March 13, 2018
The section we are reading and discussing tonight is subtitled “The Attraction of Pain.” One may wonder why anyone would be attracted to pain. Yet, in our own upside-down way, we are. Our egoic thought system makes pain look more attractive than the “pain” it convinces us peace will cost. If peace seems too costly, then maybe our minds will remain aligned with separation rather than Oneness. Are we willing to step into eternity? Or are we afraid to go where we want to be?
Faith in the eternal is always justified, for the eternal is forever kind, infinite in its patience and wholly loving. It will accept you wholly and give you peace. Yet it can unite only with what already is at peace in you, immortal as itself. The body can bring you neither peace nor turmoil; neither joy nor pain. It is a means, and not an end. It has no purpose of itself, but only what is given to it. The body will seem to be whatever is the means for reaching the goal that you assign to it. Only the mind can set a purpose, and only the mind can see the means for its accomplishment and justify its use. Peace and guilt are both conditions of the mind, to be attained. And these conditions are the home of the emotion that calls them forth, and therefore is compatible with them. T-19.IV.B.10:1-10
We identify very strongly as our body in this crazy world. We may even believe that our body offers some sort of protection from the world. The Course teaches us otherwise. Our body has no purpose other than the purpose we give it. Our body is merely a tool which we can use for one purpose or another. We can use our body to reinforce separation and fear and even pain. Or we can use the body to facilitate our joining together in Oneness. The body will reflect the choices of the mind. What have you chosen? Have you chosen peace or something else? When we make our choice, all the conditions of that choice come with it. It’s all or nothing. There is no middle ground. Yet, Spirit will lead us to and on the steps we need to take to get where we are going.
Sometimes we get the idea in our minds that the body is bad or evil. There is no truth in this idea. The body is neither good nor bad. It is merely a means in our journey to the awareness of who we really are. Our body can be our obstacles to peace. But, it can also be the catalyst to discovering peace within our being. What purpose do we give it? Why are we attracted to pain? Is it really more desirable than peace? The truth is we have separated ourselves from the awareness of our true nature. We have separated ourselves from the peace and joy we carry within us. We have denied the simple fact that we are whole, complete, limitless, and the essence of love. We have chosen to believe that pain, fear and guilt can actually exist and that in believing they do, we make them appear very real.
It is not given to the ego’s disciples to realize that they have dedicated themselves to death. Freedom is offered them but they have not accepted it, and what is offered must also be received, to be truly given. For the Holy Spirit, too, is a communication medium, receiving from the Creator and offering the Creator’s messages unto Us. Like the ego, the Holy Spirit is both the sender and the receiver. For what is sent through Spirit returns to Spirit, seeking itself along the way, and finding what it seeks. So does the ego find the death it seeks, returning it to you. T-19.IV.B.17:1-6
We will find the peace we seek. It may take a long time if we choose to place obstacles it the way. But, it can also be a shorter, easier journey if we choose to let the obstacles to peace fade as we realize they are not real. It’s our choice. We can make the road difficult or easy. It can be the easy road if we choose to let Spirit guide us beyond what appears to be obstacles. Once Spirit has led us through them, we look back and realize there was nothing there to begin with. Seek pain no more. It may appear attractive, but it needn’t be at all. When the going gets rough, choose again.
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