Showing posts with label UU and ACIM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UU and ACIM. Show all posts

Monday, March 9, 2015

UU & ACIM - Miracles are the awareness of Love's presence

A Course in Miracles begins with the first chapter entitled "The Meaning of Miracles" and this chapter begins with the first section which enumerates 50 miracle principles which can be somewhat off putting unless the reader has some understanding of the philosophy of ACIM.

First, the meaning of the word "miracle" in ACIM refers to a shift in normal perception and a change in heart from the world of the ego to the world of spirit. "Miracle" in ACIM does not mean magical alteration of the mechanics of the physical world but rather a change of heart, of attitude, of appreciation, of apprehension. Here are the first three of 50 miracle principles:

1. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. 2 One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. 3 They are all the same. 4 All expressions of love are maximal

.2. Miracles as such do not matter. 2 The only thing that matters is their Source, which is far beyond evaluation.

.3. Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. 2 The real miracle is the love that inspires them. 3 In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.

The "miracle" in ACIM is an expression of Love and as such there is nor order of difficulty or achievement. Love is simply Love and it is always the best that it can be when it is pure, authentic, honest, genuine. The sixth principle of UU  is the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. When we experience this world community or get a glimpse of it we feel it as a miracle because it is so awesome and different from the usual hellish world of egos that we live in. UUs like to say that our aim is not to get people into heaven but heaven into people and when we create that experience it feels like a miracle.

ACIM is clear that the shift in perception and the change of heart really doesn't matter because what matters is the Source of this Loving awareness which is beyond "evaluation", understanding, experience. The "miracle" is being present in the now, being embraced in the flow, and so enthralled that at the moment the miracle is occurring we are not even aware of its happening, all we are aware of is the enlightened consciousness of being one with everything. It is orgasm. It is being so involved that time stands still. We are lost to our ego and have become one with the experience. We are filled not only with respect but with a genuine awareness of the interdependent web of all existence.

When we are loving miracles occur naturally. They are our inheritance. Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20 ""You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." And yet, we don't have that kind of faith usually. We search for it which UU encourages with the affirmation and promotion of the responsible search for truth and meaning and yet we look for it externally, out there, when it resides internally, in our own hearts. As Tina Turner's great song says, "We are looking for love in all the wrong places."

Universalism teaches us that God loves us unconditionally which is very different from what the ego world teaches us. Shifting our perception from the world of the ego, to the spiritual plane makes miracles happen and this miracle thinking is based on the awareness of Love's presence in our lives.

Friday, March 6, 2015

UU and ACIM - Becoming aware of Love's presence

It is written in the Introduction to A Course In Miracles:

“The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.”

This passage takes us to the teachings of Universalism where we are taught that God not only loves us but loves us all unconditionally because we all are an extension of God’s creative powerful, awesome love. But, as the introduction says we are blinded by our fears which are based on a fear of scarcity or lack and it is this sense of lack that we attempt to address by our grasping and manipulation of others and the world and thus the drama begins.

The sense of lack motivates us to move in multiple directions to fill it in the external world and our grasping and attaining of external objects never seems to quite fulfill us, to satisfy us, and it is not until we ask why we are unfulfilled and unsatisfied that we turn within and slowly become aware of Love’s presence which was there all along.

It is the awareness of Love’s presence which Universalism is about. Universalism is an interpretation of the Jesus story that finally gets to the root of the matter. In this sense of getting to the root of the matter that Universalism is so radical.

The teaching of Universalism is to become aware of Love’s presence by overcoming all the distractions of the ego world and realizing that in the end they don’t matter. As Jesus said, Be in the world but not of the World.

The introduction of the course ends with this saying:

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.

A noun and a verb were dating. They were happy for a while, but eventually broke up because the noun was too possessive.
Print Friendly and PDF