There is nothing I like more than a good question about the Course. And by "good question", I mean a thought provoking one - a question that makes me reassess what I currently believe and perhaps come to see it in a new light. As a result, we have a very interactive study group of Course students here in Louisville where everyone is encouraged to share their insights and questions. It is also a very diverse group with people from widely varying religious backgrounds so we get a lot of very insightful questions and I've been making a note of them for the last 15 years. Here is one of my favorite ones:
Question: The Course clearly appeals to people from very diverse religious backgrounds. Why do you think that is?
First and Foremost: A God you can love wholeheartedly
The diverse appeal of A Course Course in Miracles is due in very large measure to the way it completely reshapes our relationship with God. We do not have to earn our way back into our Heavenly Father’s love because we never lost it!
That’s what Jesus himself was saying when he gave us the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Lord's Prayer. Like the Prodigal Son, a child of God need only to change her direction back to home, and God the Father will run to meet her with open arms.
The appeal of the truth of ACIM is very great, undoubtedly, but even before we can get to an understanding of that truth, the appeal of a completely loving God is what kindles most student's motivation to learn and then maintains our momentum home.
Second: The desire for peace
“You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. You never really WANTED peace before, so there was no point in being told how to achieve it.”
The horror of nuclear destruction shocked a generation about the potential costs of war. Instant video news coverage and graphic Hollywood productions shoved the routine horror of war in the world's face. All romantic nonsense about the glory of military combat could be questioned, and rejected.
For the first time in history the instructions for peace could be heard by a significant slice of the population, for the simple reason that people of all nations were ready to listen. A Course Course in Miracles is a comprehensive “how-to” manual for genuine peace.
Third: Eliminate the (often corrupt) middlemen
Eastern traditions and ideas have been percolating around the Western world for several hundred years taking root. A new generation coming of age in the 1960's flocked to the promise of a direct personal connection to the transcendent world, and to God. The stale preaching of worn out doctrines by hypocritical clergy were not enough to satisfy a growing hunger for the divine.
A Course Course in Miracles presents itself as a truth to be tested and experienced, not as dogma to be blindly accepted. A revolt against the guardian priests was gaining strength.
Fourth: The inner world
Some sixty years after Freud popularized the idea of the unconscious mind, an educated public was ready to take it seriously and to go exploring. Saints and sages throughout the ages had know of this secret, and wrote about it, but it has been just recently that the terrible fear of the unknown depths relaxed its grip on the public consciousness.
A Course Course in Miracles provides a comprehensive set of spiritual exercises designed to deal with the dark nightmares that haunt our minds, and it lends us the courage to face them.
A perfect storm
These factors combined at the perfect time and in just the right place to make A Course Course in Miracles possible. The Course came as an answer to the heartfelt cries for help from the people of a war-weary world. The Course appeals to people from very diverse religious backgrounds because the Course promises what everyone wants deep down.
Carmen Cameron
Louisville, Kentucky
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