A Course in Miracles (Part 1): Introduction to Miracles
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A Brief Overview of the Course
It goes without saying that in the years since its first publication in the 1970s, A Course in Miracles’ popularity has only blossomed and it has become one of the most widely read and quoted spiritual texts today.
If you’ve actually read the Course or parts of it, you’ll notice that there is a significant Christian influence and terminology throughout.
However, I think it’s fair to say that the teachings themselves are universal and echo the teachings of many different spiritual traditions and walks of life.
For that reason, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to really dissect this book, chapter by chapter, in order to uncover its ultimate meaning.
As we discover in the book’s Introduction, the Course is not meant to teach us the meaning of love, because that is unteachable.
Rather, its entire aim is to “remove the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence,” which it believes is our natural inheritance.
Said differently, the Course sets out to help us achieve a peaceful mind — one that is not dominated by the erroneous and egoic fears that have made us lose touch with “the peace of God.”
Or to put it non-theological terms, the peace of consciousness, awareness, or the present moment.
However you prefer to describe it, there is so much we can learn from the Course, and I hope you will join me on this journey as we try to distill and simplify this comprehensive text.
So, without further ado, let’s get into some of the main themes and topics of Chapter 1.
What Are Miracles?
We’ll start by exploring the most obvious question: what are miracles?
After all, this is a course in miracles, so it’s helpful to try to understand what the text really means when it uses this word.
While miracles are often associated with biblical events and supernatural powers, they actually exist everywhere, and according to the Course, are all the same.
Miracles are anything that raise our awareness and help us reconnect with God, who is the ultimate source of everything.
So, for example, receiving a book from someone on spirituality and being invited to move closer to God is a miracle.
Giving selflessly to someone and watching their eyes light up with gratitude is a miracle.
Even so-called bad or negative things can be miracles, if we look at them the right way.
Perhaps you were recently diagnosed with a serious health condition that has thrown you into a world of grief. You become scared and fearful of losing your normal life.
But while the initial shock might seem scary and painful, there is actually a miracle there, waiting to be discovered.
The miracle is actually the condition itself.
Because it may just have been that, prior to receiving that diagnosis, you did not realize your true essence.
You may have even been consumed by your mind and in love with your body that you forgot you are something much deeper than either of those two.
So, as you can see, the miracle here — or the condition — is capable of raising our awareness and helping us reconnect with the divine source.
A miracle, as the Course says, has incredible healing powers and is ultimately “an expression of love.”
Love is the most powerful emotion and state of being we can ever embody, and it is the reason we are in this world today living inside this human body.
When we remove the barriers to the love in our heart, we can see and acknowledge all kinds of miracles.
What’s more is that we can actually transmit them, and in doing so, bring others closer to the truth.
This is what we mean when we call someone a “miracle-worker.”
They do not create the miracle, but rather are the vehicle through which miracles can find an expression.
But miracles are ultimately meaningless if we don’t where they actually come from.
The Course says just as much when it states that “miracles as such do not matter. The only thing that matters is their Source, Which is far beyond human evaluation.” (2)
This Source is obviously God, but again, I don’t want you to get lost in the terminology of things.
God is only a label or word for the consciousness that cannot be named.
As long as you are not married to the word, and instead connect with what or whom the word is pointing to, it does not matter which word you use.
So, while the Course relies almost exclusively on words like God, Creator, He, His, and so forth, just know that the word or mental concept doesn’t matter as much as the actual essence they are pointing to.
The world was a much simpler and more peaceful place before humanity tried to name every single thing and attach a mental label or construct to it.
But having said that, the Course also guides us to the truth that God is not a disinterested bystander creating miracles and then walking away. He is actively involved in not only the creation of miracles, but also the transmission of miracles.
As the Course says, “His voice will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to know.” (4)
Now, this statement means many things, starting with the obvious that God has a specific guidance or set of instructions for us.
You can almost call this a manual for life.
Without the manual, we can easily become lost and unsure of our true identity and purpose in life.
But when we open our hearts to receive the manual, God’s voice will guide us in so many different ways.
In fact, you’ve probably experienced this many times yourself, but didn’t know it was God’s voice speaking.
Any time we refer to the word intuition or inspiration, we are essentially referring to God speaking to us.
This is very different than thinking, which requires the mental faculty of cognition, and is often manipulated by the ego.
Intuition, however, is a transmission of knowledge through the soul.
It’s something you feel deep in your gut, regardless of your mental state or what thoughts you are currently experiencing.
For those of us who aren’t used to receiving wisdom in this form, we often resist that intuition and disregard it as just another thought.
But this is what creates conflict in our minds, and ultimately stress, unhappiness, and suffering.
God has certainly given us the ability to think and act on our own, but there are also many times when we need to operate beyond the realm of thought — and the only way to access this is in our heart, in our very own soul.
When you have calmed the mind to listen to your heart, and approach everything with humility and a genuine desire to grow, God will tell you everything you need to know.
Now, you may be asking, why do we even need miracles in the first place? Why are they so important that we need to spend all this time to become aware of and to facilitate them?
These are all good questions, and we’ll now spend some time going over them.
Why Miracles Matter
To start with, miracles are important because they help us transcend the body and heal.
As the Course says, “They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from a sense of lower-order reality.” (17)
Now, on the surface, this statement might sound like science fiction. What do we mean when we say we can become invisible?
Well, the Course is not suggesting that all of a sudden you will disappear into thin air once you experience or give a miracle.
Rather, I think we can read this metaphorically, and assume that as the second part of the statement suggests, we transcend this world we have created in our minds.
You see, so much of the reality that we perceive is not actually reality. It is a reflection of our thoughts.
We are so predisposed to judge people and situations, thinking that we know the reality of things, when in truth, we hardly do.
What we see, hear, or think is only a fraction of the entire story. It is just the tip of the iceberg — if even that at all.
So, this line points us to the deep truth that once we experience the raw power and mystery of miracles, we no longer are stuck in the prison of our thoughts — or “lower-order reality,” as the Course calls it.
Instead, we awaken to a much higher and more encompassing level of reality.
The reality that God sees.
That’s not to say that this shift happens only one time and that once we experience the higher-order reality that we have effectively transcended the lower-order reality.
In truth, it’s likes waves crashing onto the shore.
When the waves recede into the ocean, we awaken to the higher-order reality, and then when they approach the shore again, we once again enter the world of thoughts or the lower-order reality.
But as we deepen our awareness and spiritual practice, this cycle becomes less and less pronounced, and we find ourselves more in the ocean of truth rather than the shore of thoughts.
This is the awakening people talk about.
When you are able to see with perfect clarity the truth of existence without the mental noise and clutter of your mind.
There’s another line in the chapter that alludes to this, stating that “Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth.” (20)
In other words, your spirit or soul is the essence of who you are, not this mind and body you have grown up to cherish.
In fact, I love how the Course uses the word “altar” here to describe the essence.
We often hear in society that the body is the temple, and this is why so many people are obsessed with looking good and having the perfect body.
But while there is nothing wrong with taking care of the body — and in fact, there is a great purpose to it — we must recognize that what is the most valuable thing of the temple is not the actual building itself, but rather what is inside it.
In this case, the altar. The soul. The spirit.
The body is only the building that contains what cannot be contained and that is our true essence.
So, miracles help us reawaken this awareness, which changes our entire perspective on life.
Now that we understand what miracles are and why they matter, let’s spend a moment exploring our relationship with God and how this affects our work with miracles.
Our Relationship with God
The Course beautifully says, “You are the work of the God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this what he is.” (34)
Now, I first just want to say that the Course uses the words “he” and “man” like so much of our culture and society, but the message and teachings apply, of course, to all genders and personal identities.
I think what is most important from this statement is the fact that we are the work of God. Our very existence is the proof of that.
And there may some in the scientific or agnostic communities who doubt the presence or existence of God, which we won’t get into a debate on in this series.
However, I do want to state that regardless of our individual beliefs, I think we can all agree that everything in life has a source, except the Creator of everything.
However we want to define, label, or think of that Creator, it doesn’t change the truth that the Creator is here in every moment and everywhere, inside all of us.
When an artist paints a beautiful painting, a piece of their love, passion, and creativity is in that artwork.
And similarly, when God created us, He imbued His qualities into our soul, which is both wholly lovable and wholly loving.
No matter how much your mind or people tell you otherwise, you are a being capable of enormous love.
The reason we sometimes don’t see this love is because we have been hurt so much that we have doubted the beauty and love of God within us.
We have listened to the ego so attentively that we have disconnected from our actual source.
And so, we might have a tendency to call ourselves mean, angry, or unloving, but in truth, everyone has the ability to love and be loved.
But ability does not always translate into reality.
Just like there are so many talented athletes in the world, but only a tiny fraction of them actually become professionals and get paid handsomely because of their skills.
Potential isn’t everything, but without it, we couldn’t even start our awakening journey.
So, this is how we must view not only ourselves but every single person in life. They are wholly lovable and wholly loving.
The Course goes on to state this in a different way by stating that “God’s creations never lose their holiness, although it can be hidden. The miracle uncovers it and brings it into the light where it belongs. Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness, but man can deceive himself about it.” (43)
As I alluded to before, what this means is that we all have a veil between our true essence and the version of ourselves we see on the surface.
Because that veil is up, we struggle to know what our true essence is. We struggle to know our holiness.
But as we develop the awareness to recognize the veil and ultimately tear it down, we are no longer confused anymore.
We discover our holiness and realize that it has been there all this time.
However, we are the ones — through our thoughts, doubts, fears, and illusions — who put up the veil in the first place.
But this veil can never diminish our holiness. It can only cover it.
Just as if you destroy a temple, you can never destroy the God within.
Yes, it can be a symbolic and political statement, but you can never destroy the essence within.
It is there and with the right amount of spiritual purification, we can embody this essence once more.
In fact, there are a few quotes related to this that I wish to share, starting with:
“The Soul never loses its communion with God. Only the mind needs Atonement.” (45)
“Man’s mind can be possessed by illusions, but his spirit is eternally free. If a mind perceives without love, it perceives an empty shell and is unaware of the spirit within it. But the Atonement restores the Soul to its proper place. The mind that serves the spirit is invulnerable.” (46)
And finally, “The Soul is in a state of grace forever. Man’s reality is only his soul. Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.” (52)
Now, what all of these quotes really mean is that we never lose our connection with God. However, our mind needs to be trained to perceive our soul. To perceive the love and presence of God.
Now, there’s a word that the Course repeatedly uses to convey this act of retraining the mind, and that word is Atonement.
For those of you who identify with Christianity, you may recognize this word to mean Christ redeeming humanity of its sins by being sacrificed on the cross.
However, the word has a different meaning in the Course, which is more universal and not linked to a particular faith…in this case, Christianity.
For starters, Atonement means the correction of perception. In other words, reversing all our mistaken beliefs and illusions about being separated from God, which leads to the recognition that we are all one with God and all of creation.
Secondly, although Christ is a model for Atonement, the Atonement used here is not about sacrifice. Instead, it’s about recognizing the eternal, changeless nature of reality beyond the illusions of the world.
Christ demonstrated that there is a way to overcome the illusions of the world and realize our oneness with God.
You can think of him as the perfect model and example to follow, regardless of your individual faith or belief.
And it goes without saying that unlike traditional Christianity, the Course communicates that Christ is not the only one to achieve this transcendence.
And I know I might upset and anger some people, but I want to be careful not to insert my own views and instead uncover what the Course really means when it uses words like Son and Sonship.
Essentially, the term Son or Son of God in the Course means all of creation. We are all extensions of God’s creation and are thus collectively the Son.
So, I know there can be a lot of confusion with all these words, especially when they’re used in different contexts in Christianity and in the world’s other religions and traditions, but let’s quickly revisit the quotes before we turn to the next section.
Atonement is simply the healing and awakening of our mind to realize that we are one with God.
It is a continuous process that never ends.
And even though we have always been one with God, it is our mind — as controlled by the ego — that has prevented us from realizing this.
But as the Course rightly says, “Ultimately, every member of the family of God must return.” (59)
That is, all of Creation will eventually return to the Creator, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Involuntarily, of course, refers to our death, when the soul returns to God. But we don’t have to wait until the physical death of our bodies to return home to God.
In fact, the entire teaching of the Course can be summarized to say that we can and should return now.
This is the only way we can heal, awaken, and ultimately live our truth.
The Need to Purify Ourselves
I mentioned earlier about the need for spiritual purification, and its importance can’t be understated.
Without purification, or healing as it’s often called, we cannot truly experience Atonement, Awakening, and Oneness with God.
In fact, as the Course says, “Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first.” (7)
This purification is not necessarily measured by what you do as it is by how you do it.
So, it’s not like reading spiritual books will help you purify faster than meditating — although for some people it can.
Rather, it’s about what state you are when you are doing all these activities.
If you are present, open, and willing to remove the barriers to your heart, then even something simple as watering the lawn or making a cup of coffee can be a deeply spiritual and purifying exercise.
To purify ourselves, we must retrain our mind and remove all the errors and illusions that have prevented us from realizing the truth.
The Course has a beautiful quote in the chapter which states, “Whatever is true and real is eternal and cannot change or be changed. The Soul is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the mind can elect the level it chooses to serve. The only limit which is put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters.” (68)
So, this is an interesting quote on a couple of different levels.
To start with, it reiterates what we have been discussing so far in that the Soul, or our true essence, is perfect, whereas the mind is not.
However, the statement goes one step further to convey that the mind can choose its master, but it cannot serve two masters.
In other words, the mind is not inherently good or bad, but can be used to think and do good or bad things.
The two masters that the Course is referring to is the Soul and the ego.
We can use the mind as a tool for awakening or as a tool for suffering.
A tool in and of itself, it not a good or bad thing.
For example, a knife can both cut a fruit and cut a person. It’s not the knife that is good or bad, but the intention or purpose that the tool is being used for.
The Course elaborates on this by saying “To change your mind means to place it at the disposal of true Authority.” (69)
The true Authority here is of course God or the divine source of all creation.
The idea of placing one’s mind “at the disposal of true Authority” involves surrendering egoic thoughts, beliefs, and desires and aligning one’s mind with the divine guidance and wisdom of God.
This surrender is not about giving up personal power, but rather recognizing where true power and peace come from.
By aligning with this “true Authority,” we find clarity, peace, and understanding that isn’t available when we follow the ego’s false sense of authority.
This is a powerful statement if we truly take some time to reflect on it.
The ego is often a destructive force that makes us believe all these errors and illusions that we are separate from God, and that we therefore need to construct a separate identity and sense of self.
It forces us to believe that we are out in the world on our own and that the only way to survive and thrive is by looking out for number one.
And as the Course later goes on to describe, it makes us feel like we are lacking something in life, which prevents us from truly being at peace.
This lack can be better health, a bigger home, a more loving relationship — whatever you can think of.
But as the Course beautifully states, “A sense of separation from God is the only lack he (man) really needs to correct.” (91)
There’s of course nothing wrong with striving for a better life and seeking better things. However, if that’s your sole focus in life, then you are headed down a path of misery and suffering.
One cannot be truly happy and at peace unless they first correct the illusion that they are separate from God — and this requires transcending the ego.
Now, although the Course covers a good portion of this throughout the text, it is a little bit of a separate topic which I won’t spend too much time covering in this series.
However, if you are interested in learning more about the ego, its illusions, and how you can transcend them, you can check out my seven-part series “Awakening Beyond Ego.”
The bottom line is that we need to purify ourselves and retrain the mind so that it serves the Soul or God, rather than the ego.
Or as the Course puts it, “All shallow roots must be uprooted because they are not deep enough to sustain you.” (70)
In other words, the ego is not deep enough to sustain you.
It is only a façade and therefore must be rooted out, so it doesn’t affect you.
So, now that we understand the importance of purifying ourselves, let’s wrap this up by bringing it all home and examining what we can do from here on out.
Serving God and Others
Up until now, we have learned about miracles and their importance, the need for purification, and our relationship with God.
But let’s now put this all together to derive one of the Course’s most important takeaways.
The Course states that “You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator.” (27)
What this means is that once you discover the true nature of your existence, the journey doesn’t stop there.
Instead, it’s only the beginning.
A person who has awakened but does not share their wisdom, time, or love has not truly awakened.
This is where life’s true joy and meaning are found.
Because remember, it’s not only ourselves that are one with God. It’s all of Creation.
So, if you only take care of yourself, and not the world around you, then you haven’t really awakened or freed yourself from the ego’s illusions.
You yourself are a miracle, and are capable of creating wonderful things just like God.
So, don’t ignore or misuse this incredible gift and put your entire mind, body, and soul in the service of God.
As we learn at the end of the chapter, “All real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will.” (104)
Once you realize this, help others realize it, and let God work through you.
In this way, you will not only grow on a personal level (which is the shallowest level of growth), but you will grow on a collective level.
