A Course In Miracles, Chapter 10, Section III
ACIM is read one section at a time. It is a guidebook leading us back to our true natures, as we open to the awareness of love's presence. All quoted material is from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher, and the copyright holder. This material is used with permission. Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D. Music by Bensound.
Transcript
Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text,
Two A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 10,
The Idols of Sickness.
Section 3,
The God of Sickness.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 3 of Chapter 10,
We learn that we can heal our brothers simply by accepting God for them.
Our minds are not separate,
And God has only one channel for healing because He has but one Son.
We are asked to not side with sickness in the presence of a Son of God,
Even if He believes in it,
For our acceptance of God in Him acknowledges the love of God that He has forgotten.
Our recognition of Him as part of God reminds Him of the truth about Himself,
Which He is denying.
Would we strengthen His denial of God and thus lose sight of ourselves?
Or would we remind Him of His wholeness and remember our Creator with Him?
We are reminded that we are part of God,
Who is all power.
Yet we must come to recognize that a sick God must be an idol,
Made in the image of what our ego perceives us to be.
A sick God,
Self-created,
Self-sufficient,
Very vicious,
And very vulnerable.
We must then look calmly at the logical conclusion of the ego's thought system,
And judge whether its offering is really what we want.
For only this is what it offers us.
Jesus reminds us here that He does not bring God's message to us with deception.
He came to offer us peace.
Our acceptance of peace is the denial of illusion,
And sickness is an illusion.
We will learn this as we learn that we always receive as much as we accept.
Only at the altar of God will we find peace,
And this altar is in us,
Because God put it there.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The Course uses male pronouns,
Yet this is simply a way of pointing to the spiritual being,
Having no gender.
The Course is written in first person,
And although not introduced directly to the reader,
It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,
Often quoting from the Bible.
The Course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.
These words are simply pointers to truth,
Nothing more.
A few terms you will hear within this reading.
God,
The Creator,
The Source of all being,
Or Life.
God's essence is Spirit,
Which is shared with all creation.
Yet the word God can be limiting,
Since universal energy and life are infinitely vast and cannot be contained in a word.
Ego,
Our belief in the separated or false self that we made as a substitute for the self that God created.
Reality,
Pure Spirit,
Which is changeless,
Eternal,
Formless,
And boundless.
Reality is also referred to in the Course as Heaven or the Kingdom of God.
Illusion,
Something believed to be real,
Although it is not.
The ultimate illusion is our separation from God.
This illusion causes us to see others as attacking us,
Rather than calling to us for love.
This then causes us to see sin,
Instead of a mistake.
Salvation,
We are saved from our belief in sin and guilt through the change of mind that forgiveness and the miracle bring about.
Knowledge and Perception,
These terms were introduced to us back in section 3 of chapter 3,
Where we were shown the difference between perception and knowledge.
Knowledge is power because it is certain,
And certainty is strength.
Knowledge comes to us from God and provides the strength for creative thinking.
To create as God creates,
We must know what we are creating and accept it as ours.
Perception on the other hand is temporary.
We can see in many ways because perception involves interpretation,
Which means it is not whole or consistent.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 10 The Idols of Sickness Section 3 The God of Sickness You have not attacked God,
And you do love Him.
Can you change your reality?
No one can will to destroy himself.
When you think you are attacking yourself,
It is a sure sign that you hate what you think you are.
And this,
And only this can be attacked by you.
What you think you are can be very hateful,
And what this strange image makes you do can be very destructive.
Yet the destruction is no more real than the image,
Although those who make idols do worship them.
The idols are nothing,
But their worshippers are the sons of God in sickness.
God would have them released from their sickness and returned to His mind.
He will not limit your power to help them,
Because He has given it to you.
Do not be afraid of it,
Because it is your salvation.
What comforter can there be for the sick children of God?
Accept His power through you.
Remember that it does not matter where in the sonship He is accepted.
He is always accepted for all.
And when your mind receives Him,
The remembrance of Him awakens throughout the sonship.
Heal your brothers simply by accepting God for them.
Your minds are not separate,
And God has only one channel for healing,
Because He has but one Son.
God's remaining communication link with all His children joins them together and them to Him.
To be aware of this is to heal them,
Because it is the awareness that no one is separate,
And so no one is sick.
To believe that a son of God can be sick is to believe that part of God can suffer.
Love cannot suffer,
Because it cannot attack.
The remembrance of love,
Therefore,
Brings invulnerability with it.
Do not side with sickness in the presence of a son of God,
Even if he believes in it.
For your acceptance of God in him acknowledges the love of God he has forgotten.
Your recognition of him as part of God reminds him of the truth about himself,
Which he is denying.
Would you strengthen his denial of God and thus lose sight of yourself?
Or would you remind him of his wholeness and remember your Creator with him?
To believe a son of God is sick is to worship the same idol he does.
God created love,
Not idolatry.
All forms of idolatry are caricatures of creation,
Taught by sick minds too divided to know that creation shares power and never usurps it.
Sickness is idolatry,
Because it is the belief that power can be taken away from you.
Yet this is impossible,
Because you are part of God,
Who is all power.
A sick God must be an idol,
Made in the image of what its maker thinks he is.
And that is exactly what the ego does perceive in a son of God.
A sick God.
Self-created.
Self-sufficient.
Very vicious.
And very vulnerable.
Is this the idol you would worship?
Is this the image you would be vigilant to save?
Are you really afraid of losing this?
Look calmly at the logical conclusion of the ego's thought system,
And judge whether its offering is really what you want,
For this is what it offers you.
To obtain this,
You are willing to attack the divinity of your brothers,
And thus lose sight of yours.
And you are willing to keep it hidden,
To protect an idol you think will save you from the dangers for which it stands,
But which do not exist.
There are no idolaters in the kingdom,
But there is great appreciation for everything that God created,
Because of the calm knowledge that each one is part of him.
God's Son knows no idols,
But he does know his Father.
Health in this world is the counterpart of value in heaven.
It is not my merit that I contribute to you,
But my love,
For you do not value yourself.
When you do not value yourself,
You become sick,
But my value of you can heal you,
Because the value of God's Son is one.
When I said,
ÌMy peace I give unto youî,
I meant it.
Peace comes from God,
Through me,
To you.
It is for you,
Although you may not ask for it.
When a brother is sick,
It is because he is not asking for peace,
And therefore does not know he has it.
The acceptance of peace is the denial of illusion,
And sickness is an illusion.
But every son of God has the power to deny illusions anywhere in the kingdom,
Merely by denying them completely in himself.
I can heal you,
Because I know you.
I know your value for you,
And it is this value that makes you whole.
A whole mind is not idolatrous,
And does not know of conflicting laws.
I will heal you merely because I have only one message,
And it is true.
Your faith in it will make you whole when you have faith in me.
I do not bring Godís message with deception.
And you will learn this as you learn that you always receive as much as you accept.
You could accept peace now for everyone,
And offer them perfect freedom from all illusions,
Because you heard His voice.
But have no other gods before Him,
Or you will not hear.
God is not jealous of the gods you make,
But you are.
You would save them and serve them,
Because you believe that they made you.
You think they are your father,
Because you are projecting onto them the fearful fact that you made them to replace God.
Yet when they seem to speak to you,
Remember that nothing can replace God,
And whatever replacements you have attempted are nothing.
Very simply then,
You may believe you are afraid of nothingness,
But you are really afraid of nothing.
And in that awareness you are healed.
You will hear the God you listen to.
You made the God of sickness,
And by making Him you made yourself able to hear Him.
Yet you did not create Him,
Because He is not the will of the Father.
He is therefore not eternal,
And will be unmade for you the instant you signify your willingness to accept only the Eternal.
If God has but one Son,
There is but one God.
You share reality with Him,
Because reality is not divided.
To accept other gods before Him is to place other images before yourself.
You do not realize how much you listen to your gods,
And how vigilant you are on their behalf.
Yet they exist only because you honor them.
Place honor where it is due,
And peace will be yours.
It is your inheritance from your real Father.
You cannot make your real Father,
And the Father you made did not make you.
Honor is not due to illusions,
For to honor them is to honor nothing.
Yet fear is not due them either,
For nothing cannot be fearful.
You have chosen to fear love because of its perfect harmlessness,
And because of this fear,
You have been willing to give up your own perfect helpfulness,
And your own perfect help.
Only at the altar of God will you find peace,
And this altar is in you,
Because God put it there.
His voice still calls you to return,
And He will be heard when you place no other gods before Him.
You can give up the God of sickness for your brothers.
In fact,
You would have to do so if you would give Him up for yourself.
For if you see the God of sickness anywhere,
You have accepted Him,
And if you accept Him,
You will bow down and worship Him,
Because He was made as God's replacement.
He is the belief that you can choose which God is real.
Although it is clear this has nothing to do with reality,
It is equally clear that it has everything to do with reality as you perceive it.
