a course in miracles

a course in miracles

Blog Article

A Course in Miracles (also referred to as ACIM or the Course) is a 1976 book by Helen Schucman. The underlying premise is that the greatest "miracle" is the act of simply gaining a full "awareness of love's presence" in a person's life.[1] Schucman said that the book had been dictated to her, word for word, via a process of "inner dictation" from Jesus Christ.[2][3] The book is considered to have borrowed from New Age movement writings.[4][5]

ACIM consists of three sections: "Text", "Workbook for Students", and "Manual for Teachers". Written from 1965 to 1972, some distribution occurred via photocopies before a hardcover edition was published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace.[6] The copyright and trademarks, which had been held by two foundations, were revoked in 2004[6] after lengthy litigation because the earliest versions had been circulated without a copyright notice.[7][8]

Throughout the 1980s, annual sales of the book steadily increased each year; however, the largest growth in sales occurred in 1992 after Marianne Williamson discussed the book on The Oprah Winfrey Show,[6] with more than two million volumes sold.[6] The book has been called everything from "New Age psychobabble"[9] to "a Satanic seduction"[6] to "The New Age Bible".[10] According to Olav Hammer, the psychiatrist and author Gerald G. Jampolsky was among the most effective promoters of ACIM. Jampolsky's first book, Love is Letting Go of Fear, which is based on the principles of ACIM, was published in 1979 and, after being endorsed on Johnny Carson's show, went on to sell over three million copies by 1990.[11]

Origins
A Course in Miracles was written as a collaborative venture between Schucman and William ("Bill") Thetford. In 1958, Schucman began her professional career at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City as Thetford's research associate.[12][13] In 1965, at a time when their weekly office meetings had become so contentious that they both dreaded them, Thetford suggested to Schucman that "[t]here must be another way".[14] Schucman believed that this interaction acted as a stimulus, triggering a series of inner experiences that were understood by her as visions, dreams, and heightened imagery, along with an "inner voice" which she identified as Jesus (although the ACIM text itself never explicitly claims that the voice she hears speaking is the voice of Jesus).[15][16] She said that on October 21, 1965, an "inner voice" told her: "This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes."

Schucman said that the writing made her very uncomfortable, though it never seriously occurred to her to stop.[17] The next day, she explained the events of her "note-taking" to Thetford. To her surprise, Thetford encouraged her to continue the process. He also offered to assist her in typing out her notes as she read them to him. The process continued the next day and repeated itself regularly for many years. In 1972, the writing of the three main sections of ACIM was completed, with some additional minor writing coming after that point.[18]