The Fifty Miracle Principles
of A Course in Miracles
by Kenneth Wapnick
Principle 41
Wholeness is the perceptual content
of miracles.
They thus correct, or atone for,
the faulty perception of lack.
Once again, we are saying the same thing. The basic principle of the ego is the scarcity principle, that there is something missing because we have excluded God. That is where guilt comes from: the thought that there is something lacking, which makes the ego and, therefore, the body real. We see other people and ourselves as lacking; the miracle reflects for us the wholeness that is our true Identity. "Wholeness" can be equated with abundance, the denial of the ego's scarcity principle. "Abundance" does not mean anything material, an association frequently made in what is called Prosperity Consciousness. In Prosperity Consciousness, it is typically thought that the abundance of spirit can be translated into material form: If I think abundance, then I will receive abundance. There is no question that our thoughts do influence what is outside us. This is how the whole physical world was made in the first place. But that does not make it into a spiritual principle. From the perspective of the Course, this is the mistake here. Our minds do affect the world, but this is merely a statement of the power of the mind. It is a psychic phenomenon, not a spiritual one. What makes it spiritual, as we have seen, is turning the power over to the Holy Spirit. Without His help and guidance we would merely continue to choose according to our ego's needs, rooting us still further in this world of illusion. Thus, the miracle does not give us material things. The miracle simply undoes the defenses that were based on our belief in lack and which reinforce this scarcity principle. This process then returns our mind to its original and ongoing state of being one with God, having everything that God gave us in creation: joy, unity, freedom, happiness, etc.
Again, please do not read the word "at-one" or "at-one-ment." At-one-ment is the state of our being in Heaven, where we are all at one with God and with each other. Atonement, however, has nothing to do with Heaven. It has to do with the state here, so if you want to use "atonement," it would be in the sense that atonement restores to us the awareness that we are at one with God.