Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. By atoning for lack they establish perfect protection. The spirit’s strength leaves no room for intrusions (T-1.I.34:1-3).
Miracles – which are shifts in perception away from fear and toward love – testify to what mind is and therefore also witness to the creative power of the mind. The split mind heals itself by recalling its wholeness; every miracle attests to this.
When the mind is full, it does not recognize lack. When nothing is missing, then the mind is free to create as God creates – that is, in love, for love and as love. It does not perpetuate the separation in any way, but rather sees beyond the error to what is true.
Healing is not fixing, and atoning is not ownership of the effects of sin. Rather, healing and atoning are both right-seeing – which means that they do not recognize the illusion of separation nor any of the illusion’s apparent effects. They do not see and overlook – they simply do not recognize them at all.
It is another level of being and of thinking and of knowing oneself.
When our minds rest in God, without lack and thus with no need to project unfulfillment of any kind, we remember the Holy Spirit’s strength. It is the Holy Spirit who clears our mind and brings us to peace. When we say that the Holy Spirit abides no intrusions in our mind, we are saying that the ego no longer has a means of raising its bad arguments and mean-spirited logic.
Ego is the part of the mind that believes in duality, reinforces separation, and always knows lack. Something is always missing with ego. It is the part of us that feels isolated, alone and incomplete. Ego needs this sense of lack to keep us alert to its voice. Ego promises freedom from suffering, it promises abundance – but it never delivers. Never deliving is what the ego is.
In contrast, the Holy Spirit knows that we both have and are everything. Therefore, miracles are effectively shifts in thinking away from the ego’s view and towards the Holy Spirit’s. To “atone” is to allow an error to be corrected. We are not, in fact, separate, isolated or incomplete but are instead interconnected aspects of a unified whole that does not admit division.
When we identify with the ego, we feel vulnerable and threatened. But when we shift our identification to the holy spirit, we realize that nothing can actually threaten what we are in truth. We are invulnerable to attack and have no need of defense. We are no longer susceptible to the fear and guilt caused by taking on ego’s perspective of self and world.
We rest in the peace of God, and extend the Love to others, that God extends to us. Our natural state of being can only reflect peace and wholeness, acceptance and love. This is our identity.