What is the Body? 14

The following series of posts, begun on May first, are taken from Ken Wapnick’s, Journey Through the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, Vol. Seven, pages 69-72.  They represent a radical alternative to our ‘normal’, everyday view of the human body and our traditional views of spirituality.  This view is both horrifying and exhilarating.  See what you think.   It’s best not to swallow these ideas whole, nor reject them out of hand.  What’s best is to chew them over, mull them and reflect upon the rare occasions when the ideas seem to explain your experience.  The Course itself is believed to be channeled by Jesus as a correction to what’s been done with his ideas.

“’Your safety lies in truth, and not in lies.’  This is the principle of the Atonement. We, however, told the Holy Spirit that we do not believe Him, for our safety lies not There but in our separated self—the ego and its cherished body. ‘Love is your safety.  Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe.  Identify with love and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.’

“On a practical basis this means identifying with love by reflecting it throughout the day: recognizing that you and I do not have separate and conflicting purposes.  Thus does forgiveness establish the awareness of our shared goal: finding the ‘ark of safety’ in which is found the fulfillment of God’s promise to His Son.  We close with the following passage on this newly chosen purpose for the body:

“’Your home is built upon your brother’s health, upon his happiness, his sinlessness, and everything his Father promised him.  No secret promise you have made instead has shaken the Foundation of his home.  The winds will blow upon it and the rain will beat against it, but with no effect. The world will wash away and yet this house will stand forever, for its strength lies not within itself alone.

“’ It is the ark of safety, resting on God’s promise that His Son is safe forever in Himself.  What gap can interpose itself between the safety of this shelter and its Source?  From here the body can be seen as what it is, and neither less nor more in worth than the extent to which it can be used to liberate God’s Son unto his home.  And with this holy purpose is it made a home of holiness a little while, because it shares your Father’s Will with you.’”