Center for Miraculous Living, LLC

Walking the path of A Course in Miracles to end suffering and awaken one another to holiness, equality, and worth.

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Welcome to the Center!

We are excited for the chance to walk with you along the path of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). Those new to this path might believe their need for support and companionship will be greater in the beginning of their spiritual journey, only to become unnecessary the further they go. However, that is not the case with the Course’s path.

You see, the Course is not a solitary path but one we walk with “mighty companions” [CE M-4.I.6:11] beside us. We certainly cannot walk this path alone–although many have tried. We need one another as we journey down a path that leads to the undoing of the illusion of separation and of the false (egoic) self, and to the realization of our oneness with one another and of our true identity–an identity beyond anything ever imagined–an identity that is shared by all.

Our Current Condition

In our current condition, it is as if we are experiencing a severe case of mistaken identity. We believe in the material world experienced through our five senses and conclude we are separate from all that we perceive. It is also clear to us that we are separate from God–if God even exists. He is certainly absent from our lives and has abandoned us in a world filled with hostile and indifferent people.

Even the few good people in this world have a tendency to let us down. It seems like the vast majority only care for themselves and their own happiness. Therefore, we have no choice but to look out for #1. If we don’t take care of ourselves, who will? In this dog-eat-dog world, it’s every man, woman, child, and corporation for themself.

We think we are nothing more than these physical bodies that pursue pleasure and avoid pain, only to succumb to sickness, old age, and death. Happiness always seems to be just out of reach. Even if we get the promotion, win the race, make the grade, or buy the house of our dreams, we are never fully satisfied. Since nothing in this world is permanent, all that is good will come to an end.

In spite of our efforts to carve out an identity for ourselves and stand out from the crowd, we are often thwarted by a past we cannot escape, the judgements, beliefs, and opinions of others, and life circumstances beyond our control. We conclude that all power to define us resides outside of ourselves and that we lack the ability to determine the course of our lives. Yet, with all of this, we are simply mistaken.

Practicing Forgiveness

The Course provides a way out of our current condition–not by transcending this world or somehow subduing it, but by changing the way we perceive it. Through our study and application of the ideas of A Course in Miracles, we learn to see this world and the people occupying it with a new kind of perception. This involves looking beyond what is false and unreal in order to perceive what is true and real.

The primary way we do this is through a unique and powerful approach to forgiveness–a miraculous forgiveness that involves relinquishing our normal way of perceiving others and discovering a new way of seeing that the Course calls “true perception.” True perception allows us to look beyond what is false and unreal–beyond their mistaken identity–in order perceive them as they truly are.

Perhaps the most miraculous thing about this approach to forgiveness is how our perception of ourselves changes as a result. Seeing beyond their mistaken identity allows our own masks to fall away. It turns out that we learn how to look beyond the false and unreal in ourselves by first looking beyond the false and unreal in someone else.

The practice of miraculous forgiveness is the central method of the Course. It is our means to an end. It is the means we are given to reach salvation, liberation, awakening. And, for this to happen, we need one another. This is why the need for support and companionship along the Course’s path is just as great for the more advanced students as it is for those just beginning.

An Illustration

• The above illustration helps us understand how miraculous forgiveness works. We begin in the top left corner where we see a man entrenched in anger, resentment, judgment, and thoughts of attack. He believes his thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are caused by the other person. In reality they are caused by the part of his mind called the ego and it’s false perception.

• As a new student of A Course in Miracles, he learns that the solution to his predicament is forgiveness. As depicted in the upper right corner, he starts to practice forgiving the other person. He starts to become aware of all the ways he has misperceived the other. This has led to endless cycles of attack and defense; defense and attack. He prays to the Holy Spirit to heal his mind and allow him to see the other person truly. It often takes a few practice periods to get there. But, miraculously and in spite of everything that has happened between them, he eventually sees his companion through true perception. He sees the holy and eternal truth, like a golden light, in the one previously shrouded in darkness.

• The release of forgiveness is like nothing he’s experienced before. The more he lives and functions from this experience, the more he becomes aware of a powerful shift within himself. He no longer perceives darkness, sin, and all that’s wrong when he looks in the mirror. He also stops feeling superior, different, and separate from his companion, or anyone else for that matter. As shown in the lower left corner of the illustration, it’s as if that same golden light he perceived in his companion is now glowing and growing within his own heart.

• Eventually, the two stand together–joined with one another in the same golden light of miraculous forgiveness. As depicted in the lower right, giving forgiveness is receiving forgiveness. Perceiving the truth in one extends to perceiving that same truth in all.

Perceiving what is true in you

EQUALS

perceiving what is true in me.