ACIM Chapter 10. THE IDOLS OF SICKNESS. Introduction. P 3

ACIM Chapter 10. THE IDOLS OF SICKNESS. Introduction. P 3

Introduction P3

³ God does not change His Mind about you, for He is not uncertain of Himself. And what He knows can be known, because He does not know it only for Himself. He created you for Himself, but He gave you the power to create for yourself so you would be like Him. That is why your mind is holy. Can anything exceed the Love of God? Can anything, then, exceed your will? Nothing can reach you from beyond it because, being in God, you encompass everything. Believe this, and you will realize how much is up to you. When anything threatens your peace of mind, ask yourself, “Has God changed His Mind about me?” Then accept His decision, for it is indeed changeless, and refuse to change your mind about yourself. God will never decide against you, or He would be deciding against Himself.

God created me, and what He creates is eternally as He created it.

So, He knows what I am, and what He knows, I know. I am having this weird experience of being something different, but God has not changed His mind about me, and neither have I. I lose sight of my reality, but it is right there in my mind, so I can always find it. Sometimes, I am absolutely astounded at the truth of my Being, and other times, I feel like a lost soul. But when I come to my senses, I have to laugh at the fact that I have ever believed that, even for a minute.

God created me for Himself. I try to think about that, and my mind can’t really absorb it. But I know that I belong to Him and that means I am safe even from my insane desire to experience something else. I am His Thought, and I abide in His Mind. Nothing can ever change that. But He not only created me for Himself; he created me to create. So I am like my Father, a creator, and I have creations. My mind is very holy.

I remind myself of this often because the story of Myron can be very distracting, and I can get lost in it if I let myself. Recently, I have been watching my mind for unforgiven thoughts because they have been manifesting as pain in the body. I read some things in the Psychotherapy section of the Course that have been helping me with this.

Here is what Jesus tells us about healing and helping.

Healing is holy. ²Nothing in the world is holier than helping one who asks for help. ³And two come very close to God in this attempt, however limited, however lacking in sincerity. ⁴Where two have joined for healing, God is there. ⁵And He has guaranteed that He will hear and answer them in truth. (ACIM, P-2.V.4:1-5)

This is why I write, record, and post, why I have two ACIM study groups, and why I facilitate courses and offer spiritual counseling. When we join for the purpose of healing, we come very close to God, even in the attempt. That is so reassuring because we will not do this perfectly, and sometimes not even very well. But the attempt guarantees He will hear and answer.

I am sharing my journey in this particular healing because I want to join and I want to receive what I give and give what I receive. I want to heal, and the way to heal is to give healing. Here is something else I learned.

This is about unforgiveness and sickness.

…only forgiveness heals an unforgiveness, and only an unforgiveness can possibly give rise to sickness of any kind. (ACIM, P-2.VI.5:5)

So, I watch my mind for unforgiveness. When I notice an unforgiven thought, I don’t let it pass by without forgiving it. And I don’t just wait for one to show up. I ask Jesus to point me to the thoughts I am ready to forgive. As I do this, I often include the process in my writing so that I can share it with you. Maybe it will make sense to you or touch you in a way that shifts your thinking, too. After all, No one is healed alone. ²This is the joyous song salvation sings to all who hear its Voice. (ACIM, P-2.VI.7:1-2)

I want to experience healing of the pain in my body. So, why am I looking at my thoughts? Jesus tells us that all sickness is mental illness. It is always our thoughts that source every kind of sickness. Even if I manage to effect a change in my body, if I don’t correct the cause of the sickness, it will just show up again in some form. ⁴There can be nothing that a change of mind cannot effect, for all external things are only shadows of a decision already made. ⁵Change the decision, and how can its shadow be unchanged? (ACIM, P-2.IV.2:4-5) The cause is a thought, the sickness is the effect. Change the cause and the effect must also change.

Here is the specific idea I am working with right now.

I read in the Psychotherapy section this: And all who ask for illness have now condemned themselves to seek for remedies that cannot help, because their faith is in the illness and not in salvation. (ACIM, P-2.IV.2:3) I questioned this. Could my problem be that I have more faith in the pain than I do in the miracle?

While contemplating this, I walked into the other room. Turning the corner, I stepped too hard on the inflamed foot. The pain was intense. At that moment, I realized that I had absolute faith that if I irritated the inflamed foot, there would be pain. I didn’t doubt that for a moment. Was my faith in healing as strong? Well, no, I can see it is not. Bummer.

At first, I was disappointed and fearful.

What the heck do I do about my lack of faith? Jesus is my helper, and so I went to him for advice. He reminded me that my mind is very powerful, and I have the strength of God in me to call on. The thought he gave me was to pay attention to these thoughts. When I noticed that I was discouraged, I remembered that my faith was in God, not the illusory foot. My faith is in the miracle, not the problem. I said this with emphasis, with belief, with certainty and did not listen to the ego doubt my certainty and call me a liar.

I am continuing to do this, and I expect the belief in pain and suffering to be replaced with faith in the truth. With this new decision, I expect the shadow (pain) to change as well. If it takes a while for me to shift my thinking, that’s OK. I can be persistent. And in the meantime, I am asking Jesus to point to anything else in this situation that I can use to heal the mind. I’ve noticed that there are often different things I can learn from any experience.