A Course In Miracles, also known as "ACIM," is a famous self-help book written by Helen Schucman. The underlying premise behind the book is that whatever you put your mind to and keep focused on it, will eventually come to pass. According to the book, Christ told her many times, that if you want something in this life, then you must be willing to work at it, and wait patiently for its manifestation. The book goes on to claim that this is true for all things that you desire or believe in.
The book's central theme is a simple but powerful one: the ability to focus on the things that you want and allow the Universe to arrange them and show you exactly how you will get them. Helen Schucman also claims to have received messages from Christ regarding this subject. The Course in Miracles works by showing you the various "lenses" through which God can speak to you. It shows you how you can work through all your fears and negative emotions and channels all the healing energies you need to work through the wounds you have to heal. When you learn these "lenses," you are then able to focus the "conscious" mind of your mind on what you desire to have - instead of the negative chatter that you normally experience when you are dealing with the negative emotions and fears that prevent you from getting what you want out of life. With a "course in miracles," you can then work with the "conscious mind" to uncover all the answers to the questions that surround any area of your life that is blocking you from having the happiness and fulfillment that you desire.
The belief system that is at the core of the "A course in miracles" is based on the belief that God can speak to us in ways that we cannot normally do, and that by using his voice in a personal manner, he can show us how we are capable of rising above all the perceptions we have had all our lives. There is another way to look at this. If God can speak in a personal way, then it follows that he can also show us ways to change our perceptions and block any negative thoughts and emotions from taking hold, so that we can be guided into a deeper level of being.
This is not to say that God doesn't have a negative influence on our lives and on the decisions we make. If he wishes to, he could very easily create a "course in miracles" that would lead us down a road of ever-increasing disappointment and spiritual separation from our Spirit. We are free to believe whatever we want to, including the popular interpretation of events that involves a mysterious "specialness" that seems to be possessed by God. However, this "specialness" is nothing more than a narrow perception of reality. If we only see the world through a "specialness" that is not shared by others, then we are not seeing the truth of the world.
When we learn about the power of forgiveness and the necessity for growth and development of inner wholeness, we begin to see the possibility of moving beyond the limiting "specialness" we feel. We realize that all of life is connected, and that we can draw strength from the energy of oneness. There is no "one" way to do things. We all have a different perception of life, but the basic truth is that we are all part of the same creation, part of the same tapestry. And this truth must be kept in mind whenever we learn about miracles.
Jesus and the Christian church made it very clear that there is one God, and that He is not the author of confusion or miracles. While there may be some degree of personal effort required to perform a miracle as an individual, when you look at the larger picture of this creation, there is no doubt that faith is necessary to make miracles happen. Faith must come from within, and it must be maintained. The "course in miracles" teaches the importance of keeping the faith throughout life - even when things don't go as we expect.
