we continue today with chapter 8 the
body as means or end attitudes toward
the body our attitudes toward attack to
the ego the body is to attack with
equating you with the body it teaches
that you are to attack with the body
then is not the source of its own health
the body's condition lies solely in your
interpretation of its function functions
are part of being since they arise from
it but the relationship is not
reciprocal the whole does define the
part but the part does not define the
whole yet to know in part is to know
entirely because of the fundamental
difference between knowledge and
perception in perception the whole is
built up of parts that can separate and
reassemble in different constellations
but knowledge never changes so its
constellation is permanent the idea of
part-whole relationships has meaning
only at the level of perception where
change is possible otherwise there is no
difference between the part and the
whole the body exists in a world that
seems to contain two voices fighting for
its position in this perceived
constellation the body is seen as
capable of shifting its allegiance from
one to the other making the concepts of
both health and sickness meaningful the
ego makes a fundamental confusion
between means and end as it always does
regarding the body as an end the ego has
no real use for it because it is not an
end you must have noticed an outstanding
characteristic of every end that the ego
has accepted as its own when you have
achieved it it has not satisfied you
this is why the ego is forced to shift
ceaselessly from one goal to another
so that you will continue to hope it can
yet offer you something it has been
particularly difficult to overcome the
egos belief in the body as an end
because it is synonymous with the belief
in attack as an end the ego has a
profound investment in sickness if you
were sick how can you object to the egos
firm belief that you are not
invulnerable this is an appealing
argument from the egos point of view
because it obscures the obvious attack
that underlies the sickness if you
recognize this and you also decided
against attack you could not give this
false witness to the ego stand it is
hard to perceive sickness as a false
witness because you do not realize that
it is entirely out of keeping with what
you want this witness then appears to be
innocent and trustworthy because you
have not seriously cross-examined him if
you had you would not consider sickness
such a strong witness on behalf of the
egos a more honest statement would be
that those who want the ego are
predisposed to defend it therefore their
choice of witnesses should be suspect
from the beginning the ego does not call
upon witnesses who would disagree with
his case nor does the holy spirit I have
said that judgment is the function of
the Holy Spirit and one that he is
perfectly equipped to fulfill the ego as
a judge gives anything but an impartial
judgment when the ego calls on a witness
it has already made the witness and now
I am it is still true that the body has
no function of itself because it is not
an end the ego however establishes it as
an end because as such its true function
is obscured this is the purpose of
everything the ego does its sole aim is
to lose sight of the function of
everything a sick body does not makes
any sense
it could not make sense because sickness
is not what the body is for sickness is
meaningful only if the two basic
premises on which the egos
interpretation of the body rest are true
that the body is for attack and that you
are a body without these premises
sickness is inconceivable sickness is a
way of demonstrating that you can be
hurt it is a witness to your frailty
your vulnerability and your extreme need
to depend on external guidance the ego
uses this as its best argument for your
need for its guidance it dictates
endless prescriptions for avoiding
catastrophic outcomes the Holy Spirit
perfectly aware of the same situation
does not bother to analyze it at all if
data are meaningless there is no point
in analyzing them the function of truth
is to collect information that is true
anyway you handle error results in
nothing the more complicated the results
become the harder it may be to recognize
their nothingness but it is not
necessary to examine all possible
outcomes to which premises give rise in
order to judge them truly a learning
device is not a teacher it cannot tell
you how to feel you do not know how you
feel because you have accepted the egos
confusion and you therefore believe that
a learning device can tell you how you
feel sickness is merely another example
of your insistence on asking guidance of
a teacher who does not know the answer
the ego is incapable of knowing how you
feel when I said that the ego does not
know anything I said the one thing about
the ego that is wholly true but there is
a corollary if only knowledge has being
and the ego has no knowledge
then the ego has no being you might well
ask how the voice of something that does
not exist can be so insistent have you
thought about the distorting power of
something you want even if it is not
real there are many instances of how
what you want distorts perception no one
can doubt the ego skill in building up
false cases nor can anyone doubt your
willingness to listen until you choose
not to accept anything except truths
when you lay the ego aside it will be
gone the Holy Spirit's voice is as loud
as your willingness to listen it cannot
be louder without violating your freedom
of choice which the Holy Spirit seeks to
restore never to undermine the Holy
Spirit teaches you to use your body only
to reach your brothers so he can teach
his message through you this will heal
them and therefore heal you everything
used in accordance with its function as
the Holy Spirit sees it cannot be sick
everything used otherwise is do not
allow the body to be a mirror of a split
mind do not let it be an image of your
own making perception of littleness do
not let it reflect your decision to
attack health is seen as the natural
state of everything when interpretation
is left to the Holy Spirit who proceeds
no attack on anything health is the
result of relinquishing all attempts to
use the body loveless Lee health is the
beginning of the proper perspective on
life under the guidance of the one
teacher who knows what life is being the
voice for life itself and from the
workbook
lesson 63 the light of the world brings
peace to every mind through my
forgiveness how holy are you who have
the power to bring peace to every mind
how blessed are you who can learn to
recognize the means for letting this be
done through you what purpose could you
have that would bring you greater
happiness you are indeed the light of
the world with such a function the Son
of God looks to you for his Redemption
it is yours to give him for it belongs
to Hugh except no trivial purpose or
meaningless desire in his place or you
will forget your function and leave the
son of God in hell this is no idle
request that is being asked of you
you're being asked to accept salvation
that it may be yours to give recognizing
the importance of this function we will
be happy to remember it very often today
we will begin the day by acknowledging
it and close the day with the thought of
it in our awareness and throughout the
day we will repeat this as often as we
can the light of the world brings peace
to every mind through my forgiveness
I am the means God has appointed for the
salvation of the world if you close your
eyes you will probably find it easier to
let the related thoughts come to you in
a minute or two that you should devote
to considering this do not however wait
for such an opportunity no chance should
be lost for a reinforcing today's idea
remember that God's son looks to you for
his salvation and who but yourself
must be his son
the light of the world brings peace to
every mind through my forgiveness
so our teachings from the text and the
lesson number 63 all point to may
holographic universe a holographic
cosmos that when you forgive in mind you
see everything as whole in forgiveness
there is no difference between the whole
and the part everything is
all-encompassing Universal without end
everything is infinite as mind is
infinite today we make the connection
between forgiveness and seeing a
completely new world the real world the
happy dream that leads us back to
Eternity we honor the awareness that the
body is a means for expanding perception
and seeing the whole the body is not an
end nothing can be done for the body but
the mind that follows the Holy Spirit
can use the body as a means for
experiencing holistic perception true
perception the real world
so today we open up to this function of
forgiveness we see that our function of
forgiveness brings light to everyone and
everything we see that there is no mind
apart from our mind as long as we
believe in people and in separate minds
we acknowledge that our function brings
healing to all minds and to this healing
awareness that everything is mind that
there is nothing outside of mind nothing
beyond mind we practice at every
opportunity today making the connection
between our function and the salvation
of the world that forgiveness is the
means that God has appointed for the
salvation of the world we practice
nerdist the light of the world brings
peace to every mind through my
forgiveness amen