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Study of Manual for Teachers 4-11-12

Day 101

2 There is, however, a temptation to respond to magic in a way that reinforces it. Nor is this always obvious. It can, in fact, be easily concealed beneath a wish to help. It is this double wish that makes the help of little value, and must lead to undesired outcomes. Nor should it be forgotten that the outcome that results will always come to teacher and to pupil alike. How many times has it been emphasized that you give but to yourself? And where could this be better shown than in the kinds of help the teacher of God gives to those who need his aid? Here is his gift most clearly given him. For he will give only what he has chosen for himself. And in this gift is his judgment upon the holy Son of God.

Jesus says that we may be tempted to respond to magic in a way that reinforces it. I am aware of that temptation in myself at times. This is usually a temptation when someone else’s magic belief is also my belief. It may not be one I acknowledge, and if it is one I deny in myself, the reinforcement may not be obvious. This makes sense because I am keeping the belief a secret from myself, so I will need to keep the reinforcement a secret, too.

Yesterday I mentioned that while I was at the hospital with family, we got into a conversation about illnesses. I noticed that I still reinforce the belief that sickness is a result of outside forces, and I did this in an effort to be helpful. “Have you tried this? I heard that works” It’s the kind of thing nearly everyone does, and it seems like I’m just trying to be helpful, but the ego’s hidden agenda is to make the illusion of illness more real and to limit the solution to the ego choices.

Jesus emphasizes that as I reinforce these beliefs I am doing so for the person I am speaking to, but also for me as well. It is as if the one to whom I am responding is showing me the prison he inhabits and instead of offering him a key to release the door, I put another bar in place. Since I am in agreement with him, we share this prison and so I have reinforced both his confinement and my own.

Now as I write this I have another choice to make. I can judge my behavior and feel guilty for my lapse in which case I reinforce the ego identity and fall deeper into the illusion of a false self. Or I can allow myself to be exactly where I am in every moment without judgment. In the hospital setting I was confused about my identity. Now I am not. I am not guilty for my confusion. It is judgment and the resultant guilt that makes me hide what’s happening, and what is hidden cannot be healed. Without judgment and guilt I feel happy and excited to see how easy it is to change my mind.

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