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*Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php 

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As we come to the end of this block of 20 lessons and will start the review in a couple of days, we are reminded once again of our true reality as a limitless Self abiding in the Love of God. Our mind is totally free and unencumbered. When I come to the realization that I am not a body, which can only be known outside of the dream, there is an awareness that the body is just a projection of the mind, no different than any other object that we see in this world. The body is not who we are. "The body is a limit." (W.199.1.2) Thus freedom is impossible as long as we perceive the body as our reality. Freedom is only possible in the acceptance that our reality is the mind. The ego has left us in a state of mindlessness so we won't know that we can ever change our minds from the decision we made for the body and the world as our reality. Now we are shown we can indeed make another choice and that is what the ego is afraid of.

How do we currently see freedom? Currently it is tied to freedom of the body. It is about being able to go where we please, do what we want and move about freely and without encumbrances. Yet Jesus says the body can never offer us freedom, and if we look to it for freedom, we look where it can't be found. (1.3) In fact, later in the lesson he talks of the body as enslaving us, meaning that we are a slave to its demands. When you give this idea some thoughtful consideration, this becomes clear. The body makes many demands on us to feed it, wash it, clothe it, satisfy its cravings and keep it warm and comfortable.

The body also has many baser urges, which we try either to resist or meet. It requires food. It gets uncomfortable and demands we give it attention. It keeps us cooped up in it and we suffer pain, get sick, we age and then we die. We get bent out of shape by the events that seem to interfere with our expectations of how our body should look, how it should be treated, whether it has been well fed, whether it had enough sleep, how it is functioning, whether it has been mistreated by anyone, whether it is hot or cold, whether it has lots of clothes, its requirements for money, its safety, and its sensory pleasures including sex. We can see that we are clearly slave to it and its many demands. As I write this, I feel drowsy, uncomfortable in my chair, and, having been at the computer for some time, notice that my neck is hurting. Shall I ignore its requirements and suffer or take a moment and meet its seeming demands? Ultimately Jesus asks us whose service are we in---that of the body or of the Holy Spirit? Which one is our home?
 
Our bondage and our connection to the body is clearly very powerful. The healing work we do with these lessons and through the Course is about loosening from this identity as a body so we can realize that our true reality is spirit. "The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked." (2.1) Clearly that is not our experience when we identify ourselves as a body living in the world, but we get a glimpse of our reality with the experience outside of the dream above the battleground. (2.3). There is no fear there. There is no fear when love is present in our experience. Otherwise, we feel vulnerable and fragile and fear is evident in our bodily state. Yet that is not who we are, and when we have a glimpse of our reality from outside of this dream, there is "strength and power to do whatever it is asked." (2.1). This is freedom. Now we are no longer restricted. The body becomes a tool to be used as needed and set aside when it is not required. It becomes a communication vehicle for the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us, "It is essential for your progress in this Course that you accept today's idea, and hold it very dear." (3.1) The ego holds the body dear because it is its home. The body is an illusion that shelters the ego, which is another illusion. Thus the body seems to grant the ego some kind of reality and keeps it from being seen as illusory. (3.4) The ego however needs our allegiance in order to survive. Yet it is vital to our spiritual growth that we disconnect from our identity with the ego and its home, the body.

Why would we not want to recognize that our home is in the Holy Spirit when the identity with the body is such a fragile alliance, which only brings despair and, at the end, its own demise? It is indeed a hopeless picture, one that Jesus assures us is not the truth about who we really are. We are a mind. We are not a body with just a spark of divinity in us. We are a mind that is outside of the body. The body is a projection of the mind. In other words, the mind is not in the body at all. Once we understand that our reality is the mind and not the body, the body can then be put to its holy purpose in order to serve. "Without the power to enslave, it is a worthy servant of the freedom which the mind within the Holy Spirit seeks." (6.6) It becomes the means for fulfilling the plan of the Atonement and thus becomes a learning device.

The body can then serve the Holy Spirit, "And carry freedom as your gift to those who still believe they are enslaved within a body. Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of your escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid." (7.2-3) As we are set free, we exemplify this freedom to everyone we meet. It is communicated through peace, joy and hope that is extended through our right minds and thus brings blessing to the world. You become a reminder to others that they can make the same choice as well. I felt this through my friend Tomas Vieira who had cancer. Despite that experience he exemplified deep peace. He thus became a shining reflection of God's love, demonstrating that others could choose as he did regardless of the circumstances. The condition of the body did not deter him from demonstrating the message of freedom, forgiveness, joy and peace. I am called today to be with a sister who is angry and defensive. I am asking for help to remember that this is all a call for love and I have an opportunity to reflect the joy and peace within and not withdraw my gifts because they are not received. It is such an opportunity to remember that it is all a call for love.

Before I started the Course I did not question my belief that I am a body. As far as I was concerned, not only was I a body, but my body was my temple and needed lots of care and concern. I thought that death would bring the continuation of the soul, which was part of my body, but not the entirety of my being, with the body not even something that exists at all. Through the holy instant, we get a brief experience of who we are without the body. Through these experiences, we increasingly recognize that the Holy Spirit is our home, where we serve His purpose. Our minds are framed by the Holy Spirit, not by the body. The fear of death is dissipated as we increasingly recognize and accept that we can't die. "In immortality you live forever. Would you not return your mind to this?" (8.2-3) The choice is between being imprisoned in the body or unlimited in the Holy Spirit, where the body is there only temporarily to serve the mind's divine purpose.

I was struck by the story a friend in Sedona shared when her body was not well and confined to a nursing home--her worst nightmare. She experienced a lot of fear that she would die there. She then noticed someone in the next bed whom she felt called to extend her support and blessing. As she helped this woman make her transition, she herself became well and was discharged. She recognized the perfect lesson for herself. In the process, she learned that she was exactly where she needed to be. Her body was put in the service of the Holy Spirit, in order to be of help where she was needed. Once she overcame her self-interest, her body and its health were no longer at the same level of concern to her and her health returned. "Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort." (T.20.IV.8:4)

This lesson reminds me of my recent struggle with the question of the freedom of the body related to a feeling of being "stuck" in care giving responsibilities for my frail 98 year old mother. I wish to experience freedom of this body, going where and when I want to go, but the demands in front of me seem a significant restriction to my "freedom." I remind myself that this is not about the freedom of the body, but the forgiveness opportunity that is in front of me in this relationship. I have recently become aware of how I project the idea that my mother is controlling me, which is simply a reflection of my own fear of releasing my self-control reflected in fear of love. There is big learning here for me, which is the real freedom that the ego mind is resisting. When the lesson is fully learned, this part of the journey with my mother will be over. "What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?" (W.PI.135.18.1) When we are clear about our goal, the way always shows up. I say I want joy, peace and freedom, but if I determine how that should look, I am not giving the Holy Spirit the space to bring me the perfect conditions for that lesson to be learned. If I put my own plan into place, I push His plan away.
 
"You are God's Son. In immortality you live forever. Would you not return your mind to this?" (8.1-3) "I am not a body. I am free. I hear the Voice that God has given me, and it is only This my mind obeys." (8.7-9) In other words, we affirm that it is not the call of the body that we choose to obey, and we recognize that it is an unworthy boss. Our joy comes from serving the Holy Spirit and using our body for His purposes. It does not mean we neglect the body, but recognize the purpose for it. Thus we keep the body in good condition, so we can hang around in it long enough to do the forgiveness work.
 
When I perceive the body as myself, I put up all kinds of defenses for its well-being and protection, which then become my primary goal. What will make this body happy? What does this body need for its health and well-being? What should I give this body to make it happy? How can I protect this body? How can I keep it safe? Our entire lives can be devoted to this effort, basically to no avail because we can't keep it forever. Is it not a more laudable goal to free ourselves from these limited ideas and accept the idea presented in this lesson and to hold this idea very dear? Jesus says that to do so is essential to our progress in the Course. (3.1) It means that everything we have believed about ourselves is wrong. It is all based on the belief in separation and with it the reality of the world and the body.

Today Jesus urges, "Then practice well the thought the Holy Spirit gives you for today. Your brothers stand released with you in it; the world is blessed along with you. God's Son will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the increase of joy your practice brings even to it. And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time you say:

I am not a body. I am free. I hear the Voice that God has given me, and it is only this my mind obeys. (8.4-9)

See yourself resting in God, unbounded by the body and thus immortal forever. See your brothers and the world blessed by the forgiveness that you offer. We do that by choosing to turn to the Holy Spirit in everything, so that we can experience the love and the peace that we are.