August 28, 2012

As we continue looking at the Principles of Miracles, we are reminded again and again that miracles are about our thoughts, not our experiences. We may have experiences as a result of miracles, they may manifest in our physical world in many forms and ways, but miracles are always in our thinking. Our miracle mindedness is always a result of our willingness to allow our thoughts and decisions to be guided by Spirit, Source, God, the Universe. You may use another name – like the “Great Zucchini” a term suggested by my friends the Lucketts – but surrender to our Source allows miracles to happen.

When the world we see is transformed due to a shift in our perception, the way we perceive our world, we have certainly experienced a miracle. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we willing?” Principle 12 says “Miracles are thoughts.” It’s our choice whether we allow our thoughts to align with the physical or lower experience or the spiritual or higher experience. There is an intention we put forward in our minds for what level we want our mind to be on. We align with the lower or bodily mind, or the spiritual or higher mind. The lower thought system makes the physical seem real and the higher creates the spiritual.

We know what we desire. We want to be in the state of mind of spirit. It is ours to experience. But we must be willing to release our grip clinging to the physical or separated experience of the world, the one we perceive in isolation. The Course asks us to take the principles of miracles to heart and begin to adjust the way we think to allow Spirit to guide our thoughts and decisions. Along this path of release, we will be unsure, we’ll have questions, and we’ll want to know the “right” answer. The only right answer any of us will have is the answer that is inspired by Spirit as we listen for it.

There is no hurry. Our time will come when we let our time come. We cannot force it, for the forcing will only guide us to separation. Take a step aside for a moment. Allow Spirit to speak in that still small voice to you. Spirit will guide you if you listen and let yourself be led. It is as easy as breathing. We don’t even think about taking each breath we take. Let Spirit’s guidance become a habit. It will take conscious effort for awhile. But that effort will ease over time as we release our desire to fight against it. Miracles bring us truth. Miracles extend love. Be the part of the circle of love you really are. The experience will transform to the experience of peace, love, and joy. Let it be so.

August 21, 2012

We are continuing to discuss the principles of miracles. The group asked to go back and discuss the first 25 principles individually as we have discussed the last 25. The principles give us great insight. As the principles have told us, principles are natural. It is unnatural for us not to be experiencing miracles. So if we aren’t, something is amiss about the way we are thinking. The egoic mind, the separated mind, does not think in communication with the Mind of God. Thinking with the Mind of God is not in harmony with the egoic purpose of separation. If we are not miracle minded, we are then ego minded. When we find ourselves thinking like this, let Spirit guide your thoughts. Miracle mindedness will surface.

In the July/August issue of Miracles Magazine Jon Mundy quotes a passage for the Course in his lead article Perfect Happiness Now.

The Holy Spirit is the perfect Teacher. 2 The Holy Spirit uses only what your mind already understands to teach you that you do not understand it. 3 The Holy Spirit can deal with a reluctant learner without going counter to their mind, because part of their mind is still for God.

ACIM T – 5.III.10.1-3

Miracles operate in much the same way as Spirit, happening in just the right form, at the right time, and in the perfect way for where we are at the present moment. A miracle lifts or shifts our thinking to a level of higher consciousness which we can handle at that moment. Spirit never gives us more than we can handle at any given moment. Sometimes it may seem too immense for us, but in our decision to decide with God and ask Spirit for guidance, we have all we need to face the challenge. The miracle is the shift in our thinking that brings us to that higher level if we will allow our thinking to shift. And it will always be the perfect amount of shift for us at that moment. It is important to remember that our mind has never really left the Mind of God. We just need to be willing to recognize it.

Another principle tells us that miracles are not to be thought of as spectacles to induce belief. Rather miracles are a natural result of our willingness to believe the truth about who we really are. Miracles are not spectacles in any sense of the word. Miracles are those quiet shifts to a higher level of consciousness and thinking that lifts our awareness to the next level we are ready for or that we can handle. Miracles in themselves do not matter, it is their Source and the resulting shift that matter. Miracles are indications that we are progressing on our journey back to the awareness of who we really are.

Let go of your desire to control everything. Miracles can’t be controlled. The only control one can exert on a miracle is to deny it. That doesn’t bring about miracle mindedness. So let the miracles come. Welcome them with open arms and an open mind. The blessing will be ours. We will experience the highest good possible at that moment. Let is be so.

August 14, 2012

Last week I quoted the following beautiful passage from the Course. Unfortunately the reference had errors. The reference is corrected and the passage is still beautiful.

When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer.

A Course in Miracles T-14.IV.6:1-2

Can you imagine the kind of day you would have if you started each day with this thought? Give it a try. Place a copy on your mirror, the refrigerator, your front door, or your computer monitor. A life loved in God consciousness is a life that flows as naturally as breathing. Making it a habit to make decisions with God is the practice that will result in the higher consciousness we seek. How many times do you have to do something to make it a habit? Decide that many times with God. If it’s still not a habit, decide that many more times with God, and keep doing so until it becomes habit. All you need to make it a habit is a little willingness or desire to have it be so.

As we continue reading and discussing the Principles of Miracles, we find both challenge and comfort in them. The challenge is to allow ourselves to let each miracle change our thinking and affect the way we think. We are so used to doing our thinking in our own way, the way we have always done and the way we have evolved our thinking on our own. And the joy is that the changed thought is not something outside ourselves or foreign to us. The changed thought is already within us. The changed thought is brought up in our awareness by the miracle process. Our Mind is the Mind of God. To think with and decide with God does not involve anything outside of us. We already have everything we need to be who we really are. We are already that One and are willing to let that Oneness come into our awareness.

Are we willing to let miracle thinking surface? As Principle 47 tells us, miracles are learning devices. They help us learn to decide with God. They help us make a habit of deciding with God. Once we really make it a habit, we will communicate with God or Spirit naturally and without the effort of remembering to do so. The Holy Spirit and miracles work together to correct all our misperception. As we allow the miracle to direct our thoughts and our thinking, what is based in Truth remains and all incorrect thoughts fade away. They are merely mistaken and are replaced by correct thoughts that rise from within to our awareness.

Miracles are temporary shifts in our thinking that result in substantial awareness over time. They create collapses of time that bring the awareness of our Divinity into our focus for us. At first we drift away fairly quickly from that awareness. But as each miracle created that holy instant for us, we rest in the clarity of that awareness for a little while longer. What a blessing it is to experience these shifts in awareness. Welcome them with open arms and open minds. Drop all resistance to the shift they bring. The full awareness of who you really are and your connection to all creation will manifest n the boundless peace, love, and joy within you. Let it be so.

August 7, 2012

We continue discussing the Principles of Miracles again this week. It is wonderful to go back and review these wonderful nuggets of wisdom again. Perhaps we all should review the Principles on a regular basis. Principle 41 tells us that wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. What more could we ever want than wholeness? If we really allowed ourselves to shift into a state of conscious wholeness where we actually believe and know we are whole and lack nothing we really need, we would perceive, see, and know a different world. The world we think we see would transform before our very minds. The result is that we understand everything we see and experience differently. We would see through the Mind of God and understand through the Mind of God. That is a miracle!

Last week Jon Mundy started his newsletter with a beautiful passage from the Course. It is:

When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer.

A Course in Miracles T-14.IV.6:1-2

Miracles shift our minds into this natural state of being. Deciding with God is allowing miracles to be in our awareness constantly. This is the habit we all desire to learn, or better yet, return to. The habit of deciding with God is as easy as breathing once we become reacquainted with it. Every Principle points toward this state of mind, this state of being. Miracles help us return to what comes naturally.

Yet in the world we see this doesn’t seem to be so. It seems to be impossible. But it’s not. Just release your attachment to all those thoughts of what everything means. Release especially the thoughts that seem to cause us angst as we dwell on them. Accepting the possibility that what we think we see might not be complete and that Spirit will show us a new perception as the turning point allows the awareness of miracles into our mind and life. What a changed world this can bring to our awareness.

Take a moment. Let an inner awareness of wholeness spring up within you. Principle 44 tells us that miracles are expressions of an inner awareness of the Christ within us and the acceptance of the wholeness that is our natural state of being. Once we stop trying so hard to make all this happen ourselves we will find that being whole and living through the Mind of God is as easy as breathing. It will be as easy as being led down a quiet garden path. We settle in the comfort of knowing who we really are. From this state of mind and being, all things are possible. Let it be so.