Communion, not Conflict, is Our Function

. . . yet another note on letting go of fear

I say this often: A Course in Miracles does not deny the existence of bodies nor their experience. It merely teaches us that we are not bodies (W-pI.199.8:7). Sex, hunger and cancer (and their various equivalents) are merely opportunities to commune with others who, like us, believe they are separate from Creation.

this summer looking east

The ego separates through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches through it to others. You do not perceive your brothers and sisters as the Holy Spirit does, because you do not regard bodies solely as a means of joining minds and uniting them with yours and mine (T-8.VII.2:3-5).

This is easy enough to say but hard to do. And the point of being ACIM students is not to become well-versed in the Course, but rather to become sites of healing in which it is clear that what is true can only be experienced, never explained or described (T-8.VI.9:8-9).

This is kin to when our Advaitic brothers and sisters remind us that you can see an eye and you can see a tree but you can't see seeing.

The opposite of communication is attack (e.g., T-8.VII.3:1) and attack always emphasies the physical (T-8.VII.1:1). Attack always values a brother or sister for what we can get from them - a kiss, a cup of coffee, a paycheck. The specific thing is just a symbol of the underlying want - the belief that something is missing in us that the other can (and must) supply.

This belief is the source of all conflict and suffering, and it can only be ended in us by being brought to peace in us. We have no other function.

This belief arises inevitably from the underlying error that I am a body. Kisses, coffee and money are neutral in and of themselves; it's the way I use them to emphasize separation for both of us that is problematic.

This belief itself is not hard to undo (honestly, it's like coming to terms with Santa Claus), but it can be very hard to see it clearly and recognize the way in which it is profoundly hurtful, to us and to those with whom we claim to love.

We have to see it clearly - which is also to see we don't actually want it - before we can undo it.

Communication ends separation. Attack promotes it. The body is beautiful or ugly, peaceful or savage, helpful or harmful, according to the use to which it is put. And in the body of another you will see the use to which you have put yours (T-8.VII.4:1-4).

Again, the body is itself wholly neutral; it has no value save the value we give it via thought (T-VII.2:6-7). Our goal, as students of A Course in Miracles, is to undo the error that leads to the belief that we are bodies. When we undo the error, the belief is automatically dissolved, and the body is naturally restored to its best use: communication on behalf of Creation, which is Heaven (e.g., T-4.III.1:4-5).

Tweaking behavior and arguing with the belief only perpetutate the underlying error. We have to address the error itself.

A simple exercise that can help in this context is to be still and give attention to desire. What does “your” body want? This is especially helpful when the body's "wanting" is very obvious and intense. What is it asking for?

And then - critically - who is it asking?

To whom does the body appeal for permission to satisfy its wants? Who or what are you that the body should be so willing and obedient?

This exercise works for thought as well. Who is the one to whom the thought "this is just a thought" appears?

These exercises allow us to explore the nature of agency and subjectivity, and to see the way in which the world is simply a reflection of decisions which are themselves predicated on underlying beliefs of what we all are.

What are you? Right now - in experience, in being - before language even - what are you?

I appreciate how this inquiry can seem mysterious, arcane, mystical and even supernatural. I appreciate how it can feel maddening. But on the other side, it is just a question of giving attention to what is. And what is is this: this this. It's not that the luminous is ordinary, it's that "luminous" and "ordinary" are judgments. What remains when you stop insisting on them (or their equivalents)?

[Christ's] perceptions are your natural awareness, and it is only the distortions you introduce that tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God's Son (T-11.VI.3:8-9).

Before you value any body for any reason, the body must appear in experience. And before it appears, the one to whom it appears is. As God said unto Moses, “I Am That I Am" (Ex 3:14).

This truth is given. It is not earned or purchased. Jesus in A Course in Miracles (emphasis mine):

I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself (T-8.VI.9:10-11).

Writing this morning was a space of hope. I thought of you often and prayed for clarity. I hope you will accept this feeble attempt at communication not in the spirit of the writer - who, like you, is lost and confused - but in the spirit of the Author who brings us both forth continually in Love that we might remember we are Love.

Thank you, as always, for sharing with me.

Love,
Sean