A Course in Miracles – A Companion Website to the Text, Workbook and Manual
The Course addresses sex, personal life issues, the selection of partners and parenting. It also discusses Freud and a number of Bible verses.
Some of this material has been removed (as much or more than in the HLC). Various lines have un curso de milagros been grouped together based on subject matter. The text has also been reordered, and chapter and section titles inserted. The Story
During 1965, two Columbia University psychologists, Helen Schucman and William Thetford, were experiencing profoundly painful emotional disturbances. They had been raised in Christian families and felt alienated from God and themselves. They decided to begin an inner dictation process to find answers and a means of peace. This process resulted in the Course in Miracles, a non-denominational, non-theological spiritual thought system consisting of a Text that lays out the concepts of the Thought System; a Workbook for Students that emphasizes experience rather than belief in a theology; and a Manual for Teachers that offers guidance in teaching the Course to others.
When the Course was first published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, it was heavily edited. For example, explanations about sex, homosexuality and relationships were removed from the final version. It was also edited to exclude references to Jesus’ role as the atonement and the Bible as a source of truth. These changes may have made the Course more palatable to Western readers, but they obscured its message and confused its teachings.
Since that time, a few individuals have sought to publish the unaltered manuscripts of the Course, in the hope of clarifying its message. However, this has not been successful. The unpublished manuscripts do not clear up any confusion and, in fact, contribute to it by introducing new ideas that were not included in the original publication.
For example, in the early portions of the Course, which were written more in a practical, down-to-earth style than later material, there are passages that discuss topics such as sex and possession which did not make it into the HLC or the published version of the Course. Furthermore, the urtext lacks chapter and section titles which were added in the HLC and the published version of the Course.
Further, the idea that the unaltered manuscripts will “save the world,” or that it is a holy responsibility of those who read and study the Course to share it with everyone runs counter to what the Course teaches and what Helen and Bill wanted. It is also a form of dishonesty to promote the notion that the unaltered manuscripts will reveal secrets about the Course that have been hidden from us. The Text
The Course in Miracles consists of three books: the Text, Workbook for Students and Manual for Teachers. The Text lays out the concepts that make up its thought system; the Workbook emphasizes application of the principles to daily life; and the Manual offers answers to frequently asked questions. It is not a religion, but a self-study spiritual thought system that uses Christian terminology and evokes universal spiritual themes, including Eastern spirituality.
The Urtext Manuscripts contains the oldest available typed copy of the words dictated to professor, research psychologist and Scribe Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1978 by a voice she claimed was Jesus'. It predates all current editions of the Course and includes discussion of sex, possession, Freud and Bible verses that were later edited out of other editions. It also contains extensive footnotes and references to variant ACIM readings and sources.
Some of the changes made to the urtext were to remove personal and professional material that could not be generalized to others. The language in the early portions of the Course is more informal and less elegant, and has been trimmed on a line-by-line basis to make it more formal. Also, a great deal of the content has been compressed to fit it into a smaller volume.
Nevertheless, the Urtext does contain valuable information. It provides a glimpse at the early stages of what became the published Course, and can help the reader understand why so much of the content was ultimately removed. The Urtext is also helpful in interpreting the later changes to the Text that were made in order to turn it into an accessible book.
It is important to remember that the Urtext manuscripts were written for Helen and Bill Thetford. They were not intended to be the final version of the Course and it is therefore misleading to suggest that the Urtext should serve as the authoritative source for the published Course. It is the published Course that sets the standard for what is acceptable and what is not. It is important that those who read the Course understand this, and recognize that it is the publishers of the published Course, not the urtext, that are responsible for its contents. The Audio
The Audio CD consists of computer-generated recordings of all the urtext material, with the exception of some text formatting and accentuation (bold, italic, and strike-through). Text-to-speech software was used to make the audio recording. This software has no effect on the meaning or content of the material, although some differences in pronunciation and emphasis do occur due to the limitations of the technology. The audio tracks have been edited to be free of any background noise and inserted into the correct page in the Book of Text.
Some urtext sections have extra headers defining miracle principles. These have been retained because they help to clarify the topic of the section. Also, the original 43 Principles in the urtext have been combined with additional divisions from later edits by Helen and Bill (the HLC version). The result is 54 “potential” principles which can be ignored if you prefer the original 43. Similarly, in the Chapters and Lessons, the original 46 paragraphs have been combined with the HLC section breaks to create 49 chapters. The original chapters are still identified by their reference codes, however.
The final product is a very clear and readable manuscript of A Course in Miracles. It has been proofread against the urtext as well as Helen’s original shorthand notebooks to remove all previous errors. This includes inserting deleted material that was found as a result of the long process of retyping.
It should be noted that the unrestricted distribution of this manuscript violates copyright law and the trust that Helen and Bill placed in the Foundation for Inner Peace and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles to manage the Course and its publications. It is also in direct conflict with what the Course itself teaches and what both Helen and Bill expected. The idea that the manuscript contains secrets to enlightenment that are not available in the published edition of the Course is completely false. This claim is made by those who want to turn the Course into a religion, and it should be avoided by all serious students of the Course. The Companion Website
The companion website to this version of the course contains the text, a transcript of the audio and an index of all the topics covered in the workbook. There is also a series of articles that provide insight into the particular practice techniques and methods for applying the teachings of the course to everyday life. The website is easy to navigate and is a great resource for anyone studying ACIM.
One of the most interesting things about this edition is that it includes footnotes to all the biblical references in the workbook. This is a very valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about the Bible and how it relates to Jesus’ teachings in A Course in Miracles. It allows readers to see the biblical teachings from a different perspective and gain a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the words used by Jesus.
Another thing that is useful about this edition of the course is that it includes the original 43 principles as originally given by Helen, along with additional divisions that were later added by Bill and Helen. This provides a more accurate representation of the original teachings as they were initially received.
While this edition of the course is a bit more expensive than others on the market, it is worth the investment if you want to learn more about the original teachings of A Course in Miracles. It is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to take the next step in their spiritual growth and understand the true nature of love.
The misrepresentation of the origins of the Course, particularly its early chapters, is extremely misleading. The “English lady story” is a falsehood that has been perpetuated by people who are trying to sell the Urtext of the course for their own financial gain. This type of deception is very common in the world of online sales and should be avoided at all costs. In addition to the false stories about the English woman, there is also a false story that Kenneth Wapnick has inserted errors into the Course, which again should be avoided.