CIM Lessons 278-284 and Miracles Principle # 41

Miracles Principle #41: “Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. They thus correct, or atone for, the faulty perception of lack.” The basic principle of the ego is the scarcity principle. We never have enough! We see others and ourselves as lacking.

The miracle reflects the wholeness that is our true Identity. “Wholeness” can be equated with abundance, but this abundance doesn’t relate to material things. Typical “prosperity consciousness” teaches that if I think abundance, I’ll receive abundance. There’s no question our thoughts do influence what we experience. That is how the whole physical world was made in the first place. But that doesn’t make it into a spiritual principle. “Manifesting” things is a psychic phenomenon, not a spiritual one. What makes it spiritual is turning the reins over to Spirit. Without Spirit’s help and guidance, we will merely continue to manipulate the illusion.

The miracle undoes defenses that are based on our belief in separation, lack, and limitation. This process then returns our mind to its original and on-going state of being one with God, having everything God gave us in creation: joy, unity, freedom, etc. Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto us as a natural result of our elevated consciousness.

Lesson 278—“If I am bound, my Father is not free.” The idea that God is a prisoner is inconceivable. Yet, since reality is One, what I believe about any part, I am believing about the whole, whether or not I realize it. God is all there is, and I am an expression of God. “If I accept that I am prisoner within a body . . . then my Father is prisoner with me.” We all believe in lack and limitation. We all believe in death. We are all, for this reason, “lost to reality.” Does that mean our situation is hopeless? No. All we need do is recognize these thoughts are foolish, and ask Spirit for the Truth. That’s all.

Lesson 279—“Creation’s freedom promises my own.” The simplicity of this lesson is staggering. As I recognize that freedom is everyone’s divine inheritance, I find my own.

Lesson 280—“What limits can I lay upon God’s Son?” This lesson calls on me not to deny anyone—my brothers or myself—the limitless freedom in which God created us. We tend to compare ourselves with others and to find ourselves, in some way, superior. This is what CIM calls specialness. We are all equal in the Mind of God. None of us is limited in any way except in illusions.

Lesson 281—“I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” My true Self cannot be hurt; only my illusory self can be hurt, and that, only by my thoughts. Pain comes when I put my own thoughts in place of the Thoughts of God. When I feel attacked, it is always me attacking myself. It is always me believing the impossible—that I am separate from God and therefore vulnerable to misery and pain.

What Is the Holy Spirit? “The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the truth.” He bridges the gap between reality and dreams. Because of His function, “those who turn to Him for truth” can be led to truth by means of the very perception that is part of their illusion. Without Spirit, perception leads only to more perception, the illusion continually reinforcing itself. Our part in the equation then is simply to “turn to Him for truth.”

Lesson 282—“I will not be afraid of love today.” Fear of love is insane on the face of it. Of all things we might reasonably be afraid of, love is not one of them. Yet we are afraid of love far more frequently than we realize. Fear of love is fear of our own Self, which is Love. Yet we are indeed afraid to recognize ourselves as Love because it seems a very dangerous thing to our ego. In fearing love we are imagining ourselves to be something other than love—something evil and sinful. In such a picture of ourselves, we imagine we deserve punishment and death. To forget what we are and to believe we are something else, the mind must fall asleep or be deluded. Therefore, to realize today’s idea is a determination not to be asleep in dreams of death (1:3).

Lesson 283—“My true Identity abides in You.” “Abide means “lives or dwells,” but it also means “remains unchanged.” In traditional Christian understanding, man was created innocent and sinless but fell into sin and thus corrupted his nature forever. In the CIM understanding, all that really happened is that we imagined we had changed. But what we really are never changed at all! Creation is still, now, as it always was, because God’s creation cannot be changed. As I recognize this true Identity, I must realize that, being One with All That Is, this Identity must be shared with all creation. When I recognize everything as part of this shared Identity, I will naturally “offer blessings to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world.” (2:2)

Lesson 284—“I can elect to change all things that hurt.” If the origin of all things is thought, I can affect whether or not I experience pain. Nothing outside me can affect me. The cause of all problems, and therefore the solution to them, is entirely within my mind and entirely within my control. Properly perceived, even death is not a cause for grief. This lesson suggests a process we can follow to change our thoughts even about such seemingly extreme loss. It’s not an instant process, but it is possible. Because our Father would not give us anything that would hurt us, and because there is no other Source, we can at least dimly see at the outset that our trials and tribulations are not real.

Five Stages in the Process of Thought Change (from Lesson 284)

1.    Verbal belief—“at first to be but said” At this stage we are basically only giving lip service to an idea.

2.    Mental belief—“and then repeated many times;” In this stage, though we still don’t actually believe the idea, we repeat it over and over, trying to convince our minds it’s true.

3.    Partial belief—“next to be accepted as but partly true, with many reservations.” Frequent repetition brings us into situations where we find specific experiences that validate the truth of the idea for us. We have a holy instant, or a moment of forgiveness—an aha! experience with the realization of “Now I know what Course means by this!”

4.    Increasing belief—“then to be considered seriously more and more,” Stage 4 is generalization. Once we’ve seen the truth in one situation, we begin to experience it more and more, in situation after situation. Even at this stage, however, we have not arrived at total acceptance of the idea.

5.    Total belief—“and finally accepted as the truth.” This stage represents the end of the “journey without distance.” Now we see the idea as completely true, applying to everything equally.

As with any new skill, the final goal is not reached without effort. We are in the learning process. That is the purpose of our being in the world—to change our thoughts so that we may heal.

Assignment: Miracles Principle # 42. Lessons 285-291. Read as directed by Spirit.

Practical Application: Focus on the process of thought change above. Notice when you are allowing ego thoughts to run rampant. Say to yourself, “This is a thought I choose not to keep.” Be determined not to allow “weeds” to take root and produce after their kind.