A Course in Miracles

Everything you believe about yourself is false, Son of God.
You are dreaming.
The world you see is a projection of your mind.
The world has no solution.
The world is the problem.
And yet... THE WORLD IS AN ILLUSION.

What is real is never in danger.
And what is in danger is not real.
THEREIN LIES THE PEACE OF GOD.

Origin

This Course originated from a dictation heard in the mind of American psychologist Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1972. According to her, the voice identified itself as that of Jesus of Nazareth, and its purpose was to convey his true teaching to the world.

The message of the Course arose in response to a decision by William Thetford, Helen’s supervisor in the Department of Medical Psychology at Columbia University in New York, who was seeking a better way to live.

To understand the circumstances that led to the Course, it is helpful to read the prologue included in Volume I, as well as the autobiographies of the two scribes, which can be downloaded from this same page and will soon be published by the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP).

Structure

The Course is organized into three main sections of teaching and five supplements.

Text

Presents the theoretical framework of the Course.

Workbook

A manual for practicing the teachings, consisting of 365 lessons to be completed daily.

Manual for Teachers

A companion book answering questions frequently asked by students of the Course.

Annexes:

Glossary

A compendium of relevant Course terminology.

Psychotherapy

Commentary on the practice of psychotherapy from the perspective of the Course.

The Song of Prayer

Explores the three fundamental tools of this teaching: prayer, forgiveness, and healing.

The Gifts of God

A spiritually intense poetic text that addresses key aspects of the Course’s teaching.

Special Messages

Comments directed to the scribes concerning specific aspects of their daily lives.

Content

Put simply, A Course in Miracles is a manual for holiness. It teaches how to be holy here, in this world, in this dream. It is a non-dualistic, Christian-oriented thought system that promotes the forgiveness of all perception and personal thought to purify the personal mind and prepare it for integration into true knowledge, happiness, and peace—its natural state.

Though its teachings are simple, practicing them can be deeply challenging, as they require undoing a flawed thought system that resists their application. This corrupted system is, apparently, the source of the false personal identity. The Course’s aim is to transform the concept of self through forgiveness, aligning it with the truth, to awaken to the realization that we are the Son of God.

This purification of the mind—which perceives itself as isolated and separate—demands rigorous mental training that only students willing to persevere with discipline can undertake. The outcome of this training is the mystical experience of union with God.