ACIM V. The Ego-Body Illusion, P 5, 6. This is the question that must be asked: “Where can I go for protection?”
ACIM Chapter 4, V. The Ego-Body Illusion, P 5
V. The Ego-Body Illusion, P 5
5 This is the question that must be asked: “Where can I go for protection?” “Seek and ye shall find” does not mean that you should seek blindly and desperately for something you would not recognize. Meaningful seeking is consciously undertaken, consciously organized and consciously directed. The goal must be formulated clearly and kept in mind. Learning and wanting to learn are inseparable. You learn best when you believe what you are trying to learn is of value to you. However, not everything you may want to learn has lasting value. Indeed, many of the things you want to learn may be chosen because their value will not last.
Luckily, we have chosen A Course in Miracles as our path to find our way home. It is a meaningful course that is consciously undertaken, consciously organized, and consciously directed. Thank you, Jesus, for that. All we need to do is follow the clear directions set out in the Course. That is the first part. Then Jesus says that learning and wanting are inseparable. I must desire what the Course has to offer, and so I must find it of value.
The Course Showed Up
Honestly, when I started the Course, I don’t think it was so clear to me. I didn’t suddenly decide I wanted to wake up and start looking for something to guide me. It was more like I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was fed up with my life and wanted something better. I seemed to have stumbled over the Course. In retrospect, I see that the Course showed up when I was ready for it. All along, I was being guided, and each time I was ready for the next step, there it was.
The only thing that was clear to me at first was that I was thrilled to have found these books. (They came in three volumes at the time.) I loved reading the Text and felt the truth of it deep in my heart. I learned to value it as it began to change my life. The Course proved itself to me, and soon it became essential to my life.
What We Want to Learn
As Jesus says, not everything we want to learn has lasting value. The ego tries to distract from the true purpose by presenting insolvable problems and offering solutions that will never work. I once spent months trying to forgive an in-law. I prayed to forgive him and worried about it and cried about it. Holding a grievance was miserable, but I couldn’t seem to let it go. Finally, I realized that I had made his “crime” real in my mind, so forgiving became impossible. When I let go of the idea that he was guilty, forgiveness was simple and welcomed.
The ego will sometimes decide to spend a few years in therapy looking for the source of the problem, finding ways to cope with the pain, but never seeking healing. Sometimes ego will offer fun and interesting diversions with “spiritual themes.” Nothing is wrong with any of these, but if they don’t lead to inner healing, they won’t get us where we want to go. We are not guilty of taking these side roads, but if waking up is our purpose and what we came to do, we will soon discover that procrastination causes suffering and will want to get back on track.
V. The Ego-Body Illusion, P 6
6 The ego thinks it is an advantage not to commit itself to anything that is eternal, because the eternal must come from God. Eternalness is the one function the ego has tried to develop, but has systematically failed to achieve. The ego compromises with the issue of the eternal, just as it does with all issues touching on the real question in any way. By becoming involved with tangential issues, it hopes to hide the real question and keep it out of mind. The ego’s characteristic busyness with nonessentials is for precisely that purpose. Preoccupations with problems set up to be incapable of solution are favorite ego devices for impeding learning progress. In all these diversionary tactics, however, the one question that is never asked by those who pursue them is, “What for?” This is the question that you must learn to ask in connection with everything. What is the purpose? Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically. When you make a decision of purpose, then, you have made a decision about your future effort; a decision that will remain in effect unless you change your mind.
The Ego and the Eternal
I was thinking about this. Does the ego avoid the subject of the eternal? I guess it must. I can’t think how to be ego and still be eternal. The ego always ends my story with death. Rather than looking at this question, it keeps me busy with other things. It gives me problems with no solutions so that I will never get to what really matters or notice the ego fails to answer the question of eternalness.
The body will not last, but the ego keeps us distracted by making the body seem young for as long as possible. We invent wrinkle creams and hair dyes. Our doctors open anti-aging clinics and weight loss clinics. We create newer and better supplements meant to stop the aging process. And I can assure you, some scientist somewhere is right now trying to figure out how to keep the body going forever.
The Illusion of Cryogenics to Preserve an Illusion
In a desperate bid to preserve the body for eternity, we invented cryogenics and are working on cryonics in the hope of freezing bodies. The idea is that if the body succumbs to an incurable disease, it will be frozen until science finds a solution. This is so funny because we are actually already immortal. It is only the ego body that dies. But the ego distracts us from noticing that it is unable to make even its home eternal by keeping us busy trying to achieve the impossible, making it seem that it is just a matter of time till this is done.
I want to stop this cycle of wasting time trying to answer impossible questions and turn my mind to the real solution. Jesus says the question I need to ask to get out of this confused state is, “What is it for?” If I spend time and money trying to preserve a youthful body, I can ask, “What for?” What is the purpose?
Why would I be interested in making the ego’s home last longer? What is the purpose of doing this? I am searching my mind for a good reason and can’t come up with one. I want to feel good and have energy while I use this body. The Course tells me the way to do this is to let go of judgment and grievances and to use the body only for communication. If I do that, I will have a healthy serviceable body for as long as I need it.
Purpose
So really, what I want to do is to become clear on my purpose for the body. Am I trying to keep it youthful to impress people, to attract people? This would make it a separation device, not a tool for awakening. If I want to use it as a tool for awakening, then I know how to do that, and it doesn’t require any help from science or doctors. “What is it for?” That is a good question to cut through the ego subterfuge.
I will expend a certain amount of time, money, and effort on the body on my way to enlightenment. I am going to wear makeup, get my hair done, and buy flattering and pretty clothes. But I know what I am doing, and as long as I am doing it, I will enjoy it. This means I will do it in the sense of fun and without guilt.
Better Use For the Body
At the same time, I have asked that question. I know what the body is for and how to achieve a strong, healthy, and energetic body. I am learning how actually to accomplish that. And I am watching my mind for ways I use the body for separation rather than communication, and I am giving my willingness to be healed.
I am not wasting my time trying to achieve immortality for the body, which is impossible, but I am learning to use the body to remember that I am already immortal. Asking what it is for, I have already learned that it has no intrinsic value in itself; its only value to me is to use it to help us all wake-up. And when I no longer need the body, I will just set it aside because it will no longer be useful.
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