Overview of the Course
AN
OVERVIEW
OF THE COURSE FOR BEGINNERS
Below is a description of the book An
Overview of “A Course in Miracles”: Introduction to the Course—What
Beginners Need to Know.
In Aesop's fable a fox comes across grapes that are so high he cannot reach them, so he walks away muttering that they must be "sour grapes." Likewise, many beginning students find no nourishment in "A Course in Miracles" because they cannot grasp its lofty spiritual principles. The Course presents spiritual principles in a Western framework, yet includes important Eastern influences along with deep psychological insights. Many seekers have transformed their lives through learning the Course and applying its principles. Nevertheless, newcomers won't want to study the three volumes and the 1249 pages of the Course unless they know it will be worth spending the time and effort required. Furthermore, the beginner invariably needs practical help in actually comprehending the Course. After all, the Course quite literally transforms the normal thinking process by offering surprising and profound answers to the most meaningful questions of life.
If
you are a beginner, this overview comes to your aid by letting you know
in
advance that the spiritual principles can be grasped and are as
nourishing as
sweet grapes, as they weave together to unify and heal the mind. This
introduction to the Course helps you by providing clarity and
conciseness,
enabling you to make the difficult step-by-step transition to a new way
of
thinking about the world and about yourself. This overview prepares you
for
studying and applying the Course, which teaches how to perform
"miracles" of changing fearful perceptions into loving perceptions.
Your mind can find peace and wholeness through practicing true
forgiveness that
reminds you of the divine presence within others and within yourself.
This
brief introductory overview provides an inexpensive and efficient way
for you
to determine for yourself if the path of forgiveness presented by the
Course is
right for you to pursue in greater depth.
BEGINNER'S
APPROACH TO THE COURSE
What
if the Course is something that you are being
exposed to for the first time? The following section is an excerpt
from the book Memory
Walk in the Light that explains how to approach studying the Course
for the
first time:
Many
of the ideas in the Course, including several
paradoxes, are difficult to grasp at first. Very few beginning students
will
immediately comprehend and accept the spiritual principles of the
Course. After
all, the Course quite literally turns our normal perceptual thinking
based on
the ego upside down, enabling us to perceive the divine in our
otherwise
apparently mundane world. That’s why the Course needs to be studied
over an
extended period of time. Keeping the mind open and receptive to the
loving message
of the Course requires both patience and perseverance. Persistent
open-mindedness in studying the Course allows us to make a gradual
transition
in our thinking about the world and about ourselves. This transition is
needed
not just because a new unconventional perspective is being introduced,
but also
because familiar old ideas need to be set aside to make way for new
ones. To
make this transition, the mind needs to be retrained, which explains
why the
Course describes itself in this way: “This is a course in mind
training. All
learning involves attention and study at some level.”1 The Text of the
Course
expresses the spiritual principles such as true forgiveness and Christ
vision
that remind us of the divine presence within others and within
ourselves. In
addition, the Workbook with its one full year of daily lessons helps to
assist
this process of perceiving the divine presence through its application
of
seeing through the eyes of forgiveness in everyday living.
If
you are interested in learning more about the Course,
you can naturally purchase the book and simply study directly from it.
However,
it can be helpful to also have a teacher. The goal of the teacher is to
help
you learn enough about the Course so that you can one day become a
teacher of
God yourself. The teacher and student will invariably agree with each
other on
the generally accepted principles of the Course, but do not necessarily
have to
agree on every single interpretation.
It
is best to find a teacher in your own vicinity so you
can have face-to-face meetings in which you can ask questions and
develop a
personal relationship. You can seek out local study groups to
facilitate your
learning. A resource for finding out if there is a study group in your
area is
the Community Miracles Center.2 Another possibility is the Miracle
Distribution
Center.3 If you cannot find a local teacher or study group, you can
still learn
a great deal through self-study of the Course itself, and many students
prefer
this option.
This study of the Course is not solely about learning spiritual
concepts. The
goal is to make the Course concepts come to life in your everyday
practical
living and learn to extend your awareness of the divine to others.
In
addition to studying the Course itself, there are many
fine books about the Course written by teachers. You can contact Course
organizations. One of these is the Foundation for A Course in
Miracles.4 Another
one is the Circle of Atonement.5
1.
T-1.VII.4:1-2,
p. 16
2.
www.miracles-course.org, (click on ACIM Study Group
Directory), Community Miracles Center, 2269 Market Street, San
Francisco, CA
94114. Tel. 415-621-2556,
Fax
415-255-9322
3.
www.miraclecenter.org, Miracle Distribution Center,
3947 East La Palma Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92807, Tel. 1-800-359-2246, Fax 714-632-9115
4.
www.facim.org, Foundation for A Course in Miracles,
1275 Tennanah Lake Road, Roscoe, NY 12776-5906, Tel. 951-296-6261, Fax 951-296-9117
5.
www.circleofa.com, The Circle of Atonement, P. O. Box
4238, West Sedona, AZ 86340, Tel. 928-282-0790. Fax 928-282-0523
Click here for "Miracle
Jnana Yoga" on studying the Course
Memory Walk in the Light:
My Christian Yoga Life as
"A Course in Miracles"
Author:
Donald James
Giacobbe
“The central message of the Course
is forgiveness, and the key to yoga is opening to the divine presence.
As a
teacher of Miracle Yoga based on Course principles, my goal is to live
my life
as an expression of forgiveness and openness to the experience of
Spirit.”
Listen to "Authors's Radio Interview"
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