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What is A Course In Miracles' main teaching?
A Course In Miracles teaches that everyone is God's holy child. We are all equal. Even Jesus is our equal. ACIM teaches that the physical world we appear to be in was not created by God, but is an illusion of our own making. It is a manifestation of our false belief in separation. It is literally a dream we are dreaming. Our job, while here in physical reality, is to accept this and learn how to prepare ourselves to wake up to our Reality which is the Christ. A Course In Miracles teaches us that there is a Voice for God in our minds that is always talking to us, telling us that we are: unlimited, one with all life, eternal, and literally invulnerable. That Voice is the Holy Spirit. There is another voice in our minds that we made up that lies to us and tells us we are: limited, separate, mortal, and vulnerable. That voice is the ego. A primary focus of ACIM is to teach us how to tell these two voices apart. Once we do that we must choose to listen to the Holy Spirit and trust the Holy Spirit's counsel. We will always hear the voice of the ego while here in the dream but we should not accept it's guidance or counsel about anything. ACIM is not about the death of the ego, but how to properly relate to it. Since we are actually dreaming the physical world and everything in it, all our many brothers and sisters are part of that dream as well. They are behaving just as we have asked them to. As such, having grievances about them is having a grievance about ourselves. When we hold onto grievances we attack ourselves and we feel: weak, vulnerable and have pain accordingly. A major part of the ACIM teaching is learning how to let go of all of our grievances. We do this by a practice of "complete forgiveness" which is different from what is usually called forgiveness in the world. Complete forgiveness starts by our realizing that whatever is happening, we have asked for. We then offer up our perceptions and thoughts about the reality of the grievance to the Holy Spirit and ask for a new perception to be given us. Once the Holy Spirit gives us this new perception we must choose it as ours. This is how grievances are truly let go. Since our brothers and sisters bring us these forgiveness lessons, our relationships are actually our salvation. When not bringing us forgiveness and grievance lessons, are brothers and sisters give us opportunities to celebrate our joy and our eternal nature, thus strengthening our belief in them. ACIM is literally salvation through relationships. A Course In Miracles has a strong focus on healing. We heal by recognizing the eternal Spirit in ourselves and in all our brothers and sisters. We let Holy Spirit guide us as to what to do in the physical world to manifest the healing of ourselves and others. Frequently this spiritual healing produces shifts in the appearance of physical reality – such as shifts in the appearance of the health or sickness of our body and the bodies of others. Sometimes this spiritual healing does not produce such shifts in appearance. We are asked to believe in the truth of the healing regardless of the appearance of "symptoms." The "miracle" is the mental shift in perception. It frequently has observable effects but not always. A Course In Miracles teaches us to be patient with our spiritual healing process and not to judge it in any way. We have no way of knowing how far along we are on the path. CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
(addendum) INTRODUCTION This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. The structure of “individual consciousness” is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the “original error” or the “original sin”. To study the error itself does not lead to correction, if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims. All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognising that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying manoeuvre. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends. This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent. The ego will demand many answers that this course does not give. It does not recognise as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. The ego may ask, “How did the impossible occur?”, “To what did the impossible happen?”, and may ask this in many forms. Yet there is no answer; only an experience. Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you. You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the course is brief and early. Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make way for the central teaching. Since you have asked for clarification, however, these are some of the terms that are used. |