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. The Course 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 – the personal, the private, the privileged – and that is not so easy. Miracles are not about what we get, but what we give up, in order to learn how create the way God creates.
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 that we are not yet aware of, and it humbles us. It makes us realize that the utility of our thinking is always conditional; it’s always prone to error, which means it’s always in need of correction.
And this is not a crime against God or nature but it is an opportunity to ask if there is not another way, one that does not seek to know all 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 by living lovingly without the answer.
There is nothing we can do to generate the miraculous state of mind. All 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, and then see what happens. We see that our will is not perfectly aligned with God, and with Love, and so we ask for help. We become open. “Not my will Lord but yours be done.”
To say that and mean it is a great grace, and 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, and not 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.
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 Love’s gift and effect.
