Addictions – Money - Healing

ADDICTIONS

We can heal addictions by applying the ACIM's program specifically to those addictions (in conjunction with other recovery program as may be appropriate), thus undoing them and ultimately restoring our awareness of God's Love.

"Addiction" can be defined as a continual craving for something which we believe will fill a perceived lack. We seem to have many lacks, and so addiction takes many forms. Yet the Course tells us that "a sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct"

The only thing really lacking in our lives is awareness of God's everlasting Love for us. Thus the Course offers us an excellent program for dealing with addictions, because it aims to restore to us the awareness of God's Love. If this, our only real desire, is fulfilled, then all of our addictions, which are simply distorted forms of that desire, will be healed.

The various addictions we experience—everything from drugs to sex to food to watching TV—are simply misguided attempts to attain the happiness that only God's Love can really give us. They reflect our striving for what the Course calls idols, worldly things that the ego offers us as substitutes for God's Love.

The whole idea of seeking but never finding describes perfectly the entire process of addiction.

True Healing comes from forgiveness, the whole point of ACIM. Altering one’s behavior at the physical level(smoking aids, cigarette holders, the patch, nicotine gum) in order to constitute a cure are magic.

Addiction is the trap of wanting something that you believe you should not want. It creates an ever-present rebellion within you, a never ending conflict. You submit to the addiction and say I am bad; you resist the addiction and say I am good. You succumb to the desire of the addiction and say I am weak; you do not succumb and say I am strong. And round and round you go, forever in conflict with yourself.
“You are neither good nor bad, These are ego’s words to keep you enslaved. For ego does not care whether you see yourself as good or bad, or weak or strong, as long as you remain in self-conflict. As long you remain disturbed and not at peace. In truth, it would be better that you smoke in a state of complete self-love than quit in a state of self-condemnation. It is more important that you do not condemn yourself than the actual addiction itself. And when you truly accept yourself and love yourself as I do, then you will find that the need for the addiction will naturally dissipate, as will any habit that does not serve you.
“Therefore, it is not the addiction that is the true ailment, but rather how you see yourself that torments you. The outer life merely reflects the inner world of your mind. There are many methods and aids to help you decrease your physical addiction, and it is perfectly fine to seek them out and use them. Yet to truly heal you must extend love to yourself. Extend love even to the addiction, for it has served you and supported you for a long time. See it with loving eyes. For when you condemn yourself and condemn the addiction, you are keeping yourself trapped. Love is always the key to any prison cell. What is resisted, judged, and hated, only digs in deeper and grows stronger. Yet what is loved, appreciated, and blessed, can let go its grip, relax, and be released.

Dear God, I thank you for all of the good that I have in my life. I am grateful for the abundance of life I see all around me. Your glory, majesty and overflowing grace are everywhere to be seen and appreciated. Thank you for showing me how to allow abundance to flow to me and through me. Help me to see all the ways you are providing for my abundance, and help me to be grateful for them. I fully release everything that I thought I knew about my life to you for your blessing. I faithfully and patiently await the complete realization of my life’s purpose, all in divine timing. So it is. Amen.

MONEY

Money is nothing — it is simply illusory form, with no meaning in itself. Any meaning or purpose money seems to have has been assigned to it by us. Therefore, the key question we should ask concerning money and material wealth is: "What is it for?" Used for the ego's purpose, it is an idol that reinforces separation; used for the Holy Spirit's purpose, it is a simple tool which can help us fulfill the function He has given us in His plan for salvation. When we accept the function the Holy Spirit has given us, He will give us everything we need, including money and material things, to fulfill that function. And as more and more people accept the function the Holy Spirit has given them, we will increasingly live in a world in which each brother gives freely of what he has to anyone who needs it.

"Money is not evil. It is nothing". Money is simply a "trivial and insane symbol".

Money is one of the world's prime examples of what the Course calls idols: external things that we believe can give us the happiness and security that only God can truly provide — things that we use as substitutes for God. As substitutes for God, they are false gods whom we worship and "endow with magical powers," like the stone idols of ancient times.

While the ego uses money as a powerful means of hooking us into separation, the Holy Spirit sees it as a simple, neutral tool which can be used to help free us from the belief in separation.

The key, then, is to focus our minds on discovering and fulfilling the Holy Spirit's function for us: the function of forgiveness or healing, in whatever form He has specifically designed for us.

Dear God, I thank you that I am richly provided for and that all my needs are met in Your most wonderful way. Amen

Compulsive shopping can be considered an addiction. So can the stock piling of food. Do you stock pile food out of fear of a shortage.  Even the possession of assets can be called into question. It’s not what you do but the thought system before you carry out the action that really matters. When you realize God is your source then you make your choices from a state of love rather than fear.

Divine Science Treatment For Opulence

I am perfect harmony. All my works are done in Truth; all My ways are just and right.
I am Opulence. I am Totality ; the Universal and the abundance of the manifest universe.
I know no lack, want nor poverty. I am the fullness of health, infinite supply and Omnipresent wealth. I am Omnipresence, Omnipotence and Omniscience, demonstrating my abundance continually.
"All that is made is mine."

HEALING

As you see others, you will see yourself. Whether this is through the use of tests or by making judgment in some other way, the effect is still the same....Take heed then when you are called upon to fulfill your function as teachers that you teach the truth about God's Son. The only way that you can experience any peace while this unfortunate necessity for interpreting illusions remains is to recognize that you are discussing only illusions, and that this has no real meaning at all. Try to say a prayer for your brother while doing this and you will call forth and experience a miracle instead.

I receive in consciousness the highest and best for me, and I am filled with gratitude. The Christ Spirit within is now expressing as life, love, wisdom, power. I am blessed as I receive. Thank You, God.

As an author, as a teacher, as a student you can be a success. As a merchant, you will not fail. Therefore, shine forth with your golden gifts. These words are your talisman: "There is no power in evil to hurt me. There is no substance in matter to hinder me." - ECH

God is my life. I have no life but His.

I was mistaken when I thought I lived apart from God, a separate entity that moved in isolation, unattached, and housed within a body. Now I know my life is God's, I have no other home, and I do not exist apart from Him. He has no Thoughts that are not part of me, and I have none but those which are of Him.