# 491: BOOK OF THE WEEK — “A Course in Miracles” (1)
Story behind the Book Choice
This time, one post will not do it. So, this is just the kickoff for writing about A Course in Miracles as a sequence. I have no idea how many times I will be writing about the book. It does not matter right now. The book is like an add-on to the Bible — or an alternative Bible for those who do not feel attracted to reading the Bible (I fully understand). In any case, there is mystical truth in this book which does not neglect or oppose the Bible stories. Still, it adds to it and might make you read and see the Bible from a different perspective as well.
As far as the story of the book itself goes, it is a long one and you can google it and check out Wiki. The shortest story is that the author (who did not want to count as the author because that would imply a human origin) Helen Schucman received the content of the book in a divine revelation. Now, the important thing is that Schucman and her colleague were clinical researchers. That does not mean that the content of this book is “scientific” or academic. No one would claim that. Still, it was written by someone who also had this expertise. The thing is: scientists usually do not spend their time dealing with miracles because miracles per se cannot be explained. This is where this book makes a contribution.
One might say that the entire Bible is a collection of miracles. And these miracles do not only encompass the miracles done by Jesus. It also starts with the entire story of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. Basically everything in there can be understood as one big miracle. A Course in Miracles is more than just an explanation or definition of miracles. It is a manual on how to bring miracles to others. And this only works if you work on your own healing first. This is also where the definition of a miracle comes in. Schucman defines a miracle as a shift in awareness — the full “awareness of love’s presence” (1). And such a shift usually happens if you heal in a holistic way. It means that certain patterns that you stored in your mind and your body blow up — they disappear and you see the world differently.
This is the shortest intro I can give to the book. There is the other story of how I learned about this book. It is a really wonderful story that takes me back to my weeks in Portugal this spring. I met a soulmate there and she encouraged me to keep walking on my spiritual journey. And she also said something about the church and Jesus and my potential calling which I will never forget and which still brings tears to my eyes. And then she mentioned A Course in Miracles. I had never heard of the title before. But I immediately knew, I had to get it. But I did not have the time and mood to start reading it back home. And now I have taken it to Lebanon because my heart knew, I would be ready to read it here. Now I am not only ready for it, I think, I need it. It might provide me with answers that I am desperately looking for.
Desperately looking for something is usually the guarantee that you do not find anything. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe I will find things I did not expect. And since I know that seekers cannot stop seeking anyway until they have found what gives them peace inside, I love embarking on this journey, no matter how long it will take to read it. Peace is also the goal of this book. It is not meant to teach people theological wisdom or cognitive matters. As is stated in the introduction: “Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is.” And I do hope that on this journey of reading and discussing the book, peace will come to all who get in touch with miracles and their workings.
- Release from fear
Fear is the opposite of love, whereby something like eternal love cannot really have any opposite because it is eternal. Yet, we do fear things all the time. We fear failure, we fear sickness and what is behind all this fear is the fear of death. If we fall in love with someone and we still have fear that something we do might stop this love from materializing, we can be sure that it is not “real” love yet. The kind of unlimited and unconditional love that drives the idea of miracles and of God knows no fear. But it is not that the miracle comes first and then the fear disappears. Rather, you need to let go of fear in the first place to even experience miracles.
The other very important thought, in contradistinction to the concept of revelations, is that miracles are performed “through men.” They are interpersonal. And I think, the gratitude that results from experiencing these moments are hard to describe. Everyone who has ever done anything to someone else which the latter calls “miracle” knows this feeling that human deeds can really change the worldview — the awareness — of others. Experiencing the love of other human beings in this “miraculous” way is transformational. One never forgets these moments. One never goes back to the “pre-miracle” state. And one never forgets what real love truly feels like.
2. Peace
I mentioned peace above already when talking about the aim of the book. Here, the meaning of peace is specified. And this is something that is familiar to anybody who has read Eastern philosophy or who is somehow into yoga. The entire idea is that nothing outside in the world will ever give you peace because nothing external can really give you anything. This also means that losing things or people in the world cannot really do anything to you — neither can it destroy peace. I know that this sounds really difficult. How can it not hurt you if you lose someone? But we know from all those “teachers” who are fully present and aware that this is true. It does not mean that nothing in the outside world affects one. But the deep peace of the soul cannot be touched in the long wrong, even though emotions pass through the body and the mind. If they find immediate expression, they will not stick and cause illness and suffering.
Fear, again, is the thing that distracts one from peace. And it is true that there is hardly anything else that can so much keep you from feeling peace. In any case, fear has power, that is for sure. We all know this. Fear is at the bottom of negative feelings, no matter in which shades they appear. And the mind cannot stop feeling the fear and thinking about it in whichever way possible. Even if you try to not feel fear, you are busy suppressing it. And that gives your mind all the power over your state of being. It costs so much energy that you can hardly do much else, even if you do not notice. This power is tremendous and it blocks you from feeling the love in your heart. Someone who is afraid all the time cannot love. And miracles do not work without love — nothing works without love.
3. Atonement
Atonement is a hard word. It has different connotations in different theological strains. But it occurs everywhere. Basically it means that the obstacles dividing you from God are removed. And the closer you get to God, the more you have been healed in the process. And creativity, the creative mind, plays a huge role in all this. We use the term in the context of the arts most oftenly. But really, creation is what man lives for. We are on earth to create. It is our innate capacity. This also means that our creative potential makes us heal others. This only works, however, if we are really aware of how beautiful our souls are — that the soul is “illuminated” already, as it says here. We cannot make our souls shine if we continue carrying the weight of even thinking and fearing that we are destructive minds.
These opening passages from the book really only give one a sense of what the Course is all about. The book is incredibly densely written. One can feel that there was a stream of revelations originally motivating the publication. It is somewhat difficult to get started but one can follow along. Nobody needs to have prior knowledge of the Bible, even though there are allusions to it. These references are not only confirmations or interpretations. Often, they also give a different perspective on familiar “teachings.” Reading this is refreshing and it gradually makes one ponder the nature of miracles on an everyday basis. Let us hope that some miracles happen along the way while reading the Course…
Reflection Questions
1) How do you personally define a miracle? Give an examples of an event in your life that you would describe as a miracle.
2) Do you share the notion that peace is an internal state that is independent from outside circumstances? Why/not?
3) Have you ever acted as a “miracle worker”? In which way?