Vincent S. D'Agati PhD

"United we stand, divided we fall.”*

Section 5. How is healing accomplished?

a) The perceived purpose of sickness

  1. “For sickness is an election, a decision. ⁵It is the choice of weakness, in the mistaken conviction that it is strength.” (ACIM, M-5.I.1:4-5)
  2. All forms of sickness are a decision of the mind. This implies an understanding of how powerful our minds really are: ‘mind over matter’.

b) The shift in perception

  1. “Healing must occur in exact proportion to which the valuelessness of sickness is recognized. ²One need but say, “There is no gain at all to me in this” and he is healed.” (ACIM, M-5.II.1:1-2)
  2. ‘…one first must recognize certain facts. (ACIM, M-5.II.1:3):
    1. “it is obvious that decisions are of the mind, not of the body.” (ACIM, M-5.II.1:4)
    2. “If sickness is but a faulty problem-solving approach, it is a decision.” (ACIM, M-5.II.1:5)
    3. “And if it is a decision, it is the mind and not the body that makes it.” (ACIM, M-5.II.1:6)
  3. “The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. ²And, this is so for healing in all forms. ³A patient decides that this is so, and he recovers. ⁴If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. ⁵Who is the physician? ⁶Only the mind of the patient himself.” (ACIM, M-5.II.2:1-6)
  4. “Special agents are not actually needed at all. ¹2The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, “I have no use for this.” ¹³There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.” (ACIM, M-5.II.2:11-13)
  5. “Herein is the release from guilt and sickness both, for they are one. ¹²Yet to accept this release, the insignificance of the body must be an acceptable idea.” (ACIM, M-5.II.3:11-12)That is the catch.

c) The function of the Teacher of God

  1. “He has, however, a more specific function for those who do not understand what healing is.” (ACIM, M-5.III.1:5)
  2. “To them God’s teachers come, to represent another choice which they had forgotten. ²The simple presence of a teacher of God is a reminder. ³His thoughts ask for the right to question what the patient has accepted as true. ⁴As God’s messengers, His teachers are the symbols of salvation. …⁶They stand for the Alternative. ⁷With God’s Word in their minds they come in benediction, not to heal the sick but to remind them of the remedy God has already given them.” (ACIM, M-5.III.2:1-7)
  3. “And this is the function of God’s teachers; to see no will as separate from their own, nor theirs as separate from God’s.” (ACIM, M-5.III.3:9)

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