Lesson 136: ”Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

AI Reframe: Illness reflects resistance to inner clarity.

Suggested Practice:
From the lesson:

“²And we will give a quarter of an hour twice to ask the truth to come to us and set us free. ³And truth will come, for it has never been apart from us. ⁴It merely waits for just this invitation which we give today. ⁵We introduce it with a healing prayer, to help us rise above defensiveness, and let truth be as it has always been:@

⁶Sickness is a defense against the truth. 
⁷I will accept the truth of what I am,
and let my mind be wholly healed today.

“Healing will flash across your open mind, as peace and truth arise to take the place of war and vain imaginings. ²There will be no dark corners sickness can conceal, and keep defended from the light of truth. ³There will be no dim figures from your dreams, nor their obscure and meaningless pursuits with double purposes insanely sought, remaining in your mind. ⁴It will be healed of all the sickly wishes that it tried to authorize the body to obey.”

“Now is the body healed, because the source of sickness has been opened to relief. ²And you will recognize you practiced well by this: The body should not feel at all. ³If you have been successful, there will be no sense of feeling ill or feeling well, of pain or pleasure. ⁴No response at all is in the mind to what the body does. ⁵Its usefulness remains and nothing more.” (ACIM, W-136.15:2–17:5)

Message

The lesson says: “Sickness is a decision. It is not a thing that happens to you… It is a choice you make, a plan you lay, when for an instant truth arises in your own deluded mind, and all your world appears to totter and prepare to fall.”

That’s intense. But that’s how intense the ego-mind is about preserving itself and making us believe it has more power than we do.

This reminds me of Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life: “I believe we create every so-called illness in our body… The body is always talking to us, if we will only take the time to listen.” She lists common illnesses, their probable causes, and new thought patterns.

For example, I’m dealing with a minor health issue. The cause says I am “pissed off,” angry, and blaming. The new pattern: I release the pattern in my consciousness that created this condition. I am willing to change. I love and approve of myself.

Looking up several conditions, I found a common thread: not feeling safe and not feeling like I belong. Combined, the new pattern becomes: I am safe. I am worth loving. I choose to live life fully.

That begs the question: what truth(s) am I blocking by creating these conditions? I asked that in my first practice session.

Here’s what came up: our bodies are neutral. Any deviation from that reflects our thoughts. Our bodies aren’t attacking us with illness—we attack ourselves with thoughts. Our thoughts give the body direction to manifest in a way that shows us the effects of our thinking.

Realizing this, I cried. I’ve been upset with my body for what it’s doing to me. But I’m the reason my body has reacted. Thoughts of not feeling safe, not worth loving, unable to live fully have manifested as hay fever, excess weight, and breathing issues—to name a few.

My truth—based on ACIM—is that I am safe, I am light, and I am as love created me.

I’m reminded of Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

Our light frightens the ego-mind. So the ego creates thoughts that in turn create illness as an active defense against this truth it wants to hide.

At the core of the Course, I’m beginning to realize, is this: our thoughts create our world, personally and globally. Want to change the world? Change your thoughts.

This lesson isn’t about denying the body. It’s about recognizing the body has no power except what our thoughts lend it. And in an effort to take back my power, I am willing to embrace these new thoughts more each day:

I am safe.
I am worth loving.
I choose to live life fully.
I love and approve of myself.

“Lesson 136…says sickness doesn’t happen TO me. Rather it’s an insane, albeit effective device I use for self-deception.”
— “The Course in Miracles Experiment” by Pam Grout

Blessings & Peace,

Maureen,
The Mandala Lady

transforming soul whispers
into mandalas & channeled messages
for clarity, peace, and joy

 About the 2026 Mandalas of the Day — ▶️ A Note About A Course in Miracles

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