In no way do I intended to cut-and-paste the content of A Course in Miracles into my posts. However, the list of 50 Principles of Miracles really is must-read material, so I will put 10 of the principles into a blog post for 5 weeks along with some other “must-have” materials related to A Course in Miracles (ACIM). This is week 2.
New Year’s Day is a Great Day to Start the Workbook of ACIM
The Workbook is the second volume of A Course in Miracles and consists of 365 exercises….one for each day of the year, but that is not a recommendation nor a requirement. In fact, the only instruction is to do the exercises in order. The first half of the exercises are designed to undo our faulty thinking and the second half of the exercises are intended to correct our thinking and align it with God’s thinking. Each page can be read in 5 to 10 minutes and suggests simple activities to do throughout the day. As such, I recommend doing it first thing in the morning.
There are an abundance of resources on-line to help with doing the Workbook: There are several apps, YouTube series, services that will deliver an oral reading or a sung version of an exercise a day to your email inbox. It is easy to find free resources, but there are many that charge. The first time I did the Workbook, I read each exercise then meditated to James Twyman’s sung exercises and used an app to help remind me of the periodic tasks throughout the day, all free. That was pre-kiddo when I had the luxuries of time and privacy!
To learn more about James Twyman’s free musical renditions of the Workbook lessons, visit this link: http://www.worldpeacepulse.com…
There are copious apps on A Course in Miracles that charge, but I used this free one by Jennifer Hadley, a well-known teacher of ACIM:
Principles of Miracles 11 to 20 from ACIM
11. Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed.
12. Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual.
13. Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter the temporal order. They are always affirmations of rebirth, which seem to go back but really go forward. They undo the past in the present, and thus release the future.
14. Miracles bear witness to truth. They are convincing because they arise from conviction.
Without conviction they deteriorate into magic, which is mindless and
therefore destructive; or rather, the uncreative use of mind.
15. Each day should be devoted to miracles. The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end. Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating learning.
16. Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive. They simultaneously increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver.
17. Miracles transcend the body. They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from the bodily level. That is why they heal.
18. A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service you can render to another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. You recognize your own and your neighbor’s worth simultaneously.
19. Miracles make minds one in God. They depend on cooperation because the Sonship is the sum of all that God created. Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity, not of time.
20. Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth. This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.
My Faves from That List!
I highlighted 11 because I love the idea that we receive love during prayer and that prayer is COMMUNICATION, implying a back-and-forth. It is so easy just to recite prayers or to feel like we are just talking to God and to omit the LISTENING piece.
Principle 16 reminds us that it is in giving that we receive. It truly challenges us to have an abundance mentality and to trust that we ALWAYS have everything we need. And the proof is that we freely share all that we have – time, talents, possessions. The truth is that everything we give, we are giving to ourselves because there is only ONE.
Principles 11-20 get quite heady and jaw-dropping. It is a lot to take in! It is a way of thinking that is 180 degrees different than society teaches us to think, but it is the original way. We are simply being reminded of what we once knew.
My question is: What is your perspective of the origin of miracles? Where do they come from? Why do they take place? You explained part of it but its yet not clear to me. Does it come from God? Who is God? Was it from faith or luck? How can you explain a miracle to a person who did not witness it?
Hi Linda – Thank you for commenting. You ask understandable and important questions.
The main message of A Course in Miracles is that “miracles occur naturally as expressions of love (Principle 3 – see the Basics #1 post).” So to answer your first question, the origin of miracles is love.
When we are not experiencing miracles, something has gone wrong. As such, our primary job is to remove the barriers that separate us from love. Miracles do not come from anywhere – they are already there if we are open to them. So I think that is faith, as you mention, not luck. Usually, the barrier that prevents the recognition of miracles is believing that something other than a miracle is happening or that miracles are not possible. ACIM also states that “there is no order of difficulty in miracles (Principle 1).” The miracle of waking up each morning or finding the perfect parking space is as possible as having a newborn to adopt with zero effort (see About Michelle)!
A Course in Miracles does not attempt to define love or God except to say that “it is beyond what can be defined.” However, it is clear that God is not someone that needs to be worshiped or believed in. It is that which only sees the good in us – no judgement involved. In the book, Jesus says he is not to be worshiped…. That he is just an ordinary person who was able to do that – be only love, see only the good and nothing else, like God. And he says anyone can do it and the simple exercises in ACIM are tools to help.
As far as explaining miracles to someone who was not present, I think that is a moot point. Everyone is entitled to and is receiving miracles. Whether someone outside of us sees it or not is completely irrelevant. The Course is very clear that our only responsibility is our person journey, not the convincing of others.
I know this can be pretty “out there” if this is a new presentation of miracles or Jesus or life overall. Feel free to poke around the blog to learn more. One thing is for sure – whether you buy into A Course in Miracles or not, you ARE a miracle and you deserve all the good in the world. Believe it!
The power of prayer is so amazing because God can do anything. There is nothing that is too hard for him to do over and over again we have seen this truth in his word. I am glad to know that we have a loving God that is all powerful and can work amazing wonders.
Thank you for commenting, Norman! I can see you have found that anything is possible when we keep our natural connection to our Creator for whom miracles are expressions of his unchanging love. May you always recognize the miracles around and within you!
It looks like you’ve misspelled the word “ariel” on your website. I thought you would like to know :). Silly mistakes can ruin your site’s credibility. I’ve used a tool called SpellScan.com in the past to keep mistakes off of my website.
-Kelly
Thank you!