Spirit and Form Work Together

“Spirit is your more direct link with the one Source. Spirit is directly from the Source, while form is a by-product of spirit. Thus form is once removed, or further away from the Source. Again working backward, however, the form you have created is still a step necessary in the return to the Source. The necessary step is that of moving beyond form—recognizing and acknowledging form for what it is and then continuing on, working backward to change your belief, to allow imagination to serve you and spirit to fill you.” (ACOL, C:23.20)

Many of us who are students of A Course in Miracles have looked to our physical forms as an impediment to all that is good. We need to realize that this physical form we have can be a help as we seek to get back to God, as we seek to heal the separation. This passage from A Course of Love says that, for us, our form is a necessary step to the return to Source. We are caught in matter, and there must be a way out, to allow us to heal the separation and to return to God.

Of course, in my reading, all matter is illusory. This builds upon the assertion in A Course in Miracles that “There is no world!” Other interpretations are indeed possible, though, and we do not need to be delayed by the theology of ACOL. Our universal experience will be enough for us.

So how do we use form to get back Home to God? We know that form, driven by the ego, has taken us away from Him. And we rest in the knowledge that form can also return us to our Source. Our spirits animate matter, our form, and this is what will lead us back to God.

We would be ill-advised to just long for the afterlife, when form is no more (or so we believe). Outside time and space, the afterlife seems a cozy place to dwell. But we are not there yet, and we are called to Life in this world. This world can give us a good and satisfying life, and to do so we need not to denigrate our form. It is part of what we are.

Prayer

Dear Father/Mother,

As much as my form sometimes seems an impediment, I know that this is not the way that You would have me look at my physical body. Physicality can be a great blessing, and I ask to see that blessing today.

Be with me as I seek to follow the pathway that You have laid out in front of me. Your way is best, as always. Curb my impatience to understand all. Let me realize that I am finite while in this body, and this state does not have to be denigrated.

Thank You for guiding me.

Amen.