ACIM Chapter 12. VII. Looking Within, P 3, 4
VII. Looking Within, P3
3 The Holy Spirit is invisible, but you can see the results of His Presence, and through them you will learn that He is there. What He enables you to do is clearly not of this world, for miracles violate every law of reality as this world judges it. Every law of time and space, of magnitude and mass is transcended, for what the Holy Spirit enables you to do is clearly beyond all of them. Perceiving His results, you will understand where He must be, and finally know what He is.
When people experience their awakening, they say that they see the world entirely differently. Fear falls away, and they no longer see guilt but only love. That is surely a miracle! I have not yet experienced that miracle. However, I have witnessed the results of the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life.
I have experienced pain disappear because the Holy Spirit healed my mind at my request. I have seen injuries heal quickly and without pain, and I am sure it would have been instantaneous if I had been ready for that. And I have watched as time slowed down because I needed it to do so and called on Jesus to adjust time for me. I have witnessed anger, fear, and guilt dissolve so completely that I could not remember what they felt like.
I have read about miracles in the lives of others.
Anita Moorjani talks about her miraculous experience in Dying to Be Me. It is a well-documented story and the work of the Holy Spirit making clear His presence. Jan Frazier shares her story of fear falling away in such a dramatic way that we cannot miss the miracle of it. I have talked to several people who witnessed the dead returning to life at a workshop given by Nouk Sanchez. She has also shared healing miracles that occurred to her personally.
When our minds are healed, we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we know that It is real. The Holy Spirit is an invisible power but a very real power, and that power is made manifest in the world through our acceptance of the Atonement. We can’t see gravity, but we know it is there because we stay grounded to the earth. We can’t see love, but we know it is real when we look at our children. Nor do we see the Holy Spirit, but we know He exists because He enables us to transcend the laws of the world.
The world is an illusion, but it doesn’t seem like an illusion.
It feels very real to us. Its laws seem immutable. It may not, in reality, matter what happens in this illusion. However, it is important, I think, to allow the miracle to be expressed within the illusion. It is in this way we make visible the invisible, and we become convinced that the Holy Spirit in us exists. It is not a miracle that the world changes. The miracle is the change of mind that creates the appearance of change. The change itself is merely the manifestation of the miracle, but it is a powerful effect as it witnesses to the existence of your power being used for healing.
VII. Looking Within, P4
4 You cannot see the Holy Spirit, but you can see His manifestations. And unless you do, you will not realize He is there. Miracles are His witnesses, and speak for His Presence. What you cannot see becomes real to you only through the witnesses that speak for it. For you can be aware of what you cannot see, and it can become compellingly real to you as its presence becomes manifest through you. Do the Holy Spirit’s work, for you share in His function. As your function in Heaven is creation, so your function on earth is healing. God shares His function with you in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit shares His with you on earth. As long as you believe you have other functions, so long will you need correction. For this belief is the destruction of peace, a goal in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit’s purpose.
In Heaven, my function is Creation, which I share with God.
Healing is my function here in time and space. I share this function with the Holy Spirit. So, it becomes my work here to clear the way for the Holy Spirit to do His healing work through me. I do this as I allow Him to heal my mind of untrue thoughts. My mind can be very dark if I allow ego thoughts to proliferate, but the mind is light as I notice these thoughts and ask that they be removed. In this light, the Holy Spirit works Its miracles through me.
As I see His manifestations in my life, He becomes as real to me as the world used to be. It’s funny to see this change. I used to believe in the world and doubt Divinity and now it is completely reversed. I was speaking to someone about miracles this weekend. He sees what I see but interprets it differently. Things that clearly reverse the laws of the world leave him unimpressed. He sees each one as having some “logical” explanation, even if he can’t find that explanation. We see what we want to see.
I suppose that is why we each have to experience the miracles ourselves.
If I want to know the Holy Spirit exists in me, I have to open my mind and allow the Holy Spirit to work miracles through me. It is not enough that I see someone else believe in miracles or even experience them. It must be my experience for it to be real to me.
I have seen things in my life that were beyond the laws of the world, such as physical healing. But the miracles that astound me and convince me are the healings of my mind. Sometimes, it requires time for me to accept and thus allow these healings to be manifested through me. Sometimes, though, it is instantaneous. As they occur more often, I become more convinced and thus more accepting, and the idea of the Holy Spirit and healing and miracles becomes as dependable and as expected as gravity. Gratitude has become the ocean I swim in daily.
To experience an excellent ACIM sleep meditation by Cate Grieves, CLICK HERE. I sometimes use it if I wake up early. It gets my day off to a great start.