Do you believe in miracles? I believe in miracles. Albert Einstein believed in miracles. If it's good enough for Einstein...
Marianne Williamson said “No matter what the problem, a miracle can solve it. Remember to ask for one… With every thought we think, we either summon or block a miracle... There is no such thing as a faithless person; we either have Faith in the power of love, or Faith in the power of fear. For Faith is an aspect of consciousness. Have Faith in love, and fear will lose its power over you. Have Faith in forgiveness, and your self-hatred will fall away. Have Faith in miracles, and they will come to you… Imagine the week ahead unfolding in an ever-increasing flow of miracles. Allow the image to sink into your heart. Receive it with a big yes!.. A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love -from a belief in what is not real, to Faith in that which is. That shift in perception changes everything... Behind every fear, there is a miracle waiting... With every thought we think, we either summon or block a miracle. It is not our circumstances, then, but rather our thoughts about our circumstances, that determine our power to transform them...
Good things will come to you when good things come from you. You will attract what you are. The goodness of this world is offered to those who are doing good for this world. When you radiate positive energy, you attract more of the same.
Let's forgive the past and who we were then. Let's embrace the present and who we're capable of becoming. Let's surrender the future and watch miracles unfold... In any moment, in any circumstance, a miracle will occur when we align ourselves with Truth... Miracles begin when we consider the possibility that there might be another way... The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behaviour as one two things: Either love, or a call for love... The Universe is either expressing a miracle or is pregnant with the next one... As we become purer channels for God's light, we develop an appetite for the sweetness that is possible in this world. A miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating the world that could be... Imagine the week ahead unfolding in an ever-increasing flow of miracles. Allow the image to sink into your heart. Receive it with a big yes!” We may find miracles in places that seemed barren and insignificant.
It’s certainly worth a try, don’t you think?
Albert Einstein said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein and miracles
Albert Einstein, who is widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time, believed in miracles: He said that "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Here he invites us to contemplate two contrasting perspectives on life: That it be lived from fear (no miracles) or love (miracles).
Einstein’s intellectual achievements and originality have made his name synonymous with genius. He was so much more than simply a theoretical physicist. He was also a metaphysician, a philosopher, he had an enormous influence on the philosophy of science, and he was a spiritual Master, like William Shakespeare and Carl Jung.
In 1905, sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (miracle year), Einstein published four groundbreaking papers. These outlined a theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced his special theory of relativity - a theory which addressed the inability of classical mechanics to account satisfactorily for the behaviour of the electromagnetic field - and demonstrated that if the special theory is correct, mass and energy are equivalent to each other. In other words we are all, as well as everything in the Universe, composed of energy. When the scientists of the Large Hadron Collider look inside atoms and subatomic particles, there is ultimately only energy. This philosophical approach to science would allow such entities as the soul and love to be real, and to be ‘heard and not seen’. Einstein wrote that “If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” For me this is the awe and wonder of Nature and the Universe. Einstein recognises the limitations of science in perceiving this awe. It seems very arrogant of science to reduce human beings to clumps of molecules and nothing more. Are you just a clump of molecules?
Einstein said on the question of God “The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the Universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a Universe marvellously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations.”
He continued, stating that his views were of “Admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem - the most important of all human problems."
In an interview, he stated that he believed in a deity who is all-powerful, not judgemental, a feeling, and beyond the limits of our human mind “Who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind… Scientific research can reduce superstition by encouraging people to think and view things in terms of cause and effect. Certain it is that: A conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality and intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order. This firm belief, a belief bound up with a deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God… We have to admire in humility the beautiful harmony of the structure of this world - as far as we can grasp it.”
Einstein was more inclined to denigrate atheists than religious people. Einstein said in correspondence, "The fanatical atheists... Are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who - in their grudge against the traditional 'opium of the people' (religion) - cannot hear the music of the spheres." Although he did not believe in a personal God, he indicated that he would never seek to combat such belief because "Such a belief seems to me preferable to the lack of any transcendental outlook."
Einstein frequently referred to his belief system as "Cosmic religion" and authored an eponymous article on the subject in 1954, which later became his book 'Ideas and Opinions' in 1955. The belief system recognised a "miraculous order which manifests itself in all of Nature as well as in the world of ideas," devoid of a personal God who rewards and punishes individuals based on their behaviour. It rejected a conflict between science and religion, and held that cosmic religion was necessary for science. For Einstein, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." He told William Hermanns in an interview that "God is a mystery. But a comprehensible mystery. I have nothing but awe when I observe the laws of Nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver, but how does this lawgiver look? Certainly not like a man magnified." He added with a smile "Some centuries ago I would have been burned or hanged. Nonetheless, I would have been in good company." Einstein devised a theology for the cosmic religion, wherein the rational discovery of the secrets of nature is a religious act. His religion and his philosophy were integral parts of the same package as his scientific discoveries. His emotional realm was his driving force for discovery.
Einstein used to word religious to describe spiritual feelings, and his emotional and psychological attitude. Einstein deemed that the most mature outlook was one of cosmic spirituality, originating in a deep sense of awe and mystery, which is a feeling of “The sublimity and marvellous order which reveal themselves in nature ... to experience the Universe as a single significant whole."
Einstein characterised himself as "devoutly religious" in the following sense, "The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the centre of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men."
Charlie Chaplin became friends with Einstein and described him as having a "Highly emotional temperament", from which came his "Extraordinary intellectual energy". Einstein expounded his spiritual outlook in a wide array of writings and interviews. He clarified that, "I am not an atheist." Einstein rejected a conflict between science and religion and held that cosmic religion was necessary for science. In other interviews, he stated that he thought that there is a "Lawgiver" who sets the laws of the Universe. Einstein believed the problem of God was the "Most difficult in the world" - a question that could not be answered "Simply with yes or no". He conceded that "The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds". What he did believe in was the Universal force of love, as he expounded in a letter to his daughter:
“When I proposed the theory of relativity, very few understood me, and what I will reveal now to transmit to mankind will also collide with the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world.
I ask you to guard the letters as long as necessary, years, decades, until society is advanced enough to accept what I will explain below.
There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us.
This Universal force is LOVE.
When scientists looked for a unified theory of the Universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force.
Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it.
Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others.
Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals.
For love we live and die.
This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the Universe that man has not learned to drive at will.
To give visibility to love, I made a simple substitution in my most famous equation.
If instead of E = mc2, we accept that the energy to heal the world can be obtained through love multiplied by the speed of light squared, we arrive at the conclusion that love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.
After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the Universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy…
If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.
Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.
However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.
When we learn to give and receive this Universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.
I deeply regret not having been able to express what is in my heart, which has quietly beaten for you all my life. Maybe it’s too late to apologise, but as time is relative, I need to tell you that I love you and thanks to you I have reached the ultimate answer!"
Your father Albert Einstein”
I love Einstein’s quote “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Einstein expressed his admiration for the Ancient Greek philosophers, pointing out that he had been far more interested in them than in science. He also noted; "The more I read the Greeks, the more I realise that nothing like them has ever appeared in the world since.”
Einstein famously said “God doesn’t play dice". Similarly ‘A Course In Miracles’ states that “Remember that no one is where he is by accident, and chance plays no part in God’s plan.”
‘A Course In Miracles’
In ‘A Course in Miracles (ACIM)’, which was written by Helen Schucman, a miracle is defined as a “Shift in perception from fear to love.” Schucman, a research associate at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, wrote the book based on an inner voice, which she identified as Jesus. In other words she was describing her own mental experience of divine (unconditional) 'love'. The largest growth in sales of the books occurred in 1992 after Marianne Williamson discussed the book on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. Marianne Williamson ran as a Presidential candidate in the United States, and popularised ACIM in her book ‘A Return to Love.’
Marianne Williamson, the great supporter of ACIM, said in 'Tears to Triumph' “Consider the possibility now that anything could happen. I’m not asking you to believe this, but only to consider that it might be true. Simply thinking this thought - that miracles are possible - does more to pave the way for your healing than you can imagine. It opens the door to a realm of infinite possibilities, regardless of what you have been through or what you are going through now... Prayer is the medium of miracles."
ACIM suggests that prayer and meditation are essential in creating miracles “Prayer is a way of asking for something. It is the medium of miracles” and “In quietness are all things answered”, in other words meditation. ACIM continues “The miracle comes quietly into the mind that stops an instant and is still… The Christ in you is very still. He knows where you are going, and He leads you there in gentleness and blessing all the way.”
A Course in Miracles tells us that although “We think that without the ego, all would be chaos, the opposite is true. Without the ego, all would be love.”
ACIM states that only love is real and that “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”
Where there is hate there is no love. ACIM states that “Love holds no grievances.” Those who hate only do so because they cannot love themselves or anyone else.
Einstein would agree with the law of cause and effect in ACIM “What you see reflects your thinking, and your thinking but reflects the choice of what you want to see.” So you create your world, based on whether you choose to live from a place of love (‘Heaven’) or fear (‘Hell’).
I love this ACIM quote that we need only concern ourselves with mastery through love: “Attempting the mastery of fear is useless. In fact, it asserts the power of fear by the very assumption that it need be mastered. The true resolution rests entirely on mastery through love… Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. Identify with fear, and you will be a stranger to yourself.” Why waste another second on fear?
ACIM states that “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
You only have one problem. You have forgotten who you are. You are a limitless BEing, only held back by your fears. ACIM states that “All power is given you in Earth and Heaven. There is nothing that you cannot do.” Catch your Self, realise this, and don't forget who you are.
Marianne Williamson
She says that 'A Course in Miracle's tells us that although "We think that without the ego, all would be chaos, the opposite is true. Without the ego, all would be love." In her book ‘Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey From Suffering to Enlightenment’ Marianne Williamson says that “Miracles are thoughts”. She says that a miracle is a “Shift from identifying with the suffering self (the ego), to a shift to identifying with the spiritual Self (our soul or Higher Power). We replace a mental filter that ensures our pain with a mental filter that delivers us from pain. She says that "Miracles arise from conviction. Be convicted about these things: Miracles can happen. Miracles do happen. Love makes them happen."
She adds “A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love - from a belief in what is not real, to Faith in that which is. That shift in perception changes everything.”
She continues “Thoughts produce everything. Thought it the level of cause. The world as we know it is the level of effect. A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love… Most of our suffering is due less to our circumstances than to our thoughts about them. In fact, the world is merely a projection of our thoughts. Everything we go through is either filtered through the mind of fear (ego), or the mind of love (our soul). Love creates peace and fear creates pain. Fear is not a thing in and of itself. Rather, it is the absence of love. Since the thought system that dominates the world is one that repudiates love, it is s prison in which we are bound to suffer. The only way to escape our suffering is to rise above the thought system that creates it… The pain can be transcended. Miracle-minded thinking does not suppress our emotions. Rather, it brings them up so that we can place them on a path to true healing. Healing occurs when we identify our painful feelings and place them in his (God's) hands praying that the thoughts that would produce the feelings will be realigned with his. Releasing a situation to God means releasing our thoughts about it; that they might be changed on a causal level. That which is placed on the altar is then altered.
Yes, whatever happened, happened; but what happens now is up to you. You can respond from ego, ensuring pain, or you can respond from spirit, ensuring a miracle.
While it is tempting to believe that you are the victim of certain people or forces beyond your control, A Course in Miracles teaches you to recognise that you are not a victim. Through the grace of God, you are lifted above and beyond any forces-internal or external-that threaten to limit you. Knowing you're not a victim is a major form of personal empowerment.
If you allow spirit to have dominion in your heart you will have dominion in your life. That changes thinking. That IS the miracle. That I'm not just a child of the body, I'm a child of the Universe and in the Universe I am programmed for greatness, and the fact that I don't have money in my bank account now doesn't mean I'm any less programmed for greatness. I was programmed for greatness just like the acorn is programmed to be an oak tree... Jesus said that we would someday do even greater works than He; should we not take Him at His word? And should not 'someday' be today? It's time for us to start working miracles, if indeed we have the capacity within us to do so... "God, please use me" is the most powerful affirmation we can say for an abundant career. It is the miracle-worker's prayer. Everybody wants a great job. Accept that it's already been given you. The fact that you're alive means a function has been assigned to you: open your heart to everyone and everything. That way you're a vessel of God. Don't worry about what to say or what to do. He'll let you know.
It would be a violation of our free will for God to rearrange our thoughts without our consciously having asked him to do so. But once we ask our prayers are answered. Our suffering having been surrendered, an alchemical healing process begins immediately; situations are miraculously transformed as our thoughts are divinely shifted. Where we've been holding on to bitterness we are guided to the ways of forgiveness. Where we've been holding on to the past, we are gently shown new possibilities in the present. Where our general outlook has been negative, we begin to see things through a more positive lens. The point is that once we are willing to see things differently to conspire with a God who, in the words of ACIM, “Outwits our self-hatred. Then the healing begins. Your consciousness is illumined. The tiny crack of light that you have allowed into your mind will expand into a miraculous blaze… Every book that you would find helpful falls at your feet. A friend who might have helpful insights just happens to call… It gives you the power to invoke miracles that lie beyond.”
She continues “A miracle changes how we view the world, piercing the veil of illusion that keeps us trapped in pain and suffering. A prayer for a miracle is not a request that the situation be different, but a request that we see it differently. Only when our thoughts are changed will the effects of our thoughts be changed as well: Only when we see beyond the illusions of the world will we be lifted above the sorrow they produce. And what are these illusions? They are the manifestations produced by fear that would hide the face of love. The material world is a vast matrix of illusion created by the mortal mind. The point of spiritual seeking is not just to realise that the world is filled with illusions; however, it is also to realise the ultimate Truth that lies beyond them. To say that the world as we know it is not our ultimate reality is not to say that we do not have an ultimate reality: We do have an ultimate reality, which lies beyond our bodies, beyond our mistakes, and beyond this world at all. We are not all specks of dust, simply short-lived finite imperfect mortal beings with no greater purpose than to grasp pathetically for some happiness before we inevitably suffer and die. And while we hold ourselves hostage to such an insane perception of what it means to be human we are doomed to emotional and mental anguish. Instead we can embrace a deeper Truth that we are spirits, not just bodies. That we are great and glorious BEings on this Earth with great and glorious missions. And having forgotten this we have been cast into an outer Kingdom of pain and despair. Our task then is to find a way back to this nobler vision of who we really are: That the pain of our forgetfulness might cease - our existential pain results from living within a hallucinatory experience and thinking it real the three-dimensional plane of experience is very real to our mortal selves, but something deep within us knows that there is something more. This doesn’t mean that you didn't suffer through this or that human experience but it does mean that the you who suffered through it isn't the real you. As our thoughts are rearranged regarding who we are in relation to the experience, our experience of the experience transforms. This doesn't invalidate our mortal suffering but it validates our capacity to rise above it. The real you is love, unaffected by that which is not love. Your spirit, God's creation, that is your ultimate reality is unalterable and unaffected by the lovelessness of the world.
The human mind is basically split. Just as part of the mind knows who we are and sees clearly beyond the worldly veil of illusion; part of the mind is delusional and blind. Learning to dismantle the delusional mind, the fear-based ego, is the path of Enlightenment. Just as darkness is cast out by light, fear is cast out by love. The ego is ultimately dissolved and replaced by the mind of spirit, which is love. Love is the truth as God created us. When our thoughts are not loving we are literally ‘not being ourselves’. Psychically, every loveless thought is an act of self-annihilation. A world that neither recognises the primacy of love nor fosters its expression is a depressing world indeed. Enlightenment, which is infinite compassion, is the only true antidote to our suffering. This cure does not necessarily happen quickly or without deep and even gut-wrenching work. For the world can be hard and our resistance to love can be very strong. But our willingness is everything and God responds fully to our slightest invitation that he helped us see things differently. A spiritual reinterpretation of events gives us miraculous authority to command the winds, to part the waters, and to break all chains that bind us. The power of God cannot and will not fail. We began to feel peace where before we knew agonising anxiety. To feel hope where before we saw no possibility of breakthrough. And to learn to forgive and to feel forgiven. Seeing our lives through a spiritual lens is not a less sophisticated, but a more sophisticated way of interpreting our experience. The love that saves us is not an abstraction or a gooey, wimpy sentimentality. Compassion is the greatest power in the Universe."
"The mind that minimises the power of love to release us from our suffering is the mind that creates are suffering to begin with and then vigilantly maintains it. The loveless mind is the ultimate pause behind every disaster and every tear. The only thing to be saved from really is the insane thinking that dominates this planet. Aligning with the divine Self then, is our salvation. We suffer to the extent that we identify with the brokenness of the world and our power to heal lies in knowing that we are actually not of this world. Because we are children of God we need not suffer the world’s insanity as we do. Expanding our thinking beyond the confines of three-dimensional reality we free ourselves of those confines. We forge new pathways in our brains and in our experiences. We avail ourselves of quantum possibilities that otherwise would not appear. This process is not an instantaneous 'Eureka' moment a depressed person doesn't just say “Oh I get it now” and then quickly move on. It isn't easy for instance to forgive someone who did in fact betray us; to remain optimistic that the future can be better when the past has been tragic. To embrace the possibility of any internal connection with someone whose abandonment or death has devastated us. But when we are willing with the help of God to see what we do not see now then our inner eye is opened. We extend our perceptions beyond the veil of worldly illusion and are delivered to a world beyond. None of this is easy, for our prison walls are thick: They are fortified by the appearances of the material world and by the mental agreements of our species. Humanity has been dominated by a fear-based system for ages and Enlightenment is a radical repudiation of the basic tenets of that worldview. Few things are more revolutionary than finding true happiness in a suffering world. Enlightenment is a retraining of our mental muscles as we go against the emotional and psychological gravity of the fear-based mind. The ego seeks to preserve itself, but bring us into loveless thoughts at every opportunity… From addiction to warfare, the ego seeks not merely to withhold love but to destroy it. Fear gives rise to a variety of negative emotions, some of them relatively harmless, and some genuinely insane. One confluence of fear-based emotions is commonly called depression. Depression is an implosion of negativity that suppresses at least temporarily our ability to just get over it. It is like an emotional muscle spasm in which we are unable to move out of a fixed and painful place. Given the state of the world today. Given the fear and destruction all around us, depression among any of us is understandable. Life on earth can indeed be heart-breaking but deep sadness even intense emotional suffering need not break us. It is part of the human experience: Part of our spiritual journey. Even the happiest life can have deeply sad days. Once we accept this fact making space for it in our consciousness, we stop seeing every bout of depression as an intruder that has to be shooed out of the house immediately. The fact that we can be heartbroken is part of our deep humanity. Is that a weakness in our character? The weakness if anything is our fear of looking at our suffering more authentically and our resistance to dealing with it more wisely. The wisest question when we are deeply sad is not “How can I end or numb this pain immediately?” The wisest question is “What is the meaning of this pain?” Or “What is it revealing to me?” Or “What is it calling me to understand?” An honest inquiry into the spiritual significance of our pain does not prolong it but rather hastens its end. Whether we grow from our suffering or succumb to it lies primarily lies in whether we succeed in find a spiritual lesson in even the most excruciating circumstances. Searching for those lessons is the search for wisdom and the search for wisdom is the search for peace.” In the words of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche “To live is to suffer: To survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”
Marianne Williamson writes “Consider the possibility now that anything could happen. I’m not asking you to believe this, but only to consider that it might be true. Simply thinking this thought - that miracles are possible - does more to pave the way for your healing than you can imagine. It opens the door to a realm of infinite possibilities, regardless of what you have been through or what you are going through now. Spirituality isn't some quaint stepchild of an intelligent worldview, or the only option for those of us not smart enough to understand the facts of the real world. Spirituality reflects the most sophisticated mindset, and the most powerful force available for the transformation of human suffering… A spiritual reinterpretation of events gives us miraculous authority to command the winds, to part the waters, and to break all chains that bind us… We’re not without hope; we just haven’t been seeing it. We’re not without power; we just haven’t been claiming it. We’re not without love; we just haven’t been living it… The pain you are going through is not what will determine your future; your future will be determined by who you are as you go through your pain… Your human self might be in hell right now, but your divine Self is literally untouched by your suffering. And your divine Self is who you are.”
She continues "Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyse, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it… We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past, but by the love we're not extending in the present. Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve… Only do what you feel called in your heart to do, and then give all of yourself to the task. "
She writes “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
She believes that spirituality is soul healing: “The soul theoretically is the purview of religion. But in today’s society, relatively few people look to religion to truly heal their despair – and for understandable reason. In most ways organised religion has abdicated its role of spiritual comforter, if not through its own malfeasance, the at least through dissociation from the soulfulness at the core of its mission. Modern psychotherapy has taken up some the slack, and yet it too fails deliver when it doesn’t acknowledge the soul work necessary to heal our emotional pain. The psychotherapeutic profession has now turned to the pharmaceutical industry to compensate for its frequent lack of effectiveness, yet the pharmaceutical industry lacks the ability to do more about our sadness than to numb it… Spirituality reflects the most sophisticated mindset and the most powerful force available for the transformation of human suffering – whether someone is taking medication or not. That is why learning the basics of a spiritual worldview – and the mental, emotional, and behavioural principals that this entails – is key to reclaiming our inner peace.”
She continues "Love is the essential reality and our purpose on Earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us… And the soul craves meaning the way the body craves oxygen. "
On love and fear, she wrote in her book ‘A Return to Love’, that “Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on Earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us… Something amazing happens when we surrender and just love. We melt into another world, a realm of power already within us. The world changes when we change. The world softens when we soften. The world loves us when we choose to love the world... In the absence of love, we began slowly but surely to fall apart… Just like a sunbeam can't separate itself from the sun, and a wave can't separate itself from the ocean, we can't separate ourselves from one another. We are all part of a vast sea of love, one indivisible divine mind.” This is why meditation gives us access to Universal Consciousness and allows us to create miracles.
She expands on what transformation is, that “No one will listen to us until we listen to ourselves.” Transformational Life Coaching (TLC) is where I hear the highest version of you so that you can hear your own Truth when you say it to me.
She wrote that “The greatest opportunity for humanity’s survival in the twenty-first century lies not in widening our external horizons, but in deepening our internal ones.” This is the purview of TLC.
Marianne Williamson wrote “If you want to have a non-miraculous day, I suggest that newspaper and caffeine form the crux of your morning regimen. Listen to the morning news while you're in the shower, read the headlines as you are walking out the door, make sure you're keeping tabs on everything: the wars, the economy, the gossip, the natural disasters. . . But if you want the day ahead to be full of miracles, then spend some time each morning with God.” This means starting your day with prayer and meditation. Every day. This is my daily regime.
Do you choose grievances or miracles?
When I decided to forgive my mother for the emotional abuse and childhood trauma that she inflicted on me, it created space for a miracle. She announced in her final words to me at our last supper together, as her soul spoke briefly:
"I love you. I adore you. I will look after all of you."
Marianne Williamson wrote "You can have a grievance or a miracle. You cannot have both… Forgiveness is the choice to see people as they are now. When we’re mad at people, we’re angry because of something they said or did before this moment. By letting go of the past, we make room for miracles to replace our grievances."
What do others have to say about miracles?
Love is the path to miracles. Louse L. Hay wrote “Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.”
Challenges are the crucibles of miracles. Jean de la Bruyère wrote that “Out of difficulties grow miracles.”
Expect miracles: Claim them! Give gratitude for them. David Ben-Gurion wrote that “Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist.” Dr Wayne W. Dyer added “I am realistic – I expect miracles.” Laurence J. Peter wrote “Don't believe in miracles - depend on them.”
W.B. Yeats wrote that "The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."
Marcuc Aurelius wrote "It's time you realised that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet."
Miracles are part of Nature. Saint Augustine wrote that “Miracles are not contrary to Nature, but only contrary to what we know about Nature.” C. S. Lewis concurred “Miracles do not, in fact, break the Laws of Nature.” George Bernard Shaw wrote “Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: Life itself is the miracle of miracles.”
Have Faith in miracles. Roy T. Bennett wrote “Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.” Henry Miller wrote that “Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is Faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.”
Again, in hommage to Einstein who said “God doesn’t play dice", M. Night Shyamalan wrote “See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?”
Deepak Chopra wrote “According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of Enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities (described by Carl Jung, the psychiatrist and spiritual Master). And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.”
Dan Brown wrote in ‘Angels and Demons’ “For centuries the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by bit. Debunking miracles. Training the mind to overcome the heart. Condemning religion as the opiate of the masses. They denounce God as a hallucination - a delusional crutch for those too weak to accept that life is meaningless. I could not stand by while science presumed to harness the power of God himself! Proof, you say? Yes, proof of science's ignorance! What is wrong with the admission that something exists beyond our understanding? The day science substantiates God in a lab is the day people stop needing Faith!”
For some levity with a 1970s throwback, here are the Jackson Sisters giving you “I Believe In Miracles.”
The Jackson Sisters 'I Believe In Miracles'
The Bible, the Bard, and miracles
The Bible is really a book of metaphors that represent psychological reality as outlined in my articles on abundance and on psychological and spiritual metaphors for life.
In a line from William Shakespeare's (the greatest author that ever lived, who was also a spiritual Master) play The Tempest, which was one of the last ones that he penned: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” We are limitless beings held backs only by our limiting beliefs (our fears).
In Mark (9:23) Jesus said “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Losing your limiting beliefs is akin to finding Faith. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus said “He replied, “Because you have so little Faith. Truly I tell you, if you have Faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus said according to Luke 18:27 “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” This means that when you do the inner work and choose to be you Higher Self instead of your ego every day, you access the unlimited intelligence, consciousness, and Real Personal Power of the Universe.
Marianne has the final words
As Marianne Williamson wrote “Behind every fear, there is a miracle waiting.” So, feel your emotions, and face your fears. A miracle awaits you…
She reminds us not to forget forgiveness “Forgiveness does not mean that we suppress anger; forgiveness means that we have asked for a miracle: The ability to see through mistakes that someone has made to the Truth that lies in all of our hearts. Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. Attack thoughts towards others are attack thoughts towards ourselves. The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive… To the extent we are perceiving anyone's guilt -choosing to focus on the errors of their personality rather than the eternal innocence of their spirit - we're closing our hearts, deflecting a miracle and causing our own inevitable suffering… Magic happens when you tell the Universe what you want it to do for you; miracles happen when you ask how you can be of service to the Universe… In any moment, in any circumstance, a miracle will occur when we align ourselves with Truth… Let's forgive the past and who we were then. Let's embrace the present and who we're capable of becoming. Let's surrender the future and watch miracles unfold.” I am in. Are you?
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Hello,
I am very pleased to meet you. Thank you for reading this far. I very much look forward to connecting with the highest version of you, to seeing your highest possibility, and to our conversations. Please do contact me via my website for a free connection call and a free experience of coaching.
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Olly Alexander Branford MBBS, MA(Cantab), PhD
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I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have published over 50 peer reviewed scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for four years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.