ACIM Principles of Miracles 42 A major contribution of miracles is their strength in releasing you from your false sense of isolation, deprivation and lack. Principle 43 Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness.

ACIM Principles of Miracles 42, 43

Miracles Principles 42, 43

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

Why do I feel alone? Why do I feel deprived and as if I lack something? I used to believe it was because I wasn’t deserving of friends or lovers. They didn’t want me. Do you see how I perceived my loneliness to be someone else’s fault? If they would just like me, I would be happy. When I felt deprived of money, it was because someone wasn’t paying me enough, or hiring me, or because my parents didn’t raise me right.

Believing my unhappiness was caused by someone or something else over which I had no control set up an endless cycle from which there was no escape. But then I found A Course in Miracles. It told me that I am not a victim of the world I see and that the secret to salvation is that I but do this to myself. It took me a long time to be willing to believe this. I had always thought that projecting my guilt onto something else was my salvation. It took a giant leap of faith to become willing to consider that there was an alternative and then step into that alternative.

Walking on Water

Peter walking on water has always been a powerful symbol to me because I don’t swim and have had a frightening moment of near drowning. If Jesus, himself, were standing on the water outside the boat and holding out his hand to me, I would still be afraid to get out of the boat. This is what it felt like to begin the process of giving up projection. Projection was my boat, and Jesus was telling me I didn’t need it. He was holding out his hand to me, and I was sure that if I stopped projecting, I would drown in my guilt. After all, if they were not guilty, then surely that meant I was. I had never considered the possibility that no one was guilty.

Through the study of the Course, I slowly became convinced that projection was not in my best interest. And that, when seen clearly, it didn’t make sense. After all, if I am unhappy because of someone else, then I could never be happy because I could never control that one. Lord knows I had tried often enough. I tried using guilt and fear to get my husband and children to do what I thought I needed him to do.

Learning to Question This

In my own mind, I was so clearly right, or at least entitled, and yet they persisted in living their own lives in their own way. From my perspective, it seemed they did this in spite of how much their behavior was hurting me. Seeing this thought process now, I can’t believe how deeply I bought into it, and yet that is the way I lived my life, and never questioned it before the Course. My attempts to project my guilt never left me feeling innocent, and still, I continued this mindless behavior, never questioning it.

When I finally did begin to question this insane way of living, I still had to become convinced that it would work. I started off small with little things. I would bring a thought of deprivation to the Holy Spirit. Then I would tell him that I couldn’t see any way this was my fault. It sure seemed like this guy needed to change his ways in order for me to be happy. At first, I would put that thought on the altar only to snatch it back. How could this be my guilt? How could taking responsibility for it lead to my happiness? Surely it would only condemn me.

But eventually, I became willing to give it a try. Not because my sharp intellect discerned the truth of the Course. I tried because life was too painful to continue on as it was, and something in me was drawn to A Course in Miracles. I felt the truth before I understood it. Once I set those thoughts on the altar and walked away from them, the healing began.

And So Healing Began

The miracles began as my mind was healed. I experienced the peace of mind that was not dependent on my life circumstances. I began to hear the Voice of God in my mind, and I learned to heed It rather than the ego voice. And I began to understand that the guilt I had always felt and that made me feel so isolated and abandoned did not come from something happening to me. The guilt came from the belief that I was separate from God and out of His favor.

I eventually understood why I was so determined to project guilt onto others. This unconscious guilt and subsequent fear were so great that I felt I had to get rid of it. I projected it away from myself and onto the world that I made just for that purpose. So, I was not guilty of something I did. I did something because of the guilt I felt. The guilt came first, and the story was my projection. Just to be sure, within the story, I created characters onto whom I could project blame. Surely with all these layers of projection, I could distance myself from the awful guilt I felt and see myself as blameless, and yet, I only felt trapped.

I Am Saved

But God’s love for me has no bounds, and He would not leave me in this hell of guilt and isolation I made for myself. He gave me the Holy Spirit to guide me out of my confusion. He helps me back out of my stories and let go of the guilt that made them. As soon as I loosen my grip on my beliefs, the Holy Spirit takes the guilt from me, and I am left in peace. Lifetime after lifetime of hiding from God, of living in fear and smothering in guilt, and then, nothing. No guilt or fear. My mind is clear, and it is as if nothing happened. It is truly a miracle.

Miracles Principle 43

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

Miracles are mine when I am ready for them. I prepare my mind by noticing what needs correction and asking the Holy Spirit for that correction. This goes on all day long. I don’t go mining for ego thoughts. This has never been necessary. I just pay attention and ask for healing when I notice a need.

If it is not something from my mind, there are plenty of examples in books, movies, conversations with friends, the news, and, of course, politics. What a great year this is for cleaning out the mind! You can’t go an hour without being reminded that people believe they are separate and have separate goals. They often believe that the only way they can be happy is if they win. And do not often see that winning at the expense of others is not really winning. Election time is a perfect example of the separation idea.

I get to see what I believe in as I read or hear the election talk. Do I believe that I know what should happen and who should win the election? Do I believe in a world that hangs in the balance of an election? Is my point of view the right one, and am I somehow harmed if my imagined needs are not met? That I can’t be happy if my favored candidate does not win?  I can talk a good talk, but do I notice my stomach knotting, my muscles tightening? Do I feel the urge to put my two cents in?

There Is Work to Do

Even if I am not doing any of those things, there is work to do. I may see each candidate as a child of God doing what they came here to do. It may be that I see that they are playing the part that we all need them to play. I may see that their part is needed in the grand scheme to experience separation so that we can make the choice for awakening.  Even then, there is much for me to forgive. If someone else is having a bad dream about the election and I notice, it is my job to heal that thought in the mind.

I love that there is only one mind. How efficient it is that we can heal anything we notice. If you notice I am confused, you can ask the Holy Spirit to heal your mind of the belief you identify as mine. It’s all the same. I have in my mind everything you have in your mind. We, each of us, have the responsibility and the opportunity to heal the mind that we are.

This Is How the Mind Is Purified

If I notice someone is confused and thinking with the ego, it is completely unnecessary for me to point this out to them and suggest they do something about it. I can just ask the Holy Spirit to heal that in my mind. It does not matter which direction the healing is coming from. If someone asks for help in seeing differently, I can offer words, but I will still ask that my mind be healed. If I am particularly attuned, my words will lead them to the Holy Spirit within, and they can get the help they need.

No matter how I go about it, my job is to desire a healed mind and be willing to do my part. I notice what needs healing and ask for the healing. I really mean it, as I want the healing more than I want the error. That’s it. That’s all I have to do. This is how the mind is purified, how it becomes ready for the miracle. It is so simple and so absolutely necessary if I want a miracle. I don’t have to do anything else because the miracle does not need my help. It simply arises from a mind that is ready for it.

Regina Dawn Akers did a very helpful teaching in letting go of the belief in rejection. Click Here to read or listen to it.