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Study of Manual for Teachers 3-10-12

Day 70
4 Yet what makes God’s teachers is their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body’s function is but to let God’s Voice speak through it to human ears. And these ears will carry to the mind of the hearer messages that are not of this world, and the mind will understand because of their Source. From this understanding will come the recognition, in this new teacher of God, of what the body’s purpose really is; the only use there really is for it. This lesson is enough to let the thought of unity come in, and what is one is recognized as one. The teachers of God appear to share the illusion of separation, but because of what they use the body for, they do not believe in the illusion despite appearances. 

For a long time after I found the Course, I was confused about how I was to feel about the body. I understood that my body was not real, because it was not created by God, but was made as an illusion of my self. Because this understanding was mostly just a concept with no real acceptance as truth, I didn’t know how to think of the body.

I would wonder if its not real then should I stop taking care of it? Am I believing in the body if I give it vitamins? Am I making the illusion more real to me if I take it to the doctor or give it medicine? Should I treat it with unconcern, or with contempt?

After all, the body is the home of the ego and represents my desire to be separate from God. If I give the body too much thought would I be compounding the original error? The unacknowledged but pervasive thought seemed to be that if I separated myself in all ways from the body then maybe God would see that I was no longer serious about being separate from Him and I would be safe from His anger and allowed to return home.

I am learning to see things differently. I don’t have complete clarity, but I feel more comfortable about the body now that I feel more comfortable about its use. The body is not a symbol of sin unless I see it that way. We made illusions (including the body) to allow us to try on an idea, but we are not guilty for that. If we are not guilty for our foray into the idea of separation, then the body is not an object of guilt either.

Whatever we made to express separation, the Holy Spirit will use to bring us home if that is our choice. The body is no different. In this paragraph Jesus is helping me to understand this. He is asking me to use the body to allow communication from Source to pass from my mouth to your ear. My experience has been that this communication can be in the form of writing, or speaking. It can be formal as it is right now, or it can be a kind word to a frightened brother.

When someone is telling me about a fearful situation in their lives, I can tell them about one of my fearful situations, which I am certain is worse than theirs. This is the ego’s idea of communication. Or I can tell them that I understand, but isn’t it a blessing that appearances do not prove that the truth is not true, and I can suggest a different way to see. This is the proper use of the body. If people attack me with their words, I can defend myself and maybe attack them in return. Or I can understand their fear and love them anyway.

The proper use of the body for a true communication devise comes from full surrender. The ego cannot be part of the communication no matter how well meaning I am, or how spiritual I sound. The thinking mind will want to decide, based on my spiritual studies, what needs to be said, but this is not true communication.

To the degree that I let go of the ego desire to speak, and surrender my body to Christ, the perfect words are given me to speak. Sometimes what I say is puzzling to me, because I don’t understand why these words are helpful. I am learning to trust the process, and do my best not to question in retrospect, nor try to waste time wondering why I said what I said and what it all means. That’s just the ego-thinking mind trying to reestablish its dominance.

I am not consistent in surrendering the body for the Holy Spirit’s use, but I do it as often as I think to. This effort helps me do it more often. When I say something that is truly helpful it is not because I am a good student of the Course, or because I am more advanced than another person. It is because I have surrendered the body for that purpose, and allowed the Voice for God to speak through me. (The ego doesn’t like these words and thinks this is arrogance, but how can full surrender be anything but humility.)

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