Course in Political Miracles: Lesson 17

"My belief brings me what I really want."
I have learned in earlier lessons of this course that merely saying I want something is a very weak approximation to really, really, really wanting something. Likewise, really believing that my goal is coming true is far more powerful than merely hoping it will come true. My belief has an effect.

My goal is to bring about a political freedom in the world which will reflect the freedom of my spirit. In other words, never again will governments be allowed without a citizen's specific permission to levy taxation, which in practice is a form of theft and in principle a form of slavery. My goal is to end theft and slavery perpetrated by governments.

Now if I sit around daydreaming, merely hoping my goal will come to pass, somebody will come along and say to me: “dream again!” But if I really believe my goal is coming true … it's going to be more than a daydream, isn't it?

What is it about belief that seems to cause the universe to re-arrange itself in order to make the belief come true? Do I act differently and more powerfully if I believe something to be true than I act if I merely hope something to be true? Do I have a vested interest in making it come to pass to prove myself right? Does my belief affect the minds of others, influencing them to work for me?

Whatever the mechanism, it is very clear that the stronger my belief the more powerful the influence working in my favor. He or she who believes powerfully ... makes things happen.

So the question is: how can I make myself believe very, very deeply in the accomplishment of my goal before there is much objective evidence to support such a belief?

This would be quite a challenge if I insisted on withholding belief until I could see compelling evidence for something. But the truth is there are many, many things I take for granted everyday for which I have no proof. So obviously I am willing to suspend the need for compelling evidence. I am especially willing if I think I can learn something from a fun experiment.

As a fun experiment, I want to find out what would happen if I said to myself:

"I really, really believe governments are going to stop stealing from people or enslaving people using taxation."

The first time I say it to myself I might not believe it. But what happens if I say it again ... and then again ... and then again? Pretty soon I'm going to start believing it, even if my initial belief is very weak.

But an initial belief is nonetheless a starting belief and belief is very powerful in at least one respect: I will start seeing evidence for my belief. That's the way perception works: I selectively filter reality and begin to see evidence for what I believe.

No matter how weak my belief, when I start seeing evidence for my belief it is strengthened. Then when my belief is strengthened, I see even more evidence.

So my experiment this week is to tell myself over and over and over again all day long, like a mantra being chanted:

"I really, really believe governments are going to stop stealing from people or enslaving people using taxation."

I want to say this at least 100 to 150 times a day this week, far more if possible, and try my best to mean it as I say it ... then laugh and wait and see what happens. After all, it's just an experiment, right?




The device which more deeply prepares freedom lovers for success, A Course in Miracles , talks about our ultimate need to free ourselves from every kind of slavery:

You have been told to bring the darkness to the light, and guilt to holiness. And you have also been told that error must be corrected at its source. Therefore, it is the tiny part of your self, the little thought that seems split off and separate, that the Holy Spirit needs. The rest is fully in God's keeping, and needs no guide. But this wild and delusional thought needs help, because, in its delusions, it thinks it is the Son of God, whole and omnipotent, sole ruler of the kingdom it set apart to tyrannize by madness into obedience and slavery.



Also available free of charge online:
Course in Relationship Miracles