On Pain and A Course in Miracles

. . . rethinking the context of suffering

A while back I was asked a question about chronic pain and A Course in Miracles - what the Course can and can’t do in that context. This was my reply. I’ve edited it a bit for clarity and to remove identifying information. Maybe it will be helpful.

little things

The outside world - which includes our experience of being embodied, the actual "what-it-feels-like-to-be-this-body" - is a picture of an inside condition (T-21.in.1:5). This is not a criticism of either the outside picture or the inside condition, but a way of getting clear on the underlying metaphysics of the Course.

We are not bodies, but we have chosen to identify as bodies and we have forgotten that we made this choice and can thus choose otherwise. This misidentification - this forgetting what we are in truth, and trying instead to be what we are not - is the root of all suffering, be it physical, mental, spiritual, et cetera.

So what happens in the body is always a symbol of the separation, which is simply the lived-out experience of being confused about our true nature. We think we are bodies in a world, but we are not bodies (W-pI.199.8:7) and there is no world (W-pI.132.6:2).

At that level - which I recognize is abstract, philosophical, et cetera - chronic pain is just an acute symbol of a much deeper problem, which is the mind divided against itself.

I stipulate that it is very annoying when Course students or teachers talk this way, and we are in physical pain or dying of cancer or in the throes of addiction. I appreciate that. But having a grasp of the underlying spiritual identity crisis can actually help guide us through the healing process at the level of the body (which we should not - indeed, cannot - ignore).

That is, when I am clear that everything is either a cry for Love or a response to that cry, and that Love is the undoing of the illusion of separation in the mind, then what happens in the body has a new function. Healing has a new function.

If we are in physical pain, then we need to get help for the physical pain. Even if our physical pain is just an illusory symptom of a cosmically-deep spiritual crisis, we have to get help for it. Ignoring the body is a mistake (because ignoring symptoms is always a mistake).

We have to take the symptom of separation seriously (which is different from taking it literally).

The body is merely part of your experience in the physical world. Its abilities can be and frequently are overevaluated. 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 (T-2.IV.3:8-11).

In a sense, A Course in Miracles is an invitation to wear the body lightly as we go about communicating with our brothers and sisters - ever giving attention not to the surface level of symbol and symptom but to the deeper - almost imperceptible save with the mind - cries for love and responses to those cries.

So if we are in pain, then we see a doctor or a physical therapist. We see pain specialists. We get a massage. Alter our diets, try aromatherapy. Whatever works - even a little - is itself a symptom of love. It is not an error to take care of ourselves; doing so is a form of love that inevitably extends to others.

However, when we do this, we are not actually working with the physical pain. Rather, we are joining with brothers and sisters, and either responding to their cries for love or allowing them to respond to ours.

Perhaps the receptionist at the doctor's office just had a difficult call right before our appointment and wants to fall apart crying, and we come in and without even knowing it matters thank them for being so helpful and cheerful, letting them know how much their calm efficiency makes these difficult visits easier for us. And their spirit is lifted, and they feel better, and they can see a way through what is difficult.

Perhaps we have a difficult conversation with an overworked healthcare provider to respectfully remind them of the importance of treating their patients like human beings, not medical charts or failed cases, and thus help create a space for the next patient to have a better visit than we did.

Perhaps we hold the door for somebody, or wink at a kid, or feel grateful for the pretty fish in the fishtank.

And perhaps we come in like the damaged goods we sometimes are, and rage and rant, and others discover in their own self the capacity to love us anyway, despite our bullshit, and in that way remember their own Christ nature and reflect ours back, to be remembered when we are ready.

We are always being invited to carry others and to allow them to carry us, and our lives in the body are simply very graphic and persuasive narrative symbols of that carrying/being carried. It’s okay. It’s more than okay.

It's fair to ask: fine, Sean. Nice is as nice does, but how does that help with the physical pain?

The honest ACIM answer is - it doesn't. I mean, the various healing paths we try might help but they might not, too. But it won't matter as much because we are giving attention to the actual problem, which is our belief that we are separate from God and from Creation. As we allow that split to be healed, then the body becomes lighter and its adventures and misadventures become less like trials and more like travels with friends.

So that becomes our daily practice: how can I see Christ in my brother/sister so that they remember they are Christ? How can I reframe this embodied experience, the totality of it, good and bad, as a chance to do just that?

Oddly enough, when that is our practice, then we remember that we are Christ, too - that, in fact, we are all Christ together. We are all suffering the grief and pain of being embodied; but we are all capable of being reminded that we are not bodies. That is what unites us - our shared desire to be free of suffering and our ability to liberate one another together.

I do not for one second deny that this can be hard - that it can drive us to our knees weeping. But I can also tell you that it is rewarding for its own sake, and the various ailments our bodies endure - depression, violence, addiction, physical pain, et cetera - become less traumatic and complex when they are translated into opportunities to be in communion with all life in the mode and manner in which God gifted us all in Creation.

Thank you, as always, for sharing with me.

Love,
Sean