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OrEd-T-1.1-Principles of Miracles.36-42
36. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables Jesus to control their distribution. Christ-guidance leads to the highly personal experience of revelation. This is why it involves personal choice. A guide does not control, but he does direct, leaving the following up to me. "Lead us not into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." "Take up your cross and follow me" means, "Recognize my errors and chose to abandon them by following Jesus' guidance."
I will remember that error cannot really threaten truth which can always stand against it. Only the error is vulnerable. I am free to establish my kingdom where I chose, but the right choice is inevitable if I remember this:
The spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is only his spirit.
Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.
Atonement undoes all errors and uproots the real source of fear. Whenever I am defending misplaced and misdirected loyalty, God's reassurances are experienced as threat. Projection always involves this experience. When man projects this onto others, he does imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have already made. Error is lack of love. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can only bless and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.
37. Miracles are examples of right thinking. Contact with reality at all levels becomes strong and accurate, permitting correct recognition of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer's perceptions are aligned with truth as God created it.
38. The miracle is a factor in correction introduced into false thinking by Jesus. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and properly reorganizing it. This places man under the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, revelation of the divine order is impossible.
39. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles. Because what He perceives is true, the Holy Spirit is the instrument for testing reality, which always involves the necessary distinction between true and false. He perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, He can separate the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selectively.
40. The miracle dissolves error, for error is identified as unreal or false. Like the analogy--by perceiving light, darkness automatically disappears.
Darkness is lack of light, and sin is lack of love. They have no special properties of their own. Only error can come from the "scarcity" principle, which is untrue. Truth is always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything, have no need for any kind of driven behavior.
41. The miracle acknowledges all men as Jesus' brothers and mine. The specialness of God's Sons comes from being included, not excluded. All Jesus' brothers are special. This is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God in them. If they believe they are deprived of anything, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs, the whole family of God, the Sonship, is impaired in its relationships. Ultimately, every member of the family of God must come home. The miracle calls him to return because it blesses and honors him.
Creation is whole, and the mark of wholeness is holiness. There is assurance that "God is not mocked" on this point. God would be mocked if any of His creations lacked holiness.
42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. The miracle corrects or atones for the faulty perception of lack anywhere.
Here we begin to make the fundamental distinction between miracles and projection. The stimulus must precede the response, and will also determine the kind of response. Behavior is response, so the question "response to what?" becomes crucial. Since stimuli are identified through perception, I first perceive the stimulus and then behave accordingly. It follows, then, that:
As I perceive,
So I shall behave.
The Golden Rule asks me to behave toward others as I want them to behave toward me. This means that the perception of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. I cannot behave appropriately unless I perceive accurately. Accurate perception for Golden Rule behavior is to look out from the perception of my own holiness, and see the holiness of others. Level confusion always results in variable reality testing, and variable appropriate behavior. Lack of level confusion fosters appropriate behavior. Since my neighbor and I are equal members of he same family, as I perceive both, so I will behave toward both.
The emptiness engendered by fear can be replaced by love, because love and its absence are in the same dimension. Correction can be made only within the dimension. Otherwise, there has been a confusion of levels. Death is a human affirmation of a belief in level confusion, or "fate". That is why the Bible says, "There is no death", and why Jesus demonstrated that death does not exist. He came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself offers only protection to man if properly understood.
My witnessing demonstrates my belief, and strengthens it. Those who witness for Jesus are expressing through their miracles that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation. They have learned that abundance belongs to them. Jesus assures me that he will witness for anyone who allows it, and to whatever extent permission is given.
36. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables Jesus to control their distribution. Christ-guidance leads to the highly personal experience of revelation. This is why it involves personal choice. A guide does not control, but he does direct, leaving the following up to me. "Lead us not into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." "Take up your cross and follow me" means, "Recognize my errors and chose to abandon them by following Jesus' guidance."
I will remember that error cannot really threaten truth which can always stand against it. Only the error is vulnerable. I am free to establish my kingdom where I chose, but the right choice is inevitable if I remember this:
The spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is only his spirit.
Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.
Atonement undoes all errors and uproots the real source of fear. Whenever I am defending misplaced and misdirected loyalty, God's reassurances are experienced as threat. Projection always involves this experience. When man projects this onto others, he does imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have already made. Error is lack of love. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can only bless and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.
37. Miracles are examples of right thinking. Contact with reality at all levels becomes strong and accurate, permitting correct recognition of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer's perceptions are aligned with truth as God created it.
38. The miracle is a factor in correction introduced into false thinking by Jesus. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and properly reorganizing it. This places man under the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, revelation of the divine order is impossible.
39. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles. Because what He perceives is true, the Holy Spirit is the instrument for testing reality, which always involves the necessary distinction between true and false. He perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, He can separate the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selectively.
40. The miracle dissolves error, for error is identified as unreal or false. Like the analogy--by perceiving light, darkness automatically disappears.
Darkness is lack of light, and sin is lack of love. They have no special properties of their own. Only error can come from the "scarcity" principle, which is untrue. Truth is always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything, have no need for any kind of driven behavior.
41. The miracle acknowledges all men as Jesus' brothers and mine. The specialness of God's Sons comes from being included, not excluded. All Jesus' brothers are special. This is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God in them. If they believe they are deprived of anything, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs, the whole family of God, the Sonship, is impaired in its relationships. Ultimately, every member of the family of God must come home. The miracle calls him to return because it blesses and honors him.
Creation is whole, and the mark of wholeness is holiness. There is assurance that "God is not mocked" on this point. God would be mocked if any of His creations lacked holiness.
42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. The miracle corrects or atones for the faulty perception of lack anywhere.
Here we begin to make the fundamental distinction between miracles and projection. The stimulus must precede the response, and will also determine the kind of response. Behavior is response, so the question "response to what?" becomes crucial. Since stimuli are identified through perception, I first perceive the stimulus and then behave accordingly. It follows, then, that:
As I perceive,
So I shall behave.
The Golden Rule asks me to behave toward others as I want them to behave toward me. This means that the perception of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. I cannot behave appropriately unless I perceive accurately. Accurate perception for Golden Rule behavior is to look out from the perception of my own holiness, and see the holiness of others. Level confusion always results in variable reality testing, and variable appropriate behavior. Lack of level confusion fosters appropriate behavior. Since my neighbor and I are equal members of he same family, as I perceive both, so I will behave toward both.
The emptiness engendered by fear can be replaced by love, because love and its absence are in the same dimension. Correction can be made only within the dimension. Otherwise, there has been a confusion of levels. Death is a human affirmation of a belief in level confusion, or "fate". That is why the Bible says, "There is no death", and why Jesus demonstrated that death does not exist. He came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself offers only protection to man if properly understood.
My witnessing demonstrates my belief, and strengthens it. Those who witness for Jesus are expressing through their miracles that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation. They have learned that abundance belongs to them. Jesus assures me that he will witness for anyone who allows it, and to whatever extent permission is given.