A Course In Miracles Introduction

A Course In Miracles Introduction

As mentioned in the first part of this introduction, this blog is an effort to bring the archaic language of religious terminology into a more relevant translation for modern minds so that the messages in the original publication are made even more accessible and meaningful for today’s way of thinking.  

In our effort to clarify the terminology used in A Course In Miracles, we need not worry that the teachings will be somehow misinterpreted or corrupted, for that has already happened for hundreds of years and we have survived it.  The logic and truth of the teachings have found their way to the world despite all confusion and misdirection.  Spiritual teachings are unassailable.  They endure through any number of obstacles and they have infinite patience for the learning process.

The language used in religion, particularly Judeo-Christian religions have been a stronghold tool for centuries to describe experiences of pain, domination, shame, and suffering… all the characteristics Creation is not. In historical Judeo-Christian thinking, God is thought of as a fickle, moody, abusive, and terrifying male tyrant ordering people to kill their children and such. This portrait of God is not what God is.  It is only right that a sane mind should reject such notions for the insanity it is.  Creation is creative.   It is not possible to create from a state of hatred. Life is creation. Creation is joy. Joy is the foundation and the source of all that is.  

Religious language, in its original intent was always meant to describe these concepts of creation, joy, and love.   A Course In Miracles sets the record straight and reclaims the vocabulary for spiritual truth from toxic religious dogma.  It is not the words we use that matter.  It is the actual conveyance of the messages truly learned.  

That is why I have endeavored to rephrase the language used in the original publication wherever I find it difficult to understand.   If you find the religious text to block your ability to grasp the messages of each day’s lesson, it is my hope that this blog will bridge the gap and open the door to the truth and wisdom the book holds.  Use this blog as a supplement to your year-long curriculum with the original publication of A Course In Miracles any time you get stuck. 

This entire discussion is based 100% on the original source material.  And the original source material has made it very clear from its first publication that it wants to be quoted, paraphrased and discussed.  Many of the daily lessons ask us to put the lesson in our own words.  With this in mind, please consider the entire blog to be in a constant state of quoting and paraphrasing.  This rewrite activity is how I learn the material.  It is how I discover if I actually grasp a lesson or not.  Can I explain it in my own words?  Can you?  You are invited to paraphrase my paraphrases wherever it would help you to grasp what is being taught in A Course In Miracles.  In that way, we contribute our unique consciousness to a living teaching that will find its way to any new form of communication throughout all of time.  

The purpose of A Course In Miracles is to guide the way you think out of its current state of logic and into a new logic based on inclusion rather than exclusion.  Shifting to inclusive logic will deepen relaxation, safety, certainty, joy, meaning and purpose in your life.  Shifting to inclusive logic will be the best thing that ever happens to you.  

Each blog post here gives a written discussion about the daily lessons found in the original publication which will hopefully bring clarity to the readers mind when the original text is challenging to understand.  The book is very clear in this introduction when it says that doing the exercises is the only way the change in logic can occur.  Give the practice sessions a try.  Those sessions are the active event of making a mental shift in perception.  The exercises are the “physical” mental training as we attempt to think our way out of a certain way of thinking.  Make this mental endeavor “physical” by following along with the exercises each day.  Think of the exercises as “physical” mental training.  Small daily practice periods will be how we build the skill of inclusion and improve our perceptions of this world. 

Thinking and perceiving in a good, healthy, relaxed, and creative way will not happen of its own accord.  Such a state must be trained.  This book presents 365 training opportunities that guide a very beginner into an advanced practitioner of inclusive thinking.  

What is inclusive thinking and why do we want to train in it?

Inclusive thinking is peaceful thinking.  It is clear, confident, loving and joyful thinking which are all much more enjoyable ways to be.  This book teaches us how to sustain that perception for longer and longer periods of time.  With these exercises we learn how to recover from painful disruption more quickly and return to peaceful logic, spending more time in peace and joy than anywhere else.  A daily practice of the lessons here, one a day, will bring the effects of their benefit into our life experiences.