When I was in Sedona studying and practicing the Course, I attended a workshop given by Nicola Perry called "My Journey as a Course Based Healer." At her workshop she told her story of her journey to becoming a spiritual healer. She described the events of her life that led her to becoming a healer and then described what happens in her mind when she was offering healing to others.

The significant thing that she discovered was that she had to dismiss someone's bodily identity in her mind if she was to join in a healing session. She had to get beyond differences such as male, female, likes, dislikes, interests, etc-anything that has to do with our earthly identities. Every single bit of normal perception that determines who we think someone is, has to be released. The intent is to see the person as a true Son of God....their true Self, their true nature, formless spirit. However, she cautions that this is something that can't be forced by trying to mentally create such a picture and superimpose it on the person while shoving all of the usual perceptions to the back of your mind. So the first step is to relax, become aware of the perceptions of someone and ask for help in letting them go and reaffirm that we are joined, that we are one. "Why should I give this one a thousand names when only one suffices? For Your Son must bear Your name for You created him" (1.5)

No one is a stranger. Everyone is part of me and I of him. To recognize this is to know the truth about ourselves. It is only in recognizing our Oneness that we can know peace. So peace is only in unity and not in differences. We spend so much of our time comparing and measuring ourselves against others. We see ourselves better than or less than others based on our judgments. These are all of our special relationships that depend on differences whether they be special love or special hate. We see someone having what we don't have and what we think we need and taking from them to fill our perceived lacks. And the perception of differences is a way to see the other as sinful so I can see myself as innocent of that sin.

The focus of this lesson is on our unity. The recognition of shared interests is a condition of the Teacher of God, according to the Manual.  It is to recognize that there is only one Son. Clearly our eyes show us that there are many yet today we are asked to recognize that we all share the same Christ Self and are truly one. Differences are only apparent in the illusion. But now we need to use the world as our classroom to ask for help to see beyond these differences and recognize that we share the same purpose and the same goal. The purpose of every relationship is for healing of the mind. We do this by taking responsibility for our judgments and being willing to release them. Beyond these judgments is the truth waiting for our acknowledgment.

 So while we still see differences we are choosing today to allow our judgments go so that we can see beyond them. The body is all about being separate and maintaining the differences between us. It is the ego's tool for maintaining separation. But it can be turned to a holy purpose. We can choose to put the body to a different purpose. It can be used for our pleasure, for attack, for getting what we think we want, or for extending love and forgiveness, thus being an agent of the Holy Spirit. What the body is used for is simply a matter of  choice. The choice is ours. Peace is found in joining with our brother and recognizing that we share the same purpose. You cannot enter into real relationships with any of God's Sons unless you love them all and equally. Love is not special. (T-13.X.11:1-2)

I had a situation recently where I was making judgments about the behavior of someone who I felt was acting in a way that was self-serving and selfish, looking after her own needs at what I thought was at the expense of others. In the process I felt that she was less than honest and forthright. I then asked myself if those were aspects of myself that I had exhibited on occasion and clearly had to admit that this was so. I recognized that forgiveness meant that I had to look at these aspects of myself and be willing to turn them over for healing. My judgments were projections of my own mind that I preferred to see in her so that the sin was hers and I could claim my innocence and comparative saintliness. As I went through the process of healing of these  thoughts, I was able to have a lovely, open connection with her and recognize that like me, she is innocent. The truth about everyone is that they are innocent no matter what the body seems to be doing. Since it is truly all a dream, then we see that everyone shows up in our own dream to play out the role that we assigned to them for our own healing. There are no accidents in salvation. Whatever we need to experience in order to heal, we do experience. And it can all seem  so unfair as long as we forget that it is our dream.

Yes, we still do react to events in the dream as if they were real. And we have feelings and reactions to these events that seem to come at us from outside of our own minds. And thus we like some events and feel good about them and dislike others and feel very sad and hurt. Either way we experience ourselves as victims of the events that seem to come at us. In other words we have become the effect of the world. Yet, we have the power over what seems to be happening to us. "You would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming. Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize it is your dream". (T.27.VIII.10.5)Thus we are free to give everything all of the meaning it has for us. In and of itself it has no meaning. What we are seeing are really only our own thoughts that we have given away. What I was seeing in the person in my dream were clearly my own thoughts. Once I realized that I could take responsibility for them, only then is healing possible.

But why do we put these thoughts out there in the first place? Jesus tells us that it is our guilt that we place outside of ourselves. It is our desire to keep our individual selves but put the sin of what we think we have done wrong, onto others so now they are the ones that have the guilt and not us. When we are afraid to admit that these are our own repressed thoughts, we would rather see them in others. It is true that some of the things that this person is doing, may not be things that I have done in form, but it is not the actions but my thoughts that are the same. They may be thoughts of lack, of self protection and of self centeredness. They may be thoughts of greed. We project these thoughts on others in order to get rid of them in ourselves, which does not work because we just take on more guilt. But until we accept that this is the case, we will continue to project our guilt on others. When we disown our thoughts in this way, they show up in our dream figures. But they are never disowned. It is just a way to keep our own guilt intact.

Attack and judgment can only come with differences and separation. Why would I attack a part of myself? Watch your judgments today and when differences arise do your forgiveness work, remembering to affirm the truth that this is my brother who is a part of me and who I love as I love myself. Thus the body can be the means by which "God's Son returns to sanity. Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell". (Q.5.4.1) Now the body is holy because it is being used for a holy purpose.

So today you might apply the lesson by reminding yourself that in everyone you see your dearest friend while actively routing out the judgments that you make that contravene this thought. There are many versions of the lesson that can be helpful as you go through the day. You are my ancient friend who is a part of me. Or you are God's Son one with me. Try a variation that works for you but in applying it today to your brothers and sisters you will feel a shift in your mind. However, it is important that we use these frequent reminders with sincerity, mindfulness and meaning. We are doing our part as an invitation to the Holy Spirit to bring this experience into reality for us so we can truly know that there are no differences. Until the experience is there, our effort and discipline are required. It may seem like rote but all of a sudden there will be an understanding. Recently a friend described this as her "Helen Keller moment".

Helen Keller was blind and deaf and unable to communicate. Her teacher was teaching her to sign and Helen was good at repeating what she was taught because she was very bright. However there was no real understanding until the moment when all of a sudden she made the association with the sign for water and the actual feel of the water. And now everything clicked for her and she became very excited. It is the same for us when we do the course. It may not click for a long time as we do our practice until all of a sudden there is a deep insight and we get it. This may happen again and again and is very powerful in the realization. So keep up with the practice and know that this moment is available when the mind is ready. Readying the mind requires willingness, vigilance and determination to practice watching our thoughts and doing the forgiveness work.

Love and Blessings, Sarah

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