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5 The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself. This means you recognize that mind is the only creative level, and that its errors are healed by the Atonement. Once you accept this, your mind can only heal. By denying your mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, you place yourself in a position to undo the level confusion of others. The message you then give to them is the truth that their minds are similarly constructive, and their miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this you release the mind from over-evaluating its own learning device, and restore the mind to its true position as the learner.
That first sentence is maybe the most important sentence in the Course for me at this time. Whatever is happening in my life at the moment, this is the thought that brings me back to my purpose. My sole responsibility is to accept the Atonement for myself. Then Jesus, this Master Teacher, sums it all up in one sentence as he tells me that all I have to do is recognize that only the mind is creative and that all its errors are healed by the Atonement.
I have been shown in this section that in the past I have given the body credit for being creative. Sometimes I have acted like the body has a mind of its own and that I have little control over it. Here are examples of how this occurs for me. I pretend it gets sick without my permission or active participation, and then convince myself this is true. I give into a craving or in some way feed its appetites, act like I can’t help it, and then feel anxious because I feel like the situation is out of control.
The truth is the body is not creative and trying to heal it at that level is just another strategy the ego employs to keep me focused on the illusion and thereby protect me from God. Giving the body magic potions like medicine and vaccinations, or controlling the appetites through outward means like hypnosis to stop the craving for cigarettes or food, would be examples. (Not that I am suggesting we stop doing these things before the mind is healed enough to do so without fear.)
We may as well go to a witch doctor or sorcerer and let them chant over us and mix us up a potion from eye of toad for all the good it is actually doing. It is not at this level that healing takes place. There is only one creative force and that is mind, and so it is mind alone that needs healing. And how is the mind healed? Only through accepting the Atonement.
I see that Jesus says that the mind is healed as I accept the Atonement. I only need to accept it, and there is nothing for me to do other than accept it. The ego always feels resistance to the idea that my part is so small, but this is the truth. Everything else in the Course is devoted to showing me that I have need of healing, that I want that healing, and preparing my mind for the healing. In this part there is much for me to do, but for the healing itself, all that is needed from me is a simple, unequivocal “yes.”
I now accept that I need healing, that I really prefer peace, that only peace makes me happy, and that it is possible for me to have peace. I am learning that only the mind is creative. I say learning rather than knowing, because I see that I still have to remind myself that this is true. It is new enough for me to still sometimes automatically go to wrong-minded thinking and then have to ask for healing of the mind.
By accepting the Atonement my mind can only heal. This is a done deal and doesn’t need anything from me to make it true. I don’t have to try to heal or “do” anything to heal. A healed mind simply heals. Right now, I am still in the phase of accepting the Atonement, then returning to wrong-minded thinking, and accepting the Atonement again.
I am denying my mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, but it is new for me and so I must protect my decision with my vigilance. I still watch my mind for wrong-minded thoughts and ask that I be healed. I still find areas that I seem to exclude from the Atonement and I am being gently led to look at those and decide again.
While in my right mind, I am a healer, and I am learning that I want to stay in my right mind. I am being shown what I need to do to make this so. As I become more consistent in my decision, I am more effective as a miracle-worker. The message I give others is more consistently the truth. This message is that there is only one level that needs healing and that healing brings peace and happiness. The message is that as they, too, are healed, they become healers, and that their minds are creative, and that their miscreations cannot hurt them.
This message is conveyed through my words, my actions and my thoughts. You can see how powerful the message will be when it is perfectly consistent. Look at the people who do this, people like Mooji and Byron Katie, for example. You see how others are drawn to them. We are drawn to these people (or people like them) because there is the same truth in our minds and that truth wants to embrace Itself, and to express through us all. Whoever is ready to accept the truth will hear the truth and long for more of it.
This is our job, our only job here. We are to accept the Atonement and become the miracle worker, the healer, the master teacher, so that others will be healed with us. This is the way healing will spread through the mind and the sleeping mind will finally awaken. Each and every time we become aware of a wrong-minded thought and choose differently, this is what we are doing. We are saving the world.
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