ARCIM

Daily Lesson 45 ~
February 14

The Divine is the Mind with which I think.

Today’s idea holds the key to what your real Thoughts are. They are nothing that you think you think, just as nothing that you think you look upon is related to vision in any way. There is no relationship between what is real and what you think is real. Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real Thoughts in any respect. Nothing that you think you look upon bears any resemblance to what vision will show you.

In Truth you think with the Mind of the Divine. Therefore you share your Thoughts with the Divine, as It shares Its Thoughts with you. They are the same Thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind. To share is to align, to be one. Nor do the Thoughts you think with the Mind of the Divine leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source. Therefore your Thoughts are in the Mind of the Divine, as you are. They are in your mind as well, where the Divine is. As you are Part of the Divine’s Mind, so are your Thoughts Part of the Divine’s Thoughts.

Where, then, are these Thoughts of yours that are real? Today we will attempt to reach Them. We will seek Them in your mind, because that is where They are. They must still be there because They cannot have left. What is thought by the Mind of the Divine is eternal, being Part of Creation.

Our three five-minute practice periods for today will take the same general form that we used in applying yesterday’s idea. We will attempt to leave the unreal and seek for the Real. We will let go of the world in favor of Truth. We will not let the thoughts of the world hold us back. We will not let the beliefs of the world tell us that what our Creator would have us do is impossible.

Instead, we will try to recognize that only what our Creator would have us do is possible in truth. We will also try to understand that only what our Creator would have us do is what we want to do. And we will also try to remember that we cannot fail in doing what our Creator would have us do. There is every reason to feel confident that you will succeed today. It is the Will of the Divine.

Begin the exercises for today by repeating the idea to yourself, closing your eyes as you do so. Spend a fairly short period in thinking a few relevant thoughts of your own, keeping the idea in mind as you do so. After you have added some four or five thoughts of your own, repeat the idea again, and tell yourself gently:

“My real Thoughts are in my mind. I would like to find Them.”

Then try to go past all the unreal thoughts that cover the Truth in your mind, and reach to the Eternal. Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas of the world that clutter the mind are the Thoughts that you thought with the Divine in the Beginning. They are there in your mind now, completely unchanged. They will always be in your mind, exactly as They always were.

Everything that you have thought apart from the Divine has changed and will continue to change, but the Foundation on which all else rests is wholly changeless. It is this Foundation toward which the exercises for today are directed. Here is your mind joined with the Mind of the Divine. Here are your Thoughts One with the Divine’s.

For this kind of practice only one thing is necessary: approach it as you would an Altar dedicated in Heaven Itself to the Divine, the Creator, and Its perfect Creation. For such is the Place you are trying to reach. You will probably be unable as yet to realize how holy is this Place. Yet even with the understanding you have already gained, you should be able to remind yourself that this is no trivial game, but an exercise in Holiness and an attempt to reach the Realm of the Divine, Which you are part of and Which is part of you. Since the Realm of Heaven is your reality, It is in you always as you are always in It, and thus you always have access to It if you seek this Access, as you are doing in today’s exercises.

In using the shorter form for applying today’s idea, try to remember how important it is to you to understand the holiness of the mind that thinks with the Divine. Take a few moments each time you repeat the idea throughout the day to appreciate your mind’s holiness. Stand aside, however briefly, from all thoughts that are unworthy of the Divine, whose host you are. And thank your Creator for the Thoughts It is thinking with you.

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Principle of Miracles 45

The miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Divine Essence and the acceptance of Its Atonement.

Commentary

Through this awareness and acceptance the mind enters into a State of Grace, and naturally becomes gracious itself both to the inner Host of Abundance and the stranger who appears to be outside. By bringing in strangers to share in this Grace, they become your sisters and brothers.

The miracles you are guided by me not to perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of your own State of Grace. But the action aspect of miracles should be controlled by Divine Essence because of Its complete Awareness of the whole Plan of Atonement. The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your own State of Grace, but only Divine Essence is in a position to know where Grace can be bestowed.

Note the distinction between “miracle‐mindedness” as a state, and “miracle‐doing” as its expression. The former needs your careful protection, because it is a state of miracle‐readiness. This is what sacred scripture means in the many references to “hold yourself ready” and other similar injunctions. Readiness here means keeping your perception right side up (or valid) so that you will always be ready, willing, and able. These are the essentials for “learn, listen, and allow.” You must be willing to learn, ready to listen, and able to allow. Only the last is involuntary, because it is the application of miracles which must be controlled by Divine Essence. But the other two, which are the voluntary aspects of miracle‐mindedness, are up to you.