ACIM The Function of the Miracle Worker, P 5, 6. The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself.
ACIM V. The Function of the Miracle Worker, P 5,6
V. The Function of the Miracle Worker, P 5
5 The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means you recognize that mind is the only creative level, and that its errors are healed by the Atonement. Once you accept this, your mind can only heal. By denying your mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, you place yourself in a position to undo the level confusion of others. The message you then give to them is the truth that their minds are similarly constructive, and their miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this you release the mind from over-evaluating its own learning device, and restore the mind to its true position as the learner.
That first sentence is maybe the most important in the Course for me at this time. Whatever is happening in my life now, this is the thought that brings me back to my purpose. My sole responsibility is to accept the Atonement for myself. Then, Jesus, this Master Teacher, sums it all up in one sentence. He tells me that all I have to do is recognize that only the mind is creative and that the Atonement heals all its errors.
I have been shown in this section that, in the past, I have given the body credit for being creative. Sometimes I have acted like the body has a mind of its own, and I have little control over it. Here are examples of how this occurs for me. I pretend it gets sick without my permission or active participation and then convince myself this is true. I give into a craving or in some way feed its appetites, act like I can’t help it, and then feel anxious because I feel like the situation is out of control.
Tempted by Magic
The truth is the body is not creative, and trying to heal it at that level is just another strategy the ego employs to keep me focused on the illusion and thereby protect me from God. Giving the body magic potions like medicine and vaccinations, or controlling the appetites through outward means like hypnosis to stop the craving for cigarettes or food, would be examples. (Not that I am suggesting we stop doing these things before the mind is healed enough to do so without fear.)
We may as well go to a witch doctor or sorcerer and let them chant over us and mix us up a potion from eye of toad for all the good it is actually doing. It is not at this level that healing takes place. There is only one creative force, and that is the mind, and so it is mind alone that needs healing. And how is the mind healed? Only through accepting the Atonement.
I see that Jesus says the mind is healed as I accept the Atonement. I only need to accept it, and there is nothing for me to do other than accept it. The ego always resists the idea that my part is so small, but this is the truth. Everything else in the Course is devoted to showing me that I need healing, that I want that healing, and preparing my mind for the healing. In this part, there is much for me to do, but for the healing itself, all that is needed from me is a simple, unequivocal “yes.”
Learning to Accept the Atonement
Now I accept that I need healing, that I really prefer peace, that only peace makes me happy, and that it is possible for me to have peace. I am learning that only the mind is creative. I say learning rather than knowing because I see that I still have to remind myself that this is true. It is new enough for me to still sometimes automatically go to wrong-minded thinking and then have to ask for healing of the mind.
By accepting the Atonement, my mind can only heal. This is a done deal and doesn’t need anything from me to make it true. I don’t have to try to heal or “do” anything to heal. A healed mind simply heals. Right now, I am still in the phase of accepting the Atonement, and then returning to wrong-minded thinking, and accepting the Atonement again. But I am not waffling nearly so much as I used to.
Right Mind/ Wrong Mind
I am denying my mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, but my decision is not yet absolute, and so I must protect it with my vigilance. I still watch my mind for wrong-minded thoughts and ask that I be healed. And I still find areas that I seem to exclude from the Atonement, and I am being gently led to look at those and decide again.
While in my right mind, I am a healer, and I am learning that I want to stay in my right mind. I am being shown what I need to do to make this so. As I become more consistent in my decision, I am more effective as a miracle worker. The message I give others is more consistently the truth. This message is that there is only one level that needs healing and that healing brings peace and happiness.
What Are Our Miscreations?
The message is that as they, too, are healed, they become healers, that their minds are creative, and that their miscreations cannot hurt them. What are our miscreations? They are the world, our bodies, and our emotions. Miscreations are our projections. Guilt is a miscreation that we project onto others in a misguided effort to free ourselves. Both the separation and the fear are miscreations that must be undone… (ACIM, T-2.III.2:3)
The message that there is only one level of healing is conveyed through my words, my actions and my thoughts. You can see how powerful the message will be when it is perfectly consistent. Look at the people who do this, people like Cate Grieves, Regina Dawn Akers, and David Hoffmeister, for example. You see how others are drawn to them. We are drawn to these people (or people like them) because there is the same truth in our minds, and that truth wants to embrace Itself and express through us all. Whoever is ready to accept the truth will hear the truth and long for more of it.
This is our job, our only job here. We are to accept the Atonement and become the miracle worker, the healer, and the master teacher so that others will be healed with us. This is how healing will spread through the mind, and the sleeping mind will finally awaken. Each and every time we become aware of a wrong-minded thought and choose differently, this is what we are doing. We are saving the world.
V. The Function of the Miracle Worker, P 6
6 It should be emphasized again that the body does not learn any more than it creates. As a learning device, it merely follows the learner, but if it is falsely endowed with self-initiative, it becomes a serious obstruction to the very learning it should facilitate. Only the mind is capable of illumination. Spirit is already illuminated, and the body in itself is too dense. The mind, however, can bring its illumination to the body by recognizing that it is not the learner and is, therefore, unamenable to learning. The body is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind that has learned to look beyond it toward the light.
Jesus is going to a lot of trouble to help me understand the position and purpose of the body in our experience. He wants me to know that the body does not create. Accepting that this is true helps me to realize that if I experience sickness in the body, then I must be projecting it there because the body cannot create sickness.
He is telling me that the body does not learn. It is a learning device but is not the learner. Here is how I understand this. I project a body. This body is not real; it is just a thought form. I use this body to experience the world. Whatever beliefs I hold in my mind are projected onto the world and onto the body, which is part of the world, and it is there that I experience these beliefs as if they were actually real.
The Body Does not Learn
Obviously, expecting the body to learn would be like expecting my hammer to learn. The hammer is an excellent device for driving nails or removing them, but I cannot teach it to be something else. The body is an excellent device for experiencing my thoughts, but it cannot be taught to be something else. It can never be anything but a thought form that reflects my beliefs. Thus, it is not the body called Myron that awakens.
If my body is sick and I take it to the doctor and give it medicine, and then the body gets well, here is what seems to happen. I seemed to have been victimized by sickness. Maybe I caught something from some other body. Or maybe this body has problematic genes, and so the body caused the sickness. Then I think something else outside of me caused the body to heal. I then try to protect this fragile home of mine by shielding it from all attacks. I spend my life in service to the body.
Here is what really happened. This body is a mirror to my mind. Just as a mirror faithfully reflects the image of the one standing before it, my body reflects the thoughts standing before it. When the mind is filled with guilty thoughts, those thoughts become reflected in the body and the world. When the mind is filled with fearful thoughts, fear becomes reflected in the body and the world.
An Expectation of Punishment
When we are afraid and guilty, we expect punishment and feel we deserve punishment. We project (or reflect) that expectation onto the world and the body. It then appears on the body as a disease, or we have an accident and suffer from that. Reflecting on the world, we find ourselves in difficult situations or relationships that are painful. All of these very real-looking experiences are simply reflections of the belief in guilt and fear held in the mind.
Would it make any sense at all to try to get rid of the mirrored reflection? When I put my makeup on this morning, if I smear my lipstick, I will not try to repair it by wiping the mirror clean. The problem isn’t in the mirror, even though that is where I see it. The same idea works for sickness in the body or any problem in the world. The body is just a mirror image. You can’t fix a disease or a painful situation by wiping at the mirror (the body).
The Body As a Learning Device
Instead, let us recognize the body for the learning device it is. The body shows us a clear picture of the thoughts we hold in our minds and the effects they have on our happiness. If the body is sick, this shows me that I believe I am guilty, and I am afraid I will be punished for that guilt. The source of my guilt is the belief that I have separated myself from God. This holds true for any form the guilt takes; relationship problems, money problems, and any problem I think I have in the world is just a reflection of my belief that I am guilty.
The Atonement is the solution. The Atonement undoes the belief we are guilty. It restores the mind to its original sinless state. All that I need to do is accept the Atonement. I must take my eyes off the mirror images. This means I stop believing the body and the world I see are real. This means I stop trying to fix the problem where it is reflected rather than where it is. The problem is not in the world or in my body. It is in my mind, and this is what needs to be healed. A healed mind will reflect a healed body and a healed world. A mirror can only reflect what is standing before it.
Forgiveness Releases Me From Fear
Here is the prayer I am using so often now. It was adapted from what the angel told Eban Alexander in his near-death experience. I like it because it helps me let go of the idea that I am guilty and need to suffer for that guilt. It helps me to remember that while that thought is in my mind, I do not have to believe it or keep it. This prayer is equally effective when I am praying for others.
God loves me deeply and forever.
There is nothing to fear.
I can never do anything wrong. I am innocent now and forever.
This fearful situation in which I find myself (or someone else) was done by me, but now I would choose again. Holy Spirit, I happily accept the Atonement and am grateful for the healing of my mind.
As I forgive the thoughts and beliefs in my mind, I easily accept the Atonement. My mind clears, and my communication with God strengthens. Since I have learned to do this, my life is much more peaceful, and I am happy nearly all the time. While the body is not doing anything to me and is not learning anything from me, it is responding to what I do and learn. While my mind is not completely healed, I am seeing some corresponding effects of the healing that has occurred. The body is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind that has learned to look beyond it toward the light.
To read my article “Little Easy Steps” from my Pathways of Light blog, CLICK HERE.