V. The Function of the Miracle Worker, P 10
10 Charity is a way of looking at another as if he had already gone far beyond his actual accomplishments in time. Since his own thinking is faulty he cannot see the Atonement for himself, or he would have no need of charity. The charity that is accorded him is both an acknowledgement that he needs help, and a recognition that he will accept it. Both of these perceptions clearly imply their dependence on time, making it apparent that charity still lies within the limitations of this world. I said before that only revelation transcends time. The miracle, as an expression of charity, can only shorten it. It must be understood, however, that whenever you offer a miracle to another, you are shortening the suffering of both of you. This corrects retroactively as well as progressively.
Journal
I can be completely caught up in some ego drama of my own and still recognized the truth for someone else. It is amazing, really, how I can step seamlessly from ego to truth in a nanosecond. I can do this because while the ego is in my mind, truth is also in my mind. Through my strengthening desire to be more aware of the truth, I can more easily access it.
The beauty of this is that when I speak or even think the truth for someone else, it heals, and it heals not just that person, but also me. It will often shift me right out of the ego, as if my whole drama I had just moments before been thoroughly wrapped up in, was nothing. Which is, of course, exactly true; it was nothing. But, boy, did it feel like something while I was focused on it! I am so grateful for the release that healing brings.
Do I always see the effects of the healing right away? No, but healing has occurred. It will wait for me and it will wait for the other person, and we will accept it when we can. Healing is limited to what we can accept, but never lost. And it is limited simply because it occurs in a world of limitation. But as Jesus says, whenever we offer a miracle to another, we shorten the suffering of both of us. This is an effect I can appreciate.
“The miracle corrects retroactively as well as progressively.” What an enticing sentence. I want to think about that and figure out what it means. I know that time is not real, and even in the illusion of time, it is not linear. I don’t think of us living a long line of lives, one after another. I think of us living all of them all at once. If we even live many lives in any order, and who knows?
But assuming something like reincarnation occurs, this sentence would mean that as I heal my mind right now, all my incarnations, before and after on this imaginary time line, are healed. It must change everything. No wonder we save thousands of years with each miracle! Of course I don’t know if I am right about the way it works, and probably I fall way short of understanding even if I am on the right track. But what does matter is that in time, the miracle of healing is important to me, and I can do this for others and at the same time, do it for myself.