Chapter 5: Miracles

"Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance, and limits of any kind."

1. FORGIVENESS
“Before the glorious radiance of the kingdom, guilt melts away, and transformed into kindness will nevermore be what it was."

"Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love." They reflect a shift in how we think, releasing the power of the mind to the processes of healing and correction.

This healing takes many forms. Sometimes a miracle is a change in material conditions, such as physical healing. At other times, it is a psychological or emotional change. It is a shift not so much in an objective situation—although that often occurs—as it is a shift in how we perceive a situation. What changes, primarily, is how we hold an experience in our minds—how we experience the experience.

The world of the human storyline, of all our concentration on behavior and all the things that occur outside us, is a world of illusion. It's a veil in front of a more real world, a collective dream. A miracle is not a rearrangement of the figures in our dream. A miracle is our awakening from it.

In asking for miracles, we are seeking a practical goal: a return to inner peace. We're not asking for something outside us to change, but for something inside us to change. We're looking for a softer orientation to life.

Old Newtonian physics claimed that things have an objective reality separate from our perception of them. Quantum physics, and particularly Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, reveal that, as our perception of an object changes, the object itself literally changes. The science of religion is actually the science of consciousness, because ultimately all creation is expressed through the mind. Thus, as A Course in Miracles says, our greatest tool for changing the world is our capacity to 'change our mind about the world.'

Because thought is the creative level of things, changing our minds is the ultimate personal empowerment. Although it is a human decision to choose love instead of fear, the radical shift that this produces in every dimension of our lives is a gift from God. Miracles are an 'intercession on behalf of our holiness,' from a thought system beyond our own. In the presence of love, the laws that govern the normal state of affairs are transcended. Thought that is no longer limited, brings experience that is no longer limited.

We are heir to the laws that govern the world we believe in. If we think of ourselves as beings of this world, then the laws of scarcity and death, which rule this world, will rule us. If we think of ourselves as children of God, whose real home lies in a realm of awareness beyond this world, then we will find we are "under no laws but God's." Our self-perception determines our behavior. If we think we're small, limited, inadequate creatures, then we tend to behave that way, and the energy we radiate reflects those thoughts no matter what we do. If we think we're magnificent creatures with an infinite abundance of love and power to give, then we tend to behave that way. Once again, the energy around us reflects our state of awareness.

'Miracles themselves are not to be consciously directed.' They occur as involuntary effects of a loving personality, an invisible force that emanates from someone whose conscious intention is to give and receive love. As we relinquish the fears that block the love within us, we become God's instruments. We become His miracle workers.

God, as love, is constantly expanding, flourishing and creating new patterns for the expression and attainment of joy. When our minds, through focus on love, are allowed to be open vessels through which God expresses, our lives become the canvases for the expression of that joy. That's the meaning of our lives. We are here as physical representations of a divine principle. To say that we're on the earth to serve God, means that we're on the earth to love.

We weren't just randomly thrown onto a sea of rocks. We have a mission—to save the world through the power of love. The world needs healing desperately, like a bird with a broken wing. People know this, and millions have prayed.

God heard us. He sent help. He sent you.

To become a miracle worker means to take part in a spiritual underground that's revitalizing the world, participating in a revolution of the world's values at the deepest possible level. That doesn't mean you announce this to anyone. A member of the French underground didn't walk up to a German officer occupying Paris and say, "Hi, I'm Jacques. French Resistance." Similarly, you don’t tell people who would have no idea what you're talking about, "I’m changed. I'm working for God now. He sent me to heal things. The world's about to shift big time." Miracle workers learn to keep their own counsel. Something that's important to know about spiritual wisdom is that, when spoken at the wrong time, in the wrong place, or to the wrong person, the one who speaks sounds more like a fool than a wise one.

The Course tells us of God's plan for the salvation of the world, called 'the plan of the teachers of God.' The plan calls for God's teachers to heal the world through the power of love. This teaching has very little to do with verbal communication, and everything to do with a quality of human energy. "To teach is to demonstrate." A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. "They come from all over the world. They come from all religions and from no religion. They are the ones who have answered." The adage that "many are called but few are chosen" means that 'everyone is called, but few care to listen.' God's call is universal, going out to every mind in every moment. Not everyone, however, chooses to heed the call of his own heart. As all of us are only too aware, the loud and frantic voices of the outer world easily drown out the small still loving voice within.

RETURN TO LOVE Copyright ©1996 by Marianne Williamson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information address HarperCollins Publishers 10 E 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.