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Lesson 77. I am entitled to miracles.

 

Lesson 77. I am entitled to miracles.

(1) You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive
miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one
with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true
Identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.

(2) Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It
does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself, nor on any
of the rituals you have devised. It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It
is implicit in what God your Father is. It was ensured in your creation, and
guaranteed by the laws of God.

(3) Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since they belong to
you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been
assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost. We ask no
more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure
that we will not content ourselves with less.

(4) Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently that
you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you are
asking only for what is rightfully yours. Remind yourself also that miracles are
never taken from one and given to another, and that in asking for your rights,
you are upholding the rights of everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this
world. They merely follow from the laws of God.

(5) After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that
your request is granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for
your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is
accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the
Will of God be done.

(6) In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that
cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is
granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and
uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple
statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek.

(7) Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted to a
reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:

I am entitled to miracles.<
Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for. You will
recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on yourself to find
the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it whenever you ask.

(8) Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be
quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:

I will not trade miracles for grievances.
I want only what belongs to me.
God has established miracles as my right.<



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles,"
which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lesson 77. "I am entitled to miracles."

*This is the first mention of miracles in the workbook. There is an indirect
reference earlier in the lessons, but discussion of this central theme occurs
here for the first time. Since it is so easily misunderstood, I shall talk
briefly about the miracle before moving into the lesson itself.

In A Course in Miracles, Jesus is fond of using terms that seem to suggest one
thing, and providing them with an entirely different meaning. The term
<miracles>, which gives its name to the Course, is a prime example. Almost
everyone associates the word with something external. Whether or not one
believes in the Bible, everyone in our Western world has been influenced by the
accounts of various miracles described in the Old and the New Testaments. An
examination shows that they involve some change in the body or the world,
whether it is the parting of the Red Sea, healing of illness, or raising the
dead. In the Course, miracles are understood differently, having nothing to do
with the external, but only with a change of mind. Lessons 77 and 78 indicate
that the best way of thinking about a miracle is as a correction for our faulty
perceptions and, above all, as the means for undoing our distress and pain. In
Lesson 193 Jesus explains that all distress comes from a lack of forgiveness:
"Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness"
(W.PI.193.4.1); and in our next lesson he discusses miracles as the answer to
our grievances.

As we go through these lessons, therefore, think of the miracle as a change of
mind or, even more specifically, a change of teachers: from the ego to the Holy
Spirit. That change corrects all misperceptions and misthoughts, the source of
our suffering. Therefore, when Jesus says at the beginning of this lesson "I am
entitled to miracles," he, again, is not referring to something external, nor
God's grace descending upon us from on high, blessing us, our families, or
anyone else. We are entitled to the end of our pain simply because we are God's
Son, who cannot be in pain. He may dream he suffers, dream he separated from God
but the truth is that he remains as God created him. The miracle is Jesus name
for the dynamic that allows us to understand that everything we have made -- our
personal and collective worlds -- is a dream. We are the dreamers of this dream,
and therefore we are the ones who can change our minds about it, as we see in
this passage from the text:

"Nothing at all has happened but that you have put yourself to sleep, and
dreamed a dream in which you were an alien to yourself, and but a part of
someone else's dream. ... The miracle does not awaken you, but merely shows you
who the dreamer is. It teaches you there is a choice of dreams while you are
still asleep, depending on the purpose of your dreaming. Do you wish for dreams
of healing, or for dreams of death?" (T.28.II.4.1-4).

We turn now to the lesson, which takes us another step towards accepting the
dreams of healing, the precursor to our awakening from the sleep of separation:*

(1:1-2) "You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive
miracles because of what God is."

*The source of the miracle is the presence of Jesus or the Holy Spirit in our
minds. This presence reminds us of who we are as God's one Son. In "Principles
of Miracles," Jesus explains that their Source is beyond our evaluation
(T-1.1.2:2), meaning God is beyond understanding. Jesus or the Holy Spirit
reflect God's truth -- the Atonement principle -- which is that the separation
from God never happened. Thus, we will receive miracles because we have
<already> received them. The correction is fully present in our minds, awaiting
our acceptance.*

(1:3) "And you will offer miracles because you are one with God."

*When we choose the miracle -- the choice to return to our minds and change the
decision from the ego to the Holy Spirit -- we have undone the belief in
separation. In that holy instant there is no separation. In that holy instant
there is no separated Son of God, only the <one> Son. Thus does the miracle we
have accepted naturally extend through us to the whole Sonship, because our
healed mind <is> the whole Sonship. In the instant we have chosen Jesus -- the
great symbol of the one Son -- as our teacher and identified with his love, we
become like him. Helen's "A Jesus Prayer," expresses the fervent wish that this
be so, in our first of several references to this inspired and inspiring poem:

A perfect picture of what I can be
You show to me, that I might help renew
Your brothers' failing sight. As they look up
Let them not look on me, but only on You." (The Gifts of God, p.83.)

Moreover, Jesus tells us in the text that when we take his hand we reach beyond
the ego because he is beyond the ego:

"I go before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for my hand
because you want to transcend the ego." (T.8.V.6.7-8)

In the holy instant we have transcended thoughts of separation, and offer
miracles in the sense that we are one with God when we have chosen His Teacher.
As one with our Creator, we must then be one with His creation; a unity that
embraces its seemingly separated fragments.

The words of the lesson seems to suggest that a miracle is something we do. In
fact, many statements early in the text seem to suggest that as well. As we have
discussed previously, however, the language of A Course in Miracles allows Jesus
to speak to us on a level that we can understand, which involves experiencing
ourselves and others as bodies. Although the language in many places suggests
that miracles involve behavior, in truth they are but correction thoughts we
choose and therefore accept. Again, once accepted, the miracle naturally extends
through our joined minds. We, as separated individuals -- body and ego -- do not
do anything. We do not offer miracles on a bodily level, nor do we receive them
there. The miracle is simply a process of decision in our minds that allows
extension to occur.*

(1:4) "Again, how simple is salvation!"

*This is a recurring theme throughout A Course in Miracles. Salvation is simple
because it says, for example: "what is false is false, and what is true has
never changed." (W.PII.Q10.1.1) What is false is the ego system, regardless of
the many forms in which it comes; and what has never changed is the truth of
God. As Jesus repeatedly reminds us: What could be more simple? *

(1:5-6) "It is merely a statement of your true Identity. It is this that we will
celebrate today."

*Choosing the miracle corrects the misperceptions we are an ego, we have a split
mind, and we are not as God created us. When we realize what we are <not>, the
memory of who we are -- Christ, the Identity of God's Son -- will dawn on our
minds.*

(2:1) "Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself."

*The primary illusion about ourselves is that we are bodies. We are therefore
not entitled to miracles on the bodily level to better our dream or those of our
loved ones. Our true claim is to a change in mind or, again more and more to the
point, a change in teachers. Thus we are taught by our new teacher that we are
not travesties of our Self: bodies instead of spirit. Recall Jesus' statement to
Helen in "The Gifts of God": "For I am not a dream that comes in mockery" (The
Gifts of God, p.121). In other words, Jesus is not a body, the hero of the dream
that would mock our creation as spirit. Likewise, neither are we. Thus we claim
the miracle of correction that reminds us of the truth about ourselves.*

(2:2) "It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself,
nor on any of the rituals you have devised."

*From the perspective of A Course in Miracles, the miracles that are described
in the Bible are forms of magic. They are what one miraculous body does on
behalf of other bodies. The Biblical God, too, is very much involved in the
physical world, and He is portrayed as the source of the miracles, often working
through His chosen agents -- the prophets or Jesus himself. All these are forms
of magic because they have nothing to do with a change of mind. The problem
requiring the miracle's intervention is external to the mind. In fact, there is
nothing in the Bible about a mind -- even though the word is used occasionally
-- in the sense in which it is defined in the Course. The problem is thus
perceived to be external, and the miracle correspondingly acts to remedy the
problem.

In A Course in Miracles this is all different. The source of the problem is
shifted from the body to the mind that conceived of the problem. This is
ultimately some aspect of guilt, which can be solved only by the miracle.*

(2:3-5) "It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It is implicit in what God
your Father is. It was ensured in your creation, and guaranteed by the laws of
God."

*The truth of what we are is Christ, and His memory is in our right minds
through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is where the miracle is found
waiting to be chosen. The "It" throughout this paragraph refers to our claim to
miracles. We are entitled to them because of who we are as God's Son, which
means we are entitled to the correction already present in us.*

(3) "Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since they belong to
you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been
assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost. We ask no
more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure
that we will not content ourselves with less."

*Again, miracles belong to us because they are within our minds, and cannot be
found in anything outside them. The promise of the "full release from the world
that you made," and the assurance "that the Kingdom of God is within you, and
can never be lost," is the purpose of the Atonement principle -- the separation
from God never happened. It is the truth of the Holy Spirit that releases us
from the world, because the world came from the belief that we did in fact
separate, a belief that initiated the development of the thought system of
individuality -- sin, guilt, and fear -- culminating in the projection that made
the world. Therefore, if there is no individuality, because the separation from
God never happened, we are automatically released from the world. This is the
truth to which we are entitled because we <are> the truth: an extension of God's
loving Will.

We see here a recurring theme in A Course in Miracles: By choosing the ego
instead of the Holy Spirit, littleness instead of magnitude (T-15.III), we
settle for a parody of our creation instead of the glorious truth of who we are.
In other words, we settle for the crumbs instead of the banquet, the parts of
the song itself. Thus we are told in the opening pages of The Song of Prayer:

"The real sound is always a song of thanksgiving and of Love."
"You cannot, then, ask for the echo. It is the song that is the gift. Along
with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary.
In true prayer you hear only the song. All the rest is merely added. You have
sought first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else has indeed been given you."
(S-1.1.2.9-3:5).

Or, as Jesus says of "the forgotten song": "The notes are nothing" (T-21,1.7:1).
Our preferring life in the body to life as spirit is the height, not only of
insanity, but of self-depreciation. Jesus says further in the text:

"Be not content with littleness. But be sure you understand what littleness
is, and why you could never be content with it. Littleness is the offering you
give yourself. You offer this in place of magnitude, and you accept it.
Everything in this world is little because it is a world made out of littleness,
in the strange belief that littleness can content you. When you strive for
anything in this world in the belief that it will bring you peace, you are
belittling yourself and blinding yourself to glory. Littleness and glory are the
choices open to your striving and your vigilance. You will always choose one at
the expense of the other." (T-15.III.1).

In summary, we are told that our problem is that we ask for far too little, and
not for too much (T-26.VII.II:7). We are indeed entitled to everything.*

(4:1-2) "Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently
that you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you
are asking only for what is rightfully yours."

*We have repeatedly seen the importance of using these ideas whenever we are
tempted to believe we are separated: feeling special, angry, guilty, anxious, or
depressed. Having thus made real some aspect of the ego thought system, we need
to realize as soon as possible that we have made the wrong choice of the wrong
teacher. At this point we ask for help to see that the problem we are
experiencing is one we made up because we needed it to preserve our individual
identity. This self is in the mind, chosen by the decision maker, and as long as
we see the problem in the world or body, we affirm our mindlessness. Thus there
is no way we can change our minds, a state that is the ego's salvation, and with
which we have all so strongly identified. That is why exercises such as these
are so vital for our unlearning.*

(4:3-5) "Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given
to another, and that in asking for your rights, you are upholding the rights of
everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this world. They merely follow from
the laws of God."

*The five laws of chaos discussed in Chapter 23 of the text, are the most cogent
descriptions in A Course in Miracles of these "laws of the world." The fourth
law of chaos says that "You have what you have taken" (T-23.II.9:3), which rests
on the now-familiar teaching of the ego: <one or the other> -- if you have it, I
do not; if I have it, you do not. Thus, if you have the innocence and I want it,
I must take it from you. This establishes you as sinful -- being without
innocence -- leaving me as sinless, for I have taken your innocent state and
made it my own.

The law of God is that we are one. What is therefore true for you must be true
for me. The laws of the ego -- the laws of chaos -- rest on the belief in
differences are real (T-23.II.2;1-3). A Course in Miracles teaches instead that
there is only one law in Heaven -- perfect Oneness and Love. Miracles are thus
present in everyone. There are no exceptions because there can be no exceptions
in Heaven's truth or its reflections on earth.*

(5) "After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that
your request is granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for
your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is
accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the
Will of God be done."

*As the text reminds us -- <twice> : "The outcome is as certain as God"
(T-2.III.3:10; T-4.II.5.8). We cannot fail. However, we believe we can, if we do
not avail ourselves of the means -- the miracle or forgiveness -- that is
provided by the Holy Spirit to help us remember the Will that God has for us, to
remember that we <are> His Will. In that remembrance, brought about by the
miracle, is salvation come.*

(6) "In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that
cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is
granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and
uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple
statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek."

*The problem, as we have seen many times, is our arrogance in thinking we know
the problem and therefore know which question to ask, always some version of:
How do I behave? What should I say? What is the answer to my problem? Where
should I move? What job should I take? What relationship should I be involved
with? All these are but pseudo-questions, designed to distract us from realizing
the true problem of separation, the focus of Lessons 79 and 80.

In truth we are not asking <for> anything. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us
realize we made a mistake, and can now make the correct choice. That is the
meaning of Jesus saying early in the text that "the only meaningful prayer is
for forgiveness, because those who have been forgiven have everything"
(T-3.V.6:3). Our true prayer is that we accept the miracle or correction that is
already present within us. This means we have to take our eyes off the
distractions -- perceived problems, either in my body or another's -- bringing
them to our minds so we can understand the problem is not something outside, but
a mistaken choice within. Again, this correction is the essence of the miracle,
and asking for it is the only real request we can make, the answer to which is
found in the holy instant, as the following passage explains:

"Therefore, attempt to solve no problems in a world from which the answer
has been barred. But bring the problem to the only place that holds the answer
lovingly for you. Here are the answers that will solve your problems because
they stand apart from them, and see what can be answered; what the question is.
Within the world the answers merely raise another question, though they leave
the first unanswered. In the holy instant, you can bring the question to the
answer, and receive the answer that was made for you." (T-27.IV.7).*

(7:1-4) "Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted
to a reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:

I am entitled to miracles.<
Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for."

*Jesus is again telling us that these lessons -- and therefore his course --
have no meaning if we do not use them to help undo our pain and distress. He
asks us to think very specifically of the idea for today, and go to it for help
when we are upset and tempted to blame someone or something else for our
discomfort.*

(7:5-6) "You will recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on
yourself to find the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it whenever you
ask."

*This is an extremely important point -- the big shift. Heretofore we have
relied on ourselves, or a projected image of ourselves we call Jesus, the Holy
Spirit, or God -- some magical savior figures who will undo our pain and
distress without <our> having to change our minds. The plea to these magical
savior figures was really a prayer for magic, not true healing. Jesus is now
assuming we are no longer telling ourselves what the problem is, and therefore
not asking the image we made of him to solve the problem for us. Instead, we go
to the source of the problem, the mind's decision to be on its own and be right,
rather than happy. Truly asking Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help says we do no
want to be on our own anymore, ensuring that the miracle will once again be
ours. A special message to Helen addressed this very issue, Jesus cautioning his
scribe against trying to define the problem that needed answering:

"Any specific question involves a large number of assumptions which
inevitably limit the answer. A specific question is actually a decision about
the kind of answer that is acceptable. The purpose of words is to limit, and by
limiting, to make more manageable. But that means manageable by you." (Absence
from Felicity: The Story of Helen Schucman and Her Scribing of A Course in
Miracles. p.445).

The point lies in our recognizing that all problems are the same, and therefore
asking for the miracle -- asking ourselves to choose it -- is the only
meaningful thing to do. Only the miracle allows true and unlimited correction of
the separation to occur.*

(8) "Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be
quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:

I will not trade miracles for grievances.
I want only what belongs to me.
God has established miracles as my right.<"

*This paragraph leads into the next lesson's theme: miracles and grievances are
mutually exclusive states. The former reside in our right minds, when we choose
the Holy Spirit as our Teacher; the latter in our wrong minds, when we project
responsibility for our attack onto others, even God Himself.*


Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822

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