Day 261

5. What Is The Body?

The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built, to separate parts of his Self from other parts. It is within this fence he thinks he lives, to die as it decays and crumbles. For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from love. Identifying with his safety, he regards himself as what his safety is. How else could he be certain he remains within the body, keeping love outside?

The body will not stay. Yet this he sees as double safety. For the Son of God's impermanence is "proof" his fences work, and do the task his mind assigns to them. For if his oneness still remained untouched, who could attack and who could be attacked? Who could be victor? Who could be his prey? Who could be victim? Who the murderer? And if he did not die, what "proof" is there that God's eternal Son can be destroyed?

The body is a dream. Like other dreams it sometimes seems to picture happiness, but can quite suddenly revert to fear, where every dream is born. For only love creates in truth, and truth can never fear. Made to be fearful, must the body serve the purpose given it. But we can change the purpose that the body will obey by changing what we think that it is for.

The body is the means by which God's Son returns to sanity. Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell. The Son of God extends his hand to reach his brother, and to help him walk along the road with him. Now is the body holy. Now it serves to heal the mind that it was made to kill.

You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you. Your safety lies in truth, and not in lies. 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.

Today's Lesson:

God is my refuge and security.

I will identify with what I think is refuge and security. I will behold myself where I perceive my strength, and think I live within the citadel where I am safe and cannot be attacked. Let me today seek not security in danger, nor attempt to find my peace in murderous attack. I live in God. In Him I find my refuge and my strength. In Him is my Identity. In Him is everlasting peace. And only there will I remember Who I really am.

Let me not seek for idols. I would come, my Father, home to You today. I choose to be as You created me, and find the Son whom You created as my Self.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I just got off the phone with a very good friend who lives in Chicago. We have only seen each other in person three times, but we talk at least once a week. What I'm learning from this friend is how much I am learning from this Course. Everything that comes up in our conversations has something to do with fear vs. love or ego vs. Spirit. It's amazing to me how much this Course has become a foundation for everything I am and everything I believe.

We talked today about authenticity and the challenge for us who are perfectionists in not trusting our own authenticity because there must be A right answer out there. When I live what I'm learning here - which, fortunately, happens much more often than not these days - I find that life is so much easier.

I love Bob Proctor's statement: "What other people think of me is none of my business." They draw their own conclusions based on their own levels of awareness, and that should have nothing to do with who I really am and what I really stand for.

God is my refuge and security, so there should be no need for defense in the form of a fence or wall or anything. I've heard it said many times that defense is the first offense. We say in our country that we have a great defense system, yet that makes us subject to attack where we then become the offenders. I'd like to do more research about what makes Switzerland the place where there is no war. I've heard that they never get involved in wars because they have no defense system in place. Switzerland cannot physically be attacked because they are non-violent.

If I put a wall in place to shield me from love, what is the victory? I will identify with what I think will make me safe. If I put my faith and trust in the wall or in the national defense, I will believe that that is one with me. But love is the true safety. Fear does not exist.

That's the true miracle!