Try this Miracle Experiment!
A miracle, as I'm defining it here, is an event born in unconditional love. It has a healing ripple effect on everyone it touches and it has characteristics of a quantum leap in that time and steps get skipped. It has a win/win, positive outcome that shows up in an instantaneous, coincidental way and it often feels beyond what we thought could happen, so our beliefs about what's possible stretch a little wider.
If your jaded mind has difficulty wrapping itself around the possibility of miracles, consider some of the relatively new science of consciousness that's now explaining the mechanics of the miraculous in ways even the most skeptical thinkers are beginning to embrace. Melvin Morse, M.D., a well-known researcher of near-death experiences and what they tell us about the nature of consciousness, goes so far as to suggest that the current debate between "skeptics" and "believers" has become obsolete because it's based upon old science. (For an interesting and fairly quick read, check out his book, Where God Lives, that explores, both through anecdotes and science, the existence of a universal energy pattern existing outside the body where memory is storedÑmuch like a World Wide Web of consciousness. For a deeper dive into some similar subjects, take a look at The Field by Lynn McTaggart.)
So, we no longer have to "believe." We just need to be paying attention to know that consciousness is powerful, joined beyond time and space, and capable of far more than we know. How to tap the seemingly limitlessness potential of this pool of consciousness is the focus this experiment, so please read on. The following are what I think of as the three most important elements of practical miracle-making.
1. Group Agreement
In my experience, what amplifies this power of mind bigger and quicker than anything else is when many minds join together. Or, more accurately, when many minds consciously recognize their connection. When groups of people come together, even for just hours, and focus their attention as one, all manner of dramatic results can be achieved. For example, if you put your hand in fire, it would probably burn. Yet, if you were to attend a fire-walking event and spend an evening with a group of people convincing yourselves that the fire won't hurt, it probably wouldn't. Many ordinary people have attended such events and successfully walked over impossibly hot coals with little or no blistering. Spoon-bending, where groups of people are taught in a very short amount of time to make metal utensils behave like silly putty, is a similar kind of workshop that's become popular in recent years. Workshops like these teach us to bend, not just spoons, but the very rules of reality as we knew them, and do it astonishingly quickly. We all have this incredible power within us, and the amplifying effect of the group allows us to access it quickly.
Group agreements such as these, where a group of people decide that reality is going to work differently, are very powerful and can be applied in any number of contexts. They generally start with one person who has a strong faith, based on certainty and experience rather than hope, that a positive outcome will be achieved and this person's confidence in the process lifts the faith of others. The wave-like energy of the group even seems to carry along those who are more doubtful so not everyone needs to have perfect faith in order to have powerful results.
My mentor, Dr. Willard Fuller, a world-known healer and the man who ordained me, is an excellent example of this. He's known for the phenomenal rate of spontaneous healings that happen in his healing services and best know for his incredible ability to spontaneously heal teeth through laying-on of handsÑsomething that until you've witnessed it yourself can be very hard to believe. (And, yes, I'm sure it's not a hoax. I had a cavity filled this way myself!) Yet his faith that God can do anything is so great that he inspires hundreds of people at a time to suspend their beliefs about reality and have an experience they wouldn't have thought possible the day before. He has many spontaneous healings in every healing service he conducts including people growing new fillings in their teeth, or even new teeth, while others watch in astonishment. Some people who attend his seminars are even able to "catch" the ability to heal teeth themselves. (For more on Dr. Fuller, or to have him pray for you, see www.willardfuller.com.)
What's particularly interesting is that he's noticed the rate of dramatic spontaneous healings is much higher in his group services, where he touches hundreds of people for only seconds each, than in his one-on-one sessions where he may spend an hour with an individual. While he himself has no explanation for this, I see the amplifying power of group energy, group faith and group agreement at the root of this phenomenon. Dr. Fuller often makes the point that God doesn't force disbelievers to believe if they don't want to. Very true. At the same time, however, one person with very powerful faith in the process (as with Dr. Fuller, or a seasoned fire-walker or spoon-bender) can start a wave of faith in a group setting that builds to such an extent it's able to lift up and carry even those who are still doubtful.
2. Faith
I wrote earlier that we don't have to "believe" in miracles because the debate between belief and skepticism has become obsolete. However, I am emphasizing the importance of "faith," so it's important to distinguish between the two. An excerpt from a dictionary definition reads as follows: "Belief may suggest mental acceptance without directly implying certitude or certainty on the part of the believer. Faith implies certitude and full trust and confidence in the source whether there is objective evidence or not." Other words the dictionary uses in describing belief include "opinion" and "conviction."
In other words, belief is a mental construct we have formulated; an interpretation of reality that we have an attachment to; an opinion that becomes conviction. We often feel threatened when our beliefs are challenged. I think of belief as coming from the level of personality, developed from our experiences as a personality, whereas faith comes from true inner knowing and has a certainty about it that comes from the wisdom of our Higher Mind and spiritual self.
When we "believe" in miracles, we're invested in waiting, watching, and proving that what we believe is true. This kind of attachment is very much the nature of the personality. When we have "faith" in miracles, we've let go. We may feel happy anticipation about what's to come but we're still very present and at peace in the moment. We may wonder what will happen but we're not wondering if something will happen. (I once asked Dr. Fuller what he experiences when he lays hands on people. His answer was that he doesn't experience anything in particular; he's just excited to see what God's going to do!) With faith we're not attached to a particular future. With attachment there's always fear and the feeling that we won't be OK unless things work out in a certain way. (Even low-level fear that we call by other names like "tension" or "anxiety" or "nervousness" are all still fear.) When we're in fear about the future we can't be very present in the moment and we certainly don't experience inner peace. What's more, fear is antithetical to miracles. Fear invariably affirms our separateness and limitation. It cuts us off from the universal source.
A man in one of workshops many years ago told a story of arriving in a big city, homeless, jobless, penniless and friendless. He kept telling himself, "I don't know what's going to happen, but I know it's going to be great!" And he did feel himself to be on a wonderful adventure. With astonishing speed and serendipity, one thing after another fell into place for him: a place to stay, a job, friends, and soon his new life was well under way. This is faith in action.
There are many well-documented examples of the power of faith. Mother Theresa, for instance, always had faith that God would somehow provide the food, money and provisions she needed to continue her service to the poorest of the poor. Writings about her work are filled with miracle stories of how the things she needed showed up exactly when she needed them, often in the most surprising ways. Clearly, it would have been very difficult for her to perform the service she did if her attention was distracted by worries about the future. Faith means having so much trust that the future is unfolding perfectly, even though we don't know how, we're able to release it completely and be very present and at peace in the moment. Whereas belief is powered by the personality, faith is fueled by trust in God.
Faith is also a very different from wishing or hoping. Hoping and wishing keep us focused on what we want but don't have. It draws our attention to what's missing rather than the fullness of what is. It encourages an attachment to a future outcome that prevents us from being present in the moment, and we feel lack rather than peace. Most importantly, faith produces miraculous results while wishing and hoping don't.
3. Love
Last, but not least, unconditional love is the most powerful and, truly, the only necessary ingredient needed to call forth the miraculous. When I talk about love, I'm referring to something far more significant than a warm, sentimental emotional state. An interesting look into the true nature of things can be glimpsed through the eyes of those who've had near-death experiencesÑthat is, have clinically died and been revived. Their accounts almost always include profound experiences of love. They typically report an experience of consciousness separating from the physical body, often viewing the body from high above, a transcendental experience of well-being and peace, and a beautiful light, accompanied by a powerful experience of love.
Researcher, Melvin Morse M.D., whom I referred to earlier, is author of a number of books on near-death experiences (his first bestseller was Closer to the Light) and was the first person to conduct scientifically valid research on NDE's (near-death experiences). Morse noticed that for many NDE'ers, the experience of love and light are virtually indistinguishable. In fact, the "Light" that is the quintessential element of the NDE experience is, according to Dr. Morse, most frequently described as "a pure light of unconditional love." As modern physics is teaching us, light is the basis of the physical world. Light is the substance and energy underlying all existence. All is light, and if light is love, then love is All That Is. It's energy, it's substance and it's power. According to Morse, people who have experienced this "light of unconditional love" are measurably healthier physically and emotionally, have more psychic abilities and may even become more intelligent.
The power of love is the power of joining. In the language of physics it is the power of "wave" energy, as opposed to "particle" energy. As we attune to the energy of love we tap into a collective power source (wave energy) that is something much greater than that of an individual acting as a separate being (particle energy).
The Experiment
But the point here isn't really about research, science and the mysteries of physics. All the preceding is designed to give your mind something to chew on; to create mental "buy in" for the experiment to follow and help your mind get ready to get out of the way. Because now it's time to lose your mind a little; to let it be boggled, and willingly suspend disbelief long enough to take a leap out of the box of what you think you know so that together we can create miracles of our own.
As you'll see, we have all the components that facilitate miracles. I have the confident faith of someone who's seen countless miracles happen for many people in many groups, (both in-person groups as well as the highly anonymous, long-distance group work done by my prayer ministry) and can lend mine to all of you. I have great certainty that we'll create miracles here so it's not even important that you have absolute faith yourself. All that's necessary here is to open your mind and give more attention to the possibilities than to the impossibilities. (What was it Jesus said? It only takes a mustard seed's worth of faith to move a mountain. Be you Christian or not, you have to hand it to JesusÑhe knew a lot about spiritual law.)
Preparation
Before going on to the next paragraph, make sure you have a few uninterrupted moments where you can relax and imagine in a meditative way. If you want, light a candle, put on quiet music, go outside to a place that lifts you, or otherwise create a sacred atmosphere because, next, we're going to join our minds and hearts and invite a miracle. Prepare yourself by simply letting your excitement and joyful anticipation mount. Allow yourself to feel young and full of wonderÉ.
Going Deeper
Already we've started a wave of faith, and now we need group agreement. So, as you relax, quiet your thoughts and let your attention turn inward, imagine your mind joining with the minds of all who have read, are reading and will read these words (remember, time is far more fluid than our physical senses tell us, meaning we can join with the minds of those participating in this experiment days apart from us, weeks apart, or years apartÑlet your imagination stretch open).
Picture the joined consciousness of us all as clear, beautiful, and only positiveÑan ocean of pure healing potential that has the power to do great good and is incapable of doing harm. Imagine that beyond the illusionary boundaries of time and space we have formed a synergistic healing force, ready to be directed.
You can add the power of your own consciousness to this in any number of ways your imagination might suggest: aim a beam of light from your heart, head or hands to a collective pool of light and see it grow brighter; let your heart open in caring and send a wave of love; send the energy of your own excitement and anticipation; send to everyone the feeling that something wonderful is already starting to happen. Invoke the power and presence of any aspect of Divinity that is meaningful to you: God, Goddess, Jesus, Creator, Universal Source, Higher PowerÉ.
Imagine us joining in a common intent that every reader now experiences something miraculous this week. Imagine that many of us, even all of us, are going to experience miracles of all sorts: miraculous moments of "being," spontaneous healings, delightful synchronicities, new opportunities appearing, gifts and blessings of all sorts showing up unexpectedly, revelations, new directions opening, and more. You may find it easier to imagine others manifesting miracles than to imagine it happening to you. Know that you don't have to have absolute faith or belief because there's now a whole group of people supplying the faith in you that you may not yet have yourself. Let go of wondering if it's going to work and, like Dr. Fuller, just be excited to see what God's going to do.
Last, but far from least, it's time to add the power of love to our experiment, so let your attention shift a bit and bring to mind someone in your life whose highest good you would like to unconditionally support. See who pops into mind before you have a chance to think about it. Trust this is the right person. This person is going to further your highest good by offering you an opportunity to open your heart unconditionally. Letting go of all agendas about what you think this person should do, simply send your deepest heat-felt desire that this person now receive their highest good. Don't give it a form. Let go of your personality's investment so that you simply fill their spiritual bank account without any stipulations on how they spend it. Unconditional love is a powerful spiritual gift that is always received whether or not we ever fully comprehend it through the filter of our personality. Give it unconditionally with faith that your gift will be received and used in the way this person most needs. See their perfection, their beauty, their Higher Self. Imagine yourself loving this person the way God loves them.
End by sending a wave of gratitude to this person for helping you tap into the powerful state of unconditional love and see them fade into light.
Now let go. Let the miracle experiment fly away from you, lightly, like a butterfly that lit on your hand for an instant. Imagine that your miracle has already occurred, you just don't know where in time and space it has been placed. It's like a birthday present in the mail. You know it's there, you know it's yours and you'll receive it simply by going about your life with as much contentment and pleasure as possible.
Assignment
Instead of giving attention to waiting and looking for your miracle, give attention to supporting the highest good of others. Just as you did in the visualization, let someone come to mind. It may be the same person, or it may be someone different, or more than one. See where your love just naturally wants to go and find a way to give unconditionally, with no agendas around how your gifts are received, used, or reciprocated. You can give quietly and anonymously through prayer or you can take more outward action. Listen within to what feels right. You'll know it's "right" when the giving itself feels to be a joyous miracle.
For a deeper dive into this journey of consciousness and practical spirituality, consider participating in Rev. Lynn Woodland's Quantum Spirit Unlimited online course of education and ordination, offered on a self-determined tuition basis. For information, see www.quantumspiritunlimited.com. For more on Lynn Woodland's work, see www.lynnwoodland.com.