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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 7 "THE CONSISTENCY OF THE KINGDOM"
VI. HEALING AND THE CHANGELESSNESS OF MIND
51 You cannot forget the Father because I am with you, and I cannot forget Him. To forget me is to forget yourself and Him Who created you. Our brothers are forgetful. That is why they need your remembrance of me and Him who created me. Through this remembrance, you can change their minds about themselves, as I can change yours. Your minds are so powerful a light that you can look into theirs and enlighten them, as I can enlighten yours. I do not want to share my body in communion, because that is to share nothing. [Would I try to share an illusion with the most holy children of a most holy Father?] Yet I do want to share my mind with you because we are of One Mind and that Mind is ours.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
L e s s o n 77
I am entitled to miracles.
♫♪ You Are Entitled to Miracles CD SAMPLE ♪♫
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AUDIO
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Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.
2 Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself nor on any of the rituals you have devised. It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It is implicit in what God your Father is. It was ensured in your creation and guaranteed by the laws of God.
3 Today we will claim the miracles which are your right since they belong to you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been assured that the Kingdom of God is within you and can never be lost. We ask no more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure that we will not content ourselves with less.
4 Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently that you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you are asking only for what is rightfully yours. Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given to another and that in asking for your rights you are upholding the rights of everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this world. They merely follow from the laws of God.
5 After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that your request is granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world and for your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the Will of God be done. In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that cannot be denied.
6 The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek.
7 Our shorter practice periods will be frequent and will also be devoted to a reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:
8
I am entitled to miracles.
9 Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for. You will recognize these situations; you are not relying on yourself to find them, you are therefore fully entitled to receive them whenever you ask.
10 Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:
11
I will not trade miracles for grievances.
I want only what belongs to me.
God has established miracles as my right.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 77
I am entitled to miracles.
Sarah's Commentary:
We are entitled to miracles because of who we are as created by God. When we accept this as the truth, miracles extend through us. When we know the love that we are, everything that comes through us comes from that love. It comes about as a result of the correction of our wrong-minded perceptions. This requires a willingness to release our guilt, fear, grievances, and attack thoughts, which block the truth in our minds. The source of all our suffering in this world is our choice for the ego and with it the body and the world of pain. It has resulted in a dream of separation from the love we are. We were created as the unlimited Christ Self. This Self is still in our right minds. It is the part of the mind still connected to the truth. The Holy Spirit is the bridge to truth and a reflection of God's Love in this dream. We are entitled to that love completely and fully because we are God's Son and remain as He created us.
Suffering is our experience in this dream when we identify with the ego. Yes, we have bouts of happiness and pleasure, but they don't last. Suffering comes with the separation because now we no longer experience ourselves as complete and whole, needing nothing. The miracle corrects our wrong-minded perception, which is the source of all our suffering. The miracle shows us that we are indeed entitled to the truth of what we are, and in that experience, we recognize this is all a dream. The miracle shows us that our experience here is an illusion.
Since we chose the ego and the world of fear in the first place, we can choose against it. When we bring our false perceptions to the truth, their undoing brings a shift in how we see. This shift is the miracle that comes when we choose with the Holy Spirit rather than with the ego. We turn to the Holy Spirit for His interpretation of the people, situations, or events in our lives. When we choose not to listen to the ego, it loses its relevance in our lives. When we make a choice to see with the eyes of Christ, we choose Jesus as our guide and teacher. When we listen to the voice of the ego, we actively block the truth of what we are and look out on a darkened world. "Grievances darken your mind, and you look out on a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light." (W.73.5.3-4)
The ego is stubborn, and we may feel this is very difficult when we are suffering. Jesus assures us that grievances are easily passed and have no power to stand between us and the miracle. Why is he so certain? He is certain because, he says, "The reason is very simple. Do you really want to be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer and die?" (W.73.5.6-8) It is all about our choice. Do we wish to continue to hold onto our perceptions and suffer, or do we want to forgive these misperceptions and turn to the Holy Spirit for the truth? "You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive miracles because of what God is." (W.77.1.1-2) He withholds nothing from us.
There is only one thing required of us---to be willing to accept the means given by the Holy Spirit for our salvation and the salvation of the world. "You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the Will of God be done." (W.77.5.2-5) The means is forgiveness.
Often when we pray, we come to Jesus or the Holy Spirit with a problem we have already defined, and then we ask for help. We have already limited the scope of the answer by the nature of our question. This limits the miracle when we think we know the problem and therefore we know what question to ask. "In doing this, you do not really ask for anything." (W.77.6.1) The reason is that specific questions we ask around specific problems are always related to what we think we need. The truth is that we don't need anything except the healing of our false idea of what the problem is.
The only problem is the belief in separation. "But the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, because those who have been forgiven have everything." (T.3.V.6.3) (ACIM OE T.3.VII.56) The miracle is always there, shining its magnificent light behind every seeming problem. Our part is to ask for help in releasing the misperceptions we have about the problem. The problems we have always come from our interpretations of the situation and never from the situation itself. When our misperceptions are brought forward for healing, the miracle can shine through, and then our prayer can be one of gratitude. Accepting the miracle that is always available to us is the answer to every problem we seem to have.
Our job is to let go of the false. We simply claim the right that is our inheritance. "He [Holy Spirit] will never ask what you have done to make you worthy of the gift of God. Ask it not therefore of yourself. Instead, accept His answer, for He knows that you are worthy of everything God wills for you. Do not try to escape the gift of God He so freely and so gladly offers you. He offers you but what God gave Him for you. You need not decide whether or not you are deserving of it. God knows you are." (T.14.III.11.4-10) (ACIM OE T.13.VIII.75) When we hold onto our unworthiness and the belief that we are bad, we are actually trying to escape the gifts God offers us so freely and gladly. We falsely believe we have to make ourselves worthy of His gifts. Yet when we ask that God's Will be done, we can be certain it is done. He assures us that we cannot fail because the gift is already given. We can only fail if we do not avail ourselves of the means given us so we can claim the gift. The means provided us is to forgive.
To forgive is to bring the blocks in the mind to the truth. We must expose the ego to the light. The Holy Spirit will do all the heavy lifting. Our job is not to try to clean up our own act. It is not to try to fix what we think is wrong. Our job is only to take responsibility for our errors, bring them to the inner altar, and leave the healing to the Holy Spirit. The ego will never undo itself. It is threatened by what we do to expose it for what it is. Until we no longer see value in our will and in our way, in our uniqueness and in our specialness, we will still look to the ego for our salvation. This is what keeps the miracle away.
"Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself, nor on any of the rituals you have devised."
(W.77.2.1-2) Magic is always about something external, whereas the miracle is internal. Magical thinking is to believe that our spiritual practices will protect us and make us happy. It is the belief that by doing the Course the things we think we need in the world to make us happy will appear. This is an error protected by the ego as it ensures our bodily identification. The fact is that only the Love of God will protect us in all circumstances. It requires healing of the guilt in our own minds. When it is brought to the truth and is healed by the miracle, "You have been promised the full release from the world you made." (W.77.3.2)
The world we made came from the belief we could separate from God. The miracle shows us that this could not happen. It shows us that, "We ask no more than what belongs to us in truth," (W.77.3.4) which is the awareness of the Kingdom of God within us. (W.77.3.3) With that awareness comes a recognition of the Christ Self. It is always available to us when we choose the Holy Spirit, Who is a reflection of the love we are. When we settle for littleness, lack, or a limited self, we shut out the glorious truth of our Being. The miracle helps to restore to us our inheritance that could never be lost except from our own awareness.
With the separation comes guilt and fear with all its manifestations of anxiety, worry, upset, jealousy, specialness, needs, expectations, frustrations, comparisons, and a never-ending list of problems. The only solution that will ever work is if we go back to the source of every problem, which is always the guilt in the mind. When we take our mistaken perceptions to the Holy Spirit, He offers us a correction, which is the miracle. When we remember to ask sincerely for help to see it differently, the miracle will be received. This shift happens when we turn to the Teacher within instead of relying on our limited resources for the answer. When we try to solve our own problems in form, we are turning to magic. Magic will alleviate symptoms and perhaps address a problem temporarily, but as long as guilt is still in the mind, the problem will persist. "The whole distortion that made magic rests on the belief that there is a creative ability in matter which the mind cannot control." (T.2.IV.2.8) (ACIM OE T.2.III.54) Magic is related to "the powers the ego ascribes to itself." (T.4.II.9.1) (ACIM OE T.4.III.35)
When healing is experienced, the extension of the love that shines through us is not the same as being loving. The problem with trying to be loving is that the separated mind has no idea of how this is accomplished. The closest reflection of love in this world is in forgiveness. When grievances, attacks, and judgments are brought to the truth, space is made for love to shine through. That is what the miracle shows us. It shifts our perception from the wrong mind to the right mind where the rights of everyone are upheld. "Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given to another, and that in asking for your rights, you are upholding the rights of everyone." (W.77.4.3) To try to offer unconditional love from our unhealed minds is simply a response to guilt. The guilt in our minds stands in the way of extending miracles. The answer is always the same, which is to release whatever ego thoughts and grievances arise so the love we are can come forth. It takes no effort on our part to extend this love. It is not something we do. It is something that shines forth from us when the blocks to love are removed. To try to be loving, as we understand it, is to expect reciprocity. If we don't get the love in return, we withdraw our love. This is special love, which is a substitute the ego has made for the love we are.
When we don't experience miracles, it is because we stubbornly hold onto our false perceptions. Grievances hold back the miracle. We stubbornly hold onto our judgments when we want to see ourselves as innocent at the expense of our brothers. We are either holding judgments and grievances, or we are in a state of miracle-mindedness. These are mutually exclusive states. Miracles do not always have observable effects. What is important is that perception is shifted in our minds from guilt to innocence. It is a mental shift, which frees our minds from grievances. We are not the source of the miracle. The Holy Spirit is. We can't generate a miracle through our own resources. We must turn to the Holy Spirit. He is the Source of all miracles.
This is a very practical course, but to be experienced this way, we must apply these teachings to our lives on a daily basis so the Course comes alive in our experience. Otherwise, while we can be blown away by the beauty of the words and the brilliance of the concepts, they don't help to shift our minds. Without application, the words and concepts will only have value for the intellect. It takes great willingness to accept complete responsibility for the difficult and challenging situations in our lives and to see every situation as an opportunity for healing.
With the miracle comes a shift from seeing our interests as separate from others to realizing our interests are the same as others. That kind of shift is the focus of the whole Course. It is this shift in our minds from which miracles emanate. It is not about changing our behavior. It is about changing our minds, and behavior follows naturally. It takes practice to choose the thought system of the Holy Spirit more consistently than the thought system of the ego. As we do the practice, we become more in tune with the thought system of the Holy Spirit, and this is the source of miracles. Then the world becomes a witness to our state of mind. When we witness miracles, we witness our own healed perspective.
When we ask for our rights, we are also upholding the rights of everyone because "Miracles do not obey the laws of this world." (W.77.4.4) The laws of this world rest on differences, while miracles recognize our brothers as the Self we all share. Jesus says that each decision we make is one between a grievance and a miracle. It is our choice. The only meaningful thing we can do in this lifetime is to watch our minds for grievances and be willing to let them go so miracles can abound.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
Chapter Seven
The Consistency of the Kingdom
<TEXT AUDIO>
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
VI. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind
39 The body is nothing more than a framework for developing abilities. It is therefore a means for developing
potentials, which is quite apart from what the potential is used
for.
That is a
decision. The effects of the ego's decision in this matter are so apparent that they need no elaboration here, but the Holy Spirit's decision to use the body
only for communication has such a direct connection with healing that it
does need clarification. The unhealed healer
obviously does not understand his own vocation.
40
Only minds communicate. Since the ego
cannot obliterate the impulse to communicate because it is also the impulse to create, the ego can only teach you that the
body can both communicate
and create and therefore does not
need the mind. The ego thus tries to teach you that the body can
act like the mind and is therefore self-sufficient. Yet we have learned that behavior is
not the level for either teaching
or learning. This must be so, since you
can act in accordance with what you do
not believe. To do this, however, will weaken you as teachers
and learners because, as has been repeatedly emphasized, you teach what you
do believe. An inconsistent lesson will be poorly taught
and poorly learned. If you teach both sickness
and healing, you are both a poor teacher
and a poor learner.
41 Healing is the one ability which everyone can develop and
must develop if he is to be healed. Healing is the Holy Spirit's form of communication and the
only one He knows. He recognizes no other, because He does not accept the ego's confusion of mind and body. Minds can communicate, but they
cannot hurt. The body in the service of the ego can hurt other
bodies, but this cannot occur unless the body has
already been confused with the mind. This fact, too, can be used either for healing or for magic, but you must remember that magic is
always the belief that healing is
harmful. This is its totally insane premise, and so it proceeds accordingly.
42 Healing only
strengthens. Magic
always tries to weaken. Healing perceives
nothing in the healer that everyone else does not
share with him. Magic
always sees something "special" in the healer which he believes he can offer as a gift to someone who does
not have it. He may believe that the gift comes
from God to Him, but it is quite evident that he does not understand God if he thinks he has something that others
lack. You might well ask, then, why some healing
can result from this kind of thinking, and there is a reason for this.
43 However misguided the "magical healer" may be, he is
also trying to help. He is conflicted and unstable, but
at times he is offering something to the Sonship, and the only thing the Sonship can
accept is healing. When the so-called "healing" works, then, the impulse to help and to
be helped have coincided. This is coincidental because the healer may
not be experiencing himself as truly helpful at the time, but the belief that he
is, in the mind of another, helps
him.
44 The Holy Spirit does
not work by chance, and healing that is of Him
always works. Unless the healer
always heals by Him, the results
will vary. Yet healing itself
is consistence since
only consistence is conflict-free, and only the conflict-free
are whole. By accepting exceptions and acknowledging that he can sometimes heal and sometimes not, the healer is
obviously accepting inconsistency. He is therefore
in conflict and
teaching conflict. Can anything of God
not be for all and for always?
45 Love is incapable of
any exceptions. Only if there is fear does the
idea of exceptions seem to be meaningful. Exceptions are fearful because they are made
by fear. The "fearful healer" is a contradiction in terms and is therefore a concept which
only a conflicted mind could possibly perceive as meaningful. Fear does
not gladden. Healing
does. Fear
always makes exceptions. Healing
never does. Fear produces dissociation because it induces
separation. Healing
always produces harmony because it proceeds from integration.
46 Healing is predictable because it can be counted on.
Everything that is of God can be counted on because everything of God is wholly
real. Healing can be counted on
because it is inspired by His Voice and is in accord with His laws. Yet if healing
is consistence, it cannot be inconsistently understood. Understanding
means consistence because God means consistence. Since that is
His meaning, it is also
yours. Your meaning cannot
be out of accord with His because your whole meaning, and your
only meaning, comes
from His and is
like His. God cannot be out of accord with
Himself, and
you cannot be out of accord with Him. You cannot separate your
self from your Creator, Who created you by sharing
His being
with
you.
47 The unhealed healer wants gratitude
from his brothers, but he is not grateful
to them. This is because he thinks he is
giving something
to them and is
not receiving something equally desirable in return. His
teaching is limited because he is
learning so little. His healing lesson is limited by his own ingratitude, which is a lesson in
sickness. Learning is constant and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in one instant and change the world in the next. That is because by changing
his mind he has changed the most powerful device that was ever created
for change.
48 This in no way contradicts the changelessness of mind as
God created it, but you think that you
have changed it as long as you learn through the ego. This
does place you in a position of needing to learn a lesson which seems contradictory-you must learn to change your mind
about your mind. Only by this can you learn that it
is changeless. When you heal that is exactly what you
are learning. You are recognizing the changeless mind in your brother by realizing that he
could not have changed his mind. That is how you perceive the Holy Spirit in him. It is
only the Holy Spirit in him that never changes His mind. He himself must think he
can, or he would not perceive himself as sick. He therefore does not know what his self
is.
49 If
you see only the changeless in him, you have not really changed him at all. By changing
your mind about his
for him, you help him
undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him. As you can hear two voices, so you can see in two ways. One way shows you an image, or better, an idol which you may worship out of fear but which you will never love. The other shows you only truth, which you will love because you will
understand it. Understanding is
appreciation because what you understand you can
identify with, and by making it part of
you, you have accepted it with love.
50 That is how God Himself created
you-in understanding, in appreciation, and in love. The ego is totally unable to understand this, because it does
not understand what it makes; it does
not appreciate it; and it does
not love it. It incorporates to
take away. It literally believes that every time it deprives someone of something,
it has increased. We have spoken often of the increase of the Kingdom by
your creations, which can only be created as
you were. The whole glory and perfect joy that
is the Kingdom lies in you to give. Do you not
want to give it?
51 You
cannot forget the Father because I am with you, and
I cannot forget Him. To forget
me is to forget yourself and Him Who created you. Our brothers
are forgetful. That is why they need your remembrance of me and Him who created me. Through this remembrance, you can change their minds about
themselves, as I can change
yours. Your minds are so powerful a light that you can look into theirs and enlighten them, as I can enlighten yours. I do not want to share my
body in communion, because that is to share nothing. [Would I try to share an illusion with the most holy children of a most holy Father?] Yet I do want to share my
mind with you because we
are of One Mind and that
Mind
is ours.
52 See
only this
Mind everywhere because only this
is everywhere and in everything. It
is everything because it encompasses all things within
itself. Blessed are you who perceive only this, because you perceive only what is true. Come therefore unto me and learn of the truth in
you. The Mind we share is shared by all our brothers, and as we see them truly, they
will be healed. Let
your mind shine with mine upon their minds, and by our gratitude to them make them aware of the light in
them.
53 This light will shine back upon
you and on the whole Sonship because this is your proper gift to God. He will accept it and give it to the Sonship because it is acceptable to Him and therefore to His Sons. This is the true communion of the Spirit, Who sees the altar of God in everyone and, by bringing it to
your appreciation, calls upon you to love God
and His creations. You can appreciate the Sonship
only as one. This is part of the Law of Creation and therefore governs
all thought.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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