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A Course in Miraclesby Jack Schafer A Course in Miracles is a complete self-study spiritual thought system. As a three-volume curriculum consisting of a Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers, it teaches that the way to universal love and peace or - remembering God - is by undoing guilt through forgiving others. The Course thus focuses on the healing of relationships and making them holy. A Course in Miracles also emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum, of which there are "many thousands." Consequently, even though the language of the Course is that of traditional Christianity, it expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality. A Course in Miracles therefore is a universal spiritual teaching, not a religion.
The "Workbook for Students" consists of 365 lessons, an exercise for each day of the year. This one-year training program begins the process of changing the student's mind and perception, though it is not intended to bring one's learning to completion. As stated in the Preface to the Course, "At the end, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit." (Preface: ix) The "Manual for Teachers" is written in question-and-answer form and provides answers to some of the more likely questions a student might ask. It also includes clarification of a number of terms the Course uses, explaining them within the theoretical framework of the Text and for their practical application through the Workbook.
What exactly, then, is A Course in Miracles? The summary introduction, which appears in its Text, is quite succinct and brief. It reads: "This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:
In addition to the major sites involved in presenting this material, their are thousands of small groups around the world that meet regularly to discuss and develop a better understanding of these teachings. A Course in Miracles® - Official site of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). The latest information, history, home study, course descriptions, and local study centers. Center For Excellence - A Course in Miracles with Linda Lester "There is within each of us a center where we can retreat and find rest from the activities of the world. Love calls to each of us to slip effortlessly through the open door and leave behind our guilt from the past and fear of the future." This is a site that focuses on the teachings of ACIM Miracle - Networking Center for A Course Miracles. A a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to serve as a worldwide contact point for A Course in Miracles. They publish The Holy Encounter and offer many free services for students of the Course to help them connect with others and understand and integrate the principles.
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A Course in Miracles was "scribed" by Dr. Helen Schucman through a process of inner dictation she identified as coming from Jesus. A clinical and research psychologist and tenured Associate Professor of Medical Psychology, she was assisted by Dr. William Thetford, her department head, who was also a tenured Professor of Medical Psychology at the Medical Center where they both worked. A Course in Miracles was first published in 1975, the year Dr. Schucman assigned copyright of the Course to the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP). Since the beginning and as designated, this Foundation has been its publisher, disseminator, and copyright/trademark holder, although in 1999 it assigned the copyright and trademark to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM). There are currently about one and a half million copies of the Course in circulation worldwide. Translations in Chinese, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish are also available, with twelve other translations now in progress.