Today mi famila still in Gratitude Training tells me she wants to go to event taught by trainer Chris DeSanti about The Course in Miracles.

I am still so worried about her. I don't see good things about this book. Is this a bad thing? Is this a book cults use?

Does anyone know about this teaching or book?

TCIM was supposedly dictated by Jesus to one Helen Schuchman,* a respected academic psychologist.

What is interesting is that Schuchman's mother was an adherant of Theosophy. Scuchman's channeled material is typical of Theosophical literature.

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ACIM dictates that guilt, fear, illness, and sin are only states of mind. I argue that it drains such terms of their rich and appropriate meanings.

At this point, we can look into the characters that developed ACIM. Helen Schucman, the channel or "scribe" for the ‘voice,’ grew up as an only child to Jewish parents in New York City. Her father was aloof to religious beliefs while her mother was an early “new ager” who sought spiritual truths from occult teachings and Theosophy. As a teenager Helen was attracted to the Catholic faith of her governess. She later opted for the more ‘holy spirit filled’ Baptist faith of a family housekeeper. By the time she entered New York University, Helen rejected her youthful visionary experiences and Christian leanings. She became a non-religious intellectual and married Louis Schucman who was also from a Jewish background. They shared a primarily secular worldview.

and

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The ACIM Lessons help a student break down (deconstruct) normal perceptions that ACIM views as aberrant. Typical of many New Age teachings, ACIM devalues words by emptying them of nuance and range of expression. All guilt is bad and there is no healthy version of guilt in ACIM. The same applies to sin, fear, doubt, illness, anxiety, and all negative thoughts—it is New Thought philosophy born again.

For the entire article, go here


A Course In Miracles: an examination

[jszimhart.com]


Material of this
kind waters down Christianity by removing tiresome things such as ethics, and the obligation to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, use money and power responsibly and to be just as aware of the welfare of others as of oneself.

It is yet another you make your own reality teaching -- which means anything bad that happens to you is your own perception. This eliminates any obligation to use power responsibly because we can tell anyone we hurt that it is their misguided
perceptions that cause them to feel pain.

This is convenient for anyone self centered who wants to do as they please and
not have to listen to the pain of anyone they harm.


A Course in Miracles (ACIM)

[skepdic.com]

Another critique

Small exerpt

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ce399 | research archive (esoterica)
Wikipedia Removes A Course in Miracles “Controversy and Criticism” Section
Posted in Uncategorized by ce399 on 17/11/2010
Reunifying psychology of forgiveness and atonement

ACIM postulates that reclaiming the awareness of unity, which it terms “salvation,” is the one viable solution to the only actual problem facing seemingly separated minds, the problem of believing they are separate from each other and from God. This awareness dawns through the process of forgiveness, making up an overall plan of atonement, two concepts that ACIM redefines from traditional Christianity.

ACIM proposes forgiveness as the solution because, it explains, seemingly separated minds in the world feel guilt and fear of God stemming from the mistaken belief that they have offended or attacked God by separating from Him. These minds close off from the awareness from love, and love’s absence is felt as fear. They instead engage in judgment against the illusory world and against others, allowing psychological projection of the fear and guilt felt inside them outward onto seemingly external forces and actors. They believe that what is really coming from inside them is instead coming at them from outside, and so believe that problems are myriad, random, and unrelated, as opposed to there being only one problem, centered on belief in separation. These minds invariably become angry at these perceived external threats and attempt to attack them and defend against them, when in truth, ACIM claims, anger is never justified, attack has no foundation, and real strength lies only in defenselessness. These minds are locked in a cycle of experiencing imagined victimization and seeking impotently for solutions outside themselves, which is not where the true problem is, inside themselves. The solution to all this, ACIM concludes, is atonement, achieved through forgiveness.

Forgiveness in ACIM is not the letting go of actual slights and injuries inflicted by others, but is instead the recognition that others have not and indeed cannot harm or wrong the mind of the individual perceiver. This unorthodox outlook is possible, ACIM explains, because it is the mind of the perceiver, rather than anyone or anything else, who actually determines all the experiences that he will receive, and also because his mind is still as God created it, meaning that the events that seem to befall him in the world do not actually affect or change him in any real way.

For the rest of the article, go here:

A Course in Miracles (ACIM)

[ce399esoterica.wordpress.com]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2018 11:38AM by corboy.

I know some pretty level-headed, non-cult people who really like ACIM, but the thing to remember here, in my humble opinion, is that it is not necessarily the original philosophy or religion that is so insidious in these groups, but the way that it is applied.

Both Jim Jones and David Koresh considered themselves Christians, but their applications and interpretations of the Bible were not what most people would get from reading the Bible.

Also, they seemed to be selective of which parts they focused on. I would expect G.T. (or any other LGAT), to do the same with ACIM. The LGATS have perverted many "New Age" concepts, imho. In addition, the tactics they use to get people to accept the philosophy is problematic.

If they simply discussed it in a classroom setting, i don't think it would be any more harmful than a discussion of any religion.

corboy wrote:

"Material of this
kind waters down Christianity by removing tiresome things such as ethics, and the obligation to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, use money and power responsibly and to be just as aware of the welfare of others as of oneself."

I usually agree with anything corboy writes, but what's missing here is context. Having been in what is now called "New Age for decades, I can add a couple of clarifications. This is not intended to influence anyone's opinion of ACIM or any other "New Age" teachings, but for the purpose of clarification only.

Many "New Agers" will give a great deal of their time and money to help others. The sticking point would be the idea of "obligation." They will do it, not because of guilt, but because they enjoy helping others, and don't like to see people suffer.
Recent studies show that when an act of kindness is carried out, it raises the serotonin levels of not only the recipient, but also of the person who performs the kindness. It even raises the serotonin levels of uninvolved bystanders who witness the kindness.

Also, if you take the concept of unity and oneness that is preached by much of the "New Age," in helping one person, you would be helping the whole, including yourself.

Thank you, Corboy. You share with me and then I go look these things up.

Helen Schucman was very troubled woman. Hated real Jesus till the end. She died of pancreatic cancer. Said she wish she never wrote the course in miracles.

I find this in Amazon review of the Course in Miracles:

"A course in nihilism
February 9, 2010
Format: Hardcover


I mean, the ACIM is more ridiculous than Prem Rawat or The Secret!

And then, maybe not so ridiculous. Maybe these ideas are dangerous.

The whole point of the ACIM is that this world is an illusion. Evil and suffering in particular are illusions. Everything is Love. This may sound like a splendid idea, until you reflect more closely on it. In fact, the ACIM is so naïve and simplistic, that it's difficult *not* to see the negative consequences of these ideas. For instance, if we hear about a war on TV or in the newspapers, we are supposed to repeat to ourselves: "This war does not exist. These bombs do not exist", and so on. Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Vietnam? That didn't exist?!

Nor, apparently, does anything else exist either. In another exercise, if somebody calls us, we are supposed to lift the telephone, place it on some distance from our ear and imagine that it, too, doesn't really exist...

Its obvious that this philosophy, if taken to its logical extreme, is entirely nihilistic. Worse, its sociopathic. If you start to treat your friends, family, children and neighbours (or victims of war in distant lands) as if they didn't exist, you probably need advanced psyhcotherapy ASAP.

Of course, I doubt very much that those who practice the ACIM exercises really are consistent. The author of the ACIM, Helen Schucman, sure wasn't. When a competing religious group published their own edition of the ACIM, Schucman's group quite simply sued them for copyright violation! Apparently, Dr. Schucman is convinced that at least copyright exists. Not to mention revenue from copyrighted books. In plain English, she and her followers were being hypocritical. Is anybody surprised?

Of course, the philosophical concept behind this kind of sollipsism isn't very convincing either. If everything is Love, and if we are all God, how can even the *illusion* of separation and suffering exist?

Personally, I think ideas like these ones can be used as a convenient way for privileged middle class people to find an excuse for not doing anything about the wrongs of our present society. If everything is an illusion, why bother with it? Of course, such people will be very selective in exactly what they percieve as "illusion" (world hunger? the plight of the spotted owl? lack of medical coverage for the poor?) and what they accept as real, say, the value of their house, or the possible revenue from selling a copyrighted book. Well, let's at least hope that these people percieve child abuse, rape or burglaries in their gated communities as real.

Don't count on it, however.

"A Course in Miracles" is a course in destructive nihilism, disguised as Divine Love."

Now my eyes are opening to Gratitude Training too! I am angry that they trick people with this!