IX. The Extension of the Kingdom, P 7
7 Be confident that you have never lost your Identity and the extensions which maintain It in wholeness and peace. Miracles are an expression of this confidence. They are reflections of both your proper identification with your brothers, and of your awareness that your identification is maintained by extension. The miracle is a lesson in total perception. By including any part of totality in the lesson, you have included the whole.
Journal
It is easy to forget that my Identity is safe. I see evidence of separation all around me, and I see the ego acting out and I feel vulnerable and small. Who would think that this could be the Son of God? But I can be confident that my Identity remains safe and is never lost in spite of what I seem to be now. My extensions, that is, my creations, are safe as well. We are maintained in wholeness and peace.
Jesus reminds us that miracles are an expression of this confidence. Miracles are the natural result of our returning memory of our Identity. Some of the miracles I have performed have occurred on another level as a result of the healing of the mind, and I am not necessarily aware of them. But many miracles have occurred on this level, and while the miracle is always a healing of the mind, they often have visible effects. They occur as an expression of my confidence in my true Identity, but they also help build that confidence.
Another point that Jesus makes is that miracles are reflections of my proper identification with my brothers, which means that I know my brother and I are one. I know my brother and I share innocence. I know that I extend love to my brother rather than using him as a place to project guilt.
Jesus also says that the miracle is a reflection of my awareness that my identification is maintained by the extension of God’s Being, which is my only function. Obviously, I must remember who my brother is in order to do this, and I must let go of the ego thought system which blocks this extension.
This morning I did today’s lesson, Into His presence would I enter now. During this meditation what came to me were the faces of several people. It started with the face of a young man with whom I had a brief encounter yesterday. When I saw his face I realized there was something wrong, and that he was probably mentally deficient, but he was very friendly and pleasant to talk to. This morning when his face came into my mind, his true presence peaked out at me. This happened with several other people.
I recently watched Avatar again and this experience reminded me of my favorite line in that movie: “I see you.” In the meditation this morning each person showed me his real self. It was a remarkable experience and brought me to tears and laughter. I prayed that I would be able to maintain that vision throughout the day. This experience was a miracle because it changed forever the way I will see my brother. It was not just the words I learned from the Course, but it was the direct experience of those words.
Now I will probably see the effects of that change in my life. Those effects are the visible miracle. I don’t know how that will appear, but I am certain it will. Already I feel a lightness and joy as well as an expansive confidence that I did not feel when I woke up this morning. I was open to this miracle because I was willing to see differently. I was willing to see my brother differently and I was willing to extend God’s Being as well as I could. I look forward to continuing this extension as I am guided.