Miracles Principles #9—“Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange reverses the physical laws. They bring more love both to the giver and the receiver.” The miracle teaches that what we give, we also receive, since we are all one. It reverses physical laws because the world believes that if you give something you no longer have it. This is so regardless of whether the “gift” is material or psychological. Projection is the belief that by my giving you my guilt, I’m free of it, and you own it. But I’m not really giving to anything “out there,” because there is nothing out there. It’s all in my mind. So if I give you my guilt by projecting it onto you, what I’m really doing is reinforcing my own guilt. If, on the other hand, I give you love and forgiveness, I reinforce my own worth and innocence. The more we heal our brothers through love and forgiveness, the more healed we become.
Lesson 54—60 (Review Highlights)
Lesson 54: The world I see is a representation of my own state of mind. I can contribute to the experience of a world of separation or I can, by awakening my real thoughts, awaken those thoughts in others. What I think and say and do teaches the universe. By changing my own mind, I can change every mind along with mine.
Lesson 55: Lack and limitation, disease and death are not what I want to see. That I see them proves I don’t understand God, and I don’t know who I am. No wonder I’m in no position to know my own best interests! In this world, everything lives by attacking the life of something else, whether plant or animal. Even the lowest form of life lives off the energy given off by the destruction of the sun. I think my thoughts sustain me, but they are in fact destroying me. What gives rise to this picture? My own attack thoughts. Changing my thoughts from attack to love will change the world I see. My only job is to make myself teachable by letting go of my false thinking and asking Spirit to guide me.
Lesson 56: There is a “door” behind this world that, if opened, will allow me to see God’s perfect creation. I believe in a self that is constantly threatened. If I am threatened, how can I be an eternal, spiritual being? How can God even be real? My greatest need is vision. I need to open that door in my mind, “look past all appearances,” and see a world that reflects God’s love, and by so doing, remember who I am. Behind every image I’ve made, God’s truth remains unchanged.
Lesson 57: The theme of this review is freedom. The beauty of the fact that I have invented the world I see is that it affirms my freedom to see it differently. I am free to choose peace at any time. The quiet moments I spend each day, practicing CIM lessons, are showing me that. Choosing peace and freedom depends on nothing outside of me at all. I begin to understand this as I share this peace with my brothers. As my mind changes, the way I see the world changes with it.
Lesson 58: When I can accept my own innocence, all I will see is innocence. Do I forgive others and then see my own innocence? Or do I forgive myself first, thus allowing me to see others as innocent? The answer to both questions is “Yes” because myself and others are not really two; we are one. The “sin” I see in others is always my own guilt, projected from my mind. When I forgive others, I am forgiving myself. When I perceive my own holiness, I have blessed the entire world. My claim on innocence lies in the fact that I am God’s Son.
Lesson 59: When I recognize that the environment in which I exist is God, peace comes to my mind. Any seeming vision apart from God cannot be real. To think I see differently, therefore, is to deny what I am and to wish to be something apart from God. Vision is God’s gift. To share His vision and His thoughts is to affirm my true Self, as He created me.
Lesson 60: The love and strength of God in me enables me to see a different world. I do not have to depend on my human “willpower” to accomplish this. My only job is to continually ask Spirit to help me see the world through my Christ eyes. Imagine loving everyone you meet and everything you encounter, recognizing each one as an expression of God and an aspect of yourself. This is the real world. Often my footsteps seem to falter, but I cannot go astray. To stray from God is impossible since the Father and I are One.
Assignment: Lessons 61-67; Miracles Principle #10
Readings from the Text:
pp.27-28, “A. Special Principles of Miracle Workers”
p. 268, par. 10
pp. 352-354, “The Forgiven World”
Practical Application:
Go to a quiet place where you’re not likely to be disturbed. Turn off your cell phone. Breathe in slowly to a count of 3. Hold for a count of 4. Release to a count of 7. Repeat 3 times. Feel yourself sinking from your head and its ego thoughts to your heart, the sacred altar within you. When you feel the peace that acknowledges your arrival there, then say: “Above all else I want to see things differently. Holy Spirit, help me hear Your words in a new and different way.”
Go to p. 82 in the Workbook, Lesson 51, and read only the lesson titles (only the words in bold print), reading through Lesson 60. When you’ve finished reading, repeat the prayer above. (“Above all else, etc.”) Then write on a sticky note or 3X5 index card the first ideas that surface in your mind. Place this sticky note or card in a place that you will see it each morning and each evening. (Bathroom mirror?)
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