How does sickness work? What are the mechanics of sickness that have sickness seemingly showing up in the body?

The ego mind made up bodies. They are miscreations or the projections of the ego caused by the denial of truth. Miscreations/projections are attack. Attack results in fear. The original “attack” on God resulted in fear of retaliation and abandonment. Fear is the fabric of consciousness.

Bodies were made as a learning device. We needed to teach ourselves that we were separate. We needed something to be separate in. The whole seeming world of bodies, a miscreation, becomes a testament to the “reality” of the separation story. According to our physical eyes it is undeniable. We are seemingly individual separate minds encased in fleshy bodies. We taught ourselves all of these things and then forget we learned them. The lessons took on the flavor of beingness

The idea that a body can be sick is a central concept in the ego’s thought system. (M-22.3:2)

There is a very tightly woven web of deception, ego thoughts and beliefs, that are the idea of sickness. This enormous web is a defense against the truth and requires our belief in every element of the structure. We must accept all of its insane logic for sickness to ”appear.”

The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but it stems from the very power of the mind the ego denies. This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, which must result in extreme anxiety. That is why the ego never recognizes what it is doing. It is perfectly logical but clearly insane. (T-7.VI.3:1-4)

A small example of the web of lies.

The ego uses the body to conspire against your mind, and because the ego realizes that its “enemy” can end them both merely by recognizing they are not part of you, they join in the attack together.

(T-6.IV.5:1-2)

It is obvious that a segment of the mind can see itself as separated from the Universal Purpose. When this occurs the body becomes its weapon, used against this Purpose, to demonstrate the “fact” that separation has occurred. (T-19.I.3:4-6)

The ego is a master gaslighter. An explanation of gaslighting follows. Sound familiar? Gaslighting is an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control. Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true, often about themselves. They may end up doubting their memory, their perception, and even their sanity. Over time, a gaslighter’s manipulations can grow more complex and potent, making it increasingly difficult for the victim to see the truth.

Of course we are not victims. We are the Son of God. We are the dreamer of the dream. But we can believe we are. We can be persuaded. We should not underestimate our susceptibility nor our propensity for denial and dismissiveness. The ego, however unreal, has been given its “power” by us as mind. It is a mighty power. We are delusional or arrogant or naive if we think that we have even scratched the surface of what the Course describes as a million year undoing process.

We have to believe an enormous amount of ego “logic” in order to have sickness show up in the body. The body is a miscreation. Sickness is a secondary miscreation making it and the primary miscreation

doubly difficult to undo. In addition there is a level confusion aspect which leads us to conclude that the body is “getting” sick. We believe sickness is an organic process instead of it being the mind instructing the body to show up as sick.

Who would defend himself unless he thought he were attacked, that the attack were real, and that his own defense could save himself? And herein lies the folly of defense; it gives illusions full reality, and then attempts to handle them as real. It adds illusions to illusions, thus making correction doubly difficult. And it is this you do when you attempt to plan the future, activate the past, or organize the present as you wish. (W-135.1:1-4)

This whole web of deception around the body and sickness needs to be brought to the Holy Spirit. He will look at it with us with sense, understanding and reason. With each peel of the onion, the Holy Spirit will persuade us, with reason, to disavow the ego’s “logic.” The undoing of this web is a process and not an event. Each of us will have our part to play now or later.

We think we are “alive” in this simulation and that we are the avatar we made up. The avatar, the body and the personality self combined, both miscreations, are used by the ego to make the simulation seem real and organic. It makes all decisions about the content of the story and feelings, physical and emotional, that seem to be “experienced.” The great gaslighter is busily at work. One of the gaslighter’s favorite tools is sickness.

The Course instructs us that we are not a body. The mind cannot attack. The body cannot be sick. We on some level know that those are true statements. But really “getting” them will take much learning with the Holy Spirit. The following quotes represent some of the mechanics of sickness. It happens in the mind. The mind that is listening to the gaslighter thinks that it is a great idea. Remember the ego is powerless without the mind.

Minds are joined; bodies are not. Only by assigning to the mind the properties of the body does separation seem to be possible. And it is mind that seems to be fragmented and private and alone. Its guilt, which keeps it separate, is projected to the body, which suffers and dies because it is attacked to hold the separation in the mind, and let it not know its Identity. Mind cannot attack, but it can make fantasies and direct the body to act them out. Yet it is never what the body does that seems to satisfy. Unless the mind believes the body is actually acting out its fantasies, it will attack the body by increasing the projection of its guilt upon it. (T-18.VI.3:1-7)

No mind is sick until another mind agrees that they are separate. And thus it is their joint decision to be sick. If you withhold agreement and accept the part you play in making sickness real, the other mind cannot project its guilt without your aid in letting it perceive itself as separate and apart from you. Thus is the body not perceived as sick by both your minds from separate points of view. Uniting with a brother’s mind prevents the cause of sickness and perceived effects. Healing is the effect of minds that join, as sickness comes from minds that separate. (T-28.III.2:1-6)

Our agreement that the mind can attack or project its guilt onto the body is just one of the many convoluted beliefs that keep the demented game of sickness going. There are many hidden beliefs that need to be unearthed and brought to the light of understanding before the illusion of sickness disappears. We must happily engage with the Holy Spirit as He persuades us to give up our miscreations. The great gaslighter has labeled our miscreations as defenses that keep us safe. These miscreations include the world, the body, the personality self, and even the separation and fear. Fear? Didn’t you know that a certain amount of fear keeps you alert and therefore safe? Fear can be a good thing. The gaslighter never tires. He is certain of his goal and pursues it with dogged determination.

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will be like the past. This is the ego’s continuity. It gives the ego a false sense of security by believing that you cannot escape from it. But you can and must. God offers you the continuity of eternity in exchange. When you choose to make this exchange, you will simultaneously exchange guilt for joy, viciousness for love, and pain for peace. My role is only to unchain your will and set it free. Your ego cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose it at every possible moment and in every possible way. And as its maker, you recognize what it can do because you gave it the power to do it. (T-5.VI.2:1-10)

As we travel home to God our belief that we live in this illusion, that we are a body and that we are the personality self must all be undone. This process, we are engaged in, is the alternative to the endless, hopeless nonstop repetition of the separation story being played out for the ego’s purpose of making the separation real. There are others looking for a better way. At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, do not be shy to mention the possibility. Wrong thinking is always the problem. We have discovered the ultimate mind changer. Share it!