I think there is a contentious thread on here somewhere regarding this book. 

Personally, you have gotten a great deal further through it than did I...my issue was that I am a voracious reader and whenever I sat down to read this book, within a few pages I fell asleep, repeatedly, which does not happen to me.  During my last attempt to read it I awoke in the chair with the book on the shelf next to me.

I spoke with an intuitive friend who said "obviously that book is not for you!" so I have not attempted to open it again.

What you describe does not jibe with my understanding of our origin, nor my beliefs in how we relate to our Creator, but not having stayed awake through the book I will make no further comment.

There are some on this board who will go to great lengths to tell you how bogus this book is, however, I know people that have gotten a lot out of it though I've never read it myself.

From what you've said and what others have said... there may be grains of truth contained within it, but I wouldn't take it to be anything more than having been written based the author's own personal belief system.

Kathy

Wonderer:

Whoa, you brought up an old sour topic for this forum. Nevertheless, I'll say what I have to say.

A similar thing happened to me as happened with Usetawuz. The same thing happened with Justin from this forum. I once looked at another forum and it happened to several people at that forum. ACIM caused us to nod out.

Nevertheless, I read it for a while. I found that it had a brainwashing effect on me. So I became curious and decided to pray to God and Christ about the course and ask them. This seemed like a reasonable thing to do because supposedly the course comes from Christ. Everytime I asked if the course comes from Christ I was in some way told "no." These answers came in the form of symbolic visual images or short waking dreams.

I also had a few dreams that made the point that the  course isn't a good course to be involved with. In one dream I was with a guru-based cult I used to belong to. As I left a meeting with this group a man grabbed me, shaked me vigorously and asked, "Why did you do it, why did you do it? Why did you allow yourself to become brainwashed again?" In the first instance this man meant the guru-based group I used to belong to. In the second instance he meant ACIM.

When somebody seeks to deceive others they are going to provide enough truth in order to do the trick. If a deceiver is really genius it will find a way to cause people to believe they are being benefited when overall they aren't. The people who used to belong to the guru-based group I used to belong to believed they were being benefited. Almost all of them have left the group and have realized that even though there was some benefit of being with the group, overall it wasn't beneficial.

I've found that people who are into ACIM are really defensive about it. Their lack of a willingness to question it isn't any different than the lack showed by anybody who is locked into a particular belief system. They cling to the pluses and see them out of context so they don't have to take notice of the minuses.

The course includes a 365 day one size fits all affirmation course. Would a light being such as Christ actually take such an approach? If one considers the large text before the 365 day affirmation course, it basically says the same thing over and over again. Would a light being such as Christ take such an approach? Perhaps such repetiveness has more to do with brainwashing than spiritual growth.

Helen Schuchman is the lady who received the words. She was basically forced to receive them because the being who gave them to her wouldn't let her sleep until she wrote them down. Would a light being be so forceful? Helen Schuchman was also urged on by William Thetford. William was a psychologist who worked for the CIA's MK-ULTRA mind control project. He and Helen were quite a team. He was involved with the insidious things MKULTRA did, and Helen hated spirituality. Would a light being such as Christ select such a team to deliver his words?

At the end of her life Helen had a very depressed and angry state of mind. She referred to ACIM as "that God d-m course."

One thing the course does in overemphasize "ego" as enemy. It emphasizes the ego so much that one might end up creating a belief-based ego. One time I received a spirit message which said: "Drop it (the course), it makes the ego bigger."

Another thing the course strives to do is get people to be indifferent about the problems of this World. It is similar to Advaita Vedanta in this regard. I know of a number of Advaita Vedanta gurus who told their followers that they don't have to worry about the suffering that takes place in this World because it is only an illusion. I know of people who became indifferent after hearing their guru say such a thing because they believed their guru was infallible and couldn't be questioned. Some people make the same mistake with ACIM.

ACIM takes an all or nothing approach. It says until you overcome the so-called separation (from God) all other change matters little. I've found that this isn't true at all. The more I've  dealt with the thought patterns that have limited me, the more I have grown spiritually.

P.S. Apparently, Justin and I wrote our posts at the same time.

There were two occasions in which I received messages that made the point that ACIM comes from deceptive beings.

I believe it is important to not under estimate how clever some of these deceptive beings can be. There is one kind of dark being I experienced on more than one occasion. I couldn't tell you what kind of being it was, but I could feel that it is very smart. This kind of being has really negative intentions.

I do not believe it is unreasonable to consider the possibility that there are some very intelligent ill-meaning beings who are trying to deceive people. If people are overly quick to accept just about everything that comes from a supposedly divine source of wisdom, they are likely to be fooled.

Wonderer wrote on Feb 17^th, 2012 at 2:20pm:


  You don't have to wait to be in the afterlife to figure out the truth of this or any matter. 

The advice i gave to Kathy, if you sincerely practice it with an open mind, you will get answers and feedback sometimes. 

  This is what i wrote, "If you want to see if the above is true or not, then ask for the help, guidance, and direction of only the most Source and PUL (pure, unconditional, Love) attuned consciousnesses, get deep in meditation, open up to the remembrance and feeling of Love and/or gratitude, and ask with no preconceptions if the above is true or not. "

  That two part method can be used for any question or issue.  Sometimes you may not get a direct answer because you may need to have a certain amount of life experience in order to better "teach" you something, but you will and can receive answers as Albert (Recoverer), i, and others here have and do. 

   It's really not as hard as you may think.  Just takes some practice and open mindedness. 

Regarding what Doc posted, Groeschnel and Schucman knew each other for years, so it wasn't a matter of a stranger making a quick assesment of her state of mind without knowing what she was like beforehand.

I find it odd that a person who supposedly received words from Christ for years would end up in such a negative state of mind. I've found that my assocation with light beings has benefited me greatly.

Thanks Justin for your further feedback. When I read about you guys and how you can connect with your guides , and all the other interesting things etc, I'd wish I can do the same, and like you said, after all, it does not take much.

Thanks DocM for your feedback!


LOL, I'm feeling like when the apostles told Jesus...let's build a tent and stay here....when they were on the mountain...obviously they said that cause of what they saw/felt etc...in my case, it would be asking all these question and stay listening to what you guys have to say -