HOW THE COURSE CAME INTO BEING
A Course in Miracles® arose, because one day two people contemplate and said:
"We can not go on this way, there must be another way to get along."
This thought is repeated over and over again in the Course, as it says:
"Together … or not at all." (T 19.IV.-D.12:8).
These two people, Helen Schucman and William Thetford (Bill) , both worked in New York as psychologists in one of the University-hospitals. Their relationship was difficult. But not only between them where problems, but also with the staff.
The answer on above mentioned outcry came in a totally unexpected way.
Helen became more and more experiences in which Jesus appeared to her. She was mid fifty, and thought she would be crazy. She was a scientific psychologist and had an extraordinary sharp analytic-logical brain and did not tolerate deviate thinking. It was therefore very surprising, that she had these experiences. It frightened her, and when Bill would not have been there, to support her, she might have cancelled the whole Process.
It is important to recognise how important Bills help was. One day, in the middle of October 1965 Helen heard a voice, telling her:
"This is please take notes."
Panic overtook her and she called Bill, asking him what she should do. Bill answered:
"Why don't you do what the voice is asking you to do?"
Helen did it and seven years later, there were three volumes with the title a Course in Miracles®. Helen did write down in shorthand everything the voice dictated her, and the next day she dictated it to Bill, who would type everything.
What perhaps Helen frightened the most, was the fact, that she experienced the voice as Jesus' Once she complained very badly to Jesus saying:
"Why did you choose me? Why not a nice none or something like that? I am really the latest who should do this."
He answered:
"I really don't know why you say that, you are doing it, do you?"
There is no doubt about the identity of the voice. The Course however is stating, that it is not necessary to believe that it is the voice of Jesus it is more the Voice for God. Sometimes however, the interpretation of Jesus words in the Bible is corrected.
The Course is first published in America by the non-profit organisation "Foundation for Inner Peace." Now the publisher is Pinguin Books.
The Course covers three volumes: the Text, the Workbook and the Manual for Teachers. The Text, which is the most difficult to read, conveys the theoretical Basis of the Course. The Workbook contains 365 lessons, one for every day of the year, and serves the practical application of the principles, which have been explained in the Text. The Manual for teachers is not, what we could make up from the title, reserved for the advanced Course students. On the contrary. It gives clear sayings, also for the beginners.
As a kind of supplement there is a part called: Clarification of terms. This part was added one year after the course was finished. Perhaps this is most easy to read, because it answers questions, which might come up by the reader. These clarifications proved to be necessary, because many people, as they did first with the Bible, started to use the Course for their own use.
This is a danger, because you are very easily tempted to change what might be
difficult to accept, in order to fit you better.
A Course in Miracles® was finished in autumn 1972 and published in 1976. Ken Wapnick, one of the most known teachers of the Course is saying:
"For me a Course in Miracles® is the best integration of psychology and spirituality I have ever seen."
Because he is the leader of all the translation teams, he has a remarkable input. Because of that is his understanding of the Course the most known in the world. There are though many other good teachers.
It is important to know, that, as the Course itself is saying, it is not the only road to Heaven. A Course in Miracles® is not for all men, and to believe that is a mistake. Nothing is for all men. Many however, believe that it is a very important road. For them, for whom it is not the road, the Holy Spirit will give something else.
Some people experience a strong opposition, when they start to read the Course. That is so, because the Course is a contraction to our way of thinking and it describes within all details, how wrong the ego is.
First the Course was published in America 1976 with the title a Course in Miracles®. Meanwhile there are sold more than 1 500 000 specimen all over the world. In the meantime there is a Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Hebrew and Italian version.
Sometimes is asked, why the Course is written in a specific Christian form. The answer is found in one of the fundamental principles of the Course, that is:
"You should preserve(?) the mistake where it is."
It is out of question, that Christianity has the most important influence in the westerly world. In this world there is no thoughtsystem so important, independent from if you are Christian or not. There is no one in this world, and for sure no one in the westerly world, to which Christianity did not leave marks. Whether or not we are Christians, we live in a Christian world. Our calendar is even based on the birth of Jesus.
If we are capable to accept the Course as he is, we can learn, that this Course is offering a Freedom-Theology. Freeing us from false perception, which we figured out in the 2000 years of Christianity and which is in need of correction. It also offers an exceptional Freedom-Psychology. Here you will find an answer to the question: "Who am I?"
The Course also teaches you "know thyself" not only in theory, but also in your experience. The goal of the course is spiritual healing, from which might come healing of psyche and your relationships, which the Course calls: healed relationships.
The Course is teaching us:
"Teach only love, for that is what you are."