Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We continue today in Chapter 2,
The Separation and the Atonement,
Section 4,
Healing as a Release from Fear.
To summarize my takeaways,
In Section 4 of Chapter 2 we are reminded of the difference between the body and the mind.
All creation occurs at the level of the mind,
Which is where all errors in perception occur,
While the body is a learning device of the mind.
All healing is essentially the release from fear.
When we are in fear,
We are not open to the Atonement,
And because of this,
It may be helpful if only temporarily to put our healing belief on something outside our mind.
This is not the highest level of communication in which we are capable,
Only the highest level in which we are capable now.
The value of the Atonement is not dependent on the manner in which it is expressed,
But in whatever way is most beneficial to the receiver.
To reach its full efficacy,
Then,
The miracle will be expressed in whatever way the receiver can understand without fear.
This reinforces what we have already learned,
That there is no order of difficulty in miracles.
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 definitions of terms you will hear within this reading.
Atonement.
The Holy Spirit's plan of correction.
Opening our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.
Holy Spirit.
The communication link between God and us,
Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.
Christ.
The self that God created,
By extension of His Spirit.
It represents the potential within each of us.
Miracle.
The change in mind that shifts our perception,
Transcending the laws of this world to reflect the laws of God.
The miracle provides the means to heal our own minds and the minds of others.
Magic.
The attempt to solve a problem where there is none.
Trying to solve a problem in the mind through physical or mindless measures.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 2.
The Separation and the Atonement.
Section 4.
Healing as Release from Fear.
Our emphasis is now on healing.
The miracle is the means.
The atonement is the principle,
And healing is the result.
To speak of,
Quote,
A miracle of healing,
End quote,
Is to combine two orders of reality inappropriately.
Healing is not a miracle.
The atonement,
Or the final miracle,
Is a remedy.
And any type of healing is a result.
The kind of error to which atonement is applied is irrelevant.
All healing is essentially the release from fear.
To undertake this,
You cannot be fearful yourself.
You do not understand healing because of your own fear.
A major step in the atonement plan is to undo error at all levels.
Sickness or,
Quote,
Not right-mindedness,
End quote,
Is the result of level confusion because it always entails the belief that what is amiss on one level can adversely affect another.
We have referred to miracles as the means of correcting level confusion,
For all mistakes must be corrected at the level in which they occur.
Only the mind is capable of error.
The body can act wrongly only when it is responding to misthought.
The body cannot create,
And the belief that it can,
A fundamental error,
Produces all physical symptoms.
Physical illness represents a belief in magic.
The whole distortion that made magic rests on the belief that there is a creative ability in matter which the mind cannot control.
This error can take many forms.
It can be believed that the mind can miscreate in the body,
Or that the body can miscreate in the mind.
When it is understood that the mind,
The only level of creation,
Cannot create beyond itself,
Either type of confusion need occur.
Only the mind can create because spirit has already been created,
And the body is a learning device for the mind.
Learning devices are not lessons in themselves.
Their purpose is merely to facilitate learning.
The worst a faulty use of a learning device can do is to fail to facilitate learning.
It has no power in itself to introduce actual learning errors.
The body,
If properly understood,
Shares the invulnerability of the atonement to two-edged application.
This is not because the body is a miracle,
But because it is not inherently open to misinterpretation.
The body is merely a part of your experience in the physical world.
Its abilities can be,
And frequently are,
Over-evaluated.
However,
It is almost impossible to deny its existence in this world.
Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial.
The term unworthy here implies only that it is not necessary to protect the mind by denying the unmindful.
If one denies this unfortunate aspect of the mind's power,
One is also denying the power itself.
All material means that you accept as remedies for bodily ills are restatements of magic principles.
This is the first step in believing that the body makes its own illness.
It is a second misstep to attempt to heal it through non-creative agents.
It does not follow,
However,
That the use of such agents for corrective purposes is evil.
Sometimes,
The illness has a sufficiently strong hold over the mind to render a person temporarily inaccessible to the atonement.
In this case,
It may be wise to utilize a compromise approach to mind and body,
In which something from the outside is temporarily given healing belief.
This is because the last thing that can help the non-right-minded or the sick is an increase in fear.
They are already in a fear-weakened state.
If they are prematurely exposed to a miracle,
They may be precipitated into panic.
This is likely to occur when upside-down perception has induced the belief that miracles are frightening.
The value of the atonement does not lie in the manner in which it is expressed.
In fact,
If it is used truly,
It will inevitably be expressed in whatever way is most helpful to the receiver.
This means that a miracle,
To attain its full efficacy,
Must be expressed in a language that the recipient can understand without fear.
This does not necessarily mean that this is the highest level of communication of which he is capable.
It does mean,
However,
That it is the highest level of communication of which he is capable now.
The whole aim of the miracle is to raise the level of communication,
Not to lower it by increasing fear.
