Lesson 136. Sickness is a defense against the truth.
This lesson puts forth a similar idea if not the same idea as we experienced in Lesson 134, “Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.” In that lesson we concluded sin can’t be real because sin is only an illusory idea; fantasy in an illusory world. The same can be said about sickness. Sickness is an illusory idea and nothing more than a defense.
Defenses are lies and justifications that we tell ourselves and others. Then we work it out in our mind to make it true. Of course it isn’t really true, in fact it is a defense (justification) against truth. We do this everyday without hardly noticing it. For example, I started writing this tip yesterday. When it got late I decided to go to bed, but before I went to bed I fired off two text messages.
Message one: “I forgot to call you about going to dinner. Too much happening in my life.”
Message two: “Will you call and remind me of our meeting in the morning or I’ll forget. It is hell getting old.”
Both of these messages contain defenses against the truth. Most of us want to believe our defenses are genuine and deny that they were a choice. Defenses are all about finding a way of concealing, but maintaining separation. Also whatever our defense is–sickness, busyness, old age or something else–know that we created these situations that keep us from seeking truth with our whole heart. They keep our minds focused in the world. And yesterday’s lesson taught us that all defenses are attack thoughts.
If we view this train of thought from our right mind, we’ll see that defenses and/or attack thoughts are unreal thoughts. Real thoughts, thoughts that we think with God are called truth. Unreal thoughts come from the ego or deceived mind. The deceived mind can seem to experience the unreal as pain and sickness. But again, we know these are unreal because we know these defenses don’t come from God, Awareness, Divinity or Wholeness.
In ACIM’s Teachers Manual, it says, “The body’s eyes will continue to see differences. But the mind that has let itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be those who seem to be ‘sicker’ than others, and the body’s eyes will report their changed appearances as before. But the healed mind will put them all in one category; they are unreal.
It is only when I identify with the egoic or deceived mind that I defend myself. It is only then that I believe I can attack others. It is only then that I believe in such illusions as pain and pleasure and pride and guilt, etc.
Our job is to let go of the interpretations, the mind chattering and the justifications and realize our defense are like attacks. We have the power to delay our own awakening, but our responsibility is to let our minds be healed by recognizing the unreality of our defenses and let them go. Forgiveness confirms we are wholly innocent.
