Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness (T-1.I.43:1).
The question is always what do we want? And how do we know we want it?
It is easy to say we want miracles, but it is hard to clear our mind of the conditioning of the brain – its distractions, biases and confusion – to make room for miracles. A Course in Miracles teaches us how to undo that which obstructs Love, but the necessary precedent is our willingness that it be done. Are we ready?
That is the question posed by this principle. Are we ready? But also, how do we know? Most of us will say we are ready. Most of us want to want miracles. But to really want them is to be clear what they will undo – they will undo what is personal, they will undo our sense of privileg, they will undo the illusion of privacy. For most of us, those things are not easy to give up! Miracles are not about what we get, but what we give up, in order to learn how create the way God creates. But at least at the beginning, miracle-mindedness appears difficult, even impossible.
We say we want the peace that surpasses understanding, and we say we are ready, but how do we know we are not lying to ourselves?
When we practice A Course in Miracles, in time, we learn that we do not know what we do not know. We realize there are depths to life of which we are as yet unaware, and this realization humbles us. It makes us realize that the utility of our thinking is always conditional because it’s always only partial. Therefore it is always prone to error. Therefore, we need correction at a very fundamental level. We need to reboot the self; we need to be born again.
To engage in self-deception is not a crime against God or nature but, because it will not make us truly happy, it is an opportunity to ask if there is another way, one that does not seek to know but rather to live peacefully and resonantly with not-knowing. This is the question the saints and the mystics resolve – not by finding an answer but rather by living lovingly without the answer.
And yes, paradoxically, no-answer is the answer. But it’s no good saying it. We have to come to the insight through application.
There is nothing we can do to generate the miraculous state of mind. Or rather, the only thing we can do is see that we do not presently have it, or that we have it but are unsure if we truly have it. When we are no longer willing to stunt like ACIM experts, what happens? We see that our will is not perfectly aligned with God’s Will, nor with Love, and so we ask for help. We become open. “Not my will Lord but yours be done.” We have to reach this juncture in an authentic way. We really have to become willing.
The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing (T-1.III.1:7-8).
To accept those words of Jesus and truly reach the state of readiness and willingness is a great grace. A lot of healing is accordingly engendered. It creates a state of conscious awareness – of intentionality – characterized by kindness, gentleness, mercy, curiosity and a willingness to see beyond the surface appearances to the divine truth of our shared unity and interconnectedness.
When we live this way, we are ready to see as the Holy Spirit sees instead of the way the ego sees. We can readily gaze past the fear-based illusion of separation, and see instead the love that underlies Creation and is Creation. We are no longer alone, because everything is given, and given equally.
We all have this capacity; it is inherent in us because of what we are. As we explore it – as we become willing to let go of anything that obstructs it, even a little – we begin to experience shifts in perception, moving us from fear to love, and into the bountiful peace and happiness that is both Love’s gift and effect.
