Millions of people credit A Course in Miracles, a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy, with transforming their lives. It has acim brought New Age superstar Marianne Williamson fame, fortune and a following that includes Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey.
Now, she’s bringing those ideas into politics. She’s running for Congress in a district that includes southwestern Ohio.
The Text
A Course in Miracles, also known as ACIM, is a widely revered spiritual text that teaches its readers to replace fear with love. The book, which has garnered a large following that ranges from New Age gurus like Gabrielle Bernstein to yoga teachers across the globe, offers a different perspective on the nature of God and human beings. The Course's teachings are based on ancient spiritual principles that have been interpreted in a number of ways. This program features six of Marianne Williamson's best lectures on the Course, plus powerful guided meditations and spiritually enriching music.
The author of the Course, Helen Schucman, was a Columbia University research psychologist who claimed that she received it from an "inner voice" that identified itself as Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Schucman said that the Course came to her in a series of brief messages over seven years, culminating in a 628-page textbook, a 478-page Workbook, and an 88-page Manual for Teachers. Two clinical psychologists, William Thetford and Kenneth Wapnick, assisted her in the editing of the course.
Originally published in three separate volumes, the Text, Workbook and Manual for Teachers, the Course's main teaching is that there is no separation between God and the world of physical reality. Reality, in fact, is composed only of God's thoughts, which are pure and loving. The Course teaches that the true nature of the universe is one of unity, love and sinlessness. It views evil and sin as misperceptions, calling for correction and forgiveness rather than punishment.
Although the Course is not a religion, it does use Christian terminology and teaches that the theology of all major religions is essentially the same. Longtime students recognize that the concepts taught in the Course are timeless and can be applied to many forms of spiritual study, including Eastern and Western teachings. The Course calls for a return to the practice of love and a reversal of the world's polarity. It says that the fear-based ego system is responsible for most of the problems in the world and that the only solution is to love and forgive.
The Manual for Teachers
Most students of A Course in Miracles know that the book consists of three volumes: the Text, the Workbook for Students and the Manual for Teachers. Each volume has a different purpose. The Text is meant to be read and studied, the Workbook should be practiced and its lessons performed and the Manual for Teachers is designed to help teachers of A Course in Miracles lead their students.
It is also important to remember that A Course in Miracles does not teach a particular religion. It is a self-study system of spiritual psychology. The mystical teachings of the Course are based on ancient spiritual teachings that have been adapted and typecast for modern times.
Marianne Williamson, a New York Times best-selling author, spiritual thought leader and Democratic presidential candidate, has done more than anyone to spread the Course’s message in recent years. She has collaborated with a pantheon of New Age megastars (Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey are among her long-term associates) and offered counseling to elite celebrities.
She has also been controversial. Her views on abortion, vaccines and mental health have provoked criticism from medical experts. She has also made deeply contested statements about AIDS, including the advice that men infected with AIDS should imagine their disease as Darth Vader unzipping his suit to allow an angel to emerge.
In many ways, the controversy surrounding the Course stems from its claim to be a revelation from Jesus Christ. Although it claims to be Christian, the course simultaneously indoctrinates its students into Eastern metaphysics and human potential psychicism and insulates them against biblical revelation and true Christianity. Its carefully structured spiritual exercises, which include 365 lessons for each day of the year, manipulate the minds of its students to do just that.
In addition to its psychological and spiritual insights, A Course in Miracles teaches that the path to universal love and peace is by undoing guilt through forgiveness. This forgiveness is a shift from fear to love, which fosters healing and sanctification of relationships. According to its proponents, it also reveals that every person has buried knowledge and memories of God within themselves and can recover these by undoing the ego’s blocks through forgiveness.
The Song of Prayer
A Course in Miracles is a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy. It has sold more than a million copies and is studied in more than 2,000 study groups worldwide, including three in Columbus. Although some critics have labeled it selfish and Williamson wonky, many say the principles of the course have helped them find inner peace and forgive others. One group member, Rose Spencer, 33, of Hilliard, said the Course has made her feel more grounded and helped her make sense of life when other religions seemed to confuse it.
The course teaches that God is all-encompassing love and that forgiveness is the only way to remove the blocks to love's presence, which is everyone's natural inheritance. It also teaches that there is no such thing as evil, and that the most important things in life are forgiveness, self-love and compassion. The course has three books and a workbook, all of which can be read at once or in stages. Its teachings are based on the belief that people have lost touch with their true nature and that they can return to a state of wholeness by changing their beliefs and actions.
The Course has gained new popularity since Marianne Williamson published her bestselling book, A Return to Love, in 1992. Although it has experienced brief periods of popularity, the course is generally studied either alone or in loosely organized study groups, and has little influence beyond the New Age movement and alternative spiritual circles.
Its principles are similar to the philosophies found in many near-death experiences (NDEs), which have long been considered by some to be credible sources of information about God, humans' spiritual identities and the existence of an afterlife. The overlap of these two sets of information is startling, and raises questions about why the two sources would independently agree on so many similar themes.
Some NDEs are so striking that their authors have become celebrities in their own right. This has happened with Marianne Williamson, who rose to prominence in the 1990s among a coterie of New Age superstars that includes Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey. She has spoken publicly about her NDE and about the Course, and she has offered counseling to elite celebrities like Cher and Steven Tyler.
The Psychotherapy Booklet
For more than 30 years Marianne Williamson has been one of millions of people who have embraced the concepts of A Course in Miracles, a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy. Now, INSPIRING TEACHINGS ON A COURSE IN MIRACLES brings you six of her finest live lectures, previously available only to premium subscribers.
A Course in Miracles, a door-stopper sized tome of spiritual teaching, was published in the 1960s by Helen Schucman, an unlikely mystic. The book drew on older traditions like Christian Science and New Thought, a 19th century metaphysical movement. It also incorporated Freudian language, urging readers to see the world through the eyes of love and forgiveness. It slipped into New York’s spiritual counterculture, attracting small pockets of questioning students.
At the time of its release, the AIDS epidemic was raging. Ms. Williamson, a former cabaret singer, brought glamour and charisma to her teachings. She encouraged her followers to focus on love, even the virus that was killing them. She held groups for AIDS sufferers and ran a meal delivery service that helped prolong the lives of some of them. Her theology could seem outlandish; she once advised her patients to imagine the AIDS virus as Darth Vader, unzip his suit and allow an angel to emerge.
Eventually, Ms. Williamson branched out internationally, pulling in celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Shirley MacLaine along the way. She became the leading interpreter of A Course in Miracles and helped form study groups worldwide. Now there are more than 2,000 groups like the one led by Carpenter in Columbus, according to the Foundation for Inner Peace, which publishes A Course in Miracles.
A lot of people find that A Course in Miracles is very difficult to read and understand. That’s why we suggest watching this video to learn how to approach the text and read it at a pace that feels comfortable for you. Some people read a chapter or section a day, while others do it in smaller chunks over longer periods of time. However you decide to do it, we hope that you will find the experience nourishing, life-affirming and meaningful.
A presentation of the myriad of teachings contained in the Noble Quran could most likely fill up countless volumes of manuscripts.
Quran is the speech of Allah SWT, for which He testifies: Say, “If the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We brought the like of it as a supplement.”(Quran 18:109) So, what are the teachings of the Quran?Every single Quranic teaching incorporates a moral lesson that has the inherent potential to change lives and stir souls.
Even the hardest of hearts have been moved by God’s personal message to mankind.
This is an attempt to present five unique teachings of the Noble Quran.
Some of the choicest lessons have been carefully selected to inspire readers.
For perhaps they may reconsider their priorities and objectives in life.
