Religion lays claim to truth in one way or another. A Course in Miracles is not a religion and it doesn’t attempt to dole out predictions of truth like a deck of tarot cards. It has as its goal the changing of one’s mind to enable us to recognize truth when it comes knocking.

From the introduction of ACIM, “The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance.”

To one who has been spiritually summoned and is willing to heed the Call, the Course serves as an Answer. To one who thinks they found the answer they need and yet has not found peace of mind, it offers a ‘better way.’

With “I need do nothing”, as one of its fundamental lessons, ACIM is an undoing of the mindset that sees no need for a set creed, religious doctrine or a preacher to awaken us to the Peace of Mind entitled to God’s beloved Son ~ You.

WHO WROTE A COURSE IN MIRACLES?

The scribing of ACIM began the 1960’s when Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, both Psychologists and colleagues at Columbia University in New York, shrugged their shoulders in resignation at their often stormy relationship and agreed, “There must be a better way.”

An earnest and humble request for help was found when Helen began to write what she termed as ’an inner dictation’ from a Voice she claimed told her that he was “Jesus.” ACIM was the result of this inner dialogue; the better way for which she had prayed.

She was not a “devil worshipping Atheist” as many internet forums or sites suggest. Helen did not claim enlightenment nor did she ever seek credit for scribing of the Course which had already caught on well upon her death shortly after its publication in 1975.

Helen would agree that the Course, though very direct and simple in its message, is not an easy course to pass and she did not consider herself to be the best of students according to Kenneth Wapnick, co editor and friend to Helen. You can read more about her own struggles and triumphs in her attempts at accepting the message she delivered in “The Absence of Felicity” which Wapnick authored.

Today, ACIM is regarded as a very viable intellectual and emotional framework for helping us to undo false notions which we have accepted as true; in particular, the notions found in the world of psychology and religion which unwittingly affect how we feel each day and how we treat one another.
Its premise is that to find the truth in any situation, we have to discard the untrue; sifting through our beliefs with honesty using Reason and Open Mindedness rather than accepting notions with blind faith such as religion asks us to do. The ‘author’ of the Course offers insight and instruction into just how to do this and find the sort of lasting Faith which is impervious to the perceived belief or non belief of an undisciplined mind, easily blown about by the whims of emotion; namely fear, the only emotion aside from love that there is, according to the Course.

HOW PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION
WORK TOGETHER IN ACIM
In the study of Psychology, the ego is an accepted aspect of the human condition, albeit often in need of healing and correction. In the practice of religion, we learn that we are not capable of experiencing the Perfect Peace of God’s Son; we must only accept our weakness and pray for strength from a God outside of our mind and heart.

ACIM is not written in purely psychological jargon nor does it use purely religious concepts but uses both to recognize the ego as only part of who we think we are. It uses psychology to help us see that this ego is a mere ‘belief’ and like all beliefs, it can be relinquished. To relinquish is to ‘let go’ and is not the same as saying it needs to be destroyed the Course tells us. To destroy something, it must have been ‘real’ to begin with; to let go is simply to release oneself from belief in it. In terms of religious concepts, the ego would be the equivalent of the ’devil’ and is the part of our mind that believes it would die if we acknowledge we are part of God, being antithetical to God Himself.

Sin and death are major beliefs of the ego to keep us loyal to its ’religion’ of separation from God. The belief we are bodies bound to die, rather than Spirit eternally safe, keeps us guilty and fearful, both of which obscure our awareness of Love’s presence in our mind which when remembered would obliterate all fear.

Believe in Innocence Entirely....or Not at All

Christianity teaches us we are born guilty. In ACIM, we are led to find out that we are and always have been Innocent. We shall see no use for a body used by a guilty ego when we are willing to accept this truth whole-heartedly. As the Course says, ‘This Course must be believed in its entirety or not all.” It may take many perceived lifetimes of many bodies to achieve this absolute understanding or it can take one moment of true understanding to relinquish belief in ego and use the body for the sole purpose of expressing the message of the Holy Spirit; our Link to God.

The Metaphysics of “A Course in Miracles
A Course in Miracles is the corrected message of Jesus expressed through the words of Helen. According to the Course, ‘Jesus’ lives outside the realm of time. This is because he sees only a Forgiven World which is a world without need of time by which to hold the self or others to the past or condemn them to a future like the past. The goal of the Course is to bring us to the recognition of the forgiven world in our mind, in the Present Moment, changing our view of life NOW.

Forgiveness, the ’way’ of Jesus has been sorely misunderstood and misused by the Christian religion in particular, according to Jesus of the Course. In the Course, we learn that forgiveness is the way by which we finally come to understand that our innocence is equally and unequivocally true across the board of mankind; if we learn to forgive and all are forgiven, what else but Innocence is there to see?

In Christianity, it is thought of as one person accepting the sins of the other while not condoning them, thus still seeing themselves in some way superior to the offender to whom they have granted forgiveness.

The reason that the Course is a ’better way’ is founded in the premise that if the Course’s forgiveness is practiced by all, the undoing of the ego’s mindset would miraculously stop all conflict in a healed and Whole mind; a Mind then at Peace with itself and therefore with the world. What reason could the innocent and peaceful children of God find to justify anger, much less a reason to war with each other? Who is not eternally Joyful that has found the Voice for God within his Sacred Self?

The ‘miracles’ of healing that were spoken of in the New Testament were an example of the ability of Jesus (a healed mind) to negate the effects of a person’s perceived ‘sins’ by never having accepted them as real in the first place! They were ‘fore’ given before their effect was seen as a reality in the physical world. This can be thought of as a metaphysical (outside the physical) state of mind affecting the physical; physical always being an effect of Mind. Jesus lived outside the realm of time in a healed and whole Mind where judgment is impossible. Time is a necessary component of judgment. His reaching into time with a timeless Spiritual message is the ‘miracle’ of the Course; our listening and actually abiding in his Unconditional Love is another one, no less valued.

With this understanding of forgiveness, we see how we can do as Jesus tells us to do; to teach our brother he is Innocent by not allowing him to think he is capable of hurting us. This is what he really meant by his command to “turn the other cheek.” We show our brother how he has helped us see the truth of our Divine nature by offering him forgiveness always and in all-ways. It is in his forgiven state of mind reflected back to us in which we see witness to our own Inner Spark.

The East and West Meet in ACIM

Hinduism, which is the most similar thought system to that presented in the Course, names this Inner Spark the ‘seat of the soul’ and when reached, the only real emotion expressed or felt, is one of pure Joy. This seat of the soul is at the core of the Self and is unveiled by the removal of karmic scars by our corrected actions in the same way the Course suggests that forgiveness is capable of un-doing our actions by thought, to reveal the Sacred Self. In both ideologies, though expressed slightly differently, it is our shared Purpose to awaken the memory of this Spark through forgiveness.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOUR SELF

We must love our neighbor as our self, not because we are held to this standard as a measure of our contrite heart or worthiness but because he must be forgiven for us to realize that we are forgiven! In our brother’s realization of his innocence due to our forgiveness of him, are we saved. And in our salvation is the world redeemed! It is redeemed because the world we will see is the Forgiven World outside of the realm of time. None are not worthy and all are contrite of heart who want to forgive and be forgiven; to love and be loved, regardless of the past or an imposed threat of the future in the Forgiven World.

It is highly unlikely we will waken tomorrow Enlightened by our Innocence! But it is not unlikely that we can wake tomorrow wanting to be and we can make a step forward in Awakening to our Joyous nature.

Being a long time Course student and seeker, I can attest to the fact that even this small increment of change is a profoundly better state of mind than the one preceding it....imagine the Joy of the Enlightened Mind~!

Namaste and Godspeed ~
Diane

Author's Bio: 

Diane is a teacher of A Course in Miracles on her site The Sacred Self. She is a long time student as well as free lance writer on Yoga and Spirituality.