Since its release in 1976, A Course in Miracles has come to be regarded as a great work of art and a 21st-century spiritual classic. More than three million copies now exist in twenty-seven different languages. What is unique about the Course is its incredibly high level of psychological sophistication. It is truly a document of the 21st-century – one that gives us ever-deeper insight into the working of the mind.
A Course in Miracles presents itself as “a manual for a special curriculum, intended for teachers of a special form of the universal course. There are many thousands of other forms, all with the same outcome.” The Course is but one of many thousands of spiritual paths – indeed, thousands upon thousands. There have always been those, like the 13th-century Persian mystic Jalaluddin Rumi, who have brought us different spiritual truths. In fact, many of the ideas contained in the Course are reflected in the teachings of a host of different thinkers and traditions that both pre-date and are contemporaneous with it. This is especially true for those who engage in what is called non-dualistic thinking – Gnostics, Neoplatonists, Advaita Vedantists, Zen Buddhists, Sufis, Kabbalists, Transcendentalists, and those who expound New Thought philosophies. Interfaith work and/or what is also called Interspirituality is clearly the wave of the future. In the end, no religion wins. God wins, which means everyone wins, as our will must ultimately be the same as that of God. Everything not of God is illusory – what the Course calls “the dreaming of the world.” The Course, like all mystical teachings, calls upon us to awaken from all dreaming.
[. . .] Like all mystical “systems,” the Course is a path, a way, a process, and a passage. It is a story that tells us of the grand destiny and points the way to the path out of hell. Ultimately, the answer to the riddle we call life is simply a matter of a willingness to live in harmony with the Divine. That is the miracle. We are simply called upon to remember – or better, re-cognize – what we already know.
[. . .] Spend time reading the Course and you’ll soon say: “Who wrote this?” It is clear that no “body” wrote it. It came through the mind and the hands of Helen Schucman, a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University. Having known Helen, however – as brilliant as she was – these sentences are not her ordinary way of speaking or being. [. . .] One spring Sunday in 1975, Helen sat me down with Bill Thetford and another of her colleagues, Ken Wapnick, in Ken’s tiny studio apartment in New York. There, she told me how the Course had come to be and how it affected the other people in the room. [. . .] Helen became a kind of informal therapist for me, helping me sort through my feelings and deal with my too-frequent romantic upheavals. A few weeks after our meeting, Helen met Judy Whitson, who later became the President of the Foundation for Inner Peace, which published the first edition of the Course. Judy and I had been friends since the 1960s and were both working with the American Society for Psychical Research. Judy arranged for the xeroxing of 300 copies of the Course – called the Criswell Edition – so a small group of us could start reading it and practicing the Workbook lessons prior to its publication in 1976.
[. . .] It is fair to say that many folks today are abandoning traditional religion in favor of a deeper, more contemplative spiritual life. Mysticism is becoming more mainstream, and religious dogma is less likely to be accepted without question. Whatever the spiritual discipline or path – Sufism, A Course in Miracles, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnosticism, yoga, mystical Christianity, the Kabbala, or perhaps your own unique inner path – they all reflect one universal journey that leads to a unitive goal. More and more people are now ready to embark on this journey. They are ready to walk the mystical path.
This can be extremely difficult to do in our often frenetic modern world, however. [. . .] Like Helen Schucman, we must withstand continual tests and trails along the way before we arrive at a place where God is all we know, all we see, and all we love. Acceptance and forgiveness can easily be lost in the tangled web of relationships that hamper our progress on our journey. We may think we are beyond judgment and then, unexpectedly, we make a judgment – perhaps not as quickly as previously, but a judgment nonetheless. We may think we have achieved forgiveness, but the ego often slips in the back door when we aren’t looking and pulls us back into its world of illusion.
Despite these challenges, the mystical path is a gentle path that can lead you out of the ego world and into Oneness. Ultimately, it is an easy journey because it ends where it begins – in Unity. Mysticism is, by its very nature, welcoming and affirming, rewarding and fulfilling. It makes no demands, There are no pledges to sign, no dues to pay. There are no rules or regulations. There are no magical formulas, no mysteries, no secrets, no oaths, no incantations, no rites, no rituals, no dogmas, and no creeds. Relax, take a deep breath. Mysticism is free.
When you walk the mystical path, you need not proselitize. Mysticism is not about converting or being in competion with any thought system. It involves no missionary effort and no saving of lost souls, because no one is lost. There are only those who know, and those who are sleeping and will someday awaken. In some ways, we are all like seeds long dormant; when properly nourished, we spring back to life.
Walking the mystical path is simply a matter of “listening to” and following guidance – of seeing the insanity of the world, and then choosing not to play the world’s game. When revelation replaces the illusion of a separate ego self, you gain everything and lose nothing, making it easy to share – to live for, and with, God and neighbor. Indeed, it is one of your pleasant obligations on the path to help awaken those who sleep – not by shaking them awake, but by giving a gentle nudge in the right direction. When you walk the mystical path, you identity with the whole of humanity, nature, animals, the Earth, music, the mind, the heart. You are not against anything or anyone. You have no agenda, only a sense of purpose. You acknowledge no opposites and no enemies. Since we are all One, there is no need to attack those who see things differently. Mysticism attracts without persuading.
In fact, mystical experience is so simple that it is easily missed, misinterpreted, or misunderstood in today’s hectic world. It lies hidden in most “ordinary” experiences and in every part of the whole. It also lies quietly in the heart and naturally finds creative expression in the most ordinary things – in babies, pets, plants, art, music, work, play – indeed, in all of life. Be spontaneous; be humorous; have fun; laugh frequently. Sing and dance and play your way along your journey. In possession of the moment, know that the moment is everything. Be patient and kind, and value your relationships. But always recognize the value of silence and solitude. Remember, no one can be truly alone when the Spirit is always present.
The mystical path leads you to the realization that all there is, is Life. Life is eternal and you have nothing to fear. At death, only the illusory shell of your body and your ego self is lost, and in that loss, you find freedom. The prison doors are opened and your ego selfs loosens its grasp on Spirit – or Spirit loosens its grip on the ego self. This is the message of resurrection – a joyous affirmation of the instrinsic beauty of life and an unequivocal denial of death. As a dewdrop slips from the leaf into the river and the river slips into the ocean, so mystics slip into the All to become the ocean. [. . .] What an increadible thing – to be a child of God. What an incredible thing it is to be!
– Jon Mundy
Excerpted from A Course in
Mysticism and Miracles
Weiser Books, 2018
Excerpted from A Course in
Mysticism and Miracles
Weiser Books, 2018
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Why A Course in Miracles Is Not “New Age”
• A Course in Miracles: A Gift of Peace
• Gifts of Abundance
• I Am One With the Beloved
• Being One With the Beloved, the Source of All Things
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• Dwelling in Peace
• The Peace of God
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Today I Will Be Still
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• Aligning With the Living Light
• An Expression of Humility
