the other hand, when I went to the dentist, I accepted the shot to dull the pain. So, I am still working on this.

And what about sickness? I looked at my medicine last night, a couple of pills I’ve been taking for a long time, and I wondered if I really needed them. I heard the ego object, reminding me I’ve tried this before and it didn’t work. But I also know that I am not the same person I used to be. I’m asking Jesus to guide me in this as he has everything else I have done.

I just had some new cabinets delivered and I noticed I felt uncomfortable that the delivery men were not wearing masks and I forgot to put mine on. I also found myself talking to a friend about how much COVID-19 has risen in our country.

I told Jesus that I see that I am still arguing for the idea that something outside my mind could affect me and I asked the Holy Spirit to heal my mind.

My process for healing my mind is gentle. I don’t force anything. Changing behavior is not the same as being healed.

What I do is notice all the thoughts
and behaviors that point to the error
in my mind and ask the
Holy Spirit to look at them with me.

This dissolves the error itself and then the behavior changes automatically. I may have to look with the Holy Spirit many times if the belief has a firm hold on me, but always eventually it works because I want it to. This is a kinder and gentler way to do this work. It is also genuine healing.

“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.
Loss is not loss when properly perceived. Pain is impossible. There is no grief with any cause at all. And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. This is the truth, at first to be but said and then repeated many times; and next to be accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. Then to be considered seriously more and more, and finally accepted as the truth. I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. And I would go beyond these words today, and past all reservations, and arrive at full acceptance of the truth in them.

Father, what You have given cannot hurt, so grief and pain must be impossible. Let me not fail to trust in You today, accepting but the joyous as Your gifts; accepting but the joyous as the truth.”(W-pII.284)

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