This website was lovingly developed by Joseph Jesseph,
a long-time student of A Course in Miracles. It now serves as his legacy and is being preserved by the Foundation for Inner Peace. |
Introduction to A Course in Miracles
The following words from the Introduction to the Text of A Course in Miracles are probably the most frequently quoted words from the Course. They sum up the essence of this profound work and carry implications which are not at all apparent to most upon first reading: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:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.Herein lies the peace of God.
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Short History of the Editing and Publishing of A Course in Miracles=>
Describing ACIM
Students of Zen Buddhism see similarities between their spiritual understandings and approach, and that of the Course. Others find in it a message which is similar to that of J. Krishnamurti. Students of the Koran may appreciate that the Course acknowledges it is only one of many spiritual paths which all have the same goal of love and peace among all of humanity, who are brothers in one God.
In the preface to the ACIM Text, which Helen Schucman wrote about a year after A Course in Miracles had been published, she stated: “It is not intended to become the basis for another cult. Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher." (Text, Preface, p. viii )
Being able to access that “Internal Teacher” is central to allowing forgiveness to guide ones life in the world, hence to be at peace and of service. The Course is not about making a better world, but it is about making a more peaceful human being through the agency of spirit and the memory of the Love of God that the “Internal Teacher” holds for all in that part of spirit called “mind.” A better world will occur when minds are healed of their ego beliefs in separation and competing interests.
Miracle Studies Navigation Table
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