“Once the return to unity has occurred in form, the decision to continue in form or to not continue in form will be yours. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: ‘A Treatise on the New,’ 4.14)”
Affirmation: “unity in physical form”
Reflections:
This suggests, but does not spell out, that we have the choice of whether or not to return to earth in another incarnation. Edgar Cayce said that many of us are here to save others who would not be able to find their way back without us. This seems reason enough to know that many of us will choose to come back.
This is not a statement on reincarnation, a statement that A Course in Miracles encourages us not to make. We will turn off those whom we are trying to reach if they do not find reincarnation plausible. So we do not take doctrinal stands, which can only divide. It is enough to know that the embodiment of form, the elevation of form, is our choice as we accept Christ-consciousness in our lives. ACOL calls this the “elevated Self of form,” and it is an oft-repeated refrain.
The passage does seem to say that we have some way to make a decision through the Higher Self about the time of our death. It does not condone suicide at all, though. It merely suggests that the Self of which we are a part–the Self that has not taken form–does in fact guide us in making life-and-death decisions. A Course in Miracles echoes this theme in a passage on illness. It suggests that we choose the agents that will minister to us in sickness, and that we get well if that is our decision; if we choose not to get well, then we go on to the Other Side.
Of course, this decision is not made by the “little” self, the personality that embody in this world. It is an “other-worldly” decision, and we cannot know for sure, normally, what the decision will be. But our spirit knows, and it is this that makes the decision of remaining in form (in body) or to go to the Other Side.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
I am not ill unto death; most of us reading this are not. So my Self has chosen to have a form on this earth for the foreseeable future. May I make the most of this time. May I love and cherish You, and may I love and cherish my brothers and sisters in this world.
Thank You for helping me today when I falter. May I put my faith in You only. May I realize that the choice for illness is a faulty decision-making process, and that You are “for health” all the way. May I choose good emotional and physical health today.
Amen.
