Notes on the Course in Miracles

1) Acim is a monistic school of thought, meaning it only believes the absolute and infinite God as Real. It (rightly) considers all else in form as Maya, Illusion.
2) The Manual for Teachers text should be separated and published as a book on its own.
• Having said this(above), there are reason that in our humble opinion no one should teach acim unless has the special calling and deep, broad knowledge of the esoteric and occult sciences.
• Linear approach is better than throwing all the three books in one like throwing a bowl of spaghetti to the wall and see what sticks.
• Acim itself is rather verbose, publishing and printing considerations also played part of separating the three volumes that originally were one.
• The workbook is available online and we suggest using your own downloaded version if desired. It will not be available through us.
3) Acim is very useful yet limited and simplistic as interpreted,. ALONE when read it is vague and filled with symbolism and allegory BUT correct to a certain extent.
• All thoughts in acim are related akin to a hologram, no sentence (chapter) is independent and the course explains the existence of illusion and NOT the cause and way of dealing with the illusion efficiently. Only the ultimate goal (Enlightenment i.e. return to God is described)
• The very important notion of living in the dream and managing lifetimes and conducts in the “dream” is ignored. It is more important than most people who follow acim realize, how the “laws” and rules of the” dream” must be adhered to and followed.
• These rules are as follows:
i. Reincarnation (learning Earth’s lessons from a sequence of lifetimes)
ii. Karma (every deed, conduct and act has a reaction in reference how it was directed (beneficial or harmful)
iii. Hierarchy (ascended Masters (the teacher’s of teachers) are everywhere for the purpose of helping Humanity to “wake-up”.
iv. Service to Humanity (one must expose Evil to fight it)
4) The acim’s thought system is nothing new.
• The author of this essay has a greatest admiration to acim and the utility of clear and understandable text. (old writings and esoteric books are often made impossible to read and interpret)
• Maya (illusion) is the realization of the Universe and the world as an illusion. Expansion of this is, by some philosophers is the key to Enlightenment.
• Subject/Object philosophy of Newtonian Physics permeated into western thought. Eastern thought maintained a somewhat healthier attitude. Buddhism (as limited as it may be) is the most psychologically advanced religion, if we must compare religions.
• The acim course is very well put together but mainly misunderstood and taken literarily at places where it should not have. (similarity of the Bible)
• The author of this essay wishes to put the course in context vis a vi original non dualistic thought systems (Mahayana Buddhism, Agni Yoga, Vedic Philosophy, Kabala, Sufi). We do not wish to interpret it, only show how it relates to other thought systems.
• When studying the Kabala, Sufi philosophy or Agni Yoga all the pieces of the puzzle fall in place. The benefit of acim (the original text) is the clarity of writing and style in tandem with the well described notion of Maya put in Christian context. (Holy Spirit, Jesus, Atonement). The benefit is to use Christian terminology in the West where it is most prevailing. It is strongly suggested that after and while studying acim the students expand his/her horizons to other eastern thought systems and philosophies.
• Zen versus Mahayana Buddhism. Acim (as interpreted by Gary Renard’s and Marianne Williamson) is a little similar to Zen whereby the realization and forgiveness equated to Meditation in case of Zen. This is escapism and while it might work for some it is not the best tool for the 21st century.
• The cause of the Separation (emanation) can only be speculated as “a desire of expression” from Infinity. Full understanding of the “why” is an attempt to understand God. (Good luck with that.)
• “Emanationism is Platonic monism, and a component in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems that argue that a sentient, self-aware Supreme Being is an impossibility, that the totality of both the empirical and ontological cosmos is the result of The One whose nature and attribute are will(ing) which is objectively directed and results in lower and lower spiritual modalities of being, and lastly matter (the physical universe) which is the result of this outward flow of the Absolute”.
• Platonic Monism is the right thinking and Creation as the western religions perceive it is falsehood.
5) The cause of the separation is not known by anyone.
• This is the biggest mystery and only speculation can be offered. To understand Infinity with our finite mind is not easy. Emanation theories are found all out history and they are the best glimpse of the reasons and methods of the Creation of the Universe.
• Vedic thoughts are very close to explain and make sense of the mechanism of creation.
• Important area is how we perceive our material existence. Accept or Deny? Embrace or resent our existence and suffering. Buddha says that existence is sorrowful and he was partially right. Yet in some ways embracing and accepting is mandatory for pacing our spiritual development and being psychologically grounded.
• Hindu saints and Mahayana Buddhists understand giving up the self and made wows to gain enlightenment AFTER every person had done so. They want to serve humanity and not to thing of themselves alone.
• The way ACIM is interpreted by some is as a shortcut to enlightenment and Bliss. The Law of the Universe states “There are no shortcuts”.
• Water metaphor(?) explaining the Separation. A Frozen lake contains ice of the top of the water in the winter. The seemingly separate element is actually Water. The same example can be shown with steam as well. Hot boiling water separates from the liquid state but ultimately it returns to the liquid state and never becomes anything else, even as steam it is Water in a different state.
• There is a danger of “going off” the deep end. (as some practitioners of acim have done) This is true in any discipline and usually it is facilitated by the practitioner’s desire to gain Bliss, talk to God before its due time. When a person is obsessed by the idea of “talking with God” it can often open up a channel to the subtle world and unsavory entities or influences can be felt from that point on. Occult sciences and metaphysics are not to be taken lightly. It can be dangerous and it is only for those who are ready. Therefore it is very important to be well grounded psychologically and spiritually. The “readiness” of studying the Occult Sciences must be earned by Karma. (This is the reason we do not teach and preach on a street corner)
• Serious students of the esoteric arts find that when on the spiritual path, further we go on the Path more it becomes like the razor’s edge. This is exactly because of the division of what is Real and what Maya (illusion) is. So we must have one foot firmly on each side. We cannot prematurely abandon and ignore either, until gradually we transcend. It is dangerous to hasten anything or attempt to do it for the wrong reasons Enlightenment is our birthright but we must be ready.

The Anti-Christ

This chapter of the Course in Miracle is my favorite. The chapter’s title is “the Anti Christ”. I was so taken by the writing and the message that I have made a video from it.

What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power that they have. Their purpose is obscure, and they are feared and worshipped, both, because you do not know what they are for, and why they have been made. An idol is an image of your brother that you would value more than what he is. Idols are made that he may be replaced, no matter what their form. And it is this that never is perceived and recognized. Be it a body or a thing, a place, a situation or a circumstance, an object owned or wanted, or a right demanded or achieved, it is the same.
Let not their form deceive you. Idols are but substitutes for your reality. In some way, you believe they will complete your little self, for safety in a world perceived as dangerous, with forces massed against your confidence and peace of mind. They have the power to supply your lacks, and add the value that you do not have. No one believes in idols who has not enslaved himself to littleness and loss. And thus must seek beyond his little self for strength to raise his head, and stand apart from all the misery the world reflects. This is the penalty for looking not within for certainty and quiet calm that liberates you from the world, and lets you stand apart, in quiet and in peace.
An idol is a false impression, or a false belief; some form of anti-Christ, that constitutes a gap between the Christ and what you see. An idol is a wish, made tangible and given form, and thus perceived as real and seen outside the mind. Yet it is still a thought, and cannot leave the mind that is its source. Nor is its form apart from the idea it represents. All forms of anti-Christ oppose the Christ. And fall before His face like a dark veil that seems to shut you off from Him, alone in darkness. Yet the light is there. A cloud does not put out the sun. No more a veil can banish what it seems to separate, nor darken by one whit the light itself.
This world of idols is a veil across the face of Christ, because its purpose is to separate your brother from yourself. A dark and fearful purpose, yet a thought without the power to change one blade of grass from something living to a sign of death. Its form is nowhere, for its source abides within your mind where God abideth not. Where is this place where what is everywhere has been excluded and been kept apart? What hand could be held up to block God’s way? Whose voice could make demand He enter not? The “more-than-everything” is not a thing to make you tremble and to quail in fear. Christ’s enemy is nowhere. He can take no form in which he ever will be real.
What is an idol? Nothing! It must be believed before it seems to come to life, and given power that it may be feared. Its life and power are its believer’s gift, and this is what the miracle restores to what has life and power worthy of the gift of Heaven and eternal peace. The miracle does not restore the truth, the light the veil between has not put out. It merely lifts the veil, and lets the truth shine unencumbered, being what it is. It does not need belief to be itself, for it has been created; so it is.
An idol is established by belief, and when it is withdrawn the idol “dies.” This is the anti-Christ; the strange idea there is a power past omnipotence, a place beyond the infinite, a time transcending the eternal. Here the world of idols has been set by the idea this power and place and time are given form, and shape the world where the impossible has happened. Here the deathless come to die, the all-encompassing to suffer loss, the timeless to be made the slaves of time. Here does the changeless change; the peace of God, forever given to all living things, give way to chaos. And the Son of God, as perfect, sinless and as loving as his Father, come to hate a little while; to suffer pain and finally to die.
Where is an idol? Nowhere! Can there be a gap in what is infinite, a place where time can interrupt eternity? A place of darkness set where all is light, a dismal alcove separated off from what is endless, has no place to be. An idol is beyond where God has set all things forever, and has left no room for anything to be except His Will. Nothing and nowhere must an idol be, while God is everything and everywhere.
What purpose has an idol, then? What is it for? This is the only question that has many answers, each depending on the one of whom the question has been asked. The world believes in idols. No one comes unless he worshipped them, and still attempts to seek for one that yet might offer him a gift reality does not contain.
Each worshipper of idols harbors hope his special deities will give him more than other men possess. It must be more. It does not really matter more of what; more beauty, more intelligence, more wealth, or even more affliction and more pain. But more of something is an idol for. And when one fails another takes its place, with hope of finding more of something else. Be not deceived by forms the “something” takes. An idol is a means for getting more. And it is this that is against God’s Will.
God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less? It is for him the Holy Spirit speaks, and tells you idols have no purpose here. For more than Heaven can you never have. If Heaven is within, why would you seek for idols that would make of Heaven less, to give you more than God bestowed upon your brother and on you, as one with Him? God gave you all there is. And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also give the same to every living thing as well. And thus is every living thing a part of you, as of Himself. No idol can establish you as more than God. But you will never be content with being less.”