Awaken from the Dream

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Summary: A wonderful myth for understanding "A Course In Miracles"
Review: AWAKEN FROM THE DREAM is co-authored by Gloria and Kenneth Wapnick, the founders of the Foundation for A Course In Miracles -- http://www.facim.org/. (A COURSE IN MIRACLES, for those unfamiliar, is a three-volume self-study book about spiritual psychotherapy.) The Course teaches that this physical universe is ultimately an illusion - an illusion not created by God but made by the ego as an attack on God. The Course says that we believe we entered into this physical universe after "the separation from God."

The separation described in A COURSE IN MIRACLES could be roughly seen as akin to the downfall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Though in Course theory the original state of communication with God is purely abstract and non-dual. In the original state our individual identities did not exist and God did not perceive us as separate from Himself.) Unlike the Bible, the Course does not have a myth to dramatize its version of the downfall. AWAKEN FROM THE DREAM present such a myth, based on the psychic and auditory experiences of Gloria Wapnick - experiences that helped her better understand this aspect of Course theory.

This is not an easy aspect of Course theory (as if there is any aspect of the Course that is easy). And, by the way, the Course says that ultimately the separation from God never even occurred. We merely believe it has occurred, and the physical world with all its multiplicity of problems arose in our minds to block against our belief in the separation. In reality, we only have one problem: this belief in the separation. AWAKEN FROM THE DREAM helps us, well, awaken from the dream that we have separated.

Andrew Parodi

Rating:
Summary: Awaken form the dream
Review: This book was and still is very helpful to me. I have always been attracted to the Courses' message, but would go in and out of reading it, because it would bring up fear in me. This book explained for me where that fear comes from, and for this reason alone I now want to continue to make A Course In Miracles my way of living in this world.