The Twenty-Seventh Principle of A Course in Miracles

A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all my brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive (T-1.I.27:1-2).

Miracles extend through Jesus to all the world, which makes clear the interconnectedness of all life without consideration of the limits imposed by space and time. Jesus blesses us now; Christs to come bless us now. And we are the means by which the miracle is extends, throughout time and space, ultimately transcending both. Without us there are no miracles, and without miracles there is no blessing to be shared.

We are in this together and together we are one.

The principle makes clear that forgiveness – which, because it is informed by miracles, creates miracles – is a gift from God to us. As we remember our nature in and as Creation, we naturally extend that remembance to our brothers and sisters. We remember the cause for peace together, and we become happy together. Forgiveness is fundamentally a shared experience. It is an illusion of unity that undoes the need for any other illusion.

“Privilege” is an interesting word in this context. It comes from the Latin for privacy and law, essentially suggesting that our personal transformation from fear-based thinking to love – which is the deeply intimate and restorative experience of joining with the Holy Spirit where and as we are now – sets in us a resonsibility for sharing. It confirms that healing, in order be healing, must be shared. It is a privilege to know this, and the privilege inspires us to share it.

Note that this is the first moment in A Course in Miracles where Jesus assumes the first person (though, for what it is worth, it is not the first time Jesus used the first person in early drafts of the material). The effect of this lexical choice is nontrivial. Relationship with Jesus is essential to our program of salvation. It is in that relationship that our right relationship to Creation and, by extension, to God, is established and clarified.

The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by me in Christ’s service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him. All shallow roots must be uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you (T-1.V.6:1-3).

One way or the other, as students of the course, we are required to come to terms with the personal and confidential tone the course takes as the direct sharing of the historical Jesus. Believe it or don’t believe it – contextualize it any way you want – but don’t avoid it.

We have a function in salvation: we are called to love in a loveless place, to accept the Atonement for our own selves, and to become responsible for the end of projection. Collectively, these actions bring forth healing. The blessing is given to all, but we receive it one by one. It is by facing Jesus directly that we realize the personal application A Course in Miracles intends for its students. We realize the form it takes in our lives, and we commit to that form with devotion and hope.

A Course in Miracles meets us where we are, but it is incumbent on us to meet the course as well, and to go with it as far as the Holy Spirit invites us to go. This is not merely “paying salvation forward” or even “back.” Rather, it is the living embodiment of healing in our lives in the world. Application, not theory, is the way that we remember God.