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Definition:
The book A Course in Miracles was supposedly dictated by Jesus to Helen
Schucman (1909-1981), a clinical psychologist, with the help of William Thetford,
also a psychologist. To date, it has sold well over one million copies and has
been translated into numerous languages around the world. A number of other
popular authors have also incorporated the teachings of A Course in
Miracles into their own bestselling works.
Shucman, who had been experiencing stress at work, began to explore the nature of the symbols in her dreams as part of an effort to achieve some measure of peace. At one point, she heard a voice tell her "This is a course in miracles. Please take notes." She proceeded to do just that, and said that because the voice was entirely internal, with no actual sound, it could not possibly be a hallucination of any sort.
According to Schucman, she was taught by this voice that the world we know is only an illusion. Our physical perceptions create a:
...fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge and preception. Knowledge is truly, under one law, the law of love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can be recognized, but it cannot be changed. ...The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, or change, or beginnings and endings.
Being doctors, it is perhaps expected that an important part of the message delivered to them had to do with the nature of sickness. Why does sickness exist? Apparently, people are sick because they deserve it. As it states in A Course in Miracles:
All sickness comes from separation. When separation is denied, it goes. For it is gone as soon as the idea that brought it has been healed, and been replaced by sanity. Sickness and sin are seen as consequence and cause, in a relationship kept hidden from awareness that it may be carefully preserved from reason's light. Guilt asks for punishment, and its request is granted.
Thus, if someone is sick, the responsibility is theirs because of whatever sins they have committed. True, they probably don't realize it, but the goal of A Course in Miracles is to help them realize that they are the cause of all their problems. Once they eliminate their separation from God, everything will be better for them.
The book is called "course" because it consists of a year-long series of devotional designed to help people live daily "miracles," by which is meant "spiritual growth," something which will help people avoid falling ill. As many as a thousand study groups exist in the United States for the purpose of providing a format in which people can study the Course and learn how to implement its teachings in their daily lives.
People are expected to learn how to restructure their lives by restructuring their perception of themselves and of the world. This has also been called a form of "Attitudinal Therapy," because it seeks to help people change and improve first and foremost by having them change their attitudes.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
Skepticism & Critical Thinking
This is the main index for issues dealing with skepticism, critical thinking, logic and arguments. The first section is Critical Thinking itself - how to think about claims and arguments you hear, how to critique arguments, and how to formulate your own arguments such that they are more likely to be sound and valid. The second section is about Skeptical Investigations - the practical application of the critical thinking skills covered in the first section. Here you will find critiques of things like astrology, alternative medicine, parapsychology, the New Age and more.
