Atonement and Miracles 1 I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. 2 “Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states.
Atonement and Miracles P 1, 2
III. Atonement and Miracles P 1
Paragraph 1
1 I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to yourself and me. The reason you come before me is that I do not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end in case you fail temporarily. My part in the Atonement is the cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct. When you have been restored to the recognition of your original state, you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it. The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing. Doing them will bring conviction in the ability, because conviction comes through accomplishment. The ability is the potential, the achievement is its expression, and the Atonement, which is the natural profession of the children of God, is the purpose.
I read through this once, and I felt the now familiar, almost overwhelming sense of gratitude toward Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for awakening, for beginning the process of Atonement, and for canceling out all the errors I can’t correct myself. Thank you for providing opportunities for me to work miracles and for directing me to those miracles. I am grateful to you for having my back in those times when I slip back into the old way of thinking. And for the times when I feel unworthy and those times when I am doubtful and uncertain.
Gratitude for Jesus
The second time I read this, I had the feeling that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have blended into one, as I suppose we all will do as we are ready. The Holy Spirit has always been clearly defined in my mind as the Voice for God, and Jesus was defined as the author of the Course, the one of us who awakened and then stuck around to help us all awaken. He feels more like a person to me, while the Holy Spirit feels more like a mechanism.JSpirit
As it turns out, Jesus is both my brother who was a man. But now he is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
I am the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and when you see me it will be because you have invited Him. (ACIM, T-12.VII.6:1)
He is the Holy Spirit’s manifestation, looking always on the real world, and calling forth its witnesses and drawing them to you. (ACIM, T-13.V.9:5)
Jesus is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Whom he called down upon the earth after he ascended into Heaven, or became completely identified with the Christ, the Son of God as He created Him. (ACIM, C-6.1:1)
Looking up manifestation, I found this. “an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something, especially a theory or an abstract idea.” Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is hard to understand. We can think of Him as an abstract idea, and Jesus now embodying It. So, my initial feelings about Jesus and the Holy Spirit make sense. And it doesn’t matter, really, how I experience Jesus/Holy Spirit, only that I do.
My Responsibilities
The third time I read through this paragraph, I was very aware of my responsibilities. I am to prepare my mind for working miracles so that when Jesus directs an opportunity to do so, I will be ready. Remember, in Principle 7, he said this. Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first. (ACIM, T-1.I.7:1)
As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it.
This is what I do. First, I become unwilling to accept error in myself or others. I stay aware of my thoughts about myself and the thoughts I have about others. If those thoughts are in error, I am determined to forgive them and release them. I will not simply accept them as true. They are just beliefs, that is, perceptions that I have grown accustomed to. That does not make them true.
Joining the Great Crusade
So, I join the great crusade to correct the errors. I listen to Jesus as he teaches me how to undo the error. In Lesson 23, he says this. ²This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. ³The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. ⁴The final one does not. (ACIM, W-23.5:2-4) So I am taught that all I need to do is to notice the cause of my upset, the untrue thought in my mind. Then I let it go. That is the action I take.
I am vigilant, consistent, and persistent. When I am strongly distracted from the truth, as I was my son was suffering, I just keep at it. I feel the uncertainty and doubt and continue bringing it to Holy Spirit. I feel discouraged and fearful and continue bringing it to Holy Spirit. If I sit and cry and shake all over, still, I bring it to the Holy Spirit. I let it go all at once or a little at a time. However I can do it. This is my only job, and I will do it with as little judgment as I can, but no matter what, I continue to do it. As a result, my fear and doubt have evolved through acceptance into understanding and now into a new vision.
A Link in the Chain of Atonement
The last time I read this paragraph this morning, I returned to gratitude. I am grateful for my part in the Atonement and ready to continue preparing my mind. In this way, Jesus can direct me to whatever miracles I am to perform. I am ready to be a link in the chain of Atonement, to stand beside my brother and sister, holding a hand in each of mine, one strong and powerful chain of miracle workers.
III. Atonement and Miracles P 2
Paragraph 2
2 “Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states. My word, which is the resurrection and the life, shall not pass away because life is eternal. You are the work of God, and His work is wholly loveable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this is what he is.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states.
This passage from Chapter 11 helped me to understand this. ⁷For as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world will vanish from your sight. ⁸The end of the world is not its destruction, but its translation into Heaven. ⁹The reinterpretation of the world is the transfer of all perception to knowledge. (ACIM, T-11.VIII.1:7-9)
The real world is the world we made but without ego errors. As we heal our minds, we become aware of the real world, and it is at this point that we stand before the gates where God takes the final step. So, to say that, as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world vanishes, it seems to me that he is talking about a fully healed mind.
This makes sense to me since both Heaven and earth are in our minds. As the mind heals, perception is purified. Thus, without obstruction, knowledge flows freely. So instead of a split mind, there is only the holy mind. That is to say, there are no perceptions as we have here on earth (our split mind), But rather there is knowledge (Heaven). Duality reverts to non-duality, not in an act of destruction, but in an act of healing.
The Work of God
You are the work of God, and His work is wholly loveable and wholly loving.
God created us like Himself; that is, He created us Love. Thus, it must be that we are Love, too. The world, which is opposite to truth in every way, teaches that we are not lovable and certainly not loving. So, strange as it sounds, we must learn to remember what we are. The entire A Course in Miracles has this as its purpose. We are innocent. We are Love.
To read insights from Pathways of Light, Click Here.