The Miracle of Words
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I found Love in the back of a Nissan Xterra on a frigid night in November of 2001. No, dear reader, this is not that kind of a love story! I was parked at a trailhead adjacent to the Dolly Sods Wilderness in the mountains of West Virginia, having arrived too late in the day to begin a solo backpacking trip. I had no idea that my life experience was about to be irrevocably changed as I opened a little book I had grabbed off my wife’s nightstand before I left my home that morning. At the time I told myself I needed this trip to clear my head as I prepared to begin a new job. In retrospect, this trip represented so much more. Disintegration by definition must precede integration, and at the time it felt as if my life was falling apart. My work environment was poisonous, my marriage (my third) was deteriorating, my family relationships were strained, and my yearning for meaning was intense. I did not understand what was occurring in my life. And then that night in my sleeping bag in the back of my vehicle, by the light of my headlamp I read Change Your Mind, Change Your Life by Dr. Gerald Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione. I began reading at 7pm and finished as dawn was breaking. It was my first introduction to A Course in Miracles, and over the next three days as I walked through the forest I thought of little else. Those words, symbols on a printed page, stirred and released some long held emotion locked deep within me.

Now eight years later, I am a student and a teacher of ACIM. And of late I have become fascinated by language; more specifically the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) messages imbedded in our Self-created words. If ultimately every language, every assemblage of symbols, was created in an attempt to describe, interpret and communicate reality, then perhaps it is no stretch of the imagination that in the very creation of language the Holy Spirit was offering loving guidance.

Recently I’ve begun to believe that we (our higher Self) have left ourselves clues, pointers if you will, in the very language we absent-mindedly utilize for our day to day existence. Perhaps we’ve left a trail of symbolic breadcrumbs as we journeyed along our various paths from home.

Information, Imagination, and Emotion

Here are three powerful examples of the breadcrumbs we may have left ourselves within the English language. Perhaps it’s time to create a new metaphysical dictionary, one that defines and illuminates the overlooked power of these symbols we use to *communicate.

In-form-ation: the process of coming into form; be-coming something, somebody; the substance of the universe.

I once heard a quantum physicist describe the universe as “an infinite sea of potentiality composed purely of information”. Physicists commonly use the language of mathematics to attempt to describe and define reality. It appears to be a growing belief in scientific circles that the essential substance that comprises our universe has the potential to become anything. If this is so, then it is an absolutely true statement to declare that: anything is possible. This is true because quite literally, everything and everybody is information.

Imag-in-ation: the ability to form images and ideas in the mind, especially of things never seen or experienced directly; an act of creating a semblance of reality.

Where does creation begin? Where does something or somebody begin to come into form? In my experience I am, and have always been, exactly who I imagine myself to be. Why do I so stubbornly resist the idea of imagining myself as being One with God, created from the substance of my Creator?

If we live in a holographic universe, as more and more evidence confirms, and if then it follows we are holographic beings, then every individual image we hold in mind contains the potential to create a collective image. In other words, each part contains the potential for the whole (Holy). Our many minds are whole and complete aspects of the One Mind. Said another way, there is One Universal Mind, and we share it. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, “We are it”. Hence, the images we hold in mind contain great potential power.

E-motion: energy in motion; a strong feeling about somebody or something

If, as many quantum physicists now posit, matter is merely a sensory illusion, then emotion is quite literally the universal force. Energy is perhaps set in motion by our imagination. When we create and hold an image in mind, and then feel the emotions we associate with that image, we engage the creative power of the universe to bring the image into form. We are always creating…either unconsciously in fear, or with loving intention. Author Greg Braden, among many others, refers to emotions as “the language of the Soul”. Perhaps it is the one universal language that has the power to bridge any communication gap. If so, why are we so resistant to learning, or perhaps remembering, this language when it contains the real potential to remind us who we truly are?

The Language of Creation

Imagination (the universal mind) + Emotion (the one spirit) + Information (the substance of the universe) = Creation. If we are naturally creative beings, imbued with the power of our Creator, then we have the God-given ability to combine our spirit and our universal mind with the substance of God and bring into form our hearts desire. Perhaps creating a physical version of “heaven on earth”, realizing our ability to bring that potentiality into form, only depends upon our hearts desire. What if we surrendered to our hearts desire to be who we truly are, as opposed the image we’ve been conditioned to believe we should be? Can you imagine that? Can you feel that? Can you bring that into form? Yes, you can. Allow, allow, allow.

God offers us his eternal information, imbues us with our infinite imagination, and patiently awaits our willingness to allow them to combine and divinely create using the language of the Soul…the emotion that naturally flows around and through us. Are you willing to allow your hearts desire to flow through you? Are you willing to see things differently?

*Authors Note: The words in italics are those the reader may choose to reflect upon in greater measure. They are among the countless “breadcrumbs” we may have left ourselves as we journeyed on our paths from home. Perhaps through examining their deeper meanings they can help expedite our return.

Footnote to Reader: In my experience it is common for most of us to evaluate something we read, some reformed information, through the filters of our past conditioning. More specifically, we unconsciously compare and contrast a new point of view against our current model which is typically derived from past experiences. My invitation to you is this: before you judge what is correct or incorrect, right or wrong, take a deep breath and look for value and unity in any teaching. Both always exist. But the human mind is often conditioned to first look for exception and division. An open heart coupled with an open mind allows the natural unity to be revealed.    

* Rev. Logan McCulloch is active in the Louisville KY community and is currently writing his book, "Breadcrumbs".