There is a happy fiction in Course circles that one can study the Course and then “live” a normal “life” where Course principles are not applied. Almost as if we are living a double life. We say one thing but demonstrate another. And then we wonder why no one is interested in our way of thinking.

“All other traits of God’s teachers rest on trust. Once that has been achieved, the others cannot fail to follow. Only the trusting can afford honesty, for only they can see its value. Honesty does not apply only to what you say. The term actually means consistency. There is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do; no thought opposes any other thought; no act belies your word; and no word lacks agreement with another. Such are the truly honest. At no level are they in conflict with themselves. Therefore it is impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything.” (M-4.II.1:1-9)

Take one example…

“Adornment of the body seeks to show how lovely are the witnesses for guilt.” (T-27.I.6:9)

Listen to the ego’s excuses. That’s metaphorical. It is a movie. In the movie my character adorned the body. I am just watching my character adorn the body. I feel naked without my adornments. I might as well not wear clothes then. If you so don’t believe in the body, then stop eating.

It is not about whether adorning the body is “good” or “bad.” Adorning the body (a doing, an action) attests (testifies to) or belies (contradicts) our beliefs. Let us look honestly at our actions, so we can get to our beliefs, so that they may be corrected.

If we are adorning the body, be it with jewelry, clothes, make-up, hairstyle or color or anything else, we must first make the body real and believe that it is our self. Then we must believe that self is lacking or imperfect which means that self is guilty, unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. If we are being honest with ourselves, we will admit that the action of adorning the body is based on all of those beliefs.

We can repeat all day long, “I am not a body I am free,” but if our actions contradict our beliefs what good does it do? We can look at the world all day long with the Holy Spirit, and that is a good starting point, but eventually we must begin the correction process. Forgiveness is an empty gesture without correction. What needs to be corrected? Our beliefs and perceptions.

“What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you. The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake.” (W-91.6:7-9)

Here is more of the belief system that comes with the belief, the conviction that we are a body. If we believe one part of the belief system, we believe it all. The belief that we are a body, if we follow it all the way down to the ego’s logical conclusion, ends up with the belief that God is a destroyer, an avenger, and even dead.

“Remember that all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief that is mistaken and deserves no faith.” (W-91.9:3)

“Thus you believe that you can change what you see by putting little bits of glass before your eyes. This is among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body, and the body’s eyes can see.” (W-92.1:4-5)

“The “reality” of death is firmly rooted in the belief that God’s Son is a body. And if God created bodies, death would indeed be real. But God would not be loving. There is no point at which the contrast between the perception of the real world and that of the world of illusions becomes more sharply evident. Death is indeed the death of God, if He is Love. And now His Own creation must stand in fear of Him. He is not Father, but destroyer. He is not Creator, but avenger. Terrible His Thoughts and fearful His image. To look on His creations is to die.” (M-27.5:1-10)

All this is believed if we adorn the body. Let us look honestly and bring hidden beliefs to the light to be corrected where they can be judged, with the Holy Spirit, as sensible or not.

“But an unrecognized belief is a decision to war in secret, where the results of conflict are kept unknown and never brought to reason, to be considered sensible or not.” (T-24.I.2:2)

“All that is ever cherished as a hidden belief, to be defended though unrecognized, is faith in specialness.” (T-24.I.3:1)

This is not about behavior modifying, adorning or not adorning the body. It is about being honest. Actions attest to or belie our beliefs. They will tell us exactly what we really believe. They are neon signs pointing to hidden beliefs and correction opportunities. We will look or not.

In our commitment to honesty, a clarifying question to ask is, “Who is doing this and why?” In this case, “Who is adorning the body and why?” The first stop, in this belief exposing journey, is the place where our separate ego was made this time around, our childhood. Why is the child, we made from guilt (unworthy of love and deserving of punishment), adorning the body? Beware. Seriously contemplating from the “I know nothing” surrendered place and answering the question honestly, may send you hurling down the rabbit hole.

In order to do this correction work of looking unabashedly at our actions as aids to uncover hidden beliefs, there is a “sacrifice” to be made, a cost to be paid. We must be willing to give up our personality self and the idea that the ego script about our personality self is written and that we are merely reviewing it with Jesus. These ideas may have served us on the previous level of awareness but they cannot come with us as we move forward to the next level on our way to the unseen world.

The Holy Spirit’s supernatural “script” of salvation awaits. If these words resonate with you, welcome to the next level. If these words do not resonate with you, please ignore them and write them off as the rantings of a grandiose mad hatter as they well could be!