60 Before miracle workers are ready to undertake their function in this world, it is essential that they fully understand the
fear of release. Otherwise, they may unwittingly foster the belief that release is imprisonment, a belief that is very prevalent. This misperception arose from the underlying misbelief that harm can be limited to the body. This was because of the much greater fear that the mind can hurt itself. Neither error is really meaningful because the miscreations of the mind do not really exist.
This recognition is a far better protective device than
any form of level confusion because it introduces correction at the level of the error.
61 It is essential to remember that
only the mind can create. Implicit in this is the corollary that correction belongs at the
thought level. To repeat an earlier statement and to extend it somewhat, the Soul is already perfect and therefore does not require correction. The body does not really exist except as a learning device for the mind. This learning device is
not subject to errors of its own because it was created but is
not creating. It should be obvious, then, that correcting the creator or inducing it to give up its miscreations is the only application of creative ability which is truly meaningful.
62 Magic is essentially mindless or the miscreative use of the mind. Physical medications are forms of "spells." Those who are afraid to use the mind to heal should not attempt to do so. The very fact that they are
afraid has made them vulnerable to miscreation. They are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing they might induce and, because egocentricity and fear usually occur together, may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing. Under these conditions, it is safer for them to rely
temporarily on physical healing devices because they cannot misperceive them as their own creations. As long as their sense of vulnerability persists, they should be preserved from even attempting miracles.
63 We have already said that the miracle is an expression of miracle-mindedness. Miracle-mindedness merely means right-mindedness in the sense that we are now using it. The right-minded neither exalt nor depreciate the mind of the miracle worker
or the miracle receiver. However, as a creative act, the miracle need not await the right-mindedness of the receiver. In fact, its purpose is to
restore him to his right mind. It is essential, however, that the miracle
worker be in his right mind or he will be unable to reestablish right-mindedness in someone else.
64 The healer who relies on his
own readiness is endangering his understanding. He is perfectly safe as long as he is completely unconcerned about
his readiness but maintains a consistent trust in
mine. If your miracle working propensities are not functioning properly, it is
always because fear has intruded on your right-mindedness and has literally upset it (or turned it upside-down). All forms of not-right-mindedness are the result of refusal to accept the Atonement
for yourself. If the miracle worker
does accept it, he places himself in a position to recognize that those who need to be healed are simply those who have not realized that right-mindedness
is healing.
65 The
sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means that he recognizes that mind is the only creative level and that its errors
are healed by the Atonement. Once he accepts this, his mind can
only heal. By denying his mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, he has placed himself in a position where he can undo the level confusion of others. The message he then gives to others is the truth that
their minds are similarly constructive and that
their miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this, the miracle worker releases the mind from over-evaluating its own learning device (the body) and restores the mind to its true position as the learner.
66 It should be emphasized again that the body does not learn any more than it creates. As a learning device, it merely follows the learner, but if it is falsely endowed with self-initiative, it becomes a serious obstruction to the very learning it should facilitate.
Only the mind is capable of illumination. The Soul is already illuminated, and the body in itself is too dense. The mind, however, can bring
its illumination
to the body by recognizing that density is the opposite of intelligence and therefore unamenable to independent learning. It is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind which has learned to look beyond density toward light.
67 Corrective learning always begins with the awakening of the Spiritual eye and the turning away from the belief in physical sight. The reason this so often entails fear is because man is afraid of what his Spiritual eye will see. We said before that the Spiritual eye cannot see error and is capable only of looking beyond it to the defense of Atonement. There is no doubt that the Spiritual eye
does produce extreme discomfort by what it sees. Yet what man forgets is that the discomfort is
not the final outcome of its perception. When the Spiritual eye is permitted to look upon the defilement of the altar, it also looks
immediately toward the Atonement.
68
Nothing the Spiritual eye perceives can induce fear.
Everything that results from accurate spiritual awareness is merely channelized toward correction. Discomfort is aroused only to bring the
need for correction forcibly into awareness. What the physical eye sees is
not corrective nor can it be corrected by
any device which can be seen physically. As long as a man believes in what his physical sight tells him,
all his corrective behavior will be misdirected. The
real vision is obscured because man cannot endure to see his own defiled altar. But since the altar
has been defiled, his state becomes doubly dangerous unless it
is perceived.
69 The fear of healing arises, in the end, from an unwillingness to accept the unequivocal fact that healing is necessary. Man is not willing to look on what he has done
to himself. Healing is an ability lent to man after the separation, before which it was completely unnecessary. Like all aspects of the space-time belief, healing ability is temporary. However, as long as time persists, healing is needed as a means for human protection. This is because healing rests on charity, and charity is a way of perceiving the perfection of another even if he cannot perceive it himself.
70 Most of the loftier concepts of which man is capable now are time-dependent. Charity is really a weaker reflection of a much more powerful love-encompassment which is
far beyond any form of charity that man can conceive of as yet. Charity is essential to right-mindedness in the limited sense in which right-mindedness can now be attained. Charity is a way of looking at another
as if he had already gone far beyond his actual accomplishments in time. Since his own thinking is faulty, he cannot see the Atonement for himself or he would have no need for charity. The charity which is accorded him is both an acknowledgment that he
is weak and a recognition that he
could be stronger.
71 The way in which both of these perceptions are stated clearly implies their dependence on time, making it quite apparent that charity lies within the human limitations, though toward its higher levels. We said before that only revelation transcends time. The miracle, as an expression of true human charity, can only shorten time at most. It must be understood, however, that whenever a man offers a miracle to another, he is shortening the suffering of
both. This introduces a correction into the whole record which corrects retroactively as well as progressively.
