A Course in Miracles - Explanations of Major Themes. Michael Dawson

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      The Course is a unique blend of modern psychology, radical metaphysics and deep spiritual truths. Much of the psychology echoes Sigmund Freud’s teachings on our ego defence mechanisms of denial and projection and will be explained further in Chapter 3. The three volumes comprising the Course are a lifetime study requiring much re-reading to benefit from the depths of its teachings. The metaphysics of the Course have many parallels with some Eastern philosophies and religions. There are over 700 references to the Bible, and Jesus often reinterprets these biblical sayings. Many Christian terms are used in the Course but with entirely different meanings. Jesus stresses that we are not guilty, sinful creatures who need to atone through sacrifice and suffering. Instead, he gives us the inspiring message that we are guiltless, sinless creations of God who have fallen asleep in Heaven. In our collective dream, we have forgotten the abstract eternal beauty of our real nature and believe we are bodies in a world of form.

      The Course is not trying to convince us that it is the only spiritual path. It states that it is but one of ‘many thousands’ of spiritual paths and that other teachers with different symbols are also needed. (M3; M-1.4:1-2)

      Jesus often says that the message of his Course is simple. However, when we first start to study it, it does not appear that way to most of us. This is because the Course’s thought system is completely opposite to our ego’s way of looking at the world. The Course uses the term ‘ego’— as is also the practice in the East — to describe our ‘little self’ which we have made to try to take the place of our real Self which God created. Our ego identifies with our body whilst our Self (or Christ nature) knows only the truth of our formless, spiritual magnificence.

      Jesus stresses that all God’s children, referred to in the Course as the Son, Sonship or Christ, were created equal. Thus Jesus is not especially favoured in God’s eyes but is equal with all of us. He simply awoke to his true reality before us and seeks to help us regain what we have forgotten. In later chapters I will expand on some of the Course’s teachings, especially with regard to healing our mind.

      The Text in particular seems hard to grasp and the practice of forgiveness equally difficult. Because of this some people tend to read only the Workbook. However, there is much material in the Text, especially concerning relationships, which is not found in the Workbook. The Text forms the theoretical foundation of the Workbook. It becomes very easy to misunderstand the Workbook and read its message out of context without a knowledge of the theoretical framework of the Course which is found in the Text. On the other hand, to study the Text but not apply it through the Workbook lessons is to end up with an ungrounded and abstract view of the Course. Yet, with time, the message of the Course does become simple, although never easy to apply. 'Victim consciousness' is ingrained in our psyches and the desire to blame others for our unhappiness is universal. To read in the Course (see first quotation on page 13) that no one can take away our peace, only ourselves, is a difficult message to accept, but one which will eventually lead us to happiness.

      See also 'Introduction to A Course in Miracles'' from the Foundation for Inner Peace and "What it is" from the Preface of A Course in Miracles.

      Summary of 'A Course in Miracles' (from 'Healing the Cause')

      This summary and the chart have been inspired by ideas contained in Awaken from the Dream by Gloria and Kenneth Wapnick (recommended).

      You may be surprised to hear how very different is reality from what you see.

      (T348; T-l8.I.5:1)

      Our senses report to us a seemingly real and substantial world. The Course informs us, however, that we spend all our sleeping and waking time in a dream of seeming separation from God. Our true nature is still spirit, as God created us, and will be eternally. God is described as perfect, limitless, formless, eternal and changeless and so therefore His Creation, the Christ or Sonship, must also be. Nothing in our universe can be described by any of these words and therefore it cannot have been created by God. We are ideas in the mind of God and as ideas we cannot leave the mind of God. This perfect unity of God and Christ is Heaven and nothing can threaten this.

      For reasons we cannot understand, a thought of separation from God, which the Course calls the ego, entered the collective mind of the Sonship. This idea, at which we "forgot to laugh", stated that we could take the place of God and become the Creator. God’s answer to this was the creation of the Holy Spirit in our mind to correct this "tiny mad idea" of separation.

      Choosing not to listen to the Voice for God, we experienced an overwhelming sense of sin at what we thought we had accomplished. From this act of sin came guilt and the fear of God’s punishment. Our minds became split into the wrong mind of the ego, the right mind of the Holy Spirit and the sleeping Son of God (the decision maker) who has now to decide who to listen to. The ego part counsels us that we cannot survive the avenging anger of God as represented by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our mind. Out of fear we listen to and identify with the ego’s counsel and project the thought of separation out of our mind as an image. This image is the physical universe where we can now hide from God’s anger and our guilt.

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