A Course in Miracles, or ACIM as it is commonly abbreviated, is a three-volume spiritual self-study thought system that teaches forgiveness as the key to universal love and peace. The Course is Christian in terminology but is ecumenical in its spiritual teaching and states that it is only one form of "the universal course." It is a curriculum for the healing of relationships, both personal and planetary, and focuses on undoing guilt through the practice of forgiveness. It also emphasizes that reality is illusory and that the world of appearances is the result of the mind's misperceptions. It views evil and sin as misperceptions of truth, and calls for the forgiveness of the ego, not punishment.
The Course was channeled (spiritistically delivered) to Helen Schucman, an atheistic psychologist with early training in New Thought metaphysics and the occult. It was dictated to her over an eight-year period, and she would not publicly acknowledge her role as the source until after her death in 1981. She entrusted her copyright of the Course to two friends who organized the Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, and they subsequently gave it to Ken Wapnick. He began to edit the Course, removing certain punctuation, clarifying terms, and changing section headings. The result was a derivation of the original Course, which is now known as JCIM or CIMS: Jesus Christ's Course in Miracles.
When the first edition of the A course in miracles Course was published in 1976, it contained a 669-page Text, 488-page Workbook for Students with 365 daily lessons, and a 92-page Manual for Teachers. Within a decade it was being taught in thousands of study groups across the country and internationally. Its popularity was given a major boost by the books of attitudinal healers Jerry Jampolsky and Iyanla Vanzant, and by Marianne Williamson's work on forgiveness.
Several years after the initial publication, the Foundation for Inner Peace was established to disseminate and promote the teachings of ACIM. The Course was then assigned to it as publisher, distributor, and copyright/trademark holder. In 1999 the Foundation renamed itself to the Foundation for Awakening.
The underlying philosophy of the Course is that everyone is a child of God, and that all of life is a manifestation of the Love of God. The goal is to remember this Truth. This purpose is accomplished by correcting a fundamental mistake in thinking that humans are separate from God. The Course is designed to help people reclaim their divine heritage by undoing the fear of the true nature of reality and learning to forgive themselves for their mistakes.
The teachings of the Course are controversial and largely unsupported by traditional scriptures, the Bible included. The supposedly divine author of the Course, identified only as a voice that speaks through Helen, is accused of being Satan or the devil. This theory is based on the belief that the biblical Jesus was not the true Christ, but instead a human being who became the Christ at some later point in history.
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