A Course in Miracles by The Foundation for Inner Peace5915091
A Course in Miracles is a set of self-study materials published by the Foundation for Inner Peace. The book's content is metaphysical, and explains forgiveness as applied to daily life. Curiously, nowhere does the book have an author (and it is so listed with out an author's name by the U.S. Library of Congress). However, the text was written by Helen Schucman (deceased) and William Thetford Schucman has related that the book's material is based on communications to her from an "inner voice" she claimed was Jesus. The original version of the book was published in 1976, with a revised edition published in 1996. Component of the content material is a teaching manual, and a student workbook. Because the initial edition, the book has sold a number of million copies, with translations into almost two-dozen languages.
The book's origins can be traced back to the early 1970s Helen Schucman initial experiences with the "inner voice" led to her then supervisor, William Thetford, to contact Hugh Cayce at the Association for Study and Enlightenment. In turn, an introduction to Kenneth Wapnick (later the book's editor) occurred. At the time of the introduction, Wapnick was clinical psychologist. After meeting, Schucman and Wapnik spent over a year editing and revising the material. An additional introduction, this time of Schucman, Wapnik, and Thetford to Robert Skutch and Judith Skutch Whitson, of the Foundation for Inner Peace. The initial printings of the book for distribution had been in 1975. Because then, copyright litigation by the Foundation for Inner Peace, and Penguin Books, has established that the content material of the first edition is in the public domain.
A Course in Miracles is a teaching device the course has three books, a 622-page text, a 478-page student workbook, and an 88-page teachers manual. The supplies can be studied in the order chosen by readers. The content material of A Course in Miracles addresses each the theoretical and the practical, although application of the book's material is emphasized. The text is mostly theoretical, and is a basis for the workbook's lessons, which are practical applications. The workbook has 365 lessons, one for each day of the year, though they do not have to be done at a pace of one lesson per day. Perhaps most like the workbooks that are familiar to the average reader from prior encounter, you are asked to use the material as directed. Nevertheless, in a departure from the "regular", the reader is not required to believe what is in the workbook, or even accept it. Neither the workbook nor the Course in Miracles is intended to complete the reader's studying simply, the materials are a start.
A Course in Miracles distinguishes in between understanding and perception truth is unalterable and eternal, whilst perception is the world of time, change, and interpretation. The world of perception reinforces the dominant ideas in our minds, and keeps us separate from the truth, and separate from God. Perception is restricted by the body's limitations in the physical world, thus limiting awareness. Much of the experience of the globe reinforces the ego, and the individual's separation from God. But, by accepting the vision of Christ, and the voice of the Holy Spirit, one learns forgiveness, both for oneself and other people.
