HOW DO GOD’S TEACHERS DEAL WITH MAGIC THOUGHTS?
page 44, paragraph 2
HOW DO GOD’S TEACHERS
DEAL WITH MAGIC THOUGHTS?
HOW DO GOD’S TEACHERS DEAL WITH MAGIC THOUGHTS?
2. There is, however, a temptation to respond to magic in a way that reinforces it. ²Nor is this always obvious. ³It can, in fact, be easily concealed beneath a wish to help. ⁴It is this double wish that makes the help of little value, and must lead to undesired outcomes. ⁵Nor should it be forgotten that the outcome that results will always come to teacher and to pupil alike. ⁶How many times has it been emphasized that you give but to yourself? ⁷And where could this be better shown than in the kinds of help the teacher of God gives to those who need his aid? ⁸Here is his gift most clearly given him. ⁹For he will give only what he has chosen for himself. ¹⁰And in this gift is his judgment upon the holy Son of God. (ACIM, M-17.2:1-10)
Magic Beliefs
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. 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. I will need to keep the reinforcement a secret, too.
Illusion
I mentioned that some years ago I went to the hospital to be with family (when my sister in law got her transplants). While at the hospital with them, we got into a conversation about illnesses. I noticed that I still reinforce the belief that sickness is a result of outside forces. 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. It seems like I’m just trying to be helpful, but the ego has a hidden agenda. The ego makes the illusion of illness more real. And also to limit the solution to ego choices.
Identity Confusion
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.