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Creating Miracles: A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention

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I happened to be in a local Chapters bookstore one day and stumbled across this book, "Creating Miracles - A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention" by Carolyn Miller. When I first noticed it I thought that it would be simply another run-of-the-mill book filled with 'new-age' fodder and fluff. However, after leafing through the pages for a couple of moments, I became intrigued and purchased it.

What I found did not disappoint me. The author tackles the subject of miracles - what they are, how they are created, and why some never seem to have them happen - with the objectivity of both a psychologist and believer of 'faith' combined. She manages to analyze and explain just how the inner workings of miracles come about, how to recognize them, and how to work upon bringing more miracles into one's own life. Filled with anecdotes and documented cases, along with a great sense of humor and humility, "Creating Miracles" is a book I would highly recommend. Interestingly, after reading one chapter that addressed a commonality among those who have experienced miracles in their lives, Miller noted that one thing all cases she related in her book had one thing in common...they all came to a point of surrender just before the miracle happened. She noted that a sense of peace came over each individual, despite the sometimes horrific events that were taking place at that moment. And as I read this I was taken back to a day in 1979 when, a week before my wedding, I almost drowned. I had been in a boat with my fiance and a friend at dusk, on a deserted lake. No lifejackets, not another soul around for miles, and our boat began to take on water at a steady rate. I couldn't swim a stroke, and at first panic set in as the two men tried to keep the boat from going under. The water was flooding in much too fast however, and within moments it had gone under. And I recall that at the moment the water had reached my chin, a sense of inner peace enveloped me. I didn't struggle, didn't panic...didn't even attempt to save myself...I just 'let go' and waited, almost as though I was an observer watching the event unfold. As soon as this sense of inner peace took over, something miraculous happened. Despite there being no visibility (as the sun had gone down), one of the men suddenly grabbed me and threw me into a dinghy that we had been towing. It seemed so effortless, and so 'right', yet the odds of him finding me as I sunk below the surface, the water pitch black and not able to see within a foot around us, would have been incredibly low. I hadn't called out, hadn't made a sound in the water...yet he was guided to me and he managed to save me nevertheless. I believe this is exactly what Carolyn Miller talks about in her book; this is how so many have experienced miracles in their lives...unexpected, sometimes life-threatening events that suddenly grasp us and in those few moments, we have the free will to decide (either consciously or subconsciously) how to act.

I highly recommend this book, as it may open your eyes to ways in which to invite miracles into your own lives, or even to recognize when miracles have indeed, taken place.

Quick - what's the first thing that comes to mind when you find yourself in a bind? The frantic search for someone to blame? The feeling of victimhood? The lengths to which we are willing to stretch reason in order to find someone else responsible for our woes is nearly comical.

This book is as close as you can get to a "how-to" book for miracles. The exalted "A Course In Miracles" is quoted freely in this work, establishing its secure underpinnings in the metaphysics of higher realities (a.k.a. miracles). The key: miracles are a CHOICE.

If life is a series of lessons, choosing the "path less taken" often means a conscious decision to see a situation in a completely different light. This might entail compassion for the oppressor, awareness of the "big picture" and the wellbeing of all concerned, or simply a complete surrender to a loving Higher Power. (Interestingly, completely "losing it" later on seems to be OK). When this loving attitude is chosen as the response to a crisis, the lesson may be "called off" as it were. You got it. You passed the test. No need to go further.

This is a wonderful book - one that should be read by everybody as an antidote for the "eye for an eye" mentality of the world-mind.

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO CREATE MIRACLES?
Armed with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, Carolyn Godschild Miller tackles some tricky issues in her fine book Creating Miracles: A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention.
The book delivers a heaping plateful of inspiring and astounding true tales - deliverance from deadly dangers and personal attacks; synchronicities; healing by prayer, visualization and distant intention - the stories alone are worth the price of admission. Even if you don't believe in miracles as such, but prefer to view the "miraculous" as an unexplained facet of the natural world (as I do), you will find much in Dr. Miller's book to appreciate, enjoy, and use. An eye-opener as well as a heart-opener, this book shows that amazingly good outcomes are possible in even the most hopeless-looking situations.
Defining a miracle as "an instance in which a supernatural power interferes in the natural world," Miller says, "the actual miracle is not the healed body or the peaceful outcome to a dangerous situation. It is the unconditionally loving state of mind that allows such things to happen." The peaceful, loving, assured state of mind associated with meditation is felt to be the catalyst for miracles. In this, the author follows the spiritual curriculum of A Course in Miracles.
Dr. Miller is an astute writer, fluid and user-friendly, with an intriguing sense of humor. Her engaging accounts of purportedly miraculous events provide a punch that deflates defenses and opens the imagination - wide. Stories and chapters in Creating Miracles brought joyful tears to my eyes, a warm expansion to my heart, and a sense of empowerment and determination to my intellect.
In her review of the scientific literature, Miller tackles chance, coincidence, skepticism, and the 95% confidence level with wit and an insider's knowledge of the vagaries of the experimental method. Her final chapters challenge the reader to fashion personal experiments conjuring up (or meeting) divine guides and test-driving miracle-mindedness.
Credulity is, of course, an issue. Dr. Miller apparently believes that specific "miraculous" things are possible, such as the sudden, perfectly-timed appearance of a life-saving beaver pond where none had ever been seen before. I don't. But if you get too uptight about being credulous, you may miss the plum in the midst of the pie. I'll bet you'll appreciate the body of what Miller has to say and how she says it. I'll bet you're going to want to read every page of this book and share it with friends.
Creating Miracles is sagely organized. Stories in the beginning tantalize the ego; admonitions at the end are soaked with spirit. The book takes you on a delightful journey and by the time you're finished you're not quite the same person who started. Miller's book is gently persuasive. It animated me.
263 pages of mega-brilliance can't be boiled down to a brief review, and a summary can't do justice to the high quality of thought and intention in this book. To get the gift, you'll have to read it yourself. As the subtitle promises, it's practical - it teaches you how to begin to do these marvelous miracles (or facilitate these beneficent mysteries). And it's a fine read.
Carolyn Godschild Miller, Ph.D., Creating Miracles: A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention. An HJ Kramer book, New World Library, Novato, CA. $14.95. Originally published 1995, new edition updated and revised 2006.
Reviewed by Stephen Kierulff, Ph.D., coauthor, with Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., of Becoming Psychic: Spiritual Lessons for Focusing Your Hidden Abilities, 256 pages, $14.99, New Page Books, 2004. Dr. Kierulff offers psychotherapy in Santa Monica and Inglewood in southern California. E-mail - DoctorKierulff@aol.com

Not what you would expect from a book with "Miracles" in the title. Packed with well-told tales with surprising turns and endings that really hold you glued. Unusual, unexpected and dramatic events in the lives of many ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Under circumstances that seem to guarantee loss and tragedy, the miracles in this book are an unforseen turn of events that transforms the individual's threatened reality into one of love and tranquility, leaving everyone changed for the good. These miracles are created when one shifts their consciousness into a state of uncalled for unconditional love. The dangers averted include life-threatening accidents, illnesses, attacks by rapists, terrorists, serial killers, etc.

This is a book of hope for everyone, that requires no belief in the supernatural or the miracles of myths. It teaches a technique for creating miracles in your own life that simply relies upon everyone's natural ability to respond with love. Dr. Miller's research shows that this method has been used throughout the ages by the wise and successful.

I would have been satisfied reading this book for the many inspiring stories alone. These, in themselves, could constitute a separate heart-warming book about the transcendence of love and good, over all that darkens our world. However, the real surprise is that Dr. Miller is both an experimental and a clinical psychologist, who uses her research skills to critically examine alleged miracles. She is not just a teller of tales, a collector of pearls of inspiration, but a serious scientific investigator who wants to know the truth.

Miller challenges and digs deep: Are these happenings coincidence? Mental aberrations? Psychotic or neurotic phenomena, self-hypnosis? Misinterpretation? Can anyone work miracles or do you have to be someone special? Do you need to believe in a religion or God? Are there supernatural forces at work? This exploration delves into traditional healing, cross-cultural miracle phenomena including those at Lourdes, historical and religious traditions around the world, and current scientific evidence for miracles including United States government sponsored research on prayer. Dr. Miller's analysis is astute and dispassionately scientific and she supports her surprising conclusions with reputable evidence in an easy, readable style.

You can tell that I was quite taken with this remarkable book. I even bought copies and gave them to my friends who are ill, troubled, struggling with critical issues in their lives, or who just want to know! The feedback has been one of gratitude and even awe. I highly recommend this book of hope and love for everyone!

Facing a eye disease with no known cure and progressive degeneration I found myself looking at books with titles like this one. Aftear all, since medicine has no answer, I'll have to find the solution in some other way. I'm not really very religious, and am actually a bit ashamed to show books like these to my friends (as a engineering student and computer geek this is not really the stuff I used to read). Still, I liked Carolyn's way of writing without being based in a specific religion.

It's hard to know what's true and what's not, what comes from God and from men. The Bible isn't for me, at least, not everything. The concept of Carolyn's God is indeed a lot more pleasant. Is it that way? Who knows.

In any case, the book won't make it worse, it can only make you a bit better person (and more optimist) or you'll just throw it away disgusted.

I liked it, the first pages were somewhat boring and the cases shown were not impressive at all. But the second half was delicious and left me thinking about it.

Read it, I definitely didn't regret spending my money on it, even if some parts sounded like some books on mind control (Ex: Silva's Mind control method).

Overall, it was good book and I'll read it again soon. If you think there must be someone or something out there worrying about us but have no clear idea about it, give it a try.

Wouldn't it be great if each of us could remake our lives miraculously? Wouldn't it be great if we got more great ideas, had more fortunate coincidences, understood more quickly the positive and constructive meaning of the difficulties we encounter? Wouldn't it be great if we had more reason to value love, joy and peace of mind so that we would be more intent on incorporating these states more fully into our lives? Creating Miracles goes a long way towards inspiring me towards these ends. It is written very intelligently and it's filled with wonderful, inspiring, fascinating, thought provoking stories. I often recall a passage or story from this book when I am encountering difficulty in my circumstances or in my emotional experience, and very often it helps me to return to where I am enjoying my life again. In other words, this book helps keep me alive.

I remember a couple of statements. Albert Einstein's "God does not play dice," and Barbara De Angelis' saying in her book Real Moments, "Throughout my lifetime, I'd learned over and over again that there are no accidents in the Universe,..." (p. 79). I especially liked Carolyn Miller's book because it helped demystify the idea of miracles. It seems it is very likely that so-called miracles are not in any way random events, and they are within reach of everyone. I cannot prove it, but it seems to me that miracles--maybe not on the scale as many in the book--are a normal part of my life now. I credit Creating Miracles with helping me create my life more fulfillingly and meaningfully.

I love the way Carolyn Miller tells real-life stories of miraculous occurrences with the thoughts and feelings of the people experiencing the miracles. Miller captures the emotional spark and personality of those involved, and gives us a front-row seat as miracles unfold. Many of these stories describe people who survived accidents and escaped assaults in situations where they easily might have died or been seriously injured instead. Miller explains how changes in people's thinking leads to changes in the circumstances in their lives, even when the situation appears to be hopeless. Miller points out some simple steps each of us can take to live more miraculous lives, and she explains them so clearly that it's easy to do!

This book has something for everyone. Even if you don't buy into the new age stuff, the anecdotes alone are worth it. To say the very least, it left me thinking, and answered in a very unique and straightforward manner those eternal questions like "why do good people suffer?" "Is God cruel?"...

Dr. Miller walks the line between clinical talk and everyday language very well, unlike many other clinical psychologists. She presents her arguments in a very readable and rational manner.

All in all, a very readable book, and if you're into this sort of thing like I am, then it's a MUST HAVE! :-)

UPDATE:

It's been at least 2 years since I've written the review, and I haven't touched another self help book since. Everything I said above still applies, though I'm a little less psyched about the miracle stuff.

Shortly after reading this book I came up on a medical emergency; I certainly wasn't looking to try the stuff on such a scale yet; instead try something small like maybe focusing on finding a $10 bill on the sidewalk :-)

Anyway, I followed the examples in the book, focusing on my desired outcome. No go. At the end, I had to have surgery. I even contacted some of the "miracle workers" in the book, even the author, who I'd emailed when I first got the book, congratulating her.

Not much. Can't blame them I suppose, a total stranger contacts you out of the blue, what do you expect.

Needless to say, the entire experience left me jaded and feeling a bit foolish for spending time on alternate healing.

That's the problem with these self help books, they make it sound sooo easy, but.... People who are cited in these books, I've come to believe are the exceptions than the rule. Heck, if such principles as focusing on the desired outcome were so easy, then we'd have a LOT of successes. Look at the millions who've read Norman Vincent Peale, Wayne Dyer, but still...all you have to do is look around.

At the risk of sounding bitter, maybe I am, if 99.9999999% of the world has difficulty practicing the positivity message, then the message itself is deceiving, because in the end the person is left questioning his/her faith/efficacy, which is even worse, and only adds to the problem.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but for my life, I've found everything topsy turvy. Sometimes, when I'm expecting the "worst", voila, things miraculously turn out better than I expected. However, when I expect the "best", like in my medical condition above, I get the worst...so, I'm at a loss as to cause/effect as far as attitude is concerned.

I'm sure I'll pick up another self help book sometime in the future.

I remember 11 years ago I first read Wayne Dyer's books, and also read Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill. I tried in earnest to practice the principles, but as the weeks wore into months, and the months to years, nothing.

I eventually became very bitter, felt I was mislead into believing there was a better way when there wasn't, and in the process started to think there was something wrong with me.

I didn't touch another self help book for a few years, and then started back up again.

All this has nothing to do with the book in question, but then again, it has everything to do with it, because in reading this stuff you get the feeling that what you're reading about may, just MAY be possible for you too(that elusive thing called hope).

But hope unfulfilled, or worse, dashed, is worse than not having that seed planted in your head, because then you have a long way to go down when it fails to materialize.

Oh well, Dr. Miller's book is an entertaining read nevertheless.

The principles espoused in these kinds of books aren't the easiest things to put into practice. Ah well, but at least the authors make a nice living at it.

Oddly enough, I still think the principles ARE workable, but for those of us (actually a GREAT MANY of us) who can't make them work properly, there may be a case where we may be sabotaging ourselves subconsciously.

But after the years of negativity our subconscious is fed from early childhood (again, for a lot of us), it's a bit like trying to untangle wet noodles. The psyche is a very complex thing to deal with. Look at the millions spending years in therapy in one form or another (be it clinical or religious).

I know a little something of that, having spent time as a volunteer counselor back in college, "trying" to help people with serious problems.

For those who can get instantaneous results, I envy them, because they have a clear channel, at least where their particular objective is concerned, but for people like me, the waters I guess are a bit more muddy.

I've been trying to clear my subconscious, but I sadly just haven't made any discernible progress in all these years. I feel like I've been running on a treadmill.

Anyway, sorry for the long discourse, but I'd been mulling writing something like this about books like Carolyn Miller's.

You read a lot of reviews from professional reviewers about how "great" these books are, but you don't read much from people who've actually tried to put into practice the principles.

Like Wayne Dyer in the PBS specials lecturing the audience. I always thought he should include a Q&A. Actually, I like Wayne Dyer, he's one of those "gurus" who tries to expand the concept of "self help" to outside himself by making his books reasonably priced.

Creating Miracles excited me to the core of my being. I have seen and felt its principles operating in my life and have learned that we all have the power to access a spiritual and mental state that allows us to surrender to God/Spirit and find the path to living a passionate, purpose-filled, and yes, miracle-filled life.

In Creating Miracles, Carolyn Miller provides the keys to help us see, understand and find our way through the maze that is life and to take an active role in consciously creating our own miracles. It is one of the most valuable books I have read because it fills my world with the grace and freedom that comes from learning how to live with peace and serenity, trusting that all is as it should be in this moment, and knowing how to create a more desirable future.

I have recommended Creating Miracles to many many friends and given it as gifts. I share it's principles with my hospice patients and virtually everyone I come in contact with. Simply said, it works!

What is a miracle? This book is a wonderful review of life-inspiring stories which helped me understand what happens when a miracle occurs.I never thought someone could describe for me in "real life terms" how miracles happen. Dr. Miller is successful in her critical analysis of interesting life-changing events,interpreting them with astute insights and supporting them with research.I highly recommend this book!