A Course in Miracles Audiobook Review from JazzyExpert's blog

Ask any group of self-help students to raise their hands, and most will admit to owning a dense blue volume that calls itself A Course in Miracles. Yet only a few will actually read it.

This collection of Questions and Answers on the ACIM Text is designed to help you do just that.

Text

A Course in Miracles, or ACIM, is considered one of the most important spiritual teachings of this century and perhaps for all time. It is a set of written materials arranged as a self-study course that leads the student to a deeper understanding and acceptance of the truth about God, love, and forgiveness.

Transcribed from the original notes by Helen Schucman and William Thetford, professors at Columbia University, the Course was largely completed in eleven years from the initial scribing to the first official printing. The narrator of this audio version, Martin Weber (also known as “maz”), is a longtime friend and member of CIMS Europe, a musician and, of course, an ACIM student. He spends time in meditation with the material before beginning his recording, and then he transcribes it word by word into this wonderful, clear, and concise recording.

This Original Edition is based on the earliest manuscripts of the Course, before significant editing was done in 1975. It features a conversational tone that invites the novice or advanced student into discussion with the Author, and many listeners have found it helps bring the message of the Course alive in their lives.

When asked about a favorite self-help book, most people would happily admit to owning A Course in Miracles. But when asked to raise their hands if they have actually read the dense blue volume, all but a few would go down. This audiobook is intended to help the listener break down the barriers that keep them from embracing this life-transforming curriculum.

This is a companion to the text of A Course in Miracles, Book 1 of 4 volumes. It includes a set of questions and answers that can be used to clarify the meaning of any given section of the ACIM Text. In addition, it contains two supplements, "Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice" and "The Song of Prayer", scribed by Helen Schucman as extensions of the principles of ACIM. It is recommended that these questions and answers be studied along with the ACIM Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers.

Workbook

A Course in Miracles is a universal curriculum for spiritual transformation. Its profound teachings and practical applications lead you to a deeper awareness of love and genuine fulfillment. Originally published in 1976, this life-changing book has already touched the hearts of millions of people around the world.

The Course consists of four volumes: The Text, The Workbook for Students, The Manual for Teachers, and Supplements. These audio recordings of the lessons from The Workbook for Students are based on the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) and contain a wealth of new material restored from the original notes, along with thirty three Cameo essays by Robert Perry and Greg Mackie.

While the theoretical framework of the Text provides an excellent starting point, it is through doing the lessons in The Workbook that true transformation occurs. Each lesson contains a series of exercises designed to help you train your mind to a different perception of everyone and everything in your life. Unlike the Text, which offers a number of ideas you may find difficult to accept, the lessons in The Workbook are purely experiential and practical.

At the end of this audiobook, you will be able to fully apply the teachings in The Workbook for Students to the situations you face each day. Although the lessons are presented in a yearly calendar, you can also listen to them at a faster or slower pace. Each lesson includes a suggested reading schedule and a set of paralleling lessons from The Text.

Unlike the dense, formal writing style of later editions, this audio version of A Course in Miracles - Original Edition, read by Kellie Love, is in conversational tone and invites you into a dialogue with the Author. This approach enlivens the experience of listening to the Course and brings an even greater clarity and deeper understanding than is found in earlier editions. The restored material, presented in the order that the Author intended, allows you to enter into a direct dialog with the Course's innate wisdom and deep love. This is the audiobook you will want to hear if you truly want to understand A Course in Miracles.

Manual

A Course in Miracles, or ACIM, is a book of spiritual teachings and practical exercises for self-transformation. It consists of three parts: The Text, the Workbook, and the Manual for Teachers (although there are no formal "teachers" of the course, as such). The first two parts offer a transformational theoretical framework to support the 365 daily exercises that are intended to train our minds and heal our perception.

While there are countless resources to help you study and practice ACIM, none of them can replace doing the lessons in the workbook. These are not easy, but they are truly life-transforming. You will need a strong commitment to do them every day and to remain open to the process of change. If you do these things, you will find that the experience of miracles is inevitable.

This original edition of A Course in Miracles includes a wealth of new and previously lost material restored from the earliest manuscripts of the course. It also features the restored order of the original text and a voiceover by Kellie Love, "the Voice of A Course in Miracles." Even advanced students who have studied other editions have found that studying this Original Edition gives them more clarity and understanding.

The original manuscript for A Course in Miracles was scribed from 1965 to 1972 by Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, professors of Medical Psychology at Columbia University. It is considered to be one of the most important transpersonal psychological works of the past century or millennium. Its influence has been far-reaching, with over 3 million copies in circulation worldwide and many study groups in existence.

A Course in Miracles rose to popularity after it was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992, with author and teacher Marianne Williamson. Its profound teachings and practical guidance have helped many people achieve spiritual transformation and true fulfillment. It has inspired a generation and continues to reach many more. It is now being translated into more than 25 languages.

Supplements

A Course in Miracles offers a practical approach to awakening, using the mind's natural ability to heal itself. It teaches how to unwind the ego thought system and let go of limiting beliefs, so you can enter into a higher state of consciousness. It is a powerful tool for self-healing and for helping others awaken as well. The Course also contains two supplements -- "Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process, Practice" and "The Song of Prayer" that expand upon the principles taught in the Workbook.

A conversational style and the original sequence of the material enliven this audio version, making it enjoyable for novice students as well as more advanced ones. This original edition is based on the 1972 manuscript, which many listeners find more lucid than later editions.

The narrator is Andrew Allansmith, a professional reader who is also a long-time ACIM student and teacher. The book has been carefully optimized for listening, with textual changes indicated by a word in bold; music indicates chapter and section breaks; and proper names are used to clarify pronouns when necessary.

This audio book includes the entire Text and Workbook of A Course in Miracles, plus the Supplements Psychotherapy and the Song of Prayer. The Supplements offer a summary of the Course's teachings on forgiveness, healing, and prayer. They first present the ego's wrong-minded view of these topics, then contrast it with the Holy Spirit's right-minded view.

With more than three million copies sold, A Course in Miracles has become one of the most widely read books on spirituality. It is a unique text that encourages readers to see the world differently, through the lens of love. It is an important part of the spiritual movement that has influenced a large number of people across the world. Its use of Judaeo-Christian language has made it popular with Christians and Jews alike. It has also been used by many religious organizations as an introduction to the spiritual life. It has been adapted into films, TV shows, and other media. It has been translated into more than 40 languages, and has spawned numerous workshops, retreats, and support groups.