ACIM Chapter 7. V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind, P 3, 4. Healing is the one ability everyone can develop and must develop if he is to be healed.
ACIM Chapter 7.V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind P 3, 4
V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind, P 3
3 Healing is the one ability everyone can develop and must develop if he is to be healed. Healing is the Holy Spirit’s form of communication in this world, and the only one He accepts. He recognizes no other, because He does not accept the ego’s confusion of mind and body. Minds can communicate, but they cannot hurt. The body in the service of the ego can hurt other bodies, but this cannot occur unless the body has already been confused with the mind. This situation, too, can be used either for healing or for magic, but you must remember that magic always involves the belief that healing is harmful. This belief is its totally insane premise, and so it proceeds accordingly.
For a while, we all use magic to heal what ails us.
We have a financial problem and we seek an answer from the banker, or in getting a better job, or praying for more money. We are not guilty for this; we are just confused about what the problem is and where to find the solution. The miracle is found in recognizing the problem is the belief we are separated from God, and the solution is the Holy Spirit in our mind.
When we remember the one problem and the one solution, we turn our attention to the Holy Spirit, and our mind is healed of the belief in lack and loss. Without this belief, we cannot manifest financial woes. When we accept that we are part of God, how can we accept that lack is part of us? Is lack part of God? We hesitate only because we hear the ego warn us that healing is harmful, and if we don’t listen to its solutions, we will wind up broken and destitute.
Perhaps we have a physical problem and take medicine or see a doctor.
We feel sorry for ourselves and seek comfort in food and comfort in the concern of others. Perhaps we kid ourselves into believing that natural medicine and energy healing are less magical than traditional methods. But anything concerned with the body is looking in the wrong direction for healing.
It is not a sin, and if we are too fearful to accept any other kind of healing, we should accept what we can and do so with gratitude. But at some point, the healer must accept true healing. True healing is always the realization that we are in God and part of God, and what is not of God cannot be of us. If we think we are sick, it can only be because we think we are outside God. Only our mind needs to be healed, and the body will be what the mind directs. The ego insists that this idea of true healing is dangerous, and if we don’t follow its advice and seek help, we will suffer and die.
Relationships are no different.
If the relationship needs healing, we tend to seek a counselor who will save our relationship. Or maybe the desire is to throw away the partner and look for another, more suitable one. Neither of these is a sin, and it is ok to do either one or both. But it is not the solution. There is no healing in looking outside your own mind for the solution.
The problem is not the relationship or the partner. Rather, the problem is the belief that you are separate from God and separate from your brothers and sisters. The problem is that you think you have separate interests. This seems to demand defense of your interests at the expense of others. Is this God? It is not God or in God or part of God and so it cannot be so for you who are in God.
The solution is to allow the mind to be healed of the belief that your happiness depends on something outside your mind changing. But the ego insists it cannot be your fault when so clearly the other one is wrong. So forget healing your mind; just focus on the relationship the ego says. It insists that healing your mind is just a waste of time and is dangerous. It leaves you in a situation that makes you unhappy. The ego is wrong as always.
As for myself, I had to learn to trust.
I first had to trust that pain is not real. Then I realized that the problem was in my mind all along. Now, when I feel pain, I automatically remind myself that the pain may seem to be in my leg, but it can only be in my mind. Therefore, the solution can only be in my mind.
I may be unable to accept this at the moment fully. I may take medicine, but I will do so with a laugh because I know it is just magic. Over time, I started to believe in the magic only a very little. And I believe in healing more than I believe in magic, and the fear of the problem is gone. It is only a matter of time before I am fully convinced that I am not a body. I am spirit, in God, and part of God.
This is true of all perceived problems. When I see loss and lack of any kind show up in my life, I know it is the effect of a misguided thought. I ask that my mind be healed. I do not even think of asking for more money or a different relationship. Even when I am confused about how to see it or what to do, I just return to asking that my mind be healed.
I ask for healing consistently because I want to be a consistent healer.
V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind, P 4
4 Healing only strengthens. Magic always tries to weaken. Healing perceives nothing in the healer that everyone else does not share with him. Magic always sees something “special” in the healer, which he believes he can offer as a gift to someone who does not have it. He may believe that the gift comes from God to him, but it is quite evident that he does not understand God if he thinks he has something that others lack.
I am healed as I allow myself to be healed. It is as simple as that, and it is unfailing. I desire to remember who I am through forgetting who I thought I was, and it is done. I am strengthened each time I allow any healing at all. Each time I allow healing, my mind is illuminated to the degree I am ready. As I remember who I am, I accept the strength of God that is mine.
Magic always tries to weaken me because magic tries to convince me that I am less than what I am. I take medicine, and I must believe that the power to heal lies outside my mind. This convinces me that my mind must be weak. I solve my financial problems by shifting around the elements of the illusion so that I now prefer the way they appear, and I have convinced myself that the illusion is more powerful than the mind.
Regardless of the form it takes, all problems are one problem.
And there is only one true solution. That solution is the Holy Spirit in my mind. As I call on that solution, my memory returns, and I know who I am. This is strength. Attempting to solve my problems any other way robs me of the memory of the strength available to me, so it weakens me.
The solution may call for action in the world. But that action will be dictated from the Source of all Strength and so will not weaken. Believing that my solution comes from something outside me shifting and changing weakens my trust, and that makes the appearance of weakness. Of course, I cannot, as God’s Son, be weakened. But I can be confused and believe that I am weakened and what I believe is true for me.
As a healer, I am calling on the strength of God and the Knowledge of God. This is within me and part of me. But I am truly confused if I believe it is in me alone. In my confusion, I forget who I am, and I lose the certainty that allowed healing to occur through me. Even if the healer is aware that the healing is coming through her, she is still confused if she believes this makes her special.
And this is important.
Having said this, let me also say that we may not always be ready to heal the body through healing the mind. Or we may be in an abusive relationship, and staying there while we practice accepting the healing of our mind would be dangerous. We don’t achieve healing by changing our behavior. When I was in extreme pain, I had to go to the emergency room and wound up getting emergency surgery. Anything else, and I wouldn’t have lived long enough to achieve the level of mind healing I seek. When I was married, I knew the relationship was over so I left it, but I also healed the relationship. I did it after I left.
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