Note: Today begins two years of focusing on A Course of Love, with a teaching unit that will go, page by page, through ACOL. (There will be some interludes of material with other themes.)
The “Place” of A Course of Love
The dictation Mari [Perron] scribed specifically referred to A Course of Love as a “continuation of the coursework provided in A Course in Miracles.” (A.4) It also stated:
“Where the original Course in Miracles was a course in thought reversal and mind training, a course to point out the insanity of the identity crisis and dislodge the ego’s hold, this is a course to establish your identity and to end the reign of the ego.” (C:P.8)
Many of the individuals drawn to A Course of Love are seeking something further than A Course in Miracles, some further understanding that will take them to Awakening. It is almost as though Jesus had “unfinished business” with us after he saw that some of us were floundering following ACIM. So he went back to the drawing board, and the result is A Course of Love. Jesus in this work makes a great deal out of listening to our heart, which does not need proof as the mind does. Many of us were seeking for proof of Jesus’s words in ACIM, proof that we knew enough (with our minds) to reach Awakening.
But this is where we went wrong. The mind cannot think its way to enlightenment. The intellectual construct of A Course in Miracles may have led some of us to think this way. And Jesus gives us another way of seeing in ACOL. He says that the heart needs to coach the mind into a partnership, into a fusion of mind and heart that he calls “wholeheartedness.” This is the way out of the maze for us. This is our way home to God.
Many ideas build upon ACIM. We were encouraged to see our brother in ACIM as our way to salvation. We forgave him, and in the forgiving we moved into a new and better reality. In ACOL, we learn that we are meant to be sharing in this world. We are not meant to be isolated and alone, but in “unity and relationship” with all. Our relationships, the ones that become union, are our way home. And this idea is very, very similar to the “brother” concept of ACIM.
A Course of Love, though, can stand on its own, as we shall see as we first consider the original Course, the first part of the three-part Course. (The other two parts are the “Treatises” and the “Dialogues.”) The original Course acts as a summary of some of what we find in A Course in Miracles. The Treatises and the Dialogues are much more original in scope.
So let us begin a two-year consideration of A Course of Love. We will go through the book in order, though drawing parallels from the whole, as well as similarities and differences with A Course in Miracles and The Way of Mastery.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS UNDERTAKING……..I’VE BEEN A STUDENT OF ACIM FOR OVER 20 YEARS AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO LEARNING AND EXPANDING THROUGH THE HEART. PERFECT TIMING!!
I also had been a student of A Course in Miracles for almost 20 years when I found A Course of Love in 2001 or so. I am also interested in beginning to take a look at The Way of Mastery.
Thanks for writing in. I hope that you will gain good things from the new series that I am beginning.
Celia
Celia, sounds great. I understand much of ACIM, but I have no experience with ACOL. I’m looking forward to a new understanding of these teachings.
Reblogged this on The Miriam Tree and commented:
A Study Opportunity of Interest for students of ACIM and ACOL.
Over 30 years with ACIM, but probably only 5 of those were really serious. I’m on the second reading of ACOL. I find ACOL speaks to me more directly. One Wednesday a couple months ago, I found out I was going in for heart surgery that same Friday. Normally that would mean two days of not sleeping. Reading ACOL helped create a shift in perspective that was relatively “relaxed” perspective. While no one around me would say I was relaxed (far from it) I know it would have been far worse without that book by my side. I bought The Way of Mastery years ago. I was stunned by the beauty of the language. And, for the life of me, and though I tried, I could never read it cover to cover.
Steve
I hope you have made a good recovery from your heart surgery. Thank you for the testimonial for A Course of Love.
Most cordially, Celia
Thank you I look foward to this new adventure in love call through unity and relationships. how exciting indeed. Thank you for embarking on a new journey . Brett L
I’m in! I, too, have over 20 years with ACIM and was feeling ready to become a teacher when I found ACOL by “accident”. I know that we are at a crucial juncture in our evolutionary path as human earthlings. I see and here it everywhere I go. More and more people are seeking for answers that ACOL states has been largely brought about through ACIM. I read somewhere that one person’s change of mind about the world can affect tens of thousands of minds. I feel strongly that ACOL is one sure path toward salvation of the world.