ACIM Notebook

A Course in Deception
by: A. K. Zwart

Editor’s note: This selection is included because it is a well written outline of commony encountered objections to A Course in Miracles, namely a focus on the real or imagined faults of the two scribes, Bill Thetford and Helen Schucman and a comparison to Pauline Christianity.

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When, many years ago, I was introduced to A Course in Miracles, I was awestruck. Here was a set of books, containing a new view of the world and religion, and it had been dictated by Jesus. It was incredible. I will return to the word "incredible" later.

First, let me tell you a little about my background. I grew up in the Netherlands in a Christian family. We went to church every Sunday, many of our aunts and uncles and friends did as well. The primary school I attended and the secondary school later on were linked to the church. The traditional Christian faith seemed somewhat predictable and boring to me.

In my early twenties I started reading about Eastern philosophies which seemed so much more interesting and relevant than the well-established traditions of Christianity. Finally, when I started to read the Course, I felt I had come home — here was a book which explained religion, Jesus and God, the world so well. Yet, the first 100 pages or so of the Text seemed the most accessible; after that, the Course became somewhat tedious in my view.

Over the years of being involved in the Course, it always bothered me that Helen Schucman felt great unease about the material which she claimed to have received. Fr. Groeschel who became a close friend of Helen, said that the last two years of her life were spent in profound despair and depression; she told him that writing the Course was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Hardly what you would expect from a person who wrote down words dictated to her by Jesus. Was it brought on by the knowledge that she had with Bill orchestrated an enormous hoax — a made up religion which became successful beyond their wildest expectations?

Helen admitted that she "wanted to change everything" she had written but that Bill Thetford persuaded her not to. Why would she question the words spoken to her by Jesus — she could have rejected them by refusing to take the dictation, but surely she would not try to change them?

Meanwhile, Bill is described by Fr. Groeschel as the "most sinister person" he had ever met. Bill was an evangelical atheist, yet he took an active role in the scribing of the Course material. Curiously, Bill worked for the CIA on thought control projects during his time with Columbia University.

Helen was a Jew she could not accept that Jesus was the Messiah and certainly not that he was the Son of God. Furthermore, she could never believe in the Atonement being established by the Crucifixion. Conveniently, the Course reflects her Jewish upbringing and thoughts. At this point, it is worth pointing out that the main publicist of the Course, Ken Wapnick, is also a Jew and could accept Jesus as an older brother, but not the Messiah (in spite of his stint as a Catholic priest). I do not believe the Course is a Jewish conspiracy! But you need to pay attention to the preconceptions of the people involved and how these influenced the material.

Further, Helen was also influenced by a spiritual experience she had in Lourdes and by her mother who used to read Helen from the Christian Science books when she was a little girl. And, Helen was a psychologist — now the sources of the peculiar mixture of the Course become clear.

Now, recently I had a minor "Road to Damascus" experience which caused me to return to traditional Christianity. Rather than blindly accepting what the Bible says, I started reading books which investigated the historical truth of the life of Jesus, the teachings of the early Church, and the accuracy of the Gospels. This has been an eye-opening experience.

The conclusion I have reached, based on the work of many eminent scholars, is that the Jesus of the Bible is the same as the historical Jesus who is referred to in other writing of the early centuries. The earliest writings in the Bible — the letters from Paul — reflect very accurately the teachings of the church in the first couple of decades. Paul met with Peter and James in Jerusalem and from them obtained the essentials of the creed which is still recited in churches worldwide today.

The foundation of the Biblical Jesus lies in fact; it is supported by eyewitness accounts dating back to the first century. The Jesus of the Gospels is the Messiah, the Son of God. The early Church regarded Gnostics as heretics because their views contradicted the teachings of Jesus.

By contrast, the Course is a curious blend of Gnosticism, borrowings from Eastern religions with a good dose of New Age thinking and pop psychology thrown in; it contains no fresh ideas. Most importantly, it is not based on fact.

The Gnostics, a heretical branch of early Christianity, believed the world was not created by God. Does this sound familiar? They believed that Jesus revealed the true meaning of his teachings to certain disciples — and this message was different from what the Bible says. Does this sound similar to ACIM?

Hinduism teaches that the world is Maya, an illusion. It is not real. Hinduism is also one of the world’s most cruel religions since it teaches that we bring everything on ourselves — so if someone is born into a low caste and abject poverty, it is because of what they did in a previous life. If you help them, you interfere with their spiritual path.

The Course teaches that the world and sin are not real. Therefore, if you are raped it is your wrong perception which is to blame. You can’t blame the rapist, because he is a Son of God who can’t sin and can’t be punished. The rape was an illusion, an example of wrong thinking.

Is death an illusion? Have you ever had to say goodbye to a dying parent who you dearly loved? Have you ever had to bury a pet, with your crying child beside you? That must have seemed pretty real.

The conclusion that some writers have reached is that Helen and Bill embarked on an experiment to make up a religion fashioned from different traditions they were familiar with. They succeeded and created a tidal wave of confused thinking masquerading as truth.

I think that the following scenario is most likely: Helen started receiving inner dictation and Bill encouraged her to write down what it said. Helen knew it came from another part of her mind — that is why she wanted to “change everything.” Bill, for reasons of his own, urged her to carry on with the writing. Things then got out of hand when others read the material and the Foundation for Inner Peace was established. Some of the people involved were no doubt sincere, others misguided and some truly deceptive if not evil.

In itself, all this is bad enough if the Course were just some daft New Age manual. However, the Course places an immeasurable burden of guilt upon its followers. Everything is our fault because our perception is wrong, and only we can change that. This is the sad message delivered by the Course — which leads to despair rather than freedom.

Even if you don’t want to become a Christian, you should reject the Course:

• It is a made up religion, developed by Helen and Bill as a hoax which Helen always regretted;
• Even if it is not a deliberate hoax, it is an experiment which got out of hand; the Course does not contain any original, fresh ideas: it is an uncomfortable mixture of ideas floated through the centuries and derives directly from Helen’s background and experience;
• The thought system of the Course does not lead to happiness and freedom;
• If you still consider the ideas in the Course original and inspirational, then the final argument is this: the assertion that the Course originates from Jesus is totally unacceptable and is refuted by any study of early Christianity. Course proponent Ken Wapnick himself states that the Course and the Bible share no common ground.

In conclusion: the Course is a truly incredible book — meaning that it is beyond belief and understanding. It is a money-spinning, made up religion without any foundation in fact or in spirit and with little merit.

The Course leads people astray instead of leading them back to God.

AK Zwart
September 2008

www.radiance.org

You’re Always Here
by: Ben Gilberti

The fact that you are here rests upon a continuous experience of being that is very simple and never changes. Can you notice it? Notice how you feel exactly the same now as you did when you were 5. Take a moment and notice the sense of self that was exactly the same at age 5 as it is right now. It is subtle and ordinary beyond belief and hence very easily overlooked.

No matter what’s going on, you are here, and you are not affected by anything. Can you notice that? When pain is here, you are the same, when pain is gone, you are the same. No matter what else is going on, underneath it all is you, silent, unchanging, here, and absolutely certain that you are here.

If you will just look at that whenever you can, the idea that anything is at stake in this drama of your life will vanish. Maybe the drama will continue, but who cares. If you see a drama in the movies, no matter how skillfully it’s presented to you, no matter how evocative it is, or how well it creates terror and sorrow and so on, there’s never ever the sense that you are at stake in it.

Now look, you’re here. Just look at that every chance you get. Just look at the fact that you’re here. If you do that you will see that over time even though all kinds of drama may be going on, none of it will affect you; it gives you the revelation of eternal, permanent happiness that has actually always been here. If you get stuck, that’s ok because you’re still here whether you’re stuck or not. Nothing that happens within the dream can hurt or help you in any way whatsoever. Now, isn’t it sweet to be here? And you’re always here, regardless of anything.

So what we do is look at the reality of what we are, instead of trying to fix believing we’re something we are not. Stop and look at this feeling of presence that’s always here, but that is too subtle to speak about, that is never absent, that is always the same, and never changes. What does that feel like? Just look at what this presence feels like, and everything else will be taken care of. It is the secret to eternal happiness. And everything then becomes easy, falling-out-of-bed easy.

But if, instead of directly experiencing the truth about what you are as presence, you instead stay mesmerized within the belief that what you are is your life story. If instead of knowing you’re presence, you believe you’re your life, you plunge yourself into all the immense problems that life stories present to us.

Just notice what happens when you believe you’re your life story instead of your presence. You become obsessed with all kinds of things you want and don’t want. You have to work very hard and make all this effort to be good and true. You have to choose wisely, and avoid the temptation to deviate. You have to struggle for enlightenment with strenuous effort. You have to be very careful that you do the right thing. You have to be very careful that you avoid deception. You have to be very careful that you don’t deviate from the path or you’ll get into trouble. You have to choose well and stick to what you’ve chosen. And the list goes on.

Now what is all of that about. All of that is the total nonsense of a false self. Abject foolishness. Stupidity with which we beat ourselves. The only thing that gives rise to the dream is the idea that you’re the story about your life. The only thing that gives rise to misery and suffering is the belief that you are that story.

And that belief becomes the very lens through which you see everything, through which you see the story and the picture of you that you can relate to and understand and do something about. So you go on about your business of doing something about this story of yourself, this history and conglomeration of thought, trying to understand it, fix it, ignore it, accept it, get rid of it; trying to do something, trying to do anything; anything but hear that there is nothing to do.

Already, in this moment, just as you are, you are eternal freedom itself, permanent, untouched, untouchable, reality itself, no matter what the state of your story might be. Right now in this moment, in the midst of all the craziness, even in the midst of powerful feelings of being separate or alone or worthless, you are free, you are reality itself; and the totality of the story, the good, the bad, all of it, is utterly irrelevant, utterly bullshit. That’s precisely what the false belief is – utter bullshit. That’s what the word bullshit means – something that’s false. Ok, notice how clear it is now that the only solution has to be knowing the truth of what you are; with all the rest just being a story about yourself that’s totally irrelevant.

www.bengilberti.com

About Frank Ellis
by: Frank Ellis

As A Course In Miracles student, I meditate, read, study, and write 8 to 12 hours per day, 365 days a year. During the first five years I read only the Course, spending all my time and effort learning the language, reading and meditating and seeking discernment of the true meaning beyond the symbols of symbols, asking all things of His Teacher. I also attended at least two ACIM group meetings a week without missing one for more than five years.

Once this foundation was established, Holy Spirit led and directed me into other writings. As they became absorbed into my understanding, they began to unite as one truth, one teaching with the Course. I find that the same message, once discerned beyond the symbols of symbols, is in all, and probably the Course has been taught in every generation since the beginning of time. Examples include Buddha, Ernest Holmes’ Science of Mind, Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, Wallace Wattle’s Science of Growing Rich, Neville’s seven books, Joel Goldsmith, the Bible, Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization & Living in the Light, and the Abraham teaching through Esther Hicks.

If we accept the Course in its fullest, all of these are merely part of the dream, therefore represent the Memory calling us to awaken from our dream. They all point to the truth of what we are, the dreamer, the creator of worlds, the creator of seeing, the creator of our own reality. All show that we are the creator of our world, that we create by every thought and feeling, and the Law manifests for us our exact thoughts. The Laws, all variations of words on the one truth, are spelled out in the Course. The Bible says we will meditate on His Law day and night, learn its proper use and power. Nothing is outside of mind, for mind is the sum of all of God’s Thoughts, His only creation, and God placed in mind Heaven, the awareness of perfect oneness.

I am already perfectly one with Everything, separated from no thing. Every living thing contains Heaven, perfect oneness with GOD IS, Everything, All, every aspect of creation united with Creator. The belief that something is outside of mind, therefore outside of God Himself, is an idol, an Anti-Christ, a thin veil of tiny, mad idea in our mind, between What IS, and our awareness of What IS.

This we did to ourselves, but we remain the unchanged Christ mind as Father created us by extending Himself within Himself where nothing could touch us except Himself. So all that we seem to do, be it this email, or books current or thousands of years old, is never anything more than an idea still within the mind God created Son. Since I and my Father are One, and all that He has is mine, The Mind Which is God is the Mind I am, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Infinite, and Eternal. Every Thought ever thought, and every tiny, mad idea ever dreamed are still within my mind, to be called forth as I choose. Nothing is lost, for nothing leaves the mind of source, the truth of what I am. Forgiveness reveals all of this to me by setting aside the veil of specialness so that I can recognize oneness with All. This setting aside, emptying the imagined gap bewteen awareness and truth, is the miracle.

The miracle empties the gap of the veil of forgetfulness, allowing remembering. I am the creator of what I see, my awareness, my reality, my world, all merely pictures, images, idols within my mind.

Thus, I can forgive ideas to take them out of awareness. I can train my mind to create deliberately, consciously, willfully, anything I desire, and the Law will picture it in my reality, my dream, and I will believe it real because I created it with my thoughts and feelings. So I train but my mind on what I want to see, and all the world must change accordingly. It is my dream. I can dream anything, any experience I desire, if I am merely willing to forgive the idea that I can’t. The dream is all oneness, forgivable.

The reality of Oneness, God IS, lies just beyond the dream idea that separates my awareness. I create the block to awareness, so I can undo the block and remember oneness. This is the goal of the Course, to recognize oneness, first of the dream, then of God Himself, so I then choose between them. He created me to create, so I train my mind to create like and one with Him instead of creating dreams of separation. I am creator of my world, and I can undo it. The realization that I am the creator (dreamer) allows me to choose what I create, in fact to “do nothing.” do no mis-creating, do no thinking and feeling of what is more than God, outside of God, beyond God, special. Thus the reality of specialness dissolves because I need do nothing to give it life and power of a reality. The veil dissolves and now I remember the truth that God created me to create like and One with Him, Thought by Thought, as One Mind. This is the communion, the daily bread, the communication within Father and Son as One Mind.

I have never been other than mind. Nothing experienced was ever outside of mind. I create all that is in mind. The body, world, universe, time, and space are merely the vain imagining of mind, the idol of specialness, belief that something is outside of mind. With this tiny, mad idea forgiven, I return my whole mind to communication with God, leaving no part of the Mind of God/Father/Son asleep and dreaming.