Your Special Function:
According to A Course in Miracles©

by Jon Snodgrass, Ph.D.

A Course in Miracles teaches that we have a "Special Function" to fulfill in life and that it is the reason we came to earth. For example, Lesson 319 states, "I came for the salvation of the world," and the Text states, "You wanted it and it is given to you" (T-25.VI.7:3).

This brief article attempts to understand the concept of Special Function in the Course. What we think of as everyday reality is considered an illusion in the Course, so the word "reality" is placed in quotes whenever the conventional definition is indicated.

As "individuals in reality," we are taught that we are separated from God and, therefore, fear that we are small, weak and alone. We try to overcome our presumed loss of connection to God, by substituting romantic relationships, and career accomplishments, as our life-purpose.

As an alternative point of view, the Course offers the idea of "Special Function." The concept is entwined throughout the Text, but there is a two-page section entitled, "The Special Function," in Chapter 25, "The Justice of God." (T-25.VI:4). A key sentence is:

To each He gives a special function in salvation he alone can fill; a part for only him. Nor is the plan complete until he finds his special function, and fulfills the part assigned to him, to make himself complete within a world where incompletion rules.

The concept of Special Function also comes up in many lessons; for example, the title of Lesson 64 is, "Let me not forget my function," and Lesson 139 states, "We have a mission here."

The quote above indicates that we are given a "special function in salvation," meaning, according to the Glossary-Index of the Course by Kenneth Wapnick, "the Atonement, or undoing of the separation." Therefore, we each have a unique role to play in the salvation of the world through finding our own salvation. You are our savior as you are your own.

Your Special Function has a dual nature: that the world is saved as the individual is saved. The reverse, that we are saved as the world is saved, is not valid because this view overlooks the crucial contribution of the individual. In resolving the separation from God within our own mind, the separation of the world is ended, and all distinctions disappear into a union of one.

The concept of Special Function may appear frightening at first because it makes us each like Jesus, the savior of the world, and introduces the idea, made explicit in the Teacher's Manual, that it takes only one person to save humanity. The opposite, that the individual is saved as the world is saved, cannot be true because there is no separation of Reality into "reality."

So what does Special Function mean that we actually do in our daily life. All political endeavors heretofore directed at social change have been misguided, via projection of the illusion, and appear to perpetuate the very schisms sought to be transcended. "The Special Function" section states:

The specialness he chose to hurt himself did God appoint to be the means for his salvation, from the very instant that the choice was made. His special sin was made his special grace. His special hate became his special love (T-25.VI.6:6).

Your Special Function is the polar opposite of what you believe to be the reality of your own guilt, sin and victimization. Whatever you think is your problem, is your answer, what is missing is your gift, your weakness is your strength, your damnation is your salvation, your special dysfunction is your Special Function.

The form is suited to your special needs, and to the special time and place in which you think you find yourself, and where you can be free of place and time, and all that you believe must limit you. The Son of God cannot be bound by time nor place nor anything God did not will (T-25.VII.7:3).

Each of us can easily articulate our list of grievances against ourselves and others, and state readily our standard set of complaints about contemporary social life. Our life-purpose, however, often eludes us and is hidden from our awareness. This quote clarifies that the way to know your calling is through the reversal of the unique way in which you think you are maligned in the world.

By solving the one problem, the separation from God in your mind, by giving up your socially acquired belief in your unique dysfunction, you undo your hypothetical separation, and simultaneously discover what you have to offer to others as a livelihood. What you are doing with your life right now contains your life-purpose and no radical transformation is required.

Your Special Function exists like the positive of a photograph, in the negative of your grievances. In undergoing the process of salvation for yourself, your Special Function in life is uncovered. "Without your special function has this world no meaning for you" (T-26.I.5:2). If you are "not smart," for example, your work is to help others discover their intelligence by first wanting to find your own.

If you feel "abandoned," you are to help others learn to care for themselves by first not abandoning yourself. If you are "not recognized," you are to help others find recognition by first recognizing yourself. If you "lack faith," you are to help others find faith by believing first in yourself. If you are a "victim of abuse," you are to help liberate others by giving up first your self-abuse. If you are "physically ill," you are to help others heal by first healing yourself.

Each specific example involves changing your mind about your mind to find your life purpose. The peace that ensues from ending the separation in your mind allows your Special Function to be seen as the exact opposite of your perceived persecution. Like modern beatitudes, the inversion of the illusion is your mission and salvation.

Potentially, the weakest are the strongest for they know not how to fight. The faithless are the most devout for they know devotion to faithlessness. The dullest are the brightest for they know no invention of imitations. The unrecognized stand out the most for they know inclusion among the unseen. The physically ill, and physically abused, are the most free for they know pain and suffering.

It is not necessary to know the entire answer to your Special Function in advance. The plan is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn. For he Who knows the rest will see to it without your help (T-20.IV.6:6).

The Course emphasizes peace of mind attained first by wanting to learn to forgive. Forgiveness is a pardon of guilt issued to everyone involved in your mental disputes, particularly you and God. The idea then becomes: be willing to learn to forgive to attain peace of mind to find your Special Function to save yourself and the world for God. "Forgiveness is the only function meaningful in time" (T-25.VI.5:3).

Forgiveness is your general function while your particular work in salvation is your Special Function (although this distinction is not one made in the Course). Your Special Function is the "still much to do in time" (T-25.VI.5:8). Lesson 192, "I have a function God would have me fill," emphasizes the link between Special Function and forgiveness.

Your Special Function will become evident in your awareness as a consequence of the psychic peace that ensues with forgiveness. Knowledge of your assignment is already possessed, but its acquisition is mixed up by your confusion of Reality with "reality." You may think that the separation from God is real and that your Special Function is false.

If you insist that you will only have peace of mind after you find your Special Function, you are partly correct, but you are reversing the process, possibly out of fear that your Special Function is withheld by God (like salvation). The means and the end are one, however, and salvation is your Special Function.

In striving to find your life-purpose you may overlook willingness to forgive that is a prerequisite. Willingness is foremost, and peace of mind its effect, that occurs once it is your intention to allow it. What a willing state of mind looks like, and how you know when you are there, are also answered after you are willing.

Teach me to be willing is the issue and you will only know consciously after it has happened. Insisting on knowing, "whom will I be, once I fulfill my Special Function," is not the same as letting yourself be there. The fundamental distinction is wanting to be, or not wanting to be, connected to God in your mind. When you are there, the journey is over, even as a metaphor, and you can reside with a life-purpose in the grace of God everyday.

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