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A Course in Miracles (ACIM or the Course), refers to itself as a course of "spiritual psychotherapy" and of spiritual transformation, and is considered by some who study it to be their "spiritual path". • The earliest public version of the Course, known as the "Urtext", was co-written by Dr. Helen Schucman and Dr. William Thetford. Schucman described the writing process as coming from a divine source through a form of channeling which she referred to as "inner dictation", • and wrote the text as if transcribing the words of Jesus Christ. •
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Doctrine
The philosophy of the Course is monistic and contains some theological elements also found in traditional Christianity, Eastern mysticism, psychology, and New Age spirituality. It is monistic in its position that ultimate reality consists of nothing more than God's love. The Course asserts that one's mind is causally responsible for everything that appears to one as the physical world.
The Course teaches an inner turning toward God through the meditation of Jesus Christ. [ ]. The Course is a 'received' spiritual teaching, and in this sense it is not unlike various sections of the Christian Bible that were 'received' through various types of visions[ ]. Schucman wrote the Course as if in the first person of Jesus Christ, speaking of his birth, miracles, apostles, experience in Gethsemane, crucifixion, resurrection, portrayal in the New Testament, and characterization by Christianity. The Course considers itself as an inspired scripture in the lineage of the Bible, but possessing a greater authority. It demonstrates this in over eight hundred biblical allusions in which its author feels no compunction about selectively affirming certain biblical themes while freely correcting others.
The Course differs in some ways from Christian statements of belief such as the Nicene Creed, and contains many elements in common with Eastern thought.
The Course builds upon the original system of Freudian psychology. The Course fully accepts the Freudian concepts of the conscious mind, the unconscious mind. It also acknowledges the human tendency to develop defense mechanisms, such as denial and projection, in an effort to screen off from one's awareness, what one may fear could be inconvenient or uncomfortable truths. After first acknowledging this Freudian system of inner dynamics, The Course then proceeds to propose what it claims to be a way of reconciling this typical system of inner conscious and subconscious tensions, by essentially redirecting the energies of the mind towards reconciliation with one's fellows, with one's self, and with one's God via the art of forgiveness and the consequent relinquishment of guilt.
The Course has been considered the single text qualifying as "sacred scripture" in the New Age movement, but is atypical. It teaches true other-worldliness and has been characterized as a Christianized version of non-dualistic Vedanta where the world is just an illusory chimera that offers violence, sorrow and pain. This is very rare in the New Age movement. Students of the Course seek the ultimate goal of existence in a radically different mode of being than that found in this world.
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Origins
In 1965, Schucman, an associate professor of medical psychology on the faculty at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, began to hear the words of what she referred to as "It" or "the Voice", and as Jesus Christ. Schucman said she heard from the voice, "This is a course in miracles. Please take notes." Schucman wrote down what she called "rapid inner dictation" over a period of seven years. She filled nearly thirty stenographic notebooks with words she received from the voice evolved into the three volumes of A Course in Miracles: the Text, Workbook for Students, and the Manual for Teachers. Thetford was Schucman's superior colleague and collaborated with her in private offices in "an air of secrecy." Schucman dictated her scribed notes to Thetford, who typed them. Eventually, the manuscript totaled 1,500 pages, and was placed into black thesis binders.
Insiders in the New Age movement knew about the existence of the Course since 1972, as numerous copies were circulated before its actual publication in 1975.
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Semantics
The Course is a modern spiritual path designed as an educational program in spiritual development, aiming to completely reverse the way the student perceives the world. The Course employs a language system that assigns new meaning to abstractions as part of the transformation of the student's thought system. For example, the Course broadens the application of the word, "fantasy" from a psychological process of imaginary scenarios to one responsible for existence itself: thoughts, behavior, and even the entire world. A student of the Course must relearn language. Each word used by a student is compared, then, the old meaning is replaced by the new meaning. Eventually, all the words treated by the Course trigger and reinforce the Course's perspective in the student. The end result is that the ego is removed from the student's understanding of language. In the Course, the ego is a false "insane" belief in a false identity; a separate mind living in a separate body. The Course considers the ego in complete opposition to God, fearing its individuality will disappear into God's Love and Oneness, therefore the ego's goal is to conquer and kill God by persuading one to constantly attack. •
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Early editing, publication and copyright ruling
Since it was first circulated in 1973, over 1.5 million copies have sold worldwide in fifteen different languages. There are multiple variations of the Course both written and . • Thetford removed some original material, organized chapters and sections, and edited the Urtext (the earliest public version) to form another version known as the HLC, completed in late 1972. Ken Wapnick changed and/or deleted material from the HLC to produce the first edition from FIP that was published and distributed between 1976 and 2000, first directly by the FIP, then later by Penguin Books. In 2003, the copyright was voided on these earlier versions which placed them in the public domain. •
The US Trademark Office canceled both the Servicemark on "A Course in Miracles" and the Trademark on the acronym, "ACIM" in 2005. •
In a second edition from FIP, additional material and an outline numbering system was added that remain under copyright. •
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Criticism
Joel Kramer states that the Course could be considered a classic authoritarian example of programming thought to change beliefs. •
Ali Sina, founder of the website Faith Freedom International, calls the Course a hoax, that teaches no new wisdom unknown to man, and is just an industry to sell books and make money. •
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See also
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