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A Course of Love: Combined Volume
A Course of Love is a spiritual masterpiece that gently guides the reader to the awareness of Oneness, something that cannot be learned, but only revealed from within. It is not a course for the mind, but for the heart. It is not a self-help book involving thought and effort, but a way of feeling, ease, and direct relationship with your divinity. It contains no self-improvement exercises. No striving for unity or perfection. A Course of Love takes you beyond the rational learning process to an awareness of the truth of who you really are. Your reality is divine union. Love cannot be taught or learned. Neither can union or oneness. If you continue to see yourself as a student seeking to acquire what you do not yet have, you cannot recognize the unity in which you exist. A Course of Love begins the transformation that is the movement from head to heart, from their separation to their union. A Course of Love is more than a book. It is a transmission that you feel. It came from Jesus through Mari Perron, the “first receiver.” It is a catalyst that introduces a new way of being and living. It facilitates the dawning of a consciousness of unity through which you move from self-doubt to self-love. You will begin to know yourself in a new way, through receptivity of the heart, without the perceptions and judgments of the mind. It asks you only to pause, to give the mind a rest, to enter a realm foreign to the mind and yet beloved to the heart. You will begin to know yourself as you truly are and begin to hear the language of your own heart. If you want to connect with a known but forgotten Truth, this book was written for you. We suffer when we forget our true self, our true identity. This book will bring you to a time of tenderness, an acceptance of all feelings, and will invite you to embrace your power and reclaim your freedom so you may live as the creator you really are. Immerse yourself in the pages of A Course of Love and allow yourself to be gently taken to the mountain top, where you will spend forty days and forty nights accompanied by timeless wisdom and palpable truth, integrating the human and the divine. Nothing need be rejected. We can embrace all the fragments of ourselves that we had rejected and extend that embrace to all those we encounter. A Course of Love came to its first receiver, Mari Perron, “as thoughts she did not think.” Although it is a complete work in itself, it identifies itself as being a “continuation” of the earlier A Course in Miracles. The two courses complement each other. A Course of Love “Where the original Course in Miracles was a course in thought reversal and mind training, a course to point out the insanity of the identity crisis and dislodge the ego’s hold, this is a course to establish your identity and to end the reign of the ego.” A Course of Love is an intimate companion on your journey Home.
- GenresSpirituality
736 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2014
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June 26, 2017
I will write this as a skeptic who has been familiar with _A Course in Miracles_ (ACIM) for a very long time, ever since I was a teenager. Today I don't believe in it as I used to in those days, but still admire that work from an intellectual and literary points of view. I also have had the opportunity of meeting Dr. Ken Wapnick in my lifetime, whom I consider one of the best human beings I have ever met, and a dear friend. I also recognize the Circle of Atonement as one very serious organization regarding its study of the Course, despite its differences with Dr. Wapnick and the Foundation for Inner Peace. I'm highly skeptical (almost to the point of hostility) towards people like Marianne Williamson or the Endeavor Academy, among other teachers or groups, but that is another story for another time.
So, I became curious about _A Course of Love_ (ACOL, also as a combined volume) as written by Mari Perron. It is interesting to find similarities between the origin story of ACIM and that of ACOL, almost to the point that I think that the latter was based on the former (but that's just my impression, the latter may be true). ACIM began as a response of an act of joining between Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, this genesis of both searching another way to heal the hostile environment among them is the whole message of the Course. As I currently read ACIM, I think that this was Helen's way of searching for this new path of joining, while simultaneously responding to her own feelings regarding Freudian psychoanalysis along her views on Jesus and Christianity in general. As a skeptic, I do not believe that ACIM was dictated by Jesus as it claims, since the historical Jesus had ideas dramatically different from its contents. According to Perron, ACOL is the result of three women joining with a common purpose. Later, she had a series of experiences, and later felt a voice dictating ACOL to her for three years. The book claims to be a continuation of ACIM.
So, from here on, in this review, I will judge the book on this claim: that it is a continuation of ACIM; I will not judge it on whether I believe in ACOL or ACIM, given that I currently do NOT believe in any of them. I will not judge it for its intellectual or literary value. I also clarify that I haven't finished reading the whole book, but I think that I have enough to judge it as a continuation of ACIM.
I think that a lot of the issues I have with the book can already be seen in the first few pages (which I will use for the review), but extends throughout all of what I've read from the text. Yes, it got much of the Course right: your true Self is Christ, the false self is the ego; our true nature is love, we are God's children, and so on. Yet, there are some key concepts that I think ACOL doesn't grasp about ACIM.
Take for instance, ACOL's claim that the ego does not learn (Book I. p3). Yet, ACIM says the opposite: "Nevertheless, the ego can learn, even though its maker can be misguided" (T-4.I.2). The reason is that for ACIM, the separated self includes the presence of the Holy Spirit in our minds which is the correction for wrong-mindedness. That part that corrects the ego's mistakes (the right-mind) is the part of the ego that does learn.
Another thing that surprised me is that the author of ACOL is not careful with ACIM's terminology. For example, when the book says: "The ego is what you made. Christ is what God made" (Book I. p8). Yet, this is wrong from ACIM's point of view. For the Course, Christ is God's *creation*, not making. The term "make" has a very specific meaning, the activity of the ego that makes-believe that it can create like God, yet what it makes is an illusion. A synonym of "making" is "miscreating" (T-2.I.1; T-2.I.3). Yet, God *creates* by *extending* Himself, hence Christ is God's extension. This leads to another error that ACOL says: "The ego is your extension of who you think you are." ACIM would reject this, given that "extension" is a property of spirit, God, and Christ, not of the ego. The ego *is* what we think we are, not our "extension" of who we think we are (T-4.VI.1).
There are things claimed in the Prelude of ACOL that goes against ACIM's own teachings. For instance, when it says: "In your acceptance of good works and being a good person, you are accepting ministry to those in hell rather than choosing heaven." Actually, ACIM never advises anyone to stop being a good person. In fact, there is no actual evil or good in the world, because there is no world to begin with. The world was born as an attack on God, but what the Holy Spirit invites us to do is to turn the purpose around and use it as a teaching device. The Course does NOT invite us to engage in denying what our eyes see or what we feel with our senses. Saying or acting as if the world did not exist would be, from the Course's perspective, an unworthy form of denial (T-2.IV.4). The focus of the Course is the mind and its healing, not external behavior (T-1.VII.4).
In that paragraph, again, there is a dichotomy that bothers me (although not that much, I might be an annoying nickpicker): the laws of man vs. the laws of God. Yet, there is no such dichotomy in ACIM. The laws of man are nothing but a normative created within the basic laws that really matter which is what the Course calls "the Laws of Chaos" (T-23.II). These are the laws that the Course is really concerned about, mostly because, as it says, they are obstacles to "reason (right-mind) and truth" in our minds. "Man" did not make these laws up, because "man" is just the physical manifestation and projection of the ego's separateness (man vs. woman, male vs. female). Also the Course talks about the "laws of deprivation", since the tactics of the ego stem from the scarcity principle (T-7.VIII.1).
ACOL also introduces new notions to the discussion. This is not by itself anything wrong, as long as they are congruous with ACIM. For example, it brings forth the notion of "heart" defined this way: "the center of being, that place from which all feeling rises. All true feeling is love. All love praises God" (Book I, 1.1). This is problematic, given that for ACIM, the focus of its discussion is the mind not the heart (at least defined this way). Is this "heart" the part of the mind where all feeling arises? We will see that this "heart" is not in the mind. How do we define "feeling"? Is it the usual every-day feeling? If it is in this sense, then it doesn't get along with the Course, given that for ACIM, love is not a feeling in the usual sense, but an activity of spirit that is discovered once the blocks of guilt are removed from the mind (see the ACIM's introduction). If "feeling" is not defined in the usual sense, then, what is it?
The following paragraph is far more problematic from ACIM's point of view: "All feelings are generated by the heart and have nothing to do with the body. The heart of the body is the altar at which all your offerings to God are made. All offerings are love or lack of love. Lack of love is nothing. Thus, all offerings made from a place other than love are nothing. All offerings made from a place of fear or guilt are nothing" (Book I, 1.2). Feelings have nothing to do with the body, but the "heart of the body" is the altar where offerings to God are made? What does this mean exactly? If the body has a heart (as defined above), and feelings come from the heart ... doesn't that mean that feelings have a bodily origin? ACIM makes it clear that the physical body is nothing, and that spirit has nothing to do with it. It is just a projection of the split mind. It is at best a teaching device, but an illusion nonetheless (T-4.V).
I could continue on and on about such fundamental mistakes, but here is the conclusion: ACOL is *NOT* a continuation of ACIM. It is something different that has many of the Course's ideas, yet its terms are used in a way inconsistent with the Course, as well as many of the logical contradiction between both books. Any person who reads ACOL thinking that this is just like ACIM, will be more confused when he or she tries to understand ACIM itself.
None of what I said means that if this fills your heart or makes you have a better spiritual life that you can't use many of its ideas. As a skeptic, I question the book itself. If this is the path you choose, as long as it is practiced with a non-sectarian attitude, I have no problem. The review only means that it is simply incompatible with ACIM, and that, on its own, it is also unclear about the use of many of the notions it uses, especially its novel terms and concepts.
So, I became curious about _A Course of Love_ (ACOL, also as a combined volume) as written by Mari Perron. It is interesting to find similarities between the origin story of ACIM and that of ACOL, almost to the point that I think that the latter was based on the former (but that's just my impression, the latter may be true). ACIM began as a response of an act of joining between Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, this genesis of both searching another way to heal the hostile environment among them is the whole message of the Course. As I currently read ACIM, I think that this was Helen's way of searching for this new path of joining, while simultaneously responding to her own feelings regarding Freudian psychoanalysis along her views on Jesus and Christianity in general. As a skeptic, I do not believe that ACIM was dictated by Jesus as it claims, since the historical Jesus had ideas dramatically different from its contents. According to Perron, ACOL is the result of three women joining with a common purpose. Later, she had a series of experiences, and later felt a voice dictating ACOL to her for three years. The book claims to be a continuation of ACIM.
So, from here on, in this review, I will judge the book on this claim: that it is a continuation of ACIM; I will not judge it on whether I believe in ACOL or ACIM, given that I currently do NOT believe in any of them. I will not judge it for its intellectual or literary value. I also clarify that I haven't finished reading the whole book, but I think that I have enough to judge it as a continuation of ACIM.
I think that a lot of the issues I have with the book can already be seen in the first few pages (which I will use for the review), but extends throughout all of what I've read from the text. Yes, it got much of the Course right: your true Self is Christ, the false self is the ego; our true nature is love, we are God's children, and so on. Yet, there are some key concepts that I think ACOL doesn't grasp about ACIM.
Take for instance, ACOL's claim that the ego does not learn (Book I. p3). Yet, ACIM says the opposite: "Nevertheless, the ego can learn, even though its maker can be misguided" (T-4.I.2). The reason is that for ACIM, the separated self includes the presence of the Holy Spirit in our minds which is the correction for wrong-mindedness. That part that corrects the ego's mistakes (the right-mind) is the part of the ego that does learn.
Another thing that surprised me is that the author of ACOL is not careful with ACIM's terminology. For example, when the book says: "The ego is what you made. Christ is what God made" (Book I. p8). Yet, this is wrong from ACIM's point of view. For the Course, Christ is God's *creation*, not making. The term "make" has a very specific meaning, the activity of the ego that makes-believe that it can create like God, yet what it makes is an illusion. A synonym of "making" is "miscreating" (T-2.I.1; T-2.I.3). Yet, God *creates* by *extending* Himself, hence Christ is God's extension. This leads to another error that ACOL says: "The ego is your extension of who you think you are." ACIM would reject this, given that "extension" is a property of spirit, God, and Christ, not of the ego. The ego *is* what we think we are, not our "extension" of who we think we are (T-4.VI.1).
There are things claimed in the Prelude of ACOL that goes against ACIM's own teachings. For instance, when it says: "In your acceptance of good works and being a good person, you are accepting ministry to those in hell rather than choosing heaven." Actually, ACIM never advises anyone to stop being a good person. In fact, there is no actual evil or good in the world, because there is no world to begin with. The world was born as an attack on God, but what the Holy Spirit invites us to do is to turn the purpose around and use it as a teaching device. The Course does NOT invite us to engage in denying what our eyes see or what we feel with our senses. Saying or acting as if the world did not exist would be, from the Course's perspective, an unworthy form of denial (T-2.IV.4). The focus of the Course is the mind and its healing, not external behavior (T-1.VII.4).
In that paragraph, again, there is a dichotomy that bothers me (although not that much, I might be an annoying nickpicker): the laws of man vs. the laws of God. Yet, there is no such dichotomy in ACIM. The laws of man are nothing but a normative created within the basic laws that really matter which is what the Course calls "the Laws of Chaos" (T-23.II). These are the laws that the Course is really concerned about, mostly because, as it says, they are obstacles to "reason (right-mind) and truth" in our minds. "Man" did not make these laws up, because "man" is just the physical manifestation and projection of the ego's separateness (man vs. woman, male vs. female). Also the Course talks about the "laws of deprivation", since the tactics of the ego stem from the scarcity principle (T-7.VIII.1).
ACOL also introduces new notions to the discussion. This is not by itself anything wrong, as long as they are congruous with ACIM. For example, it brings forth the notion of "heart" defined this way: "the center of being, that place from which all feeling rises. All true feeling is love. All love praises God" (Book I, 1.1). This is problematic, given that for ACIM, the focus of its discussion is the mind not the heart (at least defined this way). Is this "heart" the part of the mind where all feeling arises? We will see that this "heart" is not in the mind. How do we define "feeling"? Is it the usual every-day feeling? If it is in this sense, then it doesn't get along with the Course, given that for ACIM, love is not a feeling in the usual sense, but an activity of spirit that is discovered once the blocks of guilt are removed from the mind (see the ACIM's introduction). If "feeling" is not defined in the usual sense, then, what is it?
The following paragraph is far more problematic from ACIM's point of view: "All feelings are generated by the heart and have nothing to do with the body. The heart of the body is the altar at which all your offerings to God are made. All offerings are love or lack of love. Lack of love is nothing. Thus, all offerings made from a place other than love are nothing. All offerings made from a place of fear or guilt are nothing" (Book I, 1.2). Feelings have nothing to do with the body, but the "heart of the body" is the altar where offerings to God are made? What does this mean exactly? If the body has a heart (as defined above), and feelings come from the heart ... doesn't that mean that feelings have a bodily origin? ACIM makes it clear that the physical body is nothing, and that spirit has nothing to do with it. It is just a projection of the split mind. It is at best a teaching device, but an illusion nonetheless (T-4.V).
I could continue on and on about such fundamental mistakes, but here is the conclusion: ACOL is *NOT* a continuation of ACIM. It is something different that has many of the Course's ideas, yet its terms are used in a way inconsistent with the Course, as well as many of the logical contradiction between both books. Any person who reads ACOL thinking that this is just like ACIM, will be more confused when he or she tries to understand ACIM itself.
None of what I said means that if this fills your heart or makes you have a better spiritual life that you can't use many of its ideas. As a skeptic, I question the book itself. If this is the path you choose, as long as it is practiced with a non-sectarian attitude, I have no problem. The review only means that it is simply incompatible with ACIM, and that, on its own, it is also unclear about the use of many of the notions it uses, especially its novel terms and concepts.
January 13, 2020
Nothing to do with ACIM. Completely different message.
𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 ‘𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞’ 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 ‘𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬.
The specific function that Jesus assigned to the Foundation for Inner Peace in 1978 was to “publish, distribute and discuss” A Course in Miracles. It is not our purpose or our practice to endorse or pass judgment on any other teachings. The Preface to A Course in Miracles states that it is “… but one version of the universal curriculum” (Preface, ix). Each of us must discern which path best supports us on our journey back to God. However, to assist those who have questions about the compatibility of A Course of Love with A Course in Miracles, we have compiled a selection of direct quotes from each to give students a basis for comparison. Every effort has been made to ensure that quotations were not taken out of context, so the student can feel confident that each Course has been allowed to “speak for itself.” It is our sincere hope that students will always ask the guidance of their Inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit, in discerning which teachings will best serve their learning. (All quotes from A Course of Love are from the Combined Volume, Copyright © 2014 and referenced according to the publisher’s guidelines as well as by page number.)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘
ACOL:
“The body is now the embodiment of the true Self, the embodiment of love, the embodiment of divinity.” (D:6.26)(p.440)
ACIM:
“The body was not made by love.” (T-18.VI.4:7)
“[T]he body is a limit on love.” (T-18.VIII.1:1)
“God cannot come into a body, nor can you join Him there.” (T-18.VIII.2:3)
𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘.
ACOL:
“I am calling you to everlasting consciousness even while you still abide in form.” (T4:4.12) Once the return to unity has occurred in form, the decision to continue in form or to not continue in form will be yours.” (T4:4.15) It is only in the relationship of matter to the divine that matter can become divine and thus eternal.” (T4:4.15)(All from p.374)
“What this treatise is saying to you is that if the physical experience appeals to you, and if you create the union of the human and divine as a new state of being, this choice will be eternally yours … a choice of your creation.” (T4:4.18)(p.375)
ACIM:
“Why should the body be anything to you?” (T-19.IV.B.i.14:1)
“Is it not strange that you should cherish still some hope of satisfaction from the world you see?” (T-25.II.2:1)
“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever.” (T-6.V.A.1:1)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓
ACOL:
“[T]he time of the Holy Spirit, the time of a need for an intermediary between yourself and God is gone.” (D3:35)(p. 507)
“The time of the Holy Spirit has passed. The time of the intermediary is over.” (A.19)(p.668)
“The ‘time’ of the Holy Spirit has now ended because the time of illusion is now called to an end.” (T3:17.8)(p.331)
ACIM:
“God can communicate only to the Holy Spirit in your mind, because only He shares the knowledge of what you are with God. And only the Holy Spirit can answer God for you, for only He knows what God is.” (T-14.IV.10:3-4)
“The Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the separation …” (T-5.II.2:5)
“The Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the ego.” (T-5.III.5:3)
“[A]sk the Holy Spirit everything, and leave all decisions to His gentle counsel.” (T-14.III.12:6)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃
ACOL:
“Not only is man God. But God is man and woman and child. God is.” (D:32.14) “And yet, God could not be all that is, or God would not be in relationship…. God has been referred to as the All of All. How could God be the All of All and not also be man?” (D32:15)(Both from p.623)
“[God speaking:] You will realize as you enter union by means of our direct relationship that you will not leave your humanity behind…. you will no longer see me as an inhuman God. You will know I am as human as are you and that you are as godly as am I.” (D:39.44)(p.653)
ACIM:
“God is All in All in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are therefore in Him since your being is His.” (T-7.IV.7:4-6)
“Do not endow [God] with attributes you understand. You made Him not, and anything you understand is not of Him.” (T-14.IV.7:7-8)
“[T]here are no separate parts in what exists within God’s Mind. It is forever One, eternally united and at peace.” (T-30.III.6:8-9)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓
ACOL:
“The merging of form with Christ-consciousness is the merging of the Self with the unconditional love of the One Self. The One Self loves Its Self…. The One Self is the All.” (D:Day12.3)(p.561)
“The Christ in you is wholly human and wholly divine…. It is this joining of the human and the divine that ushers in love’s presence … It is this joining of the human and the divine that is your purpose here, the only purpose worthy of your thought.” (C:5.1)(p.37)
ACIM:
“Christ is the Son of God Who is in no way separate from His Father…” (T-11.VIII.9:4)
“Christ is God’s Son as He created Him. He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. He is the Thought, which still abides within the Mind that is His Source…. He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God…” (W-pII.6.1:1-5)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅
ACOL:
“Now is the time to come into full acceptance of the human self as well as the Self of unity. It is time for the final merging of the two into one Self, the elevated Self of form.” (D:Day2.1)(p.495)
“The elevation of the self of form is nothing but the recognition of the One Self within the Self.” (D:Day11.3) “It is only in relationship that the oneness of the self separates from oneness and so knows oneness. It is only through the means of separate relationships joining in union that the One Self is capable of being either the observer or the observed. This is as true of God as it is of the self of form. God is the oneness and the separation.” (D:Day11.5)(Both from p.559)
ACIM:
“The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two, and still be what It is and must forever be. A mind and body cannot both exist. Make no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real.” (W-pI.96.3:3-5)
“Seek not within the world to find your Self. Love is not found in darkness and in death.” (W-pI.127.6:1-2)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“The choice to express who you are in physical terms was not a choice made of fear but made of love. A physical self is not inconsistent with the laws of God or of creation. It is simply a choice.” (T3:12.8)(p.312)
“… it was not some separate ‘you’ … who … chose to express love in physical form. It was God who made this choice … [T]his was your choice as well as God’s choice.” (T4:8.2)(p.385)
“God is the oneness and the separation.” (D:Day11.5)(p.559)
ACIM:
“[S]eparation [is] not of God.” (T-7.II.1:4)
“The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God’s Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end.” (T-13.In.2:1)
“Separation is only the decision not to know yourself. This whole thought system is a carefully contrived learning experience, designed to lead away from truth and into fantasy.” (T-16.V.15:3-4)
𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“[T]he created form was made in God’s own image, as was all creation. You are God’s own image given form … ” (C:30.13)(p.186)
“Creation is about giving attributes to the attributeless. Giving form to the formless.” (D:Day40.10) (pp.656-657)
“You chose a means of creation … as God chose a means of creation. That means of creation is separation, becoming separate … ” (T3:2.3)(p.284)
ACIM:
“[S]eparation [is] not of God.” (T-7.II.1:4)
“It is not form you seek. What form can substitute for God the Father’s Love?… Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited…. God knows not form…. What is not whole cannot make whole.” (T-30.III.2:1-2;3:2;4:3;5:8)
“God did not make the body …” (T-6.V.A.2:1)
“Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done…. Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth.” (W-pII.11.1:1-5,3:1)
“The world you see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it.” (C-4.1:1-2)
𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑
ACOL:
“If anger arises in you now … the feeling is provided by the body, a helpmate now in your service as a route to true expression.” (D:Day8.22)(pp. 542-543)
“Accept your anger for it is the next step in the continuum upon which we travel.” (D:Day3.1)(p.500)
ACIM:
“Anger is never justified.” (T30.VI.1:1)
“God’s peace can never come where anger is, for anger must deny that peace exists.” (M-20.3:3)
𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“Truth brought to illusion shines its light into the darkness, causing it to be no more.” (C:7.10)(p.53)
ACIM:
“Think you that you can bring truth to fantasy, and learn what truth means from the perspective of illusions? Truth has no meaning in illusion…. When you try to bring truth to illusions, you are trying to make illusions real, and keep them by justifying your belief in them.” (T-17.I.5:1-4)
𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 ‘𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞’ 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 ‘𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬.
The specific function that Jesus assigned to the Foundation for Inner Peace in 1978 was to “publish, distribute and discuss” A Course in Miracles. It is not our purpose or our practice to endorse or pass judgment on any other teachings. The Preface to A Course in Miracles states that it is “… but one version of the universal curriculum” (Preface, ix). Each of us must discern which path best supports us on our journey back to God. However, to assist those who have questions about the compatibility of A Course of Love with A Course in Miracles, we have compiled a selection of direct quotes from each to give students a basis for comparison. Every effort has been made to ensure that quotations were not taken out of context, so the student can feel confident that each Course has been allowed to “speak for itself.” It is our sincere hope that students will always ask the guidance of their Inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit, in discerning which teachings will best serve their learning. (All quotes from A Course of Love are from the Combined Volume, Copyright © 2014 and referenced according to the publisher’s guidelines as well as by page number.)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘
ACOL:
“The body is now the embodiment of the true Self, the embodiment of love, the embodiment of divinity.” (D:6.26)(p.440)
ACIM:
“The body was not made by love.” (T-18.VI.4:7)
“[T]he body is a limit on love.” (T-18.VIII.1:1)
“God cannot come into a body, nor can you join Him there.” (T-18.VIII.2:3)
𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘.
ACOL:
“I am calling you to everlasting consciousness even while you still abide in form.” (T4:4.12) Once the return to unity has occurred in form, the decision to continue in form or to not continue in form will be yours.” (T4:4.15) It is only in the relationship of matter to the divine that matter can become divine and thus eternal.” (T4:4.15)(All from p.374)
“What this treatise is saying to you is that if the physical experience appeals to you, and if you create the union of the human and divine as a new state of being, this choice will be eternally yours … a choice of your creation.” (T4:4.18)(p.375)
ACIM:
“Why should the body be anything to you?” (T-19.IV.B.i.14:1)
“Is it not strange that you should cherish still some hope of satisfaction from the world you see?” (T-25.II.2:1)
“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever.” (T-6.V.A.1:1)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓
ACOL:
“[T]he time of the Holy Spirit, the time of a need for an intermediary between yourself and God is gone.” (D3:35)(p. 507)
“The time of the Holy Spirit has passed. The time of the intermediary is over.” (A.19)(p.668)
“The ‘time’ of the Holy Spirit has now ended because the time of illusion is now called to an end.” (T3:17.8)(p.331)
ACIM:
“God can communicate only to the Holy Spirit in your mind, because only He shares the knowledge of what you are with God. And only the Holy Spirit can answer God for you, for only He knows what God is.” (T-14.IV.10:3-4)
“The Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the separation …” (T-5.II.2:5)
“The Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the ego.” (T-5.III.5:3)
“[A]sk the Holy Spirit everything, and leave all decisions to His gentle counsel.” (T-14.III.12:6)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃
ACOL:
“Not only is man God. But God is man and woman and child. God is.” (D:32.14) “And yet, God could not be all that is, or God would not be in relationship…. God has been referred to as the All of All. How could God be the All of All and not also be man?” (D32:15)(Both from p.623)
“[God speaking:] You will realize as you enter union by means of our direct relationship that you will not leave your humanity behind…. you will no longer see me as an inhuman God. You will know I am as human as are you and that you are as godly as am I.” (D:39.44)(p.653)
ACIM:
“God is All in All in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are therefore in Him since your being is His.” (T-7.IV.7:4-6)
“Do not endow [God] with attributes you understand. You made Him not, and anything you understand is not of Him.” (T-14.IV.7:7-8)
“[T]here are no separate parts in what exists within God’s Mind. It is forever One, eternally united and at peace.” (T-30.III.6:8-9)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓
ACOL:
“The merging of form with Christ-consciousness is the merging of the Self with the unconditional love of the One Self. The One Self loves Its Self…. The One Self is the All.” (D:Day12.3)(p.561)
“The Christ in you is wholly human and wholly divine…. It is this joining of the human and the divine that ushers in love’s presence … It is this joining of the human and the divine that is your purpose here, the only purpose worthy of your thought.” (C:5.1)(p.37)
ACIM:
“Christ is the Son of God Who is in no way separate from His Father…” (T-11.VIII.9:4)
“Christ is God’s Son as He created Him. He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. He is the Thought, which still abides within the Mind that is His Source…. He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God…” (W-pII.6.1:1-5)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅
ACOL:
“Now is the time to come into full acceptance of the human self as well as the Self of unity. It is time for the final merging of the two into one Self, the elevated Self of form.” (D:Day2.1)(p.495)
“The elevation of the self of form is nothing but the recognition of the One Self within the Self.” (D:Day11.3) “It is only in relationship that the oneness of the self separates from oneness and so knows oneness. It is only through the means of separate relationships joining in union that the One Self is capable of being either the observer or the observed. This is as true of God as it is of the self of form. God is the oneness and the separation.” (D:Day11.5)(Both from p.559)
ACIM:
“The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two, and still be what It is and must forever be. A mind and body cannot both exist. Make no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real.” (W-pI.96.3:3-5)
“Seek not within the world to find your Self. Love is not found in darkness and in death.” (W-pI.127.6:1-2)
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“The choice to express who you are in physical terms was not a choice made of fear but made of love. A physical self is not inconsistent with the laws of God or of creation. It is simply a choice.” (T3:12.8)(p.312)
“… it was not some separate ‘you’ … who … chose to express love in physical form. It was God who made this choice … [T]his was your choice as well as God’s choice.” (T4:8.2)(p.385)
“God is the oneness and the separation.” (D:Day11.5)(p.559)
ACIM:
“[S]eparation [is] not of God.” (T-7.II.1:4)
“The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God’s Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end.” (T-13.In.2:1)
“Separation is only the decision not to know yourself. This whole thought system is a carefully contrived learning experience, designed to lead away from truth and into fantasy.” (T-16.V.15:3-4)
𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“[T]he created form was made in God’s own image, as was all creation. You are God’s own image given form … ” (C:30.13)(p.186)
“Creation is about giving attributes to the attributeless. Giving form to the formless.” (D:Day40.10) (pp.656-657)
“You chose a means of creation … as God chose a means of creation. That means of creation is separation, becoming separate … ” (T3:2.3)(p.284)
ACIM:
“[S]eparation [is] not of God.” (T-7.II.1:4)
“It is not form you seek. What form can substitute for God the Father’s Love?… Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited…. God knows not form…. What is not whole cannot make whole.” (T-30.III.2:1-2;3:2;4:3;5:8)
“God did not make the body …” (T-6.V.A.2:1)
“Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done…. Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth.” (W-pII.11.1:1-5,3:1)
“The world you see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it.” (C-4.1:1-2)
𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑
ACOL:
“If anger arises in you now … the feeling is provided by the body, a helpmate now in your service as a route to true expression.” (D:Day8.22)(pp. 542-543)
“Accept your anger for it is the next step in the continuum upon which we travel.” (D:Day3.1)(p.500)
ACIM:
“Anger is never justified.” (T30.VI.1:1)
“God’s peace can never come where anger is, for anger must deny that peace exists.” (M-20.3:3)
𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍
ACOL:
“Truth brought to illusion shines its light into the darkness, causing it to be no more.” (C:7.10)(p.53)
ACIM:
“Think you that you can bring truth to fantasy, and learn what truth means from the perspective of illusions? Truth has no meaning in illusion…. When you try to bring truth to illusions, you are trying to make illusions real, and keep them by justifying your belief in them.” (T-17.I.5:1-4)
December 19, 2019
As a Course student since the 80’s, it is my opinion that ACOL is definitely not a continuation of A Course in Miracles and often completely contradicts many of the Course’s teachings. The Foundation for Inner Peace addresses this beautifully in their FAQ section.
Many of the statements in ACOL made me laugh out loud as they were nonsensical. The Course is written in fluent Iambic Pentmeter and beautifully poetic. ACOL doesn’t even come close to it.
I’m stunned so many Course students have any attraction to it at all. The author appears to have made the attempt to ride on ACIM’s coattails and that’s unfortunate as such a claim might confuse students. The content of ACOL certainly will confuse.
The Course in Miracles states there is “but one version of the universal curriculum” in it’s preface. I believe that. I do not believe that ACOL is a “continuation” of ACIM as the Course speaks for itself. There is no need in further curriculum or a sequel. It is complete.
Helen Schuman scribed ACIM. The author of ACOL claims she channeled her material. Scribing and channeling are two separate things.
The real proof is in serious study of ACIM and then reading ACOL and taking note of the inconsistencies, radically contradictory teachings, poor writing (ACOL) and lastly, the completely different “personalities” of the two.
My copy of ACOL ended up in our wood stove.
March 28, 2020
Deeply Revealing
I’m a 25 year student of ACIM and I found this book ACOL to be most helpful in strengthening ones relationship and union with our Creator. I found it additionally helpful by using Audible to listen to the teachings of the book while at the same time viewing the actual written words in the book. Presently the “world” is going through some very challenging times due to the spread of the Coronavirus. I have just finished listening and reading ACOL and I feel it’s teachings have strengthen my understanding of my true being my true Self. - Thank you Mari for being open to receiving these teachings and for sharing them with the world.
I’m a 25 year student of ACIM and I found this book ACOL to be most helpful in strengthening ones relationship and union with our Creator. I found it additionally helpful by using Audible to listen to the teachings of the book while at the same time viewing the actual written words in the book. Presently the “world” is going through some very challenging times due to the spread of the Coronavirus. I have just finished listening and reading ACOL and I feel it’s teachings have strengthen my understanding of my true being my true Self. - Thank you Mari for being open to receiving these teachings and for sharing them with the world.
June 23, 2020
I am left with so many questions about the author's talks with Jesus.
#1. Did the author ask for ID? Where did the author study Aramaic? Did His throat ever get dry from the talking? Did He prefer flat, or fizzy, water? Does Jesus cross himself? Coke or Pepsi? Whole Milk or 2%. What about Lent? Does He have pretty feet? When the author yawned, did He yawn, too? Can the author confirm that all good dogs go to heaven? Can a good dog do bad things? Who decides? What if it’s a tie? Will this be a Trilogy? How do things end?
#1. Did the author ask for ID? Where did the author study Aramaic? Did His throat ever get dry from the talking? Did He prefer flat, or fizzy, water? Does Jesus cross himself? Coke or Pepsi? Whole Milk or 2%. What about Lent? Does He have pretty feet? When the author yawned, did He yawn, too? Can the author confirm that all good dogs go to heaven? Can a good dog do bad things? Who decides? What if it’s a tie? Will this be a Trilogy? How do things end?
November 15, 2021
Truth, remember, is all encompassing.
Peace, remember, is all encompassing.
Love, remember, is all encompassing.
Happiness, you never forget, is all encompassed.
If you are ready to remember you are ready for A Course of Love. In fact you have already begun it.
Peace, remember, is all encompassing.
Love, remember, is all encompassing.
Happiness, you never forget, is all encompassed.
If you are ready to remember you are ready for A Course of Love. In fact you have already begun it.
Read
October 9, 2021Inviting a soft turn from the head to heart... this book is more than an appetizer, it is a nourishing meal encouraging full responsibility for being who I am, in reality.
January 10, 2022
Excellent! Loved this book.
January 19, 2022
a Journey like no other
A beautiful book written for each one of us. Jesus teaches us that we were never separated, and realising this is life changing.
A beautiful book written for each one of us. Jesus teaches us that we were never separated, and realising this is life changing.
June 12, 2025
Something better thank you
April 4, 2022
If you are ready to truly leave fear and illusion behind to be in a place of Love and deep peace with the world, this is a good book to read. It challenges us to understand with the heart, rather than the intellect. I am fortunate to be participating in a weekly reading & discussion group. Wow! The insights and release just keep coming. We are on our second reading of the combined volume and my understanding keeps deepening. I feel lighter and more at ease. 5 STARS PLUS
March 22, 2016
Great book to read and reread. I'm on the third reading.
September 18, 2016
A favorite spiritual text for inspiration and ongoing study. A companion to A Course in Miracles.
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