I’d like to open with a short history of how the book came
into being. I had followed a number of spiritual practices starting in the
1970’s, including the Course. I bought a copy in 1978 and it had a profound
effect on how I viewed the world I lived in. I did the Workbook and continued
to read the Text off and on over the years.
In the early 2000’s I experienced what I called at the time,
a crisis of faith. I felt I was drifting and needed a new spiritual kick in my
life. One day I decided to redo the Workbook lessons, coming at it after 20
years of life experience. I turned my spiritual attention more completely
toward the Course and began to read a number of books about the
Course.
I attended several classes and workshops with Ken Wapnick
and began reading his books as well. One of them, The Message of A Course in
Miracles, Vol. 1, All Are Called, presented the most complete picture of
the basic concepts and philosophy of the Course. Based on those ideas, I began
to think about how to simplify this philosophy down to its essence, stripping
away the complex language of the Course.
Of course, I knew that by doing this, much of the beauty and
subtlety would be lost, but I felt there needed to be something that would lay
out the philosophy in simple terms that could be used as a companion to
understanding the Course. This could be especially helpful for new readers of
the Course, who often give up after a short time, and some of whom never return
to it.
I spent a couple of years mulling over these ideas, trying
to distill the Course into only what was absolutely essential. Out of this
process I distilled the concept of God down to these four aspects,
1 - God is All That Is, Everything. There is nothing that is
not God.
2 - God is Mind, Thoughts, Ideas and nothing but Mind.
3 - God is Pure Love. All experiences of God are Loving.
4 - God Creates. God is not static, but is in a constant
state of Creating.
From these aspects and the idea of separation, the rest of
the philosophy flowed. I wrote and edited the book in 2008 over a two week
period. Once I was finished, though, I had a problem. The book was only about
35 pages long – too short for a conventionally published book and too long for
an article. I played around with some alternatives for awhile and then put it
aside.
Over the next two years, the ebook revolution took hold, and
I began to realize that in ebook-land there was no proper length for a book.
Since pricing could start at zero and go up in one dollar increments, and since
there was no cost for printing, the price was independent of the length and any
size book was viable as an ebook.
I published the book in June, 2010 through Smashwords and a
few months later on Amazon, and the rest is history. I’ve been very pleased with
some of the wonderful feedback from readers. Though I know the book isn’t the
answer for everyone, for many it has provided the essential underlying
philosophy that has allowed readers to more fully embrace the Course.
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