WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES?
Controlling Ideas vs Storytelling
In screenplays for moviemaking there are terms for setting up the premise of a film, and the way the writer sets the film determines the mindset, imagination, perception and starting point for understanding the plot.
A Course in Miracles is like a screenplay. Like a screenplay, the narrative sets up the premise and mindset by which the reader understands the story line and gives a basis for perception during the movie and what the mind pays closer attention to — a sort of starting point for understanding.
With this in mind, I began looking at the earliest and latest versions of A Course in Miracles (the blue book and the purple book) wondering, what if the narrative had been set differently for the introduction to A Course in Miracles? The author, Consciousness as far as I can tell, did not dictate how to introduce the premise of the writing or authorship and yet great emphasis is given to the author being Jesus. This is not a problem in and of itself because for me that was the attraction.
Who is the author of A Course in Miracles? And what does it say to the reader when the narrative and structure suggests that the seeming author, no longer living in a body suit is a separate entity introducing other seeming separate entities throughout the story line? And except for one paragraph in Workbook Lesson 189.7, the Course never clears up the fact that Jesus, God, The Holy Spirit are all illusory symbols that do not exist in the important and often missed direct experiences the Course is pointing to as the attainment of the Real World while still in a body suit. Most solid Course students think this happens later after God takes the last step.
Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, Son of God and the Bible are all important components of A Course in Miracles; in fact, they're the main characters in setting up the backstory, but they are seemingly separate all the way to the end.
For me, the attraction to A Course in Miracles was the fact that it was said to be authored by Jesus. Somehow, I knew it was true.
Having said that, if I had understood the metaphysics of authorship, i.e., Consciousness, oneness, I am, the oneness of God from the beginning maybe I would have understood that the you it is speaking to is not the personal self (me identity) that many serious Course students (me) seemingly hold onto for a long, long, long time.
This is not throwing aspersions to the publishers of A Course in Miracles; I love and appreciate both companies and publishers of the early and latest editions.
The first problem created by the steering premise and introduction to the Course, as I see it, is the student has a very difficult time disconnecting from the personal self-references (reading the Course as a person), the dualistic language and the pronouns that seemingly make God, Consciousness, true self-identity which is necessary for the attainment of what A Course in Miracles is pointing to (awakening/enlightenment, The Real World) nearly impossible. Hence, seek and never find (the ego maxim, according to the Course, remains intact). God is left separate as (he) takes the last step when (we) are ready.
But when is that?
Am I part of that?
Who am I that’s part of that?
The second problem created by a possible faulty introduction to the Course are the many seeming separate entities from the beginning of A Course in Miracles all the way to the last Workbook lesson. At what point does the student (which is a concession as we’re really talking about awakening consciousness, a paradoxical idea that must be understood) release itself from seemingly being separate from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all the pronoun references offered throughout the Course?
Full disclosure: I love A Course in Miracles and continue to read it on a regular basis, only now I read and know the Course in proper context as Consciousness revealing itself to itself. This is why my blog dated February 3, 2022, A Course in Miracles is Not a Nondual Teaching and the blog dated June 1, 2022, Nonduality versus Progressive can be important considerations and provide an overview for reinterpreting, retranslating for direct experience and reintroducing the premise and basis for understanding the Course to access the direct experience and awakening it entails.
Who is the author of A Course in Miracles?
You are…
> If you are ready to take a deep dive into A Course in Miracles from a nondual perspective, join Bill for his 12-month Masterclass for Awakening - click here or on image below for details.
