Justine:
Ouch, you had to ask.
The course is a 19th century course that claims to come from Christ. Some people like me don't believe it does. People who believe in the course can seem like evangelists at times when it comes to the cource. "ACIM says..., ACIM says..." instead of what they've found out for themselves.
I've prayed a number of times and asked if the course comes from Christ, and was told "no" in various symbolic ways. The course has some nice things to say, but not all of them are accurate. When I checked the course for a while I found that it had a brainwashing effect. Others have found the same. It can lead towards an indifferent view towards the troubles of this World, which is hardly what Christ is about. As Justin stated, it places way too much of an emphasis on the ego, as if the ego is a real thing. The course's way of speaking about the ego is similar to Sigmund Frued's "Id" (inner child) concept. Not surprising, since the founders of the course, Helen Schuchman and William Thetford, were both psychologists.
One of the messages I received about the course was: "Drop it, it makes the ego bigger." In truth there is no such thing as an ego. We can have a sense of self, but this isn't the same thing as the ego ACIM talks about. Our bodies have a self-defense instinct. We develop different types of thought patterns when we inhabit a body. Some of them are based on our higher self, some are based on how much we allow our self-defense instinct to influence us. As opposed to trying to overcome something referred to as an ego, we should instead strive to overcome our limiting thought patterns. When we place emphasis on ego, we create an imaginary adversary we have to contend with.
Here are some links which possibly explain what the origin of the course is about.
http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/46708http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22a+course+in+miracles%22+%22mkultra%22If you want to find out about the course, I suggest you pray to Christ and ask him if it comes from him. Some might say that we can rely on our own discrimination--the numerous belief systems this World includes shows how fallible human discrimination can be. Perhaps we should be humble at times, acknowledge that we can be wrong at times, and ask for divine help. This is especially true when it comes to discriminating a course that claims to come from Christ.
Yes indeed, the course is very controversial. Would Christ take part in such a thing?
JustineS wrote on Nov 14th, 2008 at 5:52pm:What is ACIM?