A Course in Miracles asserts a multitude of spiritual truths which appear to be lofty and unattainable.
There is no order of difficulty among miracles. One is not “harder” or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.
ACIM OE TX 1.I.1 (Quote taken from the ACIM Original Edition online)
As Course students we are advised that we always want to stay in miracle mindedness. This could mean that one is advised sit in the expectation that your problem will be solved – no matter how dire it appears – and that it will be solved with your best interests in mind. But to actually live that way? To overlook our problems in that way may appear challenging and even foolish.
A friend once asked – “So what do we do? Fake it ’til you make it?”
It’s a paradox – for some it is that simple. Sometimes more depth, more digging into the deep corners of practice may be called for.
As we read the poetic constructions of the Foundation for Inner Peace version of ACIM we are presented with an ideal to live up to. In any spiritual practice that kind of anchoring into the ideal is frequently taught and prescribed as a method, but that kind of practice can lead to spiritual bypass if we are not mindful. Spiritual bypass occurs when a practitioner is swept away by the bliss of the practice and loses their ability to function well in the world. A well-grounded practice improves our relationship with the world whether it be meditation, yoga, ACIM or conventional religion.
In the Urtext[1] we’re told that there is a usefulness for the identification of an error (a problem). Acknowledging that there is a problem serves the purpose of establishing that immediate correction is needed. For example, someone hurts my feelings. On the purest abstract level the Course teaches that it never happened, but there I am nursing a festering wound. By addressing the wound with understanding (love is real and this world is a manifestation of something unhealed in my mind). A simple “Ouch that really hurts” will do – combined with the knowledge and understanding that healing is possible. Then we might say “There must be a better way to understand this,” with the understanding that full and complete healing will come from the spiritual correction of the mind that arises through practice and willingness.
One of the challenges in this way of practice is that the error must be addressed at the level it occurs. My experience has been that only Holy Spirit knows the error in my mind—and only Holy Spirit can correct it there. But I may need to take some action on my part to support the new way of thinking. For example I may need to explore if in some way I believed that what my friend said was true, before they ever said it (i.e, thoughts of unworthiness).
What about the promise of instantaneous enlightenment promised by the Atonement? That is out of the level of time. As long as we are in a body we are in time. The process then is to learn to create a different kind of experience in our own minds by learning to never harm another by judging them. This may prove challenging depending on your habits of mind.
On a walk recently I met a man standing on the walking path with a cute little dog. I remarked on the dogs cuteness and he said “Ya want him?.” I become curious about this fellows desire to give this cute little dog away. It turns out he was convinced that the fluffy little rescue dog he adopted annoyed him deliberately. The first step for this gentleman Course wise could be to view Rover the pup as the holy being that he is. But then we can go a step further. The first step for me as an observers, rather than judging him, is to go home and treat my cat Lakshmi as the holy being she is. Treating her with honor and respect and lack of suspicion.
Some of our deeper and more embedded errors in thinking may be part of an erroneous thought system which requires dismantling piece by piece until it’s hold on the mind is sufficiently weakened that a more global transformation can occur. This is where “Fake it until you make it” becomes useful. As we practice the ideals that we don’t yet experience…we are beginning to build the foundation of the new thought system that will take the place of our erroneous thought system. We begin to build a foundation for inner peace (pun intended!).
[1] Coming Soon – a page with information about the different versions of ACIM. But for now, the Urtext is more lightly edited than the FIP.
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Mirificus on the Joyful Planet 