Have you ever wondered how Jesus was able to perform miracles?  And He didn’t just perform miracles that healed bodies; He performed all different kinds of miracles.  He healed bodies, but also multiplied food, changed water into wine and walked on water to name a few.  He defied the very rules of all physical matter.  And to top it all off, He is even quoted in the bible as stating that we ourselves could perform such miracles also, and even greater ones than His.  This sort of statement is also found in A Course In Miracles under Miracle Principle 24:

 

“24.  Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both.  You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator.  Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist.  Only the creations of light are real.”

 

            So what does this mean?  How do we not only perform the miracles of Jesus, and even greater ones?

            The answer is simple.  It requires a type of love that is not complicated, but it does require much practice for most of us.  Okay, probably all of us, because I haven’t seen anyone walking around on water much lately. 

            I found the answer to the secret of physical healing in the ACIM.  So, I want you to read carefully what I am about to share with you.  It is the secret of the ages… and it has never been a secret:

            All physical healing is merely a side effect of inner spiritual healing and you have never been broken.

 

            Jesus did not heal bodies.  He healed souls.  Jesus did not use magic to manipulate physical matter, he didn’t believe in its reality, which set Him outside the natural laws of our world. 

            When you no longer believe in the body, the body will naturally correct itself to come into alignment with your new belief.

            Again, Jesus did not heal bodies; he healed souls using this means.  And when the soul is healed, body will heal also; as a “side effect.”

            So what does it take to heal our soul?  First let us take a deeper look at the difference between “false” healing vs. “true” healing:

 

ACIM S.pg.17 II. False versus True Healing

            “False healing merely makes a poor exchange of one illusion for a “nicer” one; a dream of sickness for a dream of health.”  (1.1)

            “False healing rests on the body’s cure, leaving the cause of illness still unchanged, ready to strike again until it brings cruel death in seeming victory.  It can be held at bay a little while, and there can be brief respite as it waits to take its vengeance on the Son of God.   Yet it cannot be overcome until all faith in it has been laid by, and placed upon God’s substitute for evil dreams; a world in which there is no veil of sin to keep dark and comfortless.”  (6.1-3)

 

            What the above passage from ACIM says, is that physical healing is possible without spiritual healing, but it cannot last.  The best that physical healing can bring, is a “brief respite” before our eventual death.  No matter what, nobody escapes the death of the body.  Physical healing can postpone death or make us more comfortable until death, but it cannot prevent it.  Even Lazarus, whom Jesus raised him from the dead, eventually died.  And even Jesus Himself eventually gave up his body.  Even He didn’t want to hang around here for all eternity. 

            So if physical healing alone is actually false healing, how do we take it to the next level; the level of Spirit?

 

ACIM S.pg.19 III. Separation versus Union

            “False healing heals the body in part, but never as a whole.”  (1.1)

            “These forms may heal the body, and indeed are generally limited to this.  Someone knows better, has been better trained, or is perhaps more talented and wise.  Therefore, he can give healing to the one who stands beneath him in his patronage.  The healing of the body can be done by this because, in dreams, equality cannot be permanent.  The shifts and change are what the dream is made of.  To be healed appears to be to find a wiser one who, by his arts and learning, will succeed.”  (2.3-8)

            “Someone who knows better; this the magic phrase by which the body seems to be the aim of healing as the world conceives of it.”  (3.1)

 

            This is how the world thinks of healing.  We think of the miracle of healing as belonging to the body only and that only “special” people can work miracles like this.  In the world, we look to someone else to heal us; someone more skilled, powerful or wise.  These are the ones who seem to magically heal bodies; endowed with special abilities to heal without using modern medicine.  However, in most cases, all they are doing is exchanging a painful dream for a more pleasant one.  They are manipulating the dream; that is all.  The healing does not last because of the very shifting, changing nature of dreams.  You cannot make a dream real.  No healing of the body in a dream will last for eternity. 

            True healing can only come from a very particular way of seeing the world and each other; a way of seeing all of us as equal in love and light; no one as greater or more powerful, gifted or special.  It is a way of loving another as God loves us - with an equal Love for all humanity.  It is a love for others, as you love yourself.  You must see no difference between yourself and another, or the healing will not raise you beyond the body.  It will not be a true miracle in the sense that it will not reach your soul. 

            So if we are not to see ourselves of anyone else as having any greater healing abilities than another, how do we offer healing to others to help them?  On some level, we are each compelled to want to help each other- every single one of us.  So how can we help without developing feelings of superiority?

 

(Continued from the above quote…)

            “True healing cannot come from inequality assumed and then accepted as the truth, and used to help restore the wounded and to calm the mind that suffers from the agony of doubt.”  (3.4) 

            "Is there a role for healing, then, that one can use to offer help for someone else?  In arrogance the answer must be "no."  But in humility there is indeed a place for helpers.  It is like the role that helps in prayer, and lets forgiveness be what it is meant to be.  You do not make yourself the bearer of the special gift that brings the healing.  You but recognize your oneness with the one who calls for help.  For in this oneness is his separate sense dispelled, and it is this that made him sick.  There is no point in giving remedy apart from where the source of sickness is, for never thus can it be truly healed."  (4.1-8)

            "Healers there are, for they are Sons of God who recognize their Source, and understand that all their Source creates is one with them.  This is the remedy that brings relief which cannot fail."  (5.1-2)

            "And in that place is written now the holy Word of God.  Sickness and separation must be healed by love and union.  Nothing else can heal as God established healing.  Without Him there is no healing, for there is no love."  (5.6-9)

 

            And so it is that we heal others simply through acknowledging the Christ within them – the Christ that we all share equally.  That.  Is.  It. 

            “Sickness and separation must be healed by love and union.”

            And it is through this “Christ Vision” (as the ACIM refers to it), we bring miracles of healing to one another that goes beyond the body; although, we will witness many physical miracles in response to this spiritual healing.  This is the healing Jesus applied to every single person He has ever been recorded of healing.  This is how He raised the dead, cured the blind, and multiplied a basket of bread and fish to feed a massive crowd.  He knew the rules of this world did not apply to Him, because He completely understood we were walking in a dream.  We are not bodies; we are One in God’s Holy Son.  He understood this Truth; we are each healed and perfect already.  All He did was bring this truth forward in us, by seeing only this. 

            And when you no longer believe in a dream, you wake up and realize you can control any outcome you desire, you can manipulate the physical matter around you, be bodies or some other form; simply by allowing this truth to come forward in your mind: 

            You are already healed.

            You are already at peace.

            Your Oneness with your Creator blesses you, and through this acceptance

            You bless the world,

            and it will move to meet your needs.

            You are already given the power of a true miracle worker; you have only to accept this truth about your Self by recognizing it equally in all others.

 

ACIM S.pg.20 IV. The Holiness of Healing

            “How holy are the healed!  For in their sight their brothers share their healing and their love.”  (1.1-2)

            “Their healing has restored their wholeness so they can forgive, and join the song of prayer in which the healed sing of their union and their thanks to God.”  (1.10)

            "You first forgive, then pray, and you are healed.  Your prayer has risen up and called to God, Who hears and answers.  You have understood that you forgive and pray but for yourself.  And in this understanding you are healed.  In prayer you have united with your Source, and understood that you have never left.  This level cannot be attained until there is no hatred in your heart, and no desire to attack the Son of God." (4.1-6)

            “Help Me to wake My children from the dream of retribution and a little life beset with fear, that ends so soon it might as well have never been.  Let Me instead remind you of eternity, in which your joy grows greater as your love extends along with Mine beyond infinity, where time and distance have no meaning.”  (8.1-2)

            “I ask but this; that you be comforted and live no more in terror and in pain.  Do not abandon Love.  Remember this; whatever you may think about yourself, whatever you may think about the world, your Father needs you and will call to you until you come to Him in peace at last.”  (9.5-7)

 

            And so, the magic formula for healing is but this: (as quoted above)

            “You first forgive, then pray, and you are healed.”

 

1. We first “forgive” – which means to look past the illusion of the physical body to the power and love of Spirit that lies within all living things- knowing that this love and light is the only thing true about us.

           

2. Second, we must pray.  True prayer is simply acknowledging the truth about us: The separation and differences we see are not true and for this we are grateful.  True prayer is a feeling of gratitude towards our Creator for having created us as One Love.  It is a feeling our soul takes on as we rejoice, “and join the song of prayer in which the healed sing of their union and their thanks to God.”

 

3. Then lastly, we are healed.  This step requires nothing from us but to accept the healing of the Holy Spirit. 

 

            And when these three steps have been taken, we no longer feel the pains of this world because we do not believe in them.  When we have forgiven this false reality and allowed only praise and thanksgiving unto God to rest within our weary hearts - that none of what we see is true - then my friend, then, you can count yourself among the healed.  You will have accepted the peace of God, and with it, the ability to change the very fabric of what you see – into Heaven.

            The bible focuses on the physical healings Jesus brought about, but what of the internal spiritual changes of these people?  In the bible, there seems to be an absence of interviews with people “after-the-fact” of being physically healed.  What was their inner state afterwards?  What did they think about themselves, the world, God and each other? 

            My guess is that there was a tremendous inner shift upward, to a higher way of thinking and seeing the world and others.  My guess is that their worldview reversed completely.

            Healing takes only our small willingness to join with the Will of God that we be healed, for nothing is done against our will.  And God’s Will is that we remember our Oneness, that we are already healed.  When we truly join with His Will to remember this, we become miracle-workers.

 

Nothing real (eternal) can be threatened.

Nothing unreal (all physical form) exists.

Therein lies the peace of God.

(ACIM Preface)

 

            Without a “form” we have nothing in need of healing.  Accept only what is eternal within us as real and forgive the body.

            This may be difficult to do in the face of conflict with others.  Bodies can seem very real!  Through listening to my Inner Voice, I have been given a set of very useful words to use in such situations.  When I find myself in conflict with another person, and desire love to be restored between us, I say them (or only to myself when appropriate):

 

“Be you healed

Even as I am healed.

Be you at peace

Even as I am at peace.

For all is forgiven between us.”

 

            Speak these powerful words of Truth to anyone and watch him or her shift from attack to love – in a holy instant.  Say this to yourself when you cannot see someone lovingly, and watch the same healing transform you also.  

            And if you are already at peace with another, but wish to express your gratitude and extend a blessing to them, say this to them:

 

            “Be you blessed

            Even as you have blessed me.

            Be you at peace

            Even as peace lies between us.

            And as we walk this world together

            I know the truth;

            I have been sent nothing but angels.”

 

            The above words work in both instances, because you are acknowledging your shared healing, and that it is already done.  You acknowledge both your own healing and their own - and that you stand in equally in Light and Love.  This is the truth and the truth always heals.

            But don’t just take my word for it.  Try it!  Use it!  Watch as using these words brings miraculous healing to you; transforming your relationships, your inner-self and your entire life.

            In conclusion, the process of “forgive, pray, and then be healed” may sound simple when it comes to working the miracles of Christ.  Even so, it is not so simple for us!  Therefore, the ACIM has included 50 “Miracle Principles” as guidelines.  I have listed them all here, with the interpretation as I heard it from my Inner Voice below each one:

 

ACIM CH 1: THE MEANING OF MIRACLES

I. Principles of Miracles

 

1.  “There is no order of difficulty in miracles.  One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another.  They are all the same.  All expressions of love are maximal.”

 

(All things you see with your eyes are equally illusion.  No part of the illusion is harder to look past than another, though it may seem that way.  To look past the error of this dream is to forgive it.  Forgiveness is an expression of love.)

 

2.  “Miracles as such do not matter.  The only thing that matters is their Source, which is far beyond evaluation.”

 

(It does not matter what our eyes see as long as we decide we want to see past it to the Light within it – which is a miracle.  This is Light is the Source of our energy- the power that gives us life.  We receive our power and ability to be alive from our Creator.  We did not create ourselves.  This Source is the only thing that matters in any living thing.  We cannot understand or evaluate this connection.  Our only focus is on accepting this Unity with all Creation.)

 

3.  “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.  The real miracle is the love that inspires them.  In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”

 

(Loving one another is a natural thing for us to do; in fact, we are doing it right now un-consciously, for we seem to have forgotten this Love.  We are here to learn to become aware of this Holy Love we hold within.  When we become aware of it, and allow ourselves to feel it, we open ourselves to producing miracles.  Miracles occur as a natural expression of our Holy Love for one another.)

 

4.  “All miracles mean life, and God is the Giver of life.  His voice will direct you very specifically.  You will be told all you need to know.”

 

(God’s Voice will only inspire feelings of love, which in turn guide you to do only loving things.  Listen to this Voice to direct you in everything you do.  It is a good Rule Of Living to do all things with Love.  For it is from Love, all miracles spring.)

 

5.  “Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary.  They should not be under conscious control.  Consciously selected miracles can be misguided.”

 

(Do not try to force yourself to feel Love.  You will move away from the power of the Holy Spirit when you do this, and become mis-guided by the ego instead.  Simply accept that you are un-able to forgive (look past the error of the body) and love at this time.  That is enough to set your mind back on track to working miracles). 

 

6.  “Miracles are natural.  When they do not occur something has gone wrong.”

 

(Love is a natural outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and when it is blocked, you have allowed yourself to listen to the ego.)

 

7.  “Miracles are everyone's right, but purification is necessary first.”

 

(By right of our existence, we are eternally immersed in a constant state of giving and receiving love, but because we are not aware of this, we must remove the barriers within our minds to access the memory of it.  These barriers are our un-loving thoughts.  Therefore, we must become aware of when we are having un-loving thoughts, and act to correct them in order to move our minds into “miracle-mindedness.”)

 

8.  “Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less.”

 

(Keep in mind that no one is more “special” than another, or has greater abilities.  There are only those who temporarily understand more about the truth of our Oneness than others.)

 

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.”

 

(When you love another as yourself, you love yourself.  This is the miracle-giving exchange of Christ Vision.  Both the giver and receiver are seen as One.)

 

10.  “The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is a misunderstanding of their purpose.”

 

(The purpose of miracles is to heal the idea of separation between us, not a means to further separate through accumulation of personal followers and prestige through awe.  This instead causes a sense of inequality, which is of the ego.)

 

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.”

 

(Feelings are the voice of our soul.  True prayer is the emotional expression of gratitude for our union in Christ.  The highest form of prayer is praise to our Creator for having created us as Perfect Love.  The miracle acknowledges this through forgiveness, which inspires true prayer.)

 

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.”

 

(Think about the world, and you will see more of the physical.  Think about what lies within you – the Love of Spirit – and you will see the Love of Spirit pour out upon the world, transforming it into Heaven through miracles.)

 

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.”

 

(Our original mistake was made in what we think of as the past, but in eternity there is no such thing as the past; only the eternal present.  To forgive the mistake of the past - seeing ourselves as separate from each other and God - is to undo the past now, and thus release the future to become something new).

 

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.”

 

(We must truly believe the truth of our Oneness if our thoughts are to work miracles.  If not believed, then our thoughts become a meaningless repetitive mantra rather than living faith.)

 

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.”

 

(When we have moved through all of our forgiveness lessons; when the Holy Spirit has presented us with everything He knows we need to overcome in order to move past our barriers to the Truth; then the lessons will cease and time will stop- being no longer necessary.)

 

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.”

 

(You will feel the healing effects of forgiveness as you give it.  Give nothing (withhold love), and you will feel nothing.  Give love to everyone through equal release from the illusion and you will feel the tremendous blessing of freedom, peace, and joy.  This feeling will inspire you with the strength to continue forgiving.)

 

17. “Miracles transcend the body.  They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from the bodily level.  This is why they heal.”

 

(When our mind is free of the idea we are a body, we release ourselves from the dream of the body.  We literally temporarily transcend the physical dimension and move to a higher frequency.)

 

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.”

 

(To look past the body is to forgive the body and see only holy Oneness instead.  This is the greatest service you can do for another; see the equality of your worthiness of God’s Love, and love them as your own because of this.  If God loves them, then so must you also.)

 

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.”

 

(A miracle is to forgive separation - look past it - and see Oneness instead.  It is through forgiveness that we know we share a single Mind.  We must accept our Union in God’s holy Mind voluntarily.  We are never forced to believe in our healing.  In time, this belief can seem to take us eons, but in eternity, the separation never happened.)

 

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.”

 

(Through forgiveness of the body, we look past it to our Inner Light instead.  This light is the truth about Who We Are.  Acknowledging only this part of us as real is the power that activates miracles.)

 

21.  “Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness.  Through miracles you accept God's forgiveness by extending it to others.”

 

(It is our goal to learn to see past the body without effort – for it to become our natural way of seeing – because then we are able to accept it as true about ourselves.  This is how God sees us, and when we accept this, we are able to extend it without effort.)

 

22.  “Miracles are associated with fear only because of the belief that darkness can hide.  You believe that what your physical eyes cannot see does not exist.  This leads to a denial of spiritual sight.”

 

(We seem to believe that our bodies can hide our Oneness – our True Identity.  And because we cannot see this, we do not believe it is true about us.  We must learn to believe without seeing in order for miracles to come through us.)

 

23.  “Miracles rearrange perception and place all levels in true perspective.  This is healing because sickness comes from confusing the levels.”

 

(We become sick because we believe we are a body, a lower level of existence.  When we look past the body and see ourselves as Spirit, we move our thoughts up to a higher level.  Our perspective shifts to the level of miracles and makes way for healing.)

 

24.  “Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both.  You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator.  Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist.  Only the creations of light are real.” 

 

(Forgiveness shifts your mind away from what is un-real – the body – to what is real - Spirit.  By activating miracles through forgiveness, you un-leash your God-given power to create as He does; all because you have decided to see the world as He does.)

 

25.  “Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement.  Atonement works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.”

 

(Because we are One, everyone who came before, is here now, or is yet to come, will be equally released through completing our individual lessons in forgiveness.  We are each depending on one another to do our part; to perform our only function of forgiveness here within the illusion.  The Atonement is to come back to Oneness.)

 

26.  “Miracles represent freedom from fear.  "Atoning" means "undoing."  The undoing of fear is an essential part of the Atonement value of miracles.”

 

(The world we see outside of us was made through fear.  To see past it, is to “ask” the Holy Spirit for its undoing.  This “asking” is an essential part in our release from fear.  And so we thus “atone” for, or undo our sins.)

 

27.  “A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all my brothers.  It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.”

 

(God has promised us we are innocent of all sin and wrongdoing; that what He created as Perfect Love cannot be changed or destroyed.  It is an honor and a privilege to extend this forgiveness to others.)

 

28.  “Miracles are a way of earning release from fear.  Revelation induces a state in which fear has already been abolished.  Miracles are thus a means and revelation is an end.” 

 

(To forgive and look past all physical form is to release the Christ within from the confines of our narrow ego-vision.  This brings the miracle of healing, which in turn brings the experience of revelation, or Oneness with all living things.)

 

29.  “Miracles praise God through you.  They praise Him by honoring His creations, affirming their perfection.  They heal because they deny body-identification and affirm spirit-identification.”

 

(Praise to our Creator is the highest form of prayer.  We can live in a state of this type of prayer by being mindful of how we treat our Creator while we cannot see Him within all living things.  Be mindful that all living things are Perfect, and not really physical forms at all.  This shifts the mind into miracle-mindedness and healing.)

 

30.  “By recognizing spirit, miracles adjust the levels of perception and show them in proper alignment.  This places spirit at the center, where it can communicate directly.”

 

(When we look past all form to the spirit within, we shift our energy to a higher level of experience.  We literally lift ourselves to a place where we are aligned with the Voice of God.)

 

31.  “Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe.  You should thank God for what you really are.  The children of God are holy and the miracle honors their holiness, which can be hidden but never lost.”

 

(We should not feel awe towards one another as miracles come through us.  We should only feel gratitude towards our Creator for being created as spirit and not a body.)

 

32. “I inspire all miracles, which are really intercessions.  They intercede for your holiness and make your perceptions holy.  By placing you beyond the physical laws they raise you into the sphere of celestial order.  In this order you are perfect.” 

 

(All miracles come from Christ.  Of our own, we have no power.  Christ works miracles through us, as we willingly allow ourselves to transcend this physical reality through forgiveness of the one we currently see.  Here we are truly perfect.)

 

33.  “Miracles honor you because you are lovable.  They dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you.  They thus atone for your errors by freeing you from your nightmares.  By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity.”

 

(It is important to look beyond the body to only what is lovable within all people; the light we all share.  This heals your mind of illusions and thus removes the pain and suffering this world seems to show us.)

 

34.  “Miracles restore the mind to its fullness.  By atoning for lack they establish perfect protection.  The spirit's strength leaves no room for intrusions.”

 

(When we believe in the light within us, we also believe in our Perfect Unity in that light.  There is safety in this Identity because when all is One, there is no conflict.  There is nothing to fear when nothing is outside of you.  You are perfectly protected because you are Perfect.)

 

35.  “Miracles are expressions of love, but they may not always have observable effects.”

 

(You may forgive the illusion, but not see any changes in that person or situation.  Trust that the healing of forgiveness has been received, regardless of any changes you may or may not see.  All forgiveness brings inner healing.)

 

36.  “Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your perceptions with truth as God created it.”

 

(God created us as Perfect Love, and to forgive is to acknowledge only this as the truth about us.  This is how God sees us, and this thinking aligns our will with the Will of God, which will reveal to us the truth about the world; we will see it as He created it.)

 

37.  “A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me.  It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly.  This places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is healed.  Until this has occurred knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible.”

 

(We cannot see the Real World until we forgive the false one.  When we do, it sparks a chain reaction that sets into motion miraculous effects, which heal our mind.  We cannot heal without doing this.)

 

38.  “The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles.  He recognizes both God's creations and your illusions.  He separates the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selectively.”

 

(The Holy Spirit is the intermediary between God and us, and He is able to see both truth and illusions.  He is able to bring illusions to the truth, and thus work miracles through us.)

 

39.  “The miracle dissolves error because the Holy Spirit identifies error as false or unreal.  This is the same as saying that by perceiving light, darkness automatically disappears.”

 

(In order to dispel the illusion of this world, we simply have to acknowledge that we see it, understand it is false, and thus forgive it.  This world will then disappear and be replaced with Heaven.)

 

40.  “The miracle acknowledges everyone as your brother and mine.  It is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God.”

 

(Without exception, we each contain the Holy Spirit.  It is only Him that we should acknowledge in one another – He is our Universal Mark of God, from Whom all miracles flow.)

 

41.  “Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles.  They thus correct, or atone for, the faulty perception of lack.”

 

(We appear to be separate individuals with different needs; forgiveness sees only one universal need in all of us; the need to remember our Wholeness.  Forgiveness corrects the thought of separation through seeing only our Oneness.)

 

42.  “A major contribution of miracles is their strength in releasing you from your false sense of isolation, deprivation and lack.”

 

(It is a miracle to forgive our separation and accept our Oneness.  Once we accept our Oneness, we will never feel alone or lacking in any way.)

 

43.  “Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness.” 

 

(Forgiveness lets the Holy Spirit know you are ready for the next step: working miracles.)

 

44.  “The miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ and the acceptance of His Atonement.”

 

(We are One.  Accepting this is to accept At-one-ment with one another.  Miracles come from this mindset.)

 

45.  “A miracle is never lost.  It may touch many people you have not even met, and produce undreamed of changes in situations of which you are not even aware.”

 

(The Holy Spirit decides when, where, and who, needs the miracles you extend, because He is able to see the totality of our situation.  He will administer the healing our forgiveness brings to those who need it most.  We may not ever see what He does with our miracles.)

 

46.  “The Holy Spirit is the highest communication medium.  Miracles do not involve this type of communication, because they are temporary communication devices.  When you return to your original form of communication with God by direct revelation, the need for miracles is over.”

 

(Miracles heal our mind enough to receive the experience of God directly.  Once we have been completely healed, the need for miracles will be over.)

 

47.  “The miracle is a learning device that lessens the need for time.  It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval not under the usual laws of time.  In this sense it is timeless.”

 

(Without forgiveness, it may take us seemingly endless lifetimes to learn to see past the illusion of separation between one another.  It is a long horizontal path.  The miracle forgiveness brings, shifts our path instantly vertical.  The miracle abolishes the need to spend more time down here in future lives.  We can end our incarnations now, simply by forgiving the illusion here in the present.)

 

48.  “The miracle is the only device at your immediate disposal for controlling time.  Only revelation transcends it, having nothing to do with time at all.”

 

(Forgiveness brings the miracle of seeing our Oneness, and it is the only tool we can use to move directly into revelation.  Revelation is the direct experience of Oneness with God and all Creation.)

 

49.  “The miracle makes no distinction among degrees of misperception.  It is a device for perception correction, effective quite apart from either the degree or the direction of the error.  This is its true indiscriminateness.”

 

(All things we see outside of us are equally part of the illusion.  Nothing is more or less sacred, special, desirable or better.  It may seem that way to our bodily eyes, but illusion is illusion; it just takes different forms.  To forgive any part of it; even a coffee cup; is to work a miracle and join the great crusade to correct illusion.  Forgiveness is indiscriminate.)

 

50.  “The miracle compares what you have made with creation, accepting what is in accord with it as true, and rejecting what is out of accord as false.”

 

(God’s True Creation looks nothing like the world we currently see.  Only what is eternal, is true, and all we currently see is not eternal.  Forgiveness is to accept only the eternal in all things, and reject all else as false.  This means we must reject everything we see with our bodily eyes as false and love only the eternal light within.)