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A Course In Miracles or ACIM (pronounced "AY sim") is a book devoted to spiritual teaching that was received as a channeling during the 1960s and 1970s by Helen Schucman, an American professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University in New York City, and then edited and transcribed into a book. Schucman believed that these messages came from Jesus.

ACIM uses Christian concepts and terminology suggesting that it is correcting, clarifying, or reinterpreting portions of the Bible. ACIM further uses but redefines many Biblical concepts and terms. ACIM, however, differs in significant ways from traditional Christianity.

History

The raw material for ACIM was received by Schucman between 1965 and 1972 by means of a dictation from an “inner voice,” which she transcribed in shorthand. She joined with William Thetford, another clinical psychology professor at Columbia, in producing the original set of ACIM notes, with Schucman reading each day’s shorthand notes to Thetford who typed them up.

In addition to the substantive notes themselves, Schucman received messages from the inner voice that directed how the notes were to be processed and used. After the full set of notes, sometimes known as the Urtext, was received, Thetford edited those notes down by removing certain material identified as personal or ancillary, rearranging material, and adding chapter and section headings. This version was later further edited by Schucman in conjunction with Kenneth Wapnick, who had joined the effort. These versions were variously circulated to interested people.

ACIM was first published in 1976 by The Foundation for Inner Peace, or FIP, which obtained a copyright on it, which has now been rescinded as a consequence of a lawsuit challenging its validity. An associated entity headed by Wapnick, The Foundation for A Course in Miracles, or FACIM, was established in 1983 as a teaching organization, and other ACIM related organizations have been formed as well. A second edition including minor changes and adding numbering to all chapters, sections, paragraphs, and sentences was released in 1992. Subsequent to this two earlier versions have surfaced and have been widely circulated

ACIM has been translated into several languages. Through contractual arrangement, ACIM was published and distributed between 1995 and 2000 by Penguin Books. Due to its public domain status and the appearence of new versions with additional material, the matter can be said to be in a state of flux.

Over a million copies of ACIM have been distributed since its release, and it has gained adherents worldwide. ACIM is not associated with any one centralized church or body, but a number of groups and organizations worldwide have emerged that study ACIM or are centered on or significantly influenced by it. Many of those meet in person or have an Internet presence. A number of seminars, tapes, and books have been developed that interpret, teach, or reflect the material in ACIM, perhaps the most widely known of which are the books by Marianne Williamson.

The groups and commentators that have studied ACIM have interpreted it in many different ways, and disputes have arisen over various interpretations and the use of the ACIM material. Litigation eventually resulted between various groups and the copyright holders. During this time, the Urtext and the earlier version of ACIM became available and began to be circulated on the Internet, and the dispute spread to them as well, with various groups debating which version was the best or most genuine. As a result of the litigation, a court in 2004 invalidated the copyright on at least one version of ACIM, and the matter is still being resolved.

Structure

ACIM comprises three parts. A 650-page Text contains the main theoretical underpinnings of its teachings. A 500-page Workbook for Students contains 365 self-study lessons in mind training and spiritual practice, reminiscent of but far more elborate than the Spiritual Exercises of ], to be taken one per day. A 75-page Manual for Teachers contains concise questions and answers on various topics related to the ACIM teachings. In addition, two separate pamphlets, Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice and The Song of Prayer: Prayer, Forgiveness, Healing, were also received by Schucman and published.

Main tenets

Main purpose

The goal of ACIM is the reader’s recognition and experience of the peace of God, which ACIM fosters by drawing a distinction between the invulnerability of true reality on one hand, consisting of God and his creations, and the non-existence of anything that is not part of that reality on the other hand, such as the world we perceive, which ACIM declares to be in some sense illusion. ACIM postulates that a person experiences the world of problems and death because of his mistaken belief that he has become separated from God; which in eternity (and therefore reality) is impossible, but which can be believed in, leading to the experience of time. ACIM sets forth a metaphysical system that explains this separation problem, and a psychological approach for solving it.

Cosmology of separation

In ACIM’s cosmology, God the Father and Christ the Son are together in Heaven, unchanged and unchanging in timeless eternity, and forever creating; the seeming contradiction between timelessness and the continuous extension of the created is explicitly embraced. The Father and the Son share an almost complete identity, the main distinction between them being that God is Creator and First Cause who created the Son, while the Son was created but in turn also creates like the Father. Heaven is the domain only of knowledge and creation, and what the Father and the Son really are, are ideas; since the Father is self-existent, He is his own idea, reminiscent of Aristotle's conception of God. The Son is both singular and plural, consisting of ideas created by the Father (called souls in earlier editions) which are eternally joined in one Son, and share the one identity of the Son of God.

ACIM tells us our basic conflict or fundamental problem, called the separation, arose when a thought of separation came into the mind of one of the Sons of God and was shared with the entire Sonship. This involved the seeming incorporation of the ability of self-creation, the metaphorical apple from the Tree of Knowledge, which contradicted God's will and hence in the metaphysical system of ACIM did not in reality happen. Only the eternally retained aspects of temporal experience, retained after a process of evaluation culminating with a final edit called the Last Judgment, are regarded as truly valid.

ACIM further claims that the world of time and space that followed the separation is the domain of perception rather than knowledge, and at bottom is only a space-time belief. The precise nature and origin of the world of matter and time in ACIM is a question of much controversy, but it is said to be both an illusion and a device for the correction of illusion and the ending of separation.

Reunifying psychology of forgiveness and atonement

ACIM postulates that reclaiming the awareness of unity, which it terms “salvation,” is the one viable solution to the only actual problem facing seemingly separated minds, the problem of believing they are separate from each other and from God. This awareness dawns through the process of forgiveness, making up an overall plan of atonement, two concepts that ACIM redefines from traditional Christianity.

ACIM proposes forgiveness as the solution because, it explains, seemingly separated minds in the world feel guilt and fear of God stemming from the mistaken belief that they have offended or attacked God by separating from Him. These minds close off from the awareness from love, and love’s absence is felt as fear. They instead engage in judgment against the illusory world and against others, allowing psychological projection of the fear and guilt felt inside them outward onto seemingly external forces and actors. They believe that what is really coming from inside them is instead coming at them from outside, and so believe that problems are myriad, random, and unrelated, as opposed to there being only one problem, centered on belief in separation. These minds invariably become angry at these perceived external threats and attempt to attack them and defend against them, when in truth, ACIM claims, anger is never justified, attack has no foundation, and real strength lies only in defenselessness. These minds are locked in a cycle of experiencing imagined victimization and seeking impotently for solutions outside themselves, which is not where the true problem is, inside themselves. The solution to all this, ACIM concludes, is atonement, achieved through forgiveness.

Forgiveness in ACIM is not the letting go of actual slights and injuries inflicted by others, but is instead the recognition that others have not and indeed cannot harm or wrong the mind of the individual perceiver. This unorthodox outlook is possible, ACIM explains, because it is the mind of the perceiver, rather than anyone or anything else, who actually determines all the experiences that he will receive, and also because his mind is still as God created it, meaning that the events that seem to befall him in the world do not actually affect or change him in any real way.

ACIM takes its title from its notion that forgiveness and atonement are accomplished with, and accompanied by, miracles. ACIM defines a miracle more broadly than does traditional Christianity, as essentially being any change of a mind away from fear and separation and towards love and unity, although ACIM’s definition does include traditional miracles like those found in the Bible, such as healing the sick and raising the dead.

Points of contrast with traditional Christianity

Because of its perspective on reality, separation, and forgiveness, ACIM does not accept sin, death, or sacrifice. ACIM defines sin as an evil act having real consequences and deserving punishment, which under its cosmology is impossible. It instead recognizes only mistakes, defined as mental misconceptions having no real consequences and deserving only correction. Accordingly, all acts of others are to be interpreted either as expressions of love or calls for love, and nothing else.

Death is both illusory and meaningless for ACIM, because of its position that only by salvation, and not by death, do separated minds cease to believe in the illusory world of separation and return to Heaven. Sacrifice is similarly impossible for ACIM because of the imperviousness and self-directing sovereignty of mind. ACIM thus rejects traditional Christianity’s notion of Jesus’s crucifixion as a sacrificial proxy in payment for the sins of mankind, instead subordinating it to the lesson of the resurrection as a demonstration of the invulnerability of mind and love.

The Holy Trinity of traditional Christianity is present in ACIM, but is explained differently. For ACIM, God the Father is quite literally all in all, an egoless, limitless, perfect, loving, quintessentially real Creator, of whom the highest truth may be stated simply as, “God is.” The Son, or Christ, is the aggregate or unity of all people or all living creatures, rather than being synonymous with Jesus only. The Holy Spirit is relied on heavily as the innate and unbreakable link or connection between the seemingly separated minds and the unified mind of Christ and God. The Workbook’s purpose is to provide students with confirmatory experiences that connect each reader with the Holy Spirit as their own internal teacher; upon its conclusion after 365 days of daily lessons, the student is left in the internal teacher’s care for all further guidance.

The eschatology of ACIM differs significantly from that of traditional Christianity. ACIM makes very few predictions regarding the future, other than to say that when the atonement is complete and all seemingly separated minds have recognized their unity as Christ, which process ACIM suggests will take millions of years, the purpose of the world will be over and so the world will end. The world will not be destroyed, but instead “will simply cease to seem to be.”

Relation to other spiritual paths

ACIM professes respect for various other spiritual methods and paths that may be used to reach the same goals it pursues. ACIM describes its main benefit as saving time toward the eventual remembering of the unity of the seemingly separated parts of Christ, and cites interpersonal relationships as its special mode for doing so. Many students consider ACIM to have a non-dualistic orientation, and it has variously been compared to Gnosticism, Buddhism, and Advaita Hinduism. Although ACIM contains passages that may be interpreted as supporting reincarnation, ACIM affirmatively refuses to take any stand on reincarnation.

Relation to philosophical idealism, responsibility assumption, and the New Thought Movement

ACIM displays a strong orientation toward philosophical idealism and responsibility assumption in its prescription that the mind and its thoughts control all physical outcomes in the world, even to the point of healing the sick and raising the dead. In this, ACIM shares the outlook of the New Thought Movement, including Religious Science and Christian Science. While ACIM itself might set little stock in other origins, commentators have noted a number of ACIM teachings suggest direct or indirect influence by or relation to Christian Science, including the metaphysical appeal to a perfect, absolute, divine reality outside of material existence; the Idealist idea of healing or resurrection through improved thought and understanding; the subordination of imperfection as illusory; the reformulation of atonement; the reformulation of the Trinity; and the emphasis on God's love and forgiveness rather than eternal damnation. An Urtext passage that was not included in the published version calls Christian Science "clearly incomplete," but praises the formulation of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy which notes that while Adam of the metaphorical Garden of Eden is mentioned in the Bible as being put to sleep, it is never mentioned that he ever woke up, a reinforcement of the illusory and dreamlike nature of the world. In this connection, it is notable that Thetford's parents were reportedly both Christian Scientists, though he himself minimalized this influence.

Controversy and criticism

While less controversial than many new religious movements, ACIM has encountered controversy and criticism in several areas.

External critical views

ACIM has attracted attention in Christian apologetics and countercult groups due to its use of Christian terminology and concepts. Citing the philosophical differences between ACIM and traditional Christian doctrine, such groups have usually labeled ACIM as a heretical Christian counterfeit and demonically inspired. A similar view was voiced in an Internet essay by an exponent of The Urantia Book, who viewed ACIM's de-emphasis of sin as specially benefiting, and therefore likely authored by, the Devil. Skeptical groups look askance at the material's origins in channeling allegedly emanating from Jesus. Author James Hillman at one point made a statement to the effect that he "hated" ACIM, but such words may simply have been uttered in haste, as he later declined to elaborate on that statement when pressed by author D. Patrick Miller during research for the book, The Complete Story of the Course.

Foolish or subversive doctrine

In common with other spiritual doctrines asserting that the world is illusion and that internal thought rather than external physical factors determine what befalls each observer, ACIM doctrines can be viewed as foolish or dangerous. ACIM denies that physical laws, sickness, tragedy and death are ultimately real, though it says the thought-system of the separation is real enough on its own terms and often of tragic consequence in time. It can be claimed that ACIM's premise that only in defenselessness does safety lie, and that defenses ultimately are an attack on one's true invulnerability, might lead adherents to harm through foolhardy strategies of utter pacificism in the face of aggression (see "turn the other cheek"). ACIM's doctrines may also be seen as subversive to the proper functioning of a rational society. ACIM advises adherents to not bother attempting to change the world, but instead simply to change their thinking about the world. The concern may accordingly arise that ACIM will breed "discerning zombies" who retire from the politics of the world rather than remaining active within it. ACIM's doctrines further run contra to certain core principles upon which societies have always been founded: ACIM would replace punishment with absolute forgiveness, and do away with the concepts of sin and guilt as they apply to the reality of what people are. However, ACIM does regard them as applicable to the ego, the old Adam of ACIM thought, and advises at one point to leave the sins of the ego with Jesus and the Atonement.

ACIM has however spawned a wide spectrum of interpretation, and current evidence does not suggest more than a small minority within the ACIM community adhere to extreme interpretations that would deny what is broadly known as "common sense" and attempt to apply ACIM doctrines to radical or subversive effect in the world.

Group controversy

One group in particular, the New Christian Church of Full Endeavor, along with its teaching arm, Endeavor Academy, has generated pointed controversy both inside and outside the ACIM community. The group is headed by an American, Chuck Anderson, who is referred to by himself and his followers as "Master Teacher." The group has established intentional communities in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in the USA, Byron Bay in Australia, and Wusterwitz in Germany. These communities have come under criticism of cult behavior, including brainwashing and psychological and physical abuse of members. Ex-members of the Australian community for a time published a newsletter entitled "Holy Smoke," detailing their claims of abuses occurring at that location. The larger ACIM community has hotly debated whether some of the more unorthodox doctrines of this group are in fact consonant with the teachings of ACIM.

External references and links

Anonymous (1992). A Course in Miracles (2d ed.). Mill Valley: Foundation for Inner Peace. ISBN 0-9606388-8-1.
Anonymous (1996). Supplements to A Course in Miracles. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-670-86994-5. Contains the pamphlets, Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice and The Song of Prayer: Prayer, Forgiveness, Healing.
Miller, D. Patrick (1997). The Complete Story of the Course: The History, the People, and the Contoversies Behind A Course in Miracles. Berkeley: Fearless Books. ISBN 0-9656809-0-8. Discusses the post-publication history of ACIM and various pertinent groups.
Skutch, Robert (1996). Journey Without Distance: The Story Behind A Course in Miracles. Mill Valley: Foundation for Inner Peace. ISBN 1-883360-02-1. Discusses the pre-publication history of ACIM.
Wapnick, Kenneth (1999). Absence from Felicity: The Story of Helen Schucman and Her Scribing of A Course in Miracles (2d ed.). New York: Foundation for A Course in Miracles. ISBN 0-933291-08-6. Discusses Helen Schucman and the pre-publication history of ACIM.
Williamson, Marianne (1996). A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060927488. Widely-read adaptation of ACIM principles.

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