Healing trauma

 Welcome to Daily Miracles, a running commentary on the 365 lessons of A Course in Miracles, an influential spiritual text from the 1970s. I am James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I go through this material for the first time. 

Lesson 52

Seeing these together made me think:

(6) I am upset because I see what is not there. (ACIM, W-52.1:1)

(7) I see only the past. (ACIM, W-52.2:1)

(8) My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. (ACIM, W-52.3:1

(9) I see nothing as it is now.(ACIM, W-52.4:1

(10) My thoughts do not mean anything. (ACIM, W-52.5:1))

I recently saw some videos from Irene Lyon that discuss how trauma affects the nervous system and, therefore, our physical health. The trauma might be mild in a physical sense, but what happens after trauma is that our bodies don't respond in ways they naturally would.

As I understand it, we didn't have as much knowledge about the impact of trauma, particularly early childhood trauma, 50 years ago when Course materials were written. But I think it explains why we think as we do, why we see things - threats -  that aren't there, and have built entire ways of living based on illusions. Our very survival mode is out of whack.

In other words, there is more to our problems than satisfying the ego in the affluent modern world. The trauma-based illusions are deep within us at a subconscious level and obstruct normal functioning of our nervous system and physical health. This forms a feedback loop that affects our mental and spiritual health.

Most people cope with trauma of some kind. At some point, even if we weren't sick or injured, we've been abused, betrayed, or abandoned when we felt vulnerable. I suggest it isn't our fault that we "see" and think the way we do. If Irene Lyon is correct then the problem isn't just mental or spiritual; the physical affects how we think and feel. To think differently might require a re-training of the mind. A course, if you will. Perhaps that's one reason A Course in Miracles was written, and why this workbook takes a year to complete.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: Ivoronwik)