“When I
find the right person, get married, buy a house and have children, then
I’ll be happy. If I had more income, a higher salary, a better paying
job, then things would be better.” The intention and goals are set, so
off we go to achieve them. Years later we eventually succeed in
accomplishing the goals. But shortly after, we begin to get a feeling
that something isn’t quite right, something seems to be missing.
Slightly perplexed our subconscious minds begin working the problem
again. “Perhaps more education or a higher degree would help. I could
get a better job, make more money, and even go into business for
myself. This would allow me to be my own boss, make my own hours and
get that lake house I’ve been dreaming about. I could buy a boat and
take my family on great vacations.” So off we go again to get it right,
to create the right recipe for a happy life. Several more years go by,
we meet the goals, and again, we find ourselves not quite satisfied. In
fact, things may seem to be a little worse. Debts may have accumulated,
relationships may have suffered and all this stuff is now pulling at us
from all directions. A hectic lifestyle and another failed recipe now
begin to sow the seeds of depression in the back of our minds. “What is
it?”, we subconsciously ask ourselves, “What am I missing? Why can’t I
seem to get this right?” The search goes on and on, “A new car,
landscaping, a deck, a new home…season tickets, a television show,
dining out, a vacation, a new sport or hobby…a new relationship, an
affair, a night out…” The search never seems to end and, either on a
conscious or subconscious level, it always seems to lead to some form of
disappointment. A Course In Miracles teaches us that
these are all forms of a single sickness, a sickness
that all stems from not being aware of Who we really are.
Part of the
problem is that all of these situations distract us from looking at and
seeking the answer to the core question, “Who am I?” A Course In
Miracles teaches us that the main problem is that there are two
worlds. There is the world of the Mind of God, or Heaven, and there is
the world of the ego, or the mind of ego. All of us are aware of the
world of the ego mind because it is the world we live in everyday. We see
it, hear it, feel it, taste it, smell it, breathe it and experience it
everyday. The unpleasant news is that it is a world of fear, pain,
separation, suffering and death. The good news is that it is not real, it
is all just an amazing illusion and, most importantly, there is a
way for us to experience personally that it is just that, an illusion.
The way to do that is to get a glimpse of what the other world looks
and feels like; which is what every lesson in the Workbook for Students is
designed to help us do. Just 5 minutes in the morning when we first get
up, and 5 minutes in the evening before going to sleep is all we need to
get to the experience.
“The miracle
comes quietly into the mind that stops an instant and is still.” T-28.I.11
“8. In many only the spark
remains, for the Great Rays are obscured. 2 Yet God has kept the spark
alive so that the Rays can never be completely forgotten. 3 If you but
see the little spark you will learn of the greater light, for the Rays
are there unseen. 4 Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the light
will create. 5 Yet in the returning the little light must be acknowledged
first, for the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. 6
But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the
remaining call of creation. 7 Put all your faith in it, and God Himself
will answer you.” T-10.V.2
LESSON 140 of the Workbook for
Students, specifically addressing the issue of sickness and the cure:
Only
salvation can be said to cure.
1. "Cure" is a word that
cannot be applied to any remedy the world accepts as beneficial. 2 What
the world perceives as therapeutic is but what will make the body
"better." 3 When it tries to heal the mind, it sees no separation from the
body, where it thinks the mind exists. 4 Its forms of healing thus must
substitute illusion for illusion. 5 One belief in sickness takes another
form, and so the patient now perceives himself as well.
2. He is not healed. 2 He
merely had a dream that he was sick, and in the dream he found a magic
formula to make him well. 3 Yet he has not awakened from the dream, and so
his mind remains exactly as it was before. 4 He has not seen the light
that would awaken him and end the dream. 5 What difference does the
content of a dream make in reality? 6 One either sleeps or wakens. 7 There
is nothing in between.
3. The happy dreams the
Holy Spirit brings are different from the dreaming of the world, where one
can merely dream he is awake. 2 The dreams forgiveness lets the mind
perceive do not induce another form of sleep, so that the dreamer dreams
another dream. 3 His happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon
the mind. 4 They lead from sleep to gentle waking, so that dreams are
gone. 5 And thus they cure for all eternity.
4. Atonement heals with
certainty, and cures all sickness. 2 For the mind which understands that
sickness can be nothing but a dream is not deceived by forms the dream may
take. 3 Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but another
form of guilt. 4 Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure.
5 It takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible. 6 And that is
cure indeed. 7 For sickness now is gone, with nothing left to which it can
return.
5.
Peace be to you who have been cured in
God, and not in idle dreams. …
8. Today we seek to change
our minds about the source of sickness, for we seek a cure for all
illusions, not another shift among them. 2 We will try today to find the
source of healing, which is in our minds because our Father placed it
there for us. 3 It is not farther from us than ourselves. 4 It is as near
to us as our own thoughts; so close it is impossible to lose. 5 We need
but seek it and it must be found.…
10. So do we lay aside our
amulets, our charms and medicines, our chants and bits of magic in
whatever form they take. 2 We will be still and listen for the Voice of
healing, which will cure all ills as one, restoring saneness to the Son of
God. 3 No voice but this can cure. 4 Today we hear a single Voice which
speaks to us of truth, where all illusions end, and peace returns to the
eternal, quiet home of God.
11. We waken hearing Him, and
let Him speak to us five minutes as the day begins, and end the day by
listening again five minutes more before we go to sleep. 2 Our only
preparation is to let our interfering thoughts be laid aside, not
separately, but all of them as one. 3 They are the same. 4 We have no need
to make them different, and thus delay the time when we can hear our
Father speak to us. 5 We hear Him now. 6 We come to Him today.
12. With nothing in our hands
to which we cling, with lifted hearts and listening minds we pray:
2 Only salvation can be said to
cure.
3 Speak to us, Father, that we may
be healed.
4 And we will feel salvation cover
us with soft protection, and with peace so deep that no illusion can
disturb our minds, nor offer proof to us that it is real. 5 This will we
learn today. 6 And we will say our prayer for healing hourly, and take a
minute as the hour strikes, to hear the answer to our prayer be given us
as we attend in silence and in joy. 7 This is the day when healing comes
to us. 8 This is the day when separation ends, and we remember Who we
really are.
