The underlying solution

Where do miracles come from?

Welcome to Daily Miracles, a running commentary on the 365 lessons of A Course in Miracles, an influential spiritual text from the 1970s. I am James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I go through this material for the first time.

Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved. (ACIM, W-79)

Perhaps the lure of the title “A Course in Miracles’’ is that, at its essence, what a miracle does is solve problems. If there is one underlying problem and it’s solved, perhaps other problems will stop reappearing.

For instance, if one is always behind in bill payments, paying each separate bill isn’t the real problem, and it isn’t really solved when the bill finally does get paid. I don’t know what the larger problem is exactly, but it probably has to do with acquiring and spending money, that is, with one’s relationship with money. And that larger problem likely points to an even larger problem, until finally there is really just that one problem.

Two thoughts came to me while dwelling on this.

1. The underlying problem is in the way I feel a lot of the time.

But if feeling comes from thoughts, what thoughts lead to negative feelings? That made me think: