Since its publication by the Foundation for Inner Peace,
its president Judith Skutch Whitson, has traveled over
a million miles introducing people to A Course in Miracles.
Both Helen Schucman and William Thetford died in the 1980s.
However, the work they were instrumental in bringing forth
continues to live through Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick
at the Foundation for A Course in Miracles.
The couple was inspired to create a quiet and peaceful place
where serious students of the Course could come to study
its teachings in a meditative setting,
at which people from all walks of life have learned
to apply the principles of the Course in all of their relationships.
(Tennanah Lake)
The principles of the Course make no sense if you don't live them.
Without that application then the Course means absolutely nothing.
The purpose both Gloria and I have shared here at the Foundation
has been to really have students come away from a class
or workshop here, or seminar, with a deeper understanding
of what the Course is saying,
so that they can best study it on their own.
We don't want them to use this as a substitute for their own learning,
but they would come away with a deeper appreciation
of this incredible thought system
and the relevance it would have to their personal lives.
Right at the beginning, that this course does not aim
at teaching you the meaning of love because that cannot be taught.
It does aim, however, at removing the obstacles...or the blocks...
to the awareness of love's presence.
And those barriers are our decisions to choose guilt
and separation instead of forgiveness.
In the Course, "forgiveness" means that I recognize
that whatever it is I'm attacking in you
and criticizing you for and condemning you for
is simply a projection of what I'm secretly condemning myself for.
Therefore, in changing my mind under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
about you, I'm really in effect changing my mind about myself.
I came to the Course really hoping that the people who were giving me a hard time in my life would change.
It took a long time for me to realize that the Course is about changing my mind,
not asking somebody else to change.
The thrust of the Course, again, is to really heal our relationships here.
Now the real healing occurs in our mind,
but the effect of that would be that we would live lives in this world
where we are more peaceful, more loving, kinder, less anxious, less phobic,
less depressed, less judgmental, less, less, less, less.
You really get to see that your relationships are the places where you can heal.
My children know very little about the Course.
They just know what it's done for me.
So my daughter about two years ago asked me what is the Course all about,
so I sent her a book, Ken's book, a little talk given on A Course in Miracles
and she went, "Ma, give me a break."
Jesus is talking to somebody and she's writing it down.
So therefore the form wasn't of interest, but each one of them
knows that the content has changed, for me.
My life has changed for me, that I'm more peaceful,
more contented, more willing, and therefore, in essence,
their life with me has changed.
I finally learned that the thought behind everything is really where the peace is.
That's the one thing that gave me solace
when I found out that I had cancer
is I didn't feel like a victim.
I do have strong reactions to chemo, I get very sick, I get very, very tired
but I never feel as if this is something being done to me.
I never feel like I'm suffering.
The Course says God did not create this world cause it's the opposite of Heaven.
There's no materiality in Heaven...there's only spirit...there's no bodies.
There's oneness, not multiplicity.
You begin to understand that we're starting from a whole different
point of view here, and that's why the Course says
my interests are not separate from yours, because ultimately we are all one...
not as you and me, but the Oneness of Heaven.
The only real way there could be peace in the world
on any level, whether you're talking about individual, within families or social groups,
as well as nations and religions, etcetera
is for people really to learn one by one
that there is another way of looking at people.
There's emphasis in the Course on looking at what we could call the dark side
of our psyche, and I think that the wonderful ideals of ending suffering in the world
and ending wars and conflict, these will never be realized as long as people
don't pay attention to this darkness that's in all of us.
It's our relationships with each other, which bring these to the surface.
There's a part of each of us that doesn't want to help others
and doesn't want to let go of our particular turf,
our individual experience and our individual this or individual that,
and what the Course helps us realize is that it's in our best interests
to uncover these cornerstones of hatred and guilt through forgiveness.
That's what makes the Course so unique as a spirituality,
and I think so directly relevant to our age,
because nothing has worked
and it's obvious to anyone who looks at human history or recent history.
And it's not because people don't want it to work,
it's that they're not aware of this other side to them, this ego side.
(Tennanah Lake)
The whole basis that this course stands on and what it teaches
is a perfect way for people to really change their minds and
as each person changes their minds it will affect the whole,
because we're all interconnected.
The students and myself are really on the same journey. That's what allows
me to truly become an instrument of God's peace.
We're all on the same path together. I choose the peace within me
and then the extension of that peace through me just happens,
and I open up my mouth and whatever it is I say
will no longer have any judgments.
What would your life be like?
It will be the same as it is now except you'd be happy all the time,
and you'd be peaceful.
You wouldn't be moody, you wouldn't be angry,
you wouldn't be depressed, you wouldn't be anxious,
and you'd be damn boring.
As you teach you will learn. The more that I teach it
the more that my own understanding would deepen.
It was a major life change, but also looking back on it,
it was something that was so natural, it was just like taking the next step,
or like you're taking a walk...you just take the next step...you don't think about it.
you just do it, and it just seems so natural and so right.
We were always in those kind of professions. I was a teacher and he was a psychologist,
so we were always helping in a sense,
and this was a different mode of helping.
I think it was a way of understanding that we were not the helpers,
that we were not the teacher or the therapist, that there was
another Presence that was teaching through us.
Kenneth and Gloria have moved their foundation to southern California,
where they continue to offer workshops and classes on site
and on the internet.
In the end, A Course in Miracles can be described very simply
as a spiritual teaching, which helps people change the mind
from conflict to peace, from fear to love.
Interestingly enough, the origin of the Course itself–
two people changing their minds about their relationship
and sharing a common goal–exemplifies this teaching.
The Course guides its students to make the same choice they made.