A Course in Miracles: Shallow Roots
Chapter 1 of A Course in Miracles
As summarized by www.CarolTallon.com from the original text of A Course in Miracles
Revelation, Time and Miracles
While revelation unites us directly with our higher power; miracles unite us with each other. Neither emanates from consciousness but both are experienced there. Consciousness is the state that induces action, but it does not inspire it. Revelation induces only experience; miracles induce action. Awe should be reserved for revelation only. Miracles are a sign of love among equals. Spirit is the bridge between us and our higher power.
Atonement and Miracles
To ‘atone’ is to un-do. Spirit cancels out errors that we ourselves cannot correct. Our role is to listen to spirit, learn to undo errors and act to correct them. A Course in Miracles clearly states:
“The power to work miracles belongs to you”
We are wholly lovable and loving. But having been forgiven, we must forgive in return. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient because it allows Spirit to direct its application. Under Spirit’s guidance, miracles lead to personal revelation. Error cannot threaten truth, which is:
“Spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Your reality is only Spirit.
Therefore, you are in a state of grace forever.”
When you project upon others, you imprison them but only to the extent of reinforcing errors they have already made i.e. errors in their perception. If your perception of yourself is distorted, this makes you vulnerable to the perceptions of others. You respond to what you perceive, as you perceive so shall you behave.
The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
This calls for appropriate behaviour, for this, the perception of both people must be accurate.
Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them
When you bring in the stranger, he becomes your brother.
Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed towards those who can use them for themselves.
The Escape from Darkness
There are two stages for this: Firstly, awareness that darkness cannot hide; secondly, a recognition that there is nothing you would want to hide, even if you could.
If a mind perceives without love, it perceives an empty shell and is unaware of the Spirit within. But Atonement restores Sprit to its proper place. The mind that serves Spirit is invulnerable.
As a lapsed Catholic, I have always rejected the notion of sin as I felt it simply does not sit with the human experience. A Course in Miracles teaches us that sin is no more and no less than a “lack of love” or more loosely, a rejection of self. It has no unique properties of its own and is an example of the scarcity belief from which only error can proceed. Truth is always abundant.
“The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to you; or rather, to restore it to your awareness. You were given everything when you were created, just as everyone was.”
Wholeness and Spirit
“You can wait, delay, paralyze yourself, or reduce your creativity almost to nothing. But you cannot abolish it. You can destroy your medium of communication, but not your potential. You did not create yourself.”
The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on time any longer than is necessary.
Specialness does not come from exclusion but from inclusion.
If we believe that we are deprived of anything, our perception becomes distorted.
Whatever is true is eternal.
Shallow Roots:
“All shallow roots must be uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you. The illusion that shallow roots can be deepened, and thus made to hold, is one of the distortions on which the reverse of the Golden Rule rests. As these false underpinnings are given up, the equilibrium is temporarily experienced as unstable. However, nothing is less stable that an upside-down orientation. Nor can anything that holds it upside-down be conducive to increased stability.”
For me, this passage explains the enduring myth of family.
The Illusion of Needs
You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness.
No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to learn it and believes in some way that he needs it.
Lack does not exist in creation, although it is very apparent in what we ourselves have created – in fact, this is the essential difference between creation by a higher power and our own creation.
What we create, we believe in, even if what we create in fear or lack.
Distortion of Miracles Impulses
Distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over miracle impulses, making it hard for them to reach our awareness. Actions that stem from distortions are literally the reactions of those who genuinely don’t realise what they are doing.