ACIM Chapter 11. II. The Invitation to Healing, P 2, 3

ACIM Chapter 11. II. The Invitation to Healing, P 2, 3

II. The Invitation to Healing, P 2

2 Healing thus becomes a lesson in understanding; and the more you practice it the better teacher and learner you become. If you have denied truth, what better witnesses to its reality could you have than those who have been healed by it? But be sure to count yourself among them, for in your willingness to join them is your healing accomplished. Every miracle that you accomplish speaks to you of the Fatherhood of God. Every healing thought that you accept, either from your brother or in your own mind, teaches you that you are God’s Son. In every hurtful thought you hold, wherever you perceive it, lies the denial of God’s Fatherhood and of your Sonship.

The more I practice healing, the better teacher and learner I become.

I do this in two ways. First, I learn from those who have gone before me. I think of the teachers I have followed and my heart swells in gratitude! There are some I followed consistently and over a period of time, and some who have inspired me from time to time. They are all equal in teaching, whether they helped me once, or many times.

I read what they say and am inspired, but that is not enough. And I must use what they say in order for it to be helpful to me. I must use it and let it become what I do and think and become. Regina Dawn Akers has been helpful to me many, many times, but one that comes to me often is this. When I was in the middle of a virtual storm, a hurricane, and at the same time in an ego storm, I reached out to her.

She told me to let the storm pass. That is what storms do. I have used that advice often. I sit through the ego storm in patience and certainty that Holy Spirit is sitting with me and that healing is taking place. As a result, I am not fearful when I am in one of these storms. I know it will pass and when it does, I will be washed clean of the thoughts that caused it, and this changed perception is a miracle.

Cate Grieves has been a teacher who offers me healing thoughts.

Recently, I read some of her postings in which she talked about not compromising. She woke up through A Course in Miracles, and she said that she did it because she refused to compromise. Every wrong-minded thought goes to Spirit for healing. There is no compromise in that. This has become my mantra as well.

For example, while still working, I had problems with co-workers from time to time. I struggled with these relationships, not wanting to give up being right and holding tight to the belief that I was being unfairly treated. It took way too much suffering to get my attention in a way that led to healing.

Now, I am fully involved in accepting the peace of God as my one goal. I refuse to compromise on that. I don’t care what proof the ego brings me that the other person is wrong; I only want the peace of God. If the ego brings me evidence that my financial situation is deteriorating, I feel the echo of old beliefs and start to worry. Then I remembered that the peace of God is everything I want. No compromise.

My learning is twofold.

I am both following others, accepting the gifts of their own healings, and I am practicing what I am learning, and making it mine. Each changed perception is a healing that reminds me that God is my Father and I am His Son. I am very cognizant now that every hurtful thought leads me away from remembering who I am.

I sit in the stormy thoughts of darkness, knowing that it will pass and, with it, the damage those thoughts caused. And I remember that looking at the thoughts with the Holy Spirit and asking for healing is my part, and I do not compromise on that. I allow the healing, and in doing so, I accept the Atonement for myself, which is my only function.

II. The Invitation to Healing, P 3

3 And denial is as total as love. You cannot deny part of yourself, because the rest will seem to be separate and therefore without meaning. And being without meaning to you, you will not understand it. To deny meaning is to fail to understand. You can heal only yourself, for only God’s Son needs healing. You need it because you do not understand yourself, and therefore know not what you do. Having forgotten your will, you do not know what you really want.

The reason Awakening requires that we not compromise in accepting the Atonement is that denial is as total as love. If I leave anything out, any person, any situation, any thought within my mind; if I deny the Holy Spirit anything, I will not awaken.  Is there some part of my mind, even one single thought that I want to keep separate from the Holy Spirit’s healing transformation? Then, I have not accepted the Atonement, and I will remain in the dream. Is there one person among the billions that stands outside my willingness to forgive? Then, I did not accept the Atonement.

Sometimes, it can be subtle.

I watched a show where the family (brothers and sisters and their families) was very close, outwardly loving, visiting each other frequently, praying together, and sharing deeply. I felt sad because I don’t have that. My family does not interact in that way. In that moment of sadness, I was in denial of God and needed healing. I was choosing to let my ego interpret the situation.

The truth is that regardless of appearances, we cannot be separate, and a story of separation is just a story. I saw the error in my mind, and I chose the peace of God over the sad story the ego offered me. It is always a choice, the meaning we give these thoughts.

Physical illness seems like something outside our choice, and yet sickness is a defense against God, and therefore, on some level, we have made a choice for it. When I am sick or in pain, I remind myself it is a choice, and I choose the peace of God instead. Always regardless of what seems to be happening, it is a choice between ego and God.

The illness, the broken relationship, or other effects of separation thinking may already be in play.

It is still not too late to make another choice. If I see myself as a victim of these circumstances, and if I project the blame for them, I have chosen ego again. If I accept responsibility for all that occurs and offer my mind to be healed of the thoughts that sourced the effects, I have chosen for God.

I am totally responsible for everything that happens in the world because there is only one mind, and I am part of that mind. When I read the paper and see that someone has killed or robbed, and I think that person is guilty, I have made a mistake. I am that person who killed and robbed. That is me over there acting out the belief that I am separate from God and damned for it. Seeing the criminal as someone separate from me is denying our oneness and refusing to accept the Atonement.

Making fun of a politician’s foibles, judging something I read on Facebook, speaking unkindly about someone, worrying about the weather, my finances, and my relationships, all of these are ways to keep myself separate from my other selves. As I realized what I was doing, I began to make a different choice: to choose God instead, one thought at a time.

It would seem an impossible task and simply too overwhelming to be done.

But each choice to not deny love helped me to see that there is only one thought appearing as many. Now, my mind is quieter than before, and all ego thoughts are beginning to blend into one idea of separation.

While it does still require my vigilance and my unquestioning commitment, it doesn’t feel like an impossible task anymore. I allow the mind to be healed and the separation idea to be undone so I know what I want. The stronger this feeling becomes, the easier it is to choose God.