Today begins a series of articles on A Course of Miracles and Unitarian Universalism. Unitarian Universalism draws from many sources and usually identifies six. This series will outline and suggest a seventh, A Course in Miracles.
A Course In Miracles is a metaphysical text composed of three parts which was channeled by Dr. Helen Schucman in the 70s and transcribed by Dr. William Thetford. Dr. Schucman was channeling the voice of Jesus. It is a wonderful and sacred document which provides the student with a whole new way of viewing life and “reality”.
ACIM begins with a short introduction. We will begin here.
“This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It only means that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.”
Life is the course in miracles. It became required of you when you were delivered into the world from your mother’s uterus. It is a good life if you know how to live it. Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living and most people do not live an examined life until they hit bottom, there is a crisis of some sort that leads them to the realization that there must be a better way. When they realize that there must be a better way they begin to engage in what the UU fourth principle calls “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”
Sometimes the engagement in this search does not require a crisis, a hitting of bottom, but is an early quest or a growing restlessness that leads to an awareness that we cannot establish the curriculum of our lives, but only observe it and thoughtfully figure out how to best manage the experiences and challenges which come our way. The “curriculum” provides us with opportunities to learn and become more aware.
Gurdjieff said that winners and losers suffer alike, but that winners learn from their suffering and losers don’t learn a thing.
As the Jewish mothers say, or the Italian mothers, or the Irish mothers, “there’s always something!” Indeed there is and it is called Life. We create our own heaven and hell not by the external circumstances we are confronted by, but by the way we respond to those circumstances. One aid in this learning is the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth as it says in our third UU principle.
As for the curriculum, while it is a required course and we cannot establish the curriculum, we can decide when we want to take it. I think now is as good a time as any if you are ready. Please join me.
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