A Course In Miracles, or ACIM, is a three-volume book set that combines profound spiritual teachings with far-reaching psychological insights. Since its first publication in 1976, the book has touched tens of millions of people worldwide, changing their lives and influencing modern spirituality. It has become a bible for a movement that has been described as “spiritual but not religious.”
The Course, which was dictated to Helen Schucman through a process she called “inner dictation,” was the culmination of a decade of intensive study and preparation. It was published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace and, despite no paid advertising, has since sold over 3 million copies, reaching men and women of every religious persuasion.
Its premise is that the greatest “miracle” is simply gaining a full awareness of love’s presence in one’s life. It is a spiritual curriculum that teaches forgiveness as the key to the freedom of the mind. The book’s main teachings are presented in a series of dialogues between an internal teacher and a student. It is not a book that can be easily understood on the surface, so many students join study groups where they learn it along with other students. This helps them to understand its terminology and concepts.
Eventually, the student A course in miracles progresses to the level where he can teach the principles of the Course to other students. This is called becoming a “teacher” and is the purpose of the Manual for Teachers. The Manual provides guidance on the two forms of extension that the Course recommends: teaching through demonstration and the teaching of individual minds. The latter method is considered the most effective for the spreading of the curriculum.
ACIM’s popularity and public awareness was given a major boost by the work on attitudinal healing of Jerry Jampolsky, the bestselling books of Marianne Williamson, Iyanla Vanzant, and Gary Renard. It has also made inroads in Unity churches and prisons. However, it is hard to document the number of actual students of the Course because most will sooner or later join a study group, and there is no official organization that tracks the membership. Still, its ideas and principles are widely spread in popular culture, including through misattributed quotes (such as the one cited below, which is often attributed to the 13th-century poet Rumi but actually appears word for word in Chapter 16 of the Course’s Text).
