CIM Lessons 180-186 and Miracles Principle #27

Miracles Principle #27: “A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all my brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.” This is the first time that the person of Jesus appears in CIM. As our elder brother, and one who has mastered miracle-mindedness, Jesus serves as our Way Shower. Jesus says in CIM that our sleep is so profound that without his help, we could never wake ourselves from the illusion. (Remember, if this irks your ego, that Jesus is simply an aspect of your Self—of the One that we all are.) 

The miracle has its source in God. Jesus, being the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, brings the Love of God through us to the Sonship, bridging the imagined gulf between ourselves and God. As we forgive, we learn to accept our own innocence. It’s a circular process. It’s important to remember that Spirit does the miracles, not us. On the physical level, our job is only to clear our minds of what would interfere so that Spirit can extend God’s love through us.

Lesson 180: This is a review lesson and so will not be commented on.

Note: We’re now almost half finished with the Workbook. The overall goal of the lessons that follow is to strengthen our commitment. The immediate goal of our practicing is the experience of peace. The method of making such experience available is a focus on removing the remaining blocks to peace, even if just briefly from time to time. Jesus realizes that as yet our willingness is probably still a bit wobbly and our commitment less than complete. Thus he reminds us, “You are not asked for total dedication all the time as yet.” But each experience of peace, however brief, strengthens our motivation to press on.

Lesson 181: “I trust my brothers, who are one with me.” This lesson isn’t encouraging naïve blindness to people’s mistakes. It isn’t saying we should unlock our houses and cars, trusting no one will steal from us. It’s speaking of being aware of a person’s mistakes and taking them into practical account, while at the same time looking past them to their holiness. It’s encouraging us not to see the mistakes as sins to be punished. 

The block this lesson is helping us to lift, however briefly, is our focus on the sins of our brothers. It’s telling us not to look for what’s wrong in people but what’s right. When we focus on the sins of others, we block their true Self from our sight and, thereby, block the Self within us from our sight as well. The ego will tell us, “This isn’t working,” because we forgave our brother five minutes ago and spent the rest of the day dreaming up ways to make him suffer. But something is happening, and the ego tries to make us feel guilty because it knows this is so. Those five minutes when we lay our judgment aside bring us an experience of inner peace that we have never known before and thus our motivation to forgive begins to grow.

Lesson 182: “I will be still an instant and go home.” Notice how the thread about “instants,” “moments,” and “intervals” of stillness run through these lessons. They are all instructions in consciously setting aside short periods every day and attempting to enter the holy instant. The themes seem to differ, but the aim is always the same: a short suspension of whichever block to our awareness of love is being considered. The block being considered here is the temptation to find satisfaction in this world. We spend most of our lives trying to adjust to the world or to adjust the world to ourselves—to escape the pain of feeling like an alien—like ET—far, far from home. This lesson appeals to us to set that effort aside, if just for a brief moment, and to recognize the childlike voice within us that is crying to go Home.

Lesson 183: “I call upon God’s name and on my own.” God’s name symbolizes His Identity and our identity in Him. God’s name isn’t Jehovah or Krishna or Allah, though any of these symbols can be used to represent Him. The actual word we use doesn’t matter. It’s the concept of His Identity that is to be foremost in our minds. The practice outlined here is similar to practices in Eastern religions of repeating the Name of God over and over. The only difference is that the repetitions are to be silent and done “within your quiet mind” rather than aloud. The primary idea of the practice is that the thought of God replaces every other idea in our minds, and if other ideas enter, we can dispel them with God’s name. Instead of praying for any particular thing or person, we repeat the name of God, which includes them all. “No prayer but this is necessary, for it holds them all within it.” 

By focusing on God’s Identity, we loosen the hold that all lesser names/idols/concerns have on our minds. Although this kind of practice isn’t a major emphasis of CIM, it’s one means offered for helping us experience the holy instant. The lesson also encourages doing this practice with someone else, sitting together and repeating God’s name silently. This seems to have particular merit, for by it, we are told, we establish “an altar which reaches to God Himself.”

Lesson 184: “The Name of God is my inheritance.” Names are symbols designed to promote the illusion of separation. This is in contrast to our spiritual reality. The Name of God stands for the wholeness that we are. As CIM students, however, after we have begun to “go beyond all symbols of the world,” there is still reason for us to continue to use them because they aid us in our teaching function. We still continue, for instance, to call people by their names, to treat them as individuals with individual needs, but at the same time, we are “not deceived” by these apparent differences. The names and symbols of the world “become but means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found.” We then use the symbols of the world to communicate the fact of wholeness; we use symbols to undo symbols. Practicing the Name of God enables us to let go of “all foolish separations . . . which keep us blind” so that we may hold the vision of truth and wholeness for ourselves and for our brothers.

There is a potentially puzzling statement in this lesson: “Think not you made the world. Illusions, yes! But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your naming.” CIM has already told us numerous times that we made the world we see. So what does this mean? It means that the world that God created is still shimmering all “around” us in all its glorious perfection. The greatest grandeur on earth pales by comparison. The world we perceive is a mirage, a guilt-driven distortion of God’s world. And each brother we see is a bodiless, boundless spiritual Self who ultimately is the Christ Himself. Only this “brother” is real.

Lesson 185: “I want the peace of God.” This lesson teaches, seemingly, two opposing things. First that we don’t yet really mean it when we say, “I want the peace of God” because if we did, we’d have it. Second, that in spite of our obvious dedication to things other than peace, at heart we really do want peace. Everyone does, even those who seem to seek havoc and conflict. They may not be aware it’s the peace of God they’re seeking, but it’s true, nevertheless. Our opportunity in interacting with others is to remember this universal longing, even when they are totally unaware of it themselves. 

A primary point made in this lesson is that we cannot have peace alone. The temptation is to think, “I want peace; but so-and so is keeping me from it.” No one can disturb our peace unless we allow it. What we must recognize is that each person’s desire for peace is the same as our own. Our “job” is to see past the conflicting desires in the other person and in ourselves to the universal reality that lies underneath. By our faith in the other person’s intent, however hidden it may appear, we draw it out of them and give them the opportunity to recognize it within themselves. Herein lies the miracle.

Lesson 186: “Salvation of the world depends on me.” Wow, this one really seems to place an unreasonable burden on me. Yet CIM is uncompromising in this truth. If we want to experience our own wholeness, our own Self, we must accept that salvation of the world depends on us. Why? Because the nature of Who we are demands it. If I’m an extension of God, and if Love, which created me, is what I am, then how can I possibly accept that fact and not accept that my function is to give love to the world. Giving love is what Love does! The self-image we make is weak and helpless. It seems humble, but it is mountainous arrogance masquerading as humility because that image denies what God created us to be.  To experience my Self, I must let go of my plans for my self and surrender to the plan I did not make, trusting that everything I need to fulfill that plan has already been given me; trusting that I am worthy to be counted among the saviors of the world.

Assignment: Miracles Principle #28 (Text, Chapter One, page 5); Lessons 187-193. Read Text, Chapter 13, Section VIII, “From Perception to Knowledge,” pages 258-260. (The section begins with the words, “All healing is release from the past.”)

Practical Application: In quiet time, review in your mind all those who disturb your peace. They can be people you know personally or people you simply know of—political figures, criminals, celebrities, etc. As you bring each one to mind, affirm the truth of these lessons: “This brother/sister is still the holy innocence God created. He/she shares my longing for the peace of God.” If these words don’t work for you, ask Spirit to guide you in formulating your own.