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A Course in Miracles

Seeing past the error

The teaching
A Course in Miracles is a 1976 book of spiritual instruction that presents itself as scribed, not authored. Psychologist Helen Schucman wrote it down over seven years, with William Thetford's support, describing an inner voice she identified as Jesus.
Before the rules
Schucman, a research psychologist at Columbia, began hearing an inner voice in 1965 and, with colleague William Thetford's encouragement, wrote down what it dictated until 1972. The Foundation for Inner Peace published the result in 1976, in three parts: a Text, a Workbook, and a Manual for Teachers. Whether the voice was what she said it was, no one can check. What follows is the Course's own teaching.
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Forgiveness looks past the error.
Because the Course holds that what looks like attack is a fearful mistake, not a person's true nature.
Someone snaps at you; you picture the fear under the words, not just the words.
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Every act comes from fear or love.
Because the Course teaches these are the only two feelings there really are, and all else reduces to one.
Notice, next time you're irritated, whether you're actually afraid of something underneath it.
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A miracle shifts perception, not events.
Because the Course holds that healing happens in how a mind sees, not in what changes outside it.
You don't fix the situation; you look at it differently, and something in you eases.
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Attack is a call for help.
Because the Course teaches every attack is fear asking to be answered, however it sounds.
Someone lashes out at you online; you read it as fear, not as truth about you.
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Choose again, in this instant.
Because the Course teaches the mind can trade a grievance for peace at any moment, not only once.
Mid-argument, you feel the old grip loosen the instant you're willing to see it differently.
The practice
For one moment today, when you feel wronged, try the Course's move: instead of asking what someone did to you, ask what they might be afraid of. You don't have to excuse them. Just look for the fear.
The Course promises nothing about the world changing. Only that how you see it can.
A Course in Miracles (1976), scribed by Helen Schucman with William Thetford
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