A Course in Miracles

 

Has anyone read A Course In Miracles and has it changed your life?

A Course in Miracles is a spiritual teaching that has touched the lives of millions. It is the Bible of the so-called spiritual but not religious (SBNR) movement and is believed to have influenced the beliefs of people worldwide who identify as having a non-religious faith. The book is a self-study curriculum with three volumes: the Text, which lays out the thought system that the Course is about; the Workbook for Students, with 365 daily lessons that emphasize experience over belief in a specific theology; and the Manual for Teachers, which helps students teach the Course's philosophy to others. Although it uses Christian terminology, the Course does not promote itself as a religion and explains that it is only one of thousands of paths that lead to God.

Helen Schucman, a psychologist at Columbia University, began having inner visions and heightened dreams in 1965 that culminated in the fall of that year with an inner voice saying: "This is a course in miracles; please take notes." From this point on, the Course was dictated to her word for word through a process she called "inner dictation." The completed work, published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, has no author in the conventional sense of the word and is considered to be divinely inspired.

Although ACIM can be studied on one's own, many students choose to study with a group. A large number of study groups are associated with the Foundation for Inner Peace and meet regularly in Acim pdf person or on the phone to discuss the material. It is also possible to join a group online.

The spiritual wisdom contained in the Course's daily lessons is profound. It teaches that love is the only way to undo the illusion of separation in all its forms, and that healing and forgiveness are the keys to releasing this illusion. It also teaches that we are never alone and that the only true relationship is with God, which means that our relationships with everyone else are also based on love.

The Course is challenging to read, not because of its difficult language but because it asks us to change the way we think. The ego resists change, and so the first step in learning A Course in Miracles is to become willing to let go of our own beliefs and begin seeing the world through the lens of love. The most challenging part of this process is to get past the archaic religious language that the Course often uses, but looking up definitions and understanding their meaning can help. This makes the reading more enjoyable and easier to understand. A good place to start is with this Pocket Edition Text, which contains the unabridged original text of the Course. Then, once you are ready to move on, it is helpful to get a copy of the Workbook and the Manual for Teachers.