Many are turned off by the name "A Course in Miracles®" which suggests that maybe Jesus could have chosen a better title. But nothing is in A Course in Miracles® by chance and the title name is no exception.

A Course in Miracles® states "this world is the opposite of Heaven, being made to be its opposite, and everything here takes a direction exactly opposite of what is true." text p. 317. For two thousand years many have focused more on the miracles Jesus was reported to have performed, than that of loving your brother as yourself, the message of forgiveness he came to give. Then came A Course in Miracles® with an entirely opposite interpretation of the word Miracle, without focus on the body, but rather on a change of perception, resulting in a joining of our mind with our brothers. In this world we are obsessed with changing form but what is its value compared to our waking up and finding the Peace of God? Changing one illusion for another does nothing! If we can remain peaceful no matter what seems to be happening around us, we have invulnerability. Had Jesus during those final days of his life on earth merely used his considerable mind power to avoid his trial and what the world saw as persecution and humiliation, he would have been just a brilliant magician. By looking on the events not as an attack, but a call for love, he proved his invulnerability, on that "Last useless journey" to the cross and subsequent resurrection.

Jesus promises us in the Course that if we "remove the limits we placed on our bodies, the strength the body has will always be enough to serve all truly useful purposes. "The body's health is fully guaranteed." workbook p. 252. It doesn't say our bodies will necessarily be able do anything our ego wants, like running a 4 minute mile or performing at 70 years of age as it did when it was 20: merely that it will be able "to serve all truly useful purposes."

If we interpret Miracles as means of making this world work for us, we are misusing the considerable power of our minds as Sons of God, while not knowing what our own best interests are. The opposite of Miracles is magic which is what the Course refers to as any means we use to solve problems in form rather than in content: "seeking to change the world and not our mind about the world". Sickness is a favored form of magic, as is a material means we use to get well again. Other forms would be searching for a special relationship or maybe the ridding ourselves of one we are tired of. Seeking fame or infamy, riches or poverty and even death would be some of the literally thousands of methods we use to solve problems as we see them. Using magic to make things happen reinforces the separation and takes Truth to the illusion merely locking us into world.

Taking illusions to Truth sets us free.

All problems no matter how different they seem to be are only some form of separation and can never be solved on the level they occur. They can only be solved by changing our false perceptions of what is happening.

A Course in Miracles® is not just a book about love but rather a book on "the removal of the blocks to the awareness of love's presence" as it says in the introduction. This is the big difference with A Course in Miracles® and other equally lovely writings that talk of God's Love for us that cannot be adequately described or even experienced in this world. Judy Skutch once said, "A Course in Miracles® is simple but not easy." The Course's basic thought system is very simple but the ego thought system is devious, ingenious and extremely complicated. This is why we need a year's applied study that challenges all our many fixed ego beliefs based on separation, and their substitution with healing thoughts of forgiveness. It is a trap to believe that these beliefs can be honestly looked at without considerable discomfort.

Using the Course as magic

A Course in Miracles® being in this world, is also an illusion, but it is an illusion that can lead us to the end of illusions if that is what we want. It is not uncommon for us to use the Course as magic either. A student once told me that while she didn't study the Course, she did have it by her bed, believing that was some sort of protection. Some think they can 'understand' the thought system merely by opening the books up at random, without experiencing the gradual step by step processes that completely changes our way of thinking. Some believe it has more power if we start on January 1st with lesson 1 and by doing a lesson on the same day as others it will somehow be more potent. I remember when I finished the workbook the first time I loved it so much; I started the next day and went through it once again. The following year I did it lesson by lesson in concert with my wife Pam. On the fourth year I started with lesson one on January 1. During the early part of that year it dawned on me how addicted I had become to doing the lessons and remembering the Course's advice on rituals, I decided to quit, otherwise next year I might need to do the lessons standing on my head. I had been afraid to move on. While no irreversible harm can come from these attempts at magic, they can delay us and hold us still in the illusion. I had overlooked the workbook epilogue statement that once we have completed the workbook, we no longer need any more assigned lessons and the voice for God will direct us from then on. Once a mind has been reprogrammed, it does not need to be changed again and again. Future lessons will come from life, particularly from those with whom we have formed special relationships. A Course in Miracles® emphasizes in many places that we are insane, living in a complicated world we made up. The Course questions the validity of all the varied aspects of these insane and complicated thoughts, enabling us to loosen our belief in them, a necessary prerequisite to our accepting the simple nature of Truth.
Did Jesus make a mistake emphasizing the ego's intentions in A Course in Miracles®?

If we choose only to read those level one statements that speak of God's eternal love for us and ignore those many painful passages on special relationships, for example, which occupy one third of the text, we limit the saving in time the Course promises us. During the period she was scribing the Course, Helen Schucman woke up one morning with the words in her head "Do not underestimate the power of denial", feeling it was an important statement of Truth. The word 'underestimate' occurs in several places in the books mainly referring to our tendency to underplay the influence of our egos in maintaining the thoughts of separation.

Soon after they begin the Course many novice students begin to find A Course in Miracles® too threatening and prefer to use denial rather than face the pain of looking at the full extent of their hidden feelings of unworthiness. They blot out from their mind all the passages that ask them to look within, and focus only on the more pleasant sections, adopting a dreamy state of 'Bliss Ninnyness' as Ken Wapnick calls it. "Don't worry be happy" becomes their catch cry. It is a misconception that a student of A Course in Miracles® is somehow special and Holy Spirit will provide us with all our ego needs while denying them to others. No matter what we do, everything does not continually go right for anyone in this world and we can't continue to fool ourselves forever. If we believe that we can make the world work for us, we are not serving well our brothers or Jesus and the Course. No matter how much we stuff all our guilt feelings below the surface, we know only too well when we lose our peace at the slightest setback in our ego's plans, or have feelings of victimhood, or attack thoughts. Is it any wonder, we become depressed or sick and feel the full extent of the separation?
The attraction of guilt is strong and our egos are unmerciful to us, convincing us that we will never master this Course. What if we do feel angry or depressed at times, or maybe we don't behave 'as good Miracle students should? This is not a Course on behavior: What we do is meaningless! Jesus tells us in the Course: "Each instant is the Son of God reborn until he chooses not to die again." We are always experiencing a fresh start. We can forgive ourselves and get on with it. Beating ourselves up with guilt doesn't help, as we only end up feeling more wretched. The more we work with the material the more we become aware of being able to split off sometimes and look at our ego's antics from a distance. We can be more objective about what we see, knowing that while part of us is behaving insanely, we are the ones choosing chaos and we can at any time elect to have peace instead.

The darkest of your hidden cornerstones holds your belief in guilt from your awareness. For in that dark and secret place is the realization that you have betrayed God's son by condemning him to death. You do not even suspect this murderous but insane idea lies hidden there, for the ego's destructive urge is so intense that nothing short of the crucifixion of God's Son can ultimately satisfy it. text p. 223

Periods of peace are extended with the study of A Course in Miracles® as the frequency and duration of ego attacks diminishes. However, when in our wrong mind, it is noticeable the ego itself has not improved. The murderer still lurks their underneath and is a master of disguises even sounding quite 'holy' at times. How could egos ever grow? Hate will always be hate. They can change form but the ego's intent never does.

The choice is God or the ego,
Miracles or magic.

The ego's objective is separation and the Holy Spirit's is the atonement. Nothing could ever bring these two opposing aims together. I am grateful to Jesus and A Course in Miracles®, for without them, I would never have been aware of the ego's motives and just how much I had allowed my ego to direct my life. Denying the ego's existence in the world we are experiencing, makes no sense and can not work. Such denial would only push the awareness of the ego into the dark corners of our mind without reducing its influence on us. Thanks to A Course in Miracles®, I realize we all have two guiding voices and can make the better choice by listening to the Holy Spirit.

You can defend truth as well as error. The means are easier to understand after the value of the goal is firmly established. It is a question of what it is for. Everyone defends his treasure, and will do so automatically. The real questions are, what do you treasure? and how much do you treasure it? text p. 16