A Course In Miracles - Chapter 1 Section III

ACIM is read one section at a time. It is a guidebook leading us back to our true natures, as we open to the awareness of love's presence.

All quoted material is from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher, and the copyright holder. This material is used with permission. Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.
Music by Ben Sound

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Teresa Hubbard.

Welcome back to our continued reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.

We continue today in Chapter 1,

The Meaning of Miracles,

Section 3,

Atonement and Miracles.

To summarize my takeaways,

In Section 3 of Chapter 1,

Jesus tells us that the power to work miracles belongs to each of us,

But that true perception of ourselves and others has not yet been recognized.

Yet in truth,

We are spirit,

And in a state of grace forever.

Jesus tells us that He will direct us to perform miracles.

All we need do is ask.

As we offer miracles to any of our brothers,

We offer them also to ourselves.

We respond to what we perceive,

And as we perceive,

So shall we behave.

A miracle is an offering of forgiveness,

And as we forgive our brothers,

They offer us forgiveness in return.

We are all works of God,

Wholly lovable and wholly loving.

I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.

The Course uses male pronouns,

Yet this is simply a way of pointing to spiritual beings having no gender.

The Course is written in first person,

And although not introduced directly to the reader,

It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,

Often quoting from the Bible,

So when you hear quotations within the reading,

This is what is implied.

The Course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.

These words are simply pointers to the truth,

Nothing more.

A few definitions of terms you will hear within the reading are miracle,

The change in mind that shifts our perception,

Transcending the laws of this world to reflect the laws of God.

Through the Holy Spirit,

Our worldly perception of sin,

Guilt and fear is transformed into the reality of love and forgiveness.

The miracle provides the means to heal our own minds and the minds of others.

Holy Spirit,

This is the communication link between God and us,

Bridging the gap between the mind of Christ and our human minds.

Christ,

The self that God created by extension of his Spirit,

It represents the potential within each of us.

Spirit,

The nature of our true reality,

Which being of God is changeless and eternal,

Contrasted with the body which changes and dies.

Grace,

Our natural state as Spirit.

Perception,

What we see inwardly determines what we see outside ourselves.

Atonement,

The Holy Spirit's plan of correction,

Healing our minds from the earthly world of illusion to God's world of truth.

Salvation,

We are saved from our belief in sin and guilt through the change of mind that forgiveness and the miracle bring about.

Revelation,

Direct communication from God to us,

It represents the original form of communication present at creation.

Once our minds are healed and we remember our truth,

The Holy Spirit is no longer needed.

And now,

On to the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 1,

The Meaning of Miracles,

Section 3,

Atonement and Miracles.

I am in charge of the process of atonement,

Which I undertook to begin.

When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers,

You do it to yourself and me.

The reason you come before me is that I do not need miracles for my own atonement,

But I stand at the end in case you fail temporarily.

My part in the atonement is the canceling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct.

When you have been restored to the recognition of your original state,

You naturally become part of the atonement yourself.

As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others,

You must join the great crusade to correct it.

Listen to my voice,

Learn to undo error,

And act to correct it.

The power to work miracles belongs to you.

I will provide the opportunities to do them,

But you must be ready and willing.

Doing them will bring conviction in the ability,

Because conviction comes through accomplishment.

The ability is the potential.

The achievement is its expression.

And the atonement,

Which is the natural profession of the children of God,

Is the purpose.

Heaven and earth shall pass away,

Means that they will not continue to exist as separate states.

My word,

Which is the resurrection and the life,

Shall not pass away,

Because life is eternal.

You are the work of God,

And His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving.

This is how a man must think of himself in his heart,

Because this is what he is.

The forgiven are the means of the atonement.

Being filled with Spirit,

They forgive in return.

Those who are released must join in releasing their brothers,

For this is the plan of the atonement.

Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the Holy Spirit unite with me for the salvation or release of all of God's creations.

I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately,

Because I am the atonement.

You have a role in the atonement which I will dictate to you.

Ask me which miracles you should perform.

This spares you needless effort,

Because you will be acting under direct communication.

The impersonal nature of the miracle is an essential ingredient,

Because it enables me to direct its application,

And under my guidance miracles lead to the highly personal experience of revelation.

A guy does not control,

But he does direct,

Leaving it up to you to follow.

Lead us not into temptation,

Means,

Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them by following my guidance.

Error cannot really threaten truth,

Which can always withstand it.

Only the error is actually vulnerable.

You are free to establish your kingdom where you see fit,

But the right choice is inevitable if you remember this.

Spirit is in a state of grace forever.

Your reality is only Spirit.

Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.

Atonement undoes all errors in this respect,

And thus uproots the source of fear.

Whenever you experience God's reassurances as threat,

It is always because you are defending misplaced or misdirected loyalty.

When you project this to others,

You imprison them,

But only to the extent to which you reinforce errors they have already made.

This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others,

Since their own perception of themselves is distorted.

The miracle worker can only bless them,

And this undoes their distortion and frees them from prison.

You respond to what you perceive,

And as you perceive,

So shall you behave.

The golden rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This means that the perception of both must be accurate.

The golden rule is the rule for appropriate behavior.

You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly.

Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family,

As you perceive both,

So you will do to both.

You should look out from the perception of your own holiness to the holiness of others.

Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them.

By being united,

This mind goes out to everyone,

Even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself.

The impersonal nature of miracles is because the atonement itself is one,

Uniting all creations with their creator.

As an expression of what you truly are,

The miracle places the mind in a state of grace.

The mind then naturally welcomes the host within and the stranger without.

When you bring in the stranger,

He becomes your brother.

That the miracle may have effects on your brothers that you may not recognize is not your concern.

The miracle will always bless you.

Miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost their value.

They are still expressions of your own state of grace.

But the action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me because of my complete awareness of the whole plan.

The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your grace,

But only I am in a position to know where they can be bestowed.

Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed towards those who can use them for themselves.

Since this makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others,

A strong chain of atonement is welded.

However,

This selectivity takes no account of the magnitude of the miracle itself because the concept of size exists on a plane that is itself unreal.

Since the miracle aims at restoring the awareness of reality,

It would not be useful if it were bound by laws that govern the error it aims to correct.

Thank you.

Reviews

Great talk about Miracle. I love the way you address your audience.

I didn't see session II

Interesting! Thank you!

I need to hear this. Thank you.

I am so grateful for your work in bringing this text to us in such an accessible way. I've now decided that for my upcoming 50th birthday, I will purchase and begin studying the Course. This will undoubtedly be life changing! Sending so much love and many blessings to you! Namaste.