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Gentle Healing Lesson 140, Manual for Teachers, Text.  5-9-19

Lesson 140
Only salvation can be said to cure.

“He is not healed. He merely had a dream that he was sick, and in the dream he found a magic formula to make him well. Yet he has not awakened from the dream, and so his mind remains exactly as it was before.”

There is only one way to be healed and that is through forgiveness. Nothing else works. Some forms of magic will bring relief, but will not cure the mind that believes in guilt. Doctors, medicine, energy work, crystals and oils, homeopathy, all of these are magic. There is nothing wrong with using them if that is what must be done to get relief.

Sometimes the mind cannot make the leap that brings true healing and there is nothing to be gained from suffering. But it does not help to believe that some forms of magic are better or more spiritual. It also does not help to believe that magic actually cures. That just delays actual healing.

“One either sleeps or wakens. There is nothing in between.”

Here is another of those uncompromising statements from Jesus. I have ignored this one and insisted on compromises but it didn’t do me any good to do so. It remains true. Dreaming that I am sick and dreaming that the medicine cured me are still just dreams. A good dream is no different than a bad dream.

“The dreams forgiveness lets the mind perceive do not induce another form of sleep, so that the dreamer dreams another dream. His happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon the mind. They lead from sleep to gentle waking, so that dreams are gone. And thus they cure for all eternity.”

Now here is a dream that is different. Forgiveness does not lead to more ego dreams. The happy world of forgiveness heralds the dawn of truth upon the mind and true waking begins to occur. Then all dreams are gone and there is no more sickness. Of course, at that level, there is no body to be sick because there is no dreaming at all.

“Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure. It takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible. And that is cure indeed. For sickness now is gone, with nothing left to which it can return.”

There is the possibility of sickness as long as there is a body because the body itself is the symbol of our guilt. It represents the belief we are separate from each other and from God. But as more and more guilt is released, it seems there is less sickness. At least, that has been my experience.

I notice I get sick way less often, and that when I do get sick, I suffer less. While this is nice, it is not the same as being cured and is not my goal. I see sickness as just another opportunity to look at the guilt in my mind and let it go. I discover that it is possible to know that sickness is not real and watch it disappear along with the guilt.

“There is no place where holiness is not, and nowhere sin and sickness can abide. This is the thought that cures.”

In truth, we are in God and part of God and, therefore, there is no place in us for sin and sickness. It only appears there could be because we dream we are someplace else, someplace that could be outside God and therefore a place that could be sinful and thus sick. It is only a dream, an illusion, a bit of imaginative thought that makes the appearance of sickness. Knowing this to be true is healing.

“We will try today to find the source of healing, which is in our minds because our Father placed it there for us.”

Once again, I am given the opportunity to sit in stillness and allow my mind to be healed. There is the Voice for God in my mind just beneath the ego thoughts that are “my ticket to this virtual reality show” (from Gina Lake) that I call my life. But as I let those thoughts slide by without giving them my attention, I leave the world behind long enough for some healing to take place. Then the next time I go into meditation, there is less temptation to follow those thoughts and even more healing occurs.

“We hear Him now. We come to Him today. With nothing in our hands to which we cling, with lifted hearts and listening minds we pray:

“Only salvation can be said to cure.

Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed.”

This is the only way we are going to be cured of our only ill, the belief in guilt. We must go to God with no other desire than to know the truth and to return our minds to Him.

Regina’s Tip
The goal is not to change the dream. The goal is to awaken from it.

It is okay to seek resolution to problems that come up in the dream. If there is a headache, it is okay to take aspirin. If a job ends, it is ok to look for another job. However, keep in mind that this is all dream stuff. Let the dream be the dream, AND remain clear on the goal. It is possible to do both by keeping the mind focused in the direction of truth. This is often referred to as “being in the world but not of it.”

Remember that the only resolution that can be a cure (a successful and permanent remedy from suffering) is awakening to truth. Everything else is temporary relief from suffering at best. Temporary relief is acceptable and can be helpful, but it isn’t the goal.

2nd Day for Lesson 140
I do know that there is only one cure and that is to awaken from the dream of separation. I know that everything I do with magical means to end my suffering is useless toward awakening, but I also know that there is no benefit in suffering if I cannot yet accept healing. I still feel uneasy about using magical means and I wonder if that is because I am listening to ego tell me how guilty I am or if it is because I could be practicing accepting healing instead.

There are two ways to look at this; that it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we understand that magic is magic and not really a cure, or that we can heal the body by allowing our true Self to work in it. Both seem equally true to me. There is ample proof that healing the body can be accomplished as the mind is healed. I know that guilt for any reason is not the answer, and so I am not guilty for my choices. I am going to surrender this whole issue to the Holy Spirit and let Him speak to me about it.

What I got is that I should not become obsessed with these body things I have been concerned with. It is not that I am to ignore the body, but just not get wrapped up in it. Take it a moment at a time allowing myself to be led, and absolutely not to worry about any of it or be concerned at all. Ok. I can do that.

Manual for Teachers
I cannot say how I will feel when I have completely given up all value of the world, but as I have some experience with this, I can extrapolate from that success and say that I believe what Jesus says here. I am not angry that we made the world or that we chose to have this experience. I don’t even regret it. I am ready to be through with it, but I don’t condemn it or any of those who are still interested in it.

But nor do I regret any part of it that I have given up already. I used to take great pleasure in winning. I loved competitive games. I enjoyed being better than others at my job. My last job was in sales, which is very competitive. It was a perfect job for someone like I was, and it was a perfect job to discover that winning didn’t have any real value and that it didn’t really make me happy. I don’t miss competing or winning at all.

When I began to do my job solely with a focus on being helpful, I enjoyed it more and so much of the stress fell away. It did not happen all at once and I had to work at it, but it was worth it. Work helped me to let go of other things I used to value, like projecting guilt. I used to think that finding someone to be guilty instead of me was quite literally my salvation. Now, I just notice the old habit trying to reestablish itself and I choose again. There is no value in guilt. Taking responsibility and making different choices is far better.

I can enjoy standing on the shore of a beach and listening to the surf. I can enjoy good music that stirs my soul. I can enjoy trees and the green of the grass and the vibrant colors of my zinnias, and at the same time, I can enjoy the stark beauty of the desert earth colors. I like movies and vacations and family gatherings and all manner of beauty in the world. And yet, I would not hold onto any of it. I suspect that there is something far more beautiful than what my eyes show me and that it is just waiting to be known.

Special relationships are maybe the most convincing prize the ego offers, and it is the one that still compels my attention. It is one of the few things that can draw me into the ego story so deeply that I still have trouble resisting. But even that fails to keep my attention completely, and, always, eventually, I turn from this false happiness. I remember that I can have a holy relationship instead and that it is the only kind of relationship I want. The relinquishing of the special relationship is not the sacrifice the ego claims it to be.

Text
“The Holy Spirit does not want you to understand conflict; He wants you to realize that, because conflict is meaningless, it is not understandable.”

The Holy Spirit does not fight the ego or try to understand it. The Holy Spirit simply disregards it because it does not exist. Conflict is of the ego so conflict is meaningless and so not understandable. Ultimately, this is my goal as well. I began by learning about the ego so I could recognize it. I was not trying to understand it or destroy it, I just wanted to know the difference between ego’s voice and the Voice for God.

I then began to loosen my hold on these untrue thoughts and allow my mind to be corrected. I am still not at war with the ego, but I see that it is not me and I am practicing recognizing the tendency to identify with it so I can stop doing that. My goal is to disregard it completely because no part of my mind believes in it or has interest in it. As I release the belief in the ego, I release any interest in conflict.

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