A Course In Miracles - Chapter 2, Section V

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. (Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd #306 Novato, CA 94949 USA).
Glossary-Index for a Course In Miracles, 8th edition, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.
Music: 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 2,

The Separation and the Atonement,

Section 5,

The Function of the Miracle Worker.

To summarize my takeaways,

In Section 5 of Chapter 2,

We are guided more deeply into the concepts we were introduced to in the last section,

That only the mind can create,

And that the body is a learning device of the mind.

Because of these concepts,

It is essential to remember that since it is only the mind that can create,

All correction belongs at the level of our thoughts.

As miracle workers,

Our sole responsibility is to accept the atonement for ourselves.

Once this has been accepted,

Our minds can only heal.

Only then can we look upon our brothers through the eyes of forgiveness,

Perceiving their perfection and offering them the atonement that they are not yet capable of accepting for themselves.

Jesus,

Our elder brother and teacher,

Lovingly reminds us that we are completely safe in offering miracles to others as long as we are completely unconcerned about our own readiness while maintaining a consistent trust in His.

When we offer a miracle to another,

Our mind is restored to its true position as the learner,

Shortening our own suffering as well as the suffering of another.

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 the spiritual being 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.

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

These words are simply pointers to truth,

Nothing more.

A few definitions of terms you will hear within this reading.

Separation.

The untrue belief in sin that affirms our identity as separate from God.

This idea is represented by the ego,

Which results in a world filled with the perception of pain,

Suffering and death.

Atonement.

The Holy Spirit's plan of correction.

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

Magic.

The attempt to solve a problem where there is none.

Trying to solve a problem in the mind through physical or mindless measures.

Alter.

Not an external structure,

But an attitude.

It represents the part of our minds that chooses the world of God,

Truth,

Or chooses instead the earthly world,

Illusion.

Whichever attitude we choose,

This is our alter.

Perception.

What we see inwardly determines what we see outside ourselves.

Revelation.

Reflect communication from God to his sons.

It represents the original form of communication present at creation.

Once our minds are healed and we remember our truth,

The Holy Spirit,

Our bridge of communication,

Is no longer needed.

Miracle.

The change in mind that shifts our perception,

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

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

And now,

On to the reading.

A Course in Miracles Chapter 2.

The Separation and the Atonement.

Section 5.

The Function of the Miracle Worker.

Before miracle workers are ready to undertake their function in this world,

It is essential that they fully understand the fear of release.

Otherwise they may unwittingly foster the belief that release is imprisonment,

A belief that is already very prevalent.

This misperception arises in turn from the belief that harm can be limited to the body.

That is because of the underlying fear that the mind can hurt itself.

None of these errors is meaningful because the miscreations of the mind do not really exist.

This recognition is a far better protective device than any form of level confusion because it introduces correction at the level of the error.

It is essential to remember that only the mind can create and that correction belongs at the thought level.

To amplify an earlier statement,

Spirit is already perfect and therefore does not require correction.

The body does not exist except as a learning device for the mind.

This learning device is not subject to errors of its own because it cannot create.

It is obvious then that inducing the mind to give up its miscreations is the only application of creative ability that is truly meaningful.

Magic is the mindless or the miscreative use of mind.

Physical medications are forms of spells but if you are afraid to use the mind to heal,

You should not attempt to do so.

The very fact that you are afraid makes your mind vulnerable to miscreation.

You are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing that might occur and because egocentricity and fear usually occur together,

You may be unable to accept the real source of the healing.

Under these conditions,

It is safer for you to rely temporarily on physical healing devices because you cannot misperceive them as your own creations.

As long as your sense of vulnerability persists,

You should not attempt to perform miracles.

I have already said that miracles are expressions of miracle-mindedness and miracle-mindedness means right-mindedness.

The right-minded neither exalt nor depreciate the mind of the miracle worker or the miracle receiver.

However as a correction,

The miracle need not await the right-mindedness of the receiver.

In fact,

Its purpose is to restore him to his right mind.

It is essential however that the miracle worker be in his right mind however briefly or he will be unable to reestablish right-mindedness in someone else.

The healer who relies on his own readiness is endangering his understanding.

You are perfectly safe as long as you are completely unconcerned about your readiness but maintain a consistent trust in mind.

If your miracle working inclinations are not functioning properly,

It is always because fear has intruded on your right-mindedness and has turned it upside down.

All forms of not right-mindedness are the result of refusal to accept the atonement for yourself.

If you do accept it,

You are in a position to recognize that those who need healing are simply those who have not realized that right-mindedness is healing.

The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself.

This means you recognize the mind as 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 and 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.

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.

Discomfortable learning always begins with the awakening of spirit and the turning away from the belief in physical sight.

This often entails fear because you are afraid of what your spiritual sight will show you.

I said before that the Holy Spirit cannot see error and is capable only of looking beyond it to the defense of atonement.

There is no doubt that this may produce discomfort,

Yet the discomfort is not the final outcome of the perception.

When the Holy Spirit is permitted to look upon the defilement of the altar,

He also looks immediately toward the atonement.

Nothing he perceives can induce fear.

Everything that results from spiritual awareness is merely channelized toward correction.

Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need for correction into awareness.

The fear of healing arises in the end from an unwillingness to accept unequivocally that healing is necessary.

What the physical eye sees is not corrective,

Nor can error be corrected by any device that can be seen physically.

As long as you believe in what your physical sight tells you,

Your attempts at correction will be misdirected.

The real vision is obscured because you cannot endure to see your own defiled altar.

But since the altar has been defiled,

Your state becomes doubly dangerous unless it is perceived.

Healing is an ability that developed after the separation,

Before which it was unnecessary.

Like all aspects of the belief in space and time,

It is temporary.

However,

As long as time persists,

Healing is needed as a means of protection.

This is because healing rests on charity,

And charity is a way of perceiving the perfection of another even if you cannot perceive it in yourself.

Most of the loftier concepts of which you are capable now are time dependent.

Charity is really a weaker reflection of a much more powerful love and compassment that is far beyond any form of charity you can conceive as of yet.

Charity is essential to right-mindedness in the limited sense in which it can now be attained.

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.

Reviews

Thank you for this reading That offers so much to reflect upon, especially the concept of charity. This teacher Shared deeply the reading’s Connection to Jesus, which may not resonate with everyone; however, their insights were well thought out, generous, and filled with love and faith.

💕❤️💕

Thanks

Thank you for recording this. I listen to a little every day. I really enjoy how you break the course down, and the definitions. It makes it a lot easier, for myself to apply the course in my life.

Thank you... 🙏💜