A Course in Miracles (Helen Schucman and William T. Thetfort)
A Course in Utter Trash
[My 1-star Amazon review (NDA) of “A Course in Miracles” by Helen Schucman and William T. Thetfort.]
“A Course in Miracles” is, in my opinion, a Course in Utter Trash. It is a second-rate quasi-Christian mysticism course that I will not recommend to spiritual students of mine. I have spent forty years studying, practicing, and teaching mystical Dharmas—Raja, Jnana, and Tantra Yoga; Pali, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhism; and Christian Hermeticism—and I consider this one garbage.
First, this book makes one ridiculous or erroneous statement after another. For example, it states, “Miracles are natural.” This is utter nonsense. By definition, miracles contradict natural laws. Then it say, “Miracles are thoughts.” Hogwash. Another one: “Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both.” I’d love to see someone raise the dead, but it’s not going to happen.
I could write a whole book debunking this one, but since this is merely a review, I will limit myself to just a few more. The book states, “Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be meaningfully translated.” Poppycock. When a disciple directly connects to the Holy Spirit (Light-energy from above) and receives its Blessing Power, or Grace, then Revelation of the Divine naturally transpires. This “Revelation” is common to all great mystics, and many have “meaningfully translated” or described it. Here’s another balderdash statement: “This establishes the proper function of the mind and corrects its errors, which are merely lacks of love.” Unfortunately, the mind makes many errors which have nothing to with love or unlove, just ignorance or poor judgment.
If you are interested in a real “Course in Christian-Spiritual Mysticism,” I suggest the following texts—“Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism,” by Valentin Tomberg, “Mysticism,” by Evelyn Underhill, and my forthcoming text, “Electrical Christianity: A Revolutionary Guide to Jesus’ Teachings and Spiritual Enlightenment” (available mid 2013). These books, unlike “A Course in Miracles,” not only explain what the important mystical Christian terms-- such as Atonement, Revelation, Grace, and the Holy Spirit--really mean, but also how you can directly and literally experience their Reality.
[My 1-star Amazon review (NDA) of “A Course in Miracles” by Helen Schucman and William T. Thetfort.]
“A Course in Miracles” is, in my opinion, a Course in Utter Trash. It is a second-rate quasi-Christian mysticism course that I will not recommend to spiritual students of mine. I have spent forty years studying, practicing, and teaching mystical Dharmas—Raja, Jnana, and Tantra Yoga; Pali, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhism; and Christian Hermeticism—and I consider this one garbage.
First, this book makes one ridiculous or erroneous statement after another. For example, it states, “Miracles are natural.” This is utter nonsense. By definition, miracles contradict natural laws. Then it say, “Miracles are thoughts.” Hogwash. Another one: “Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both.” I’d love to see someone raise the dead, but it’s not going to happen.
I could write a whole book debunking this one, but since this is merely a review, I will limit myself to just a few more. The book states, “Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be meaningfully translated.” Poppycock. When a disciple directly connects to the Holy Spirit (Light-energy from above) and receives its Blessing Power, or Grace, then Revelation of the Divine naturally transpires. This “Revelation” is common to all great mystics, and many have “meaningfully translated” or described it. Here’s another balderdash statement: “This establishes the proper function of the mind and corrects its errors, which are merely lacks of love.” Unfortunately, the mind makes many errors which have nothing to with love or unlove, just ignorance or poor judgment.
The Lessons, which follow the main Text, are just as bad as the Text. The first lesson states, “Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything.” Then, Lesson 3 states, “I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].” If nothing means anything and you are incapable of understanding anything, then you have evicted yourself from (manifest) reality and cannot study and learn anything, including the material in “A Course in Miracles.” Anyone who respects the mind’s ability to intelligently discriminate will recoil from much of the material in both the main Text and the Lessons.
If you are interested in a real “Course in Christian-Spiritual Mysticism,” I suggest the following texts—“Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism,” by Valentin Tomberg, “Mysticism,” by Evelyn Underhill, and my forthcoming text, “Electrical Christianity: A Revolutionary Guide to Jesus’ Teachings and Spiritual Enlightenment” (available mid 2013). These books, unlike “A Course in Miracles,” not only explain what the important mystical Christian terms-- such as Atonement, Revelation, Grace, and the Holy Spirit--really mean, but also how you can directly and literally experience their Reality.
