I am entitled to miracles.
Years ago when I first began to study ACIM in earnest I read a brief article about this lesson in an EFT newsletter to which I subscribed. A woman who was not reaping any tangible benefts from the Course combined this lesson with some tapping – “I am entitled to miracles,” “I am entitled to miracles.” And within a few days she had a new job and a few other blessings as well. The point of her story, of course, was about the power of EFT. But it reflected a confusion about A Course in Miracles that has plagued me for a long time. It’s the idea that miracles aren’t real unless there’s some measurable manifestation that qualifies, in our judgment, as a blessing.
It’s hard to accept this, but the real joy and the real peace that we get from the Course is a deep, natural happiness that has nothing to do with external conditions whatsoever. You win a million dollars and you’re happy. The next day you lose a million and five dollars and you’re just as happy. Our investment isn’t in the body any more. It isn’t in the future. Our idea of success or abundance or prosperity undergoes a radical shift. It no longer matters what happens in the world.
But if that’s the case – and it is – then what is this lesson promising us? To what are we entitled?
Miracles are changes in perception. They are a new way of using our mind – freeing them from habits of judgment, of past and future thoughts, of attack, of scarcity. To be mindful in this way is to know a deep and abiding peace, one that doesn’t change. To say that we are entitled to miracles is simply to say that we are entitled to be truly happy – not in an abstract or ethereal way – but in practical way, a tangible way.
In some respects, the woman who wrote the EFT and miracles article, was right. Miracles beget joy because they are another word for joy. And they are often attended by alterations in the world. Sometimes we confuse those external changes as the cause of our enlightened thinking. But in truth, they are merely effects – and not especially important ones.
This is a fun lesson. Easy to do, easy to feel good about. We are moving towards the powerful close of an intense sequence, before embarking on another review. It is good to bring our attention to these lessons, raise them up in laughter and diligence. We are getting somewhere because we have already arrived. That’s the basis of our entitlement.