Sickness in an age of internalized capitalism

We can be healed.

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.

When I am healed I am not healed alone. (ACIM, W-137)

I’ve heard Jessa Reed among others express the idea of “internalized capitalism.” As I understand it, internalized capitalism allows the expectations and ethics of one’s employer to affect one’s own conscience and sense of self-worth.

I wonder how much the idea of “sickness” is part of this “capitalist” consciousness. Sickness is one of the few acceptable excuses for not showing up at work or school. “Oh, you’re checking out of the healthy world and will go in the sick world for a bit. Don’t stay there long!”

But when one doesn’t really want to go back to work, the illness gets worse and lingers until the allotted “sick days” or “paid time off” runs out. Sickness can be a symptom of a dissatisfied life. The isolation can be comfortable because the “connections” one has made in the broader world don’t feel right either.

Many feel trapped in the illusions and errors of the 3-D world. The bodily illness is unhealthy (by…