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Summary: Spirituality for the over-educated soul
Review: A Course in Miracles is a miracle! This book helps intelligent, rational people return to a belief in our higher power, God, Jesus Christ. This book explains how to be holy and happy by practicing forgiveness and non-judgement. As we grow day by day in Spirituality and become closer to God, we will finally realize the year-round love, peace and joy that we usually only glimpse at Christmas. As a Christian counselor I highly recommend this book to those with an appetite for discovery and growth. (especially the Workbook for Students section) Because of its length, I recommend that those who are not avid readers try out Veronica Ray's exceptional book, Choosing Happiness which covers the same basic material in a shorter, more practical length. (my book, The Practical Guide to Real Christianity is also available.)
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Summary: A course in "mind training," not behavior
Review: A COURSE IN MIRACLES is an astonishing set of three books that are now available in one combined volume printed on "bible-thin" paper. For those unfamiliar with "the Course" (as "students" are inclined to call it), it is not a class, a cult, or a religion. The Course is set up in the format of a class, with a Text, a Workbook For Students, and a Manual for Teachers and is primarily intended to be studied on one's own. But many students like to form "study groups." Neither approach to studying the Course is "right" or "wrong." The Course is a non-dual system of spiritual psychotherapy. Non-dual means that there is no "good" or "bad," there are no opposites. A common mistake people make in interpreting the non-duality of A COURSE IN MIRACLES is to think it means that only the "good" things in the world are real and that the "bad" things aren't. The Course could therefore be seen as just an extension of "New Age Positivism." A next logical step in this misunderstanding of Course theory is to focus on the "good" things in the world and to be contemptuous of those who do not agree with you about what is good. This is where we can get caught in the trap of attempting to "enlighten" others. What the Course's non-duality really means is that the very concept of "good" and "bad" is an illusion. This points to the profound metaphysical teaching that our personal identities themselves are illusions. And since the Course aims at "removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence" (Introduction, p. 2), it could even be thought of as a type of "negativism." Ultimately, Love is all that is real. But the Course teaches that this world was not made by Love and is not a loving place. Trying to make this world loving is futile. Many people have commented that the Course really is not all that "new" in this point-of-view because Hinduism and schools of Buddhism have been teaching non-duality for millennia. But the Course even goes beyond those forms of non-duality by saying that the world is not only an illusion, it is an illusion made by the ego as an attack on God (workbook p. 403). God is all perfect, loving, eternal, changeless, formless, and no division or opposites reside within Him. (The Course uses the masculine term for God exclusively, but acknowledges that this is just a symbol. Since God is formless and timeless and is not anthropomorphic, God does not have a body and cannot be either male or female.) If we look around the world we will see that everything in it will either change or die, has an opposite, and has a physical form. God cannot have created the world we see since God only creates like Himself. The Course says this is a dream world, and there is no difference between our "waking" and "sleeping" dreams. Both are insane. Everything the Course says is on the level of content, not form. The Course only offers advice on how we should "perceive" things, not how we should "do" things. When the Course says to be defenseless it is really just pointing back to its metaphysical teaching that we are not our bodies but are Spirit. If we are Spirit then we are defenseless because Spirit is eternal and changeless. When the Course says to be defenseless it means to "remind ourselves" that our true reality is not in this world but in the "Real World" of Spirit. And that is what the Course refers to as a "miracle": a change in perception. We are to change our perception of ourselves. No behavior in this world, no rituals, no amount of group study, no advertising the Course itself, will bring us salvation. The Course teaches that "my salvation comes from me," and it means that only we can "save" ourselves by changing our minds about ourselves. The Course is not "literally" channeled from Jesus. In A COURES IN MIRACLES "the Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. But it stands for a love that is not of this world" (Manual For Teachers p. 58). Jesus in A COURSE IN MIRACLES could easily be replaced with the words "Higher Mind" "Christ Consciousness" "Cosmic Consciousness" or any other name to denote Eternal Love. When Helen Schucman said the Course was channeled from Jesus, she meant it came from that place in her mind that is still in touch with the completely abstract non-temporal and non-physical awareness of only Love. The reason she chose the word "Jesus" to denote that awareness is because there is so much pain centered on the word and figure of Jesus ("Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only brother to the world." Manual for Teachers, p. 88). Jesus is the most powerful and important man and concept in the western world. Indeed, even our calendar marks the days since his death. If we in the Western world are to truly heal from the pain we are in and the mess we have made of things we will need to look at our most powerful symbols and teachers. As the Course teaches, individual identity is ultimately illusory and so Jesus is just an illusion as well. But in the Course he is used as a symbol for our Inner Teacher and for Eternal Love. This helps to correct the idea that our supreme symbol of love, as indeed Jesus has been purported to be, wants us to suffer. Ultimately, all concepts of Jesus only exist in our minds and we therefore need to change our minds about Jesus. The Jesus of A COURSE IN MIRACLES is not the Jesus of the Bible, and the Course is not Christianity. The Course is actually an erasing of 2000 years of Christian doctrine because it says we got it all wrong from the start.
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Summary: Medicine for the Wounded Heart and the Confused Mind
Review: I first found this work in 1981, five years after it was first published. Although it is anonymous, it soon becomes apparent who its astonishing author is... Word by word, phrase by phrase, day by day, as I have opened this material whenever I am upset or confused, my Heart has found peace and my mind clarity...
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Summary: for Catholics
Review: The real words of Jesus never professed to "adopt him as their Savior". He was a preacher of the Word. You can't be the Word outside your Self. You must become the Word. This bastardization of Christianity and Islam is fixed in this book.
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Summary: A Great Treasure For Those Who Are Ready
Review: There has been a great deal written about ACIM and it all pales in comparison with the experience of the Course itself. That would include this introduction! ACIM is not for everyone. As the Course says, many are called but few choose to respond. If you're ready, your soul will be hungry and ACIM will come to you. Read the Introduction carefully and see how it resonates with your Spirit. There should be no doubt if you're ready. ACIM requires dedication and commitment. There is so much information in each paragraph of text that frequently one must stop and contemplate each sentence in turn! It is counter-productive to read on past sections one has not internalized, so patience is a must. There is a meditation sequence that requires a minimum of one year to complete. Even if you are an experienced meditator, you will probably take a quantum leap in your spiritual awareness and for the first time comprehend the true nature of meditation. This meditation is required in order to grasp the underlying message of the Course and the ability to put oneself instantly into the Presence of God is emphasized throughout the text. ACIM is a two-way street. Along with the peace and confidence that accompanies learning to see the world through the eyes of Christ comes the awesome responsibility of becoming a Teacher of God.
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