Helen Schucman channeled Jesus (The Christ) in A Course in Miracles. The principles of P-A outlined in the Course are within each of us and are stated very clearly and should resonate with each of us. It doesn’t matter the manner in which the content was transmitted nor the form it took. What concerns us is simply: Is the content profound? The answer is—most definitely! Note the harmony between the following principles taken from the Course and those found in Simple Reality. In addition, by measuring the validity of what a text or a teacher is saying against our own inner wisdom, that is, by being self-reliant, we can always ascertain if the material is profound and truthful.
Starting with the answer to the Second Great Question, Who Am I? We find that the answers found in the Course are profound and consistent with Simple Reality. Remember, that it is crucial that we not identify with our body, mind or emotions. “Only the body makes the world seem real, for being separate it could not remain where separation is impossible.”[i]
Other behaviors associated with our false identity in P-B involve seeking security, sensation and power. “By seeking after such things the mind associates itself with the body, obscuring its identity and losing sight of what it really is.”[ii] We must also resist reacting to the illusion of the false self or ego as well as the world of physical form and ideas. “What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something.”[iii] The Course is crystal clear about our identity in P-A.
Nisargadatta’s strikingly profound teaching in his book I Am That are also affirmed in the Course. He urges us to: “Do nothing. Have nothing. Know nothing.” Referring to the P-B belief that to achieve Self-realization we must have a difficult and demanding practice and study hard, the Course acknowledges that “Like all lessons it is an illusion, for in reality there is nothing to learn.”[iv]
And finally, in our very small sample of the wisdom found in the Course we have the validation of P-A, the present moment. “Heaven is here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time.”[v] Jesus’ gospel, the “good news” is much more accessible in the Course than in the ambiguous, metaphor-laced Bible. Read the Course, take the Course, experience the Course.
[i] A Course in Miracles © Volume Three: Manual For Teachers (Farmingdale, New York: Coleman Graphics), published in 1975, by the Foundation for Inner Peace, P.O. Box 598, Mill Valley, CA 94942-0598, www.acim.org and info@acim.org. P. 81.
[ii] Ibid., p. 32.
[iii] Ibid., p. 77.
[iv] Ibid., p. 32.
[v] Ibid., p. 58.
