INSPIRING TEACHINGS ON A COURSE IN MIRACLES
Spiritual experimentation is a richly American tradition, and no one has pursued it more forcefully than Marianne Williamson. She founded a megachurch and advised celebrities, but her deepest vocation was spreading a homegrown American holy book called “A Course in Miracles.”
A self-study system of spiritual psychotherapy, the course draws on Catholicism, New Age beliefs and Freudian language.
What is A Course in Miracles?
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON has helped millions of people find new meaning in their lives through the teachings of A Course in Miracles. This audio program, INSPIRING TEACHINGS ON A COURSE IN MIRACLES, includes six of her finest lectures, originally recorded as part of her premium subscription series.
In a small room outside Columbus, Ohio, about a dozen devotees of Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson sat in silence. They closed their eyes, listening to a soothing, hypnotic voice tell them they are breathing in peace as they inhale. They are practicing the spirituality of A Course in Miracles, a curious homegrown American holy book that arose during the heady metaphysical counterculture of the 1960s and has since spread internationally.
The course, a self-study system of “spiritual psychotherapy,” was supposedly written by the “inner voice” of Helen Schucman, a research psychologist. According to Kenneth Wapnick, who heads the Foundation for A Course in Miracles in Roscoe, N.Y., the book instructs students to relinquish their fear-based worldview and replace it with one based on love.
It teaches that guilt is the cause of all suffering, and that by forgiving others we release ourselves from it. Those who complete the course, which consists of the Text, Manual for Teachers, Song of Prayer and Psychotherapy Booklet, say they have found relief from anxiety, depression, fears and addictions. And, they claim, they have learned to experience God directly. un cours en miracles
What is the Text?
A Course in Miracles, known as ACIM or the Course, is a spiritual text with three volumes: the Text, the Workbook for Students and the Manual for Teachers. Originally published in 1976, the text is based on the idea that love is more powerful than fear and that the physical world as perceived through the senses is an illusion. It is a non-denominational, universalist spirituality.
Its authors, Helen Schucman and William Thetford, were professors of medical psychology at Columbia University in New York and said they received the words through dictation from an Inner Voice that they identified as Jesus. A third psychologist, Kenneth Wapnick, assisted with editing and publishing.
The three volume set teaches that everyone is loved at their birth and that fear causes them to stray from the path of love. Its ideas are largely drawn from older traditions like Christian Science and New Thought, a 19th-century metaphysical movement. They also incorporate some Freudian language and teachings, positing that reality is illusory and that conflict dissolves when you recognize what is all-encompassing, which is love.
While the course is not widely accepted by most major religions, it has a following that ranges from New Age gurus to modern yoga teachers. Despite the controversy, many of its ideas are timeless. And for those who want to delve into the spiritual text, Ms. Williamson’s book offers a symphonic portrait of the Course and leads readers non-linearly through its themes.
What is the Manual for Teachers?
The Course is a radical path to awakening, advocating at every turn the unconditional forgiveness of everything and everyone. It guides students through a profound shift in perception, moving from an experience based on fear and separation to one based on love and unity. It is a form of spiritual psychotherapy, and its underlying ontology echoes the world's most hallowed traditions. Its lifelong students include New York Times best-selling author Marianne Williamson, Wayne Dyer, Gabrielle Bernstein, and others.
The course offers a very different perspective on the nature of the ego and reality, and it can be overwhelming to those who are not prepared for its challenge. Miller, a historian and expert on the Course's teachings, distills years of hard-won insights in this practical guide for engaging with the text. He provides stories from Course practitioners around the globe, explains the most common emotional and cognitive reactions to the material, offers advice on pacing your readings, and addresses some of the more difficult later developmental stages in the Course.
A remarkably accessible and comprehensive guide, Living with Miracles is essential for all those who want to deepen their engagement with this remarkable set of books. This is a must-read for teachers, healers, leaders, therapists, life coaches, and spiritual guides, as well as for anyone who is ready to make a difference in the world. “The key to healing lies in the willingness to forgive,” says Miller, and this book will help readers to unlock that door.
What is the Song of Prayer?
During the early 1970s, Marianne Williamson was unmoored. She had left the world of theater and dropped out of Pomona College, in the Los Angeles suburbs, to pursue spiritual practices like Transcendental Meditation and read books by Ram Dass and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. But she was still searching. And when she stumbled on A Course in Miracles, she thought it might be the answer.
Written between 1975 and 1977, the book drew from older traditions like Christian Science and New Thought, a 19th-century metaphysical movement. It also incorporated Freudian language, declaring that reality is illusory and that conflicts dissolve when one focuses on love instead of fear.
The course was not easy to follow. It had no central authority and Ms. Williamson frequently clashed with collaborators. Her ideas were polarizing, and she had a penchant for opening fund-raisers with prayer. She was also a self-promoter, and her fame threatened to eclipse the course.
But the course did have a core of devotees, and Ms. Williamson grew increasingly dedicated to it. She formed study groups around the country, including three in Columbus. She also encouraged people to focus on love and forgiveness, even during the AIDS crisis. And, in one famous advice, she urged men with the disease to “imagine the virus that causes AIDS as Darth Vader and then unzip his suit to allow an angel to emerge.” Ms. Williamson died in 2007.
What is the Psychotherapy Booklet?
In the late 1960s, Helen Schucman, a Columbia University professor of psychology, told her husband Bill that an inner voice had instructed her to transcribe a three-volume work called A Course in Miracles. The course's text teaches that humans can overcome their fears of death and God by forgiving others. The work has since become a major part of a spiritual renaissance that encompasses a wide variety of views and attracts celebrities such as Shirley MacLaine. Although the Course is sold in Catholic bookstores, the Foundation for a Course in Miracles, which publishes it, is not affiliated with any church or denomination. Kenneth Wapnick, the course's director, is a clinical psychologist.
While A Course in Miracles contains mystical language, its intellectually sophisticated thought system combines spiritual inspiration with deep understanding of such concepts as belief and defense systems, perception and identity. Many critics have compared its poetic prose to that of the world's great literature.
Marianne Williamson, who discovered the course on a friend's coffee table in 1977, helped popularize it. She has an intense, eloquent look and a brittle Southern accent that adds a touch of grit to her honeyed new-ageisms. She lectures around the country, and she leads a weekly support group for people with AIDS in New York. Her theology has inspired some AIDS patients to forgive their deadly viruses. Her theology also has encouraged some to believe that attending her groups can prolong their lives by allowing them to focus on love instead of fear.
What is the Audio CD?
With this five-CD MP3 set, listeners can learn how to apply the principles of A Course in Miracles® in their daily lives. Jim Stewart, an early student of the Course, reads the Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers and the Supplements: “Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice” and “The Song of Prayer.”
Thousands of people around the world are using this internationally recognized day-by-day self-study program to bring forgiveness, love, and peace into their lives. With consistent application of its concepts, people discover another way to see the world – one that replaces judgment and fear with trust and acceptance. This thought system leads to a life based on giving rather than receiving, and a realization that peace is a choice. Gildan Audio brings this series back for distribution as audiobooks to make ACIM more accessible than ever.
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