Illness is often viewed as an educational tool. ‘The universe is showing us what we need to learn.’ That is, when it concerns someone else. When we ourselves are ill, it is almost impossible to view illness as a lesson. The audacity! But then again, if I believe that the world and its conditions ‘out there’ mirror my inner world back to me, then what does illness mirror back to me when it is me that is ill?
As I was contemplating the daily lesson in A Course in Miracles (242: This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him. […] You know all our desires and our wants. And You will give us everything we need in helping us to find the way to You. ) I decided to talk to the guardians of my Akashic Record about it. This is what I was given and it concludes with their view on what illness can teach me:
The Present Moment
We know all of your needs and wants, and if you will step out of the way they will be channeled right to you. It is perfectly fine to desire and wish and want and need… However, do not invest in any of those thoughts. When they come to you, through the contrast as Abraham-Hicks would have it, give thanks for their appearance, enjoy whatever they seem to offer and let them go. Give thanks for the present moment and zoom in on that. You can absolutely know for certain, and are fully entitled to expect, that whatever comes to you at any given time matches what you need exactly. What comes to you, comes to show you what you are holding in your heart. Not so much the thing itself, but the emotion it evokes in you.
Emotional Response to Illness
When you are irritated because of a midget in your bedroom, the irritation is the message the mirror of the world is holding up for you. When someone treats you badly, it is not so much the bad treatment as the emotion you feel that is showing you what you are holding inside. Someone who is evolved beyond the point where slights and slurs can hurt, will experience no emotion to speak of when words are spoken that might cause distress in someone else. It is always your emotional response to something happening ‘out there’ on the canvas that you need to look at.
The same holds for illness or any type of physical condition. The one valuable thing in illness or disease is the emotion that it seems to elicit from you. If there is no emotion other than love and allowing, then that is your message. The illness or condition is of no consequence whatsoever when it comes to your steps in heaven. When strong emotions such as despair or anger arise in the wake of a disease, then those are the things that you need to work with. Not the disease itself. It simply functions as a mirror to show you what you hold inside, just as any outer condition does. The disease itself is nothing.
(See also the thoughts on ACIM lesson 356)
