A Course in Miracles presents a clear picture of the nature of God's reality and His Kingdom of Heaven. Nevertheless, understanding the nature of God continues to prove difficult for many people, including most students of ACIM. Many people have theories about what God and His Creations must be like, how they relate and interact. But too often these theories are incomplete, confusing, or even completely mistaken. This had led to profound levels of confusion and misunderstanding, and a tremendous distortion of the teachings of A Course in Miracles.
In this groundbreaking book, Paul - an ACIM student and teacher with over 20 years experience, casts aside all confusing guesswork and presents a very clear and logical explanation of reality. Using simple logic that's easy to follow, and starting at the very beginning with God Himself, Paul draws astonishingly obvious conclusions which make complete and total sense. The book is structured in such a way that each chapter builds upon the ones before, gradually fleshing out a consistent and clear picture of the ultimate truth.
Many people attempt to find the truth by starting at the bottom and working backwards, reverse-engineering the bigger picture based on small glimpses of insight found in the dark. This is like trying to assemble a puzzle without the picture to reference. In this book we do the complete opposite, starting from the top down and assuming nothing. Step by step you will see that God's inherent nature automatically leads to the creation of His Kingdom, the sharing of everything with his Creations, and the beautiful extension of Himself through co-creation. This puts everything in its proper place, seen in its proper light as the only possible truth.
This book can be also said to be a theory of everything, since it spells out precisely and accurately the true nature of ultimate reality. The logic in the book has been designed to be "bullet proof" and irrefutable, so impeccable and precise that it cannot be argued with. The conclusions drawn are not opinions or interpretation but factual outcomes and consequences. We ask the logic to tell us what must be true, and we listen.
It just so happens, as you will see, that the independent conclusions that we arrive at also happen to completely and perfectly align with the teachings of A Course in Miracles. This validates that A Course in Miracles is logically completely true and is giving us the actual truth about our lives. In turn, this book is further validated because A Course in Miracles, a renowned and deep spiritual text, tells us that the exact same truths are true, and nothing else is true.
If you are done with all the confusion, arguments about whose interpretation is right, the inconsistencies and sense of difficulty trying to unravel the depths of ACIM's teachings, then this is the book for you. Put aside everything you've learned and let's take a fresh and extremely clear look at the truth together. Let's brush off the sea of opinions and cast aside the logical errors which are so prevalent in the thoughts of many. There can only be one truth and this is it.
This book will lay a new foundation in your mind, a background and firm footing, on which to build and draw further conclusions. It will act as a beacon of light in your mind to help you to compare and contrast what is true and what is not. It will sharpen and clarify your grasp of A Course in Miracles profoundly, and will lay to rest untold amounts of wasted time and frustration. If you want to know what Jesus is really telling us about the nature of reality, of God and his creations, and ultimately about yourself, this is the book for you.
The book is 283 pages, and almost 58,000 words. The size of the book is 6" wide by 9" tall. Large print edition is 8.5" x 11" at 297 pages.
This book is available in e-book, paperback and hardcover versions. The book is printed on demand so is always in stock. There is also a second paperback version which is the large print edition, at 50% larger size.
Paperbacks and hardcover are available from Amazon, including country-specific Amazon sites such as amazon.co.uk.
The e-book is available on Kindle via the same amazon sites, through a kindle device or free kindle reader app. A kindle device is not needed - you can install the Amazon Kindle Reader App on your desktop computer, laptop, tablet or phone (PC, Mac, Android, iOS).
You can "look inside" or "read a sample" of the book on the Amazon websites. Note that the Kindle edition sample is longer than the paperback sample.
Most stores include Kindle e-book ($6.99), paperback ($17.99) and hardcover ($25.99). Prices shown here are approximately the regular paperback prices. I typically make only a few dollars from each book sale due to Amazon fees.
Amazon.com (USA) ~$17.99 USD.
Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)~15.71 UKP.
Amazon.de (Germany) ~18 EUROS.
Amazon.fr (France) ~17.79 EUROS.
Amazon.es (Spain) ~17.49 EUROS.
Amazon.it (Italy) ~17.49 EUROS.
Amazon.nl (Netherlands) ~18.33 EUROS.
Amazon.jp (Japan) ~2916 YEN.
Amazon.com.br (Brazil) Unknown.
Amazon.ca (Canada) ~24.62 CAN.
Amazon.mx (Mexico) ~447.07 PESO?
Amazon.com.au (Australia) ~34.32 AUS$.
Amazon.in (India) Unknown.
Amazon.pl (Poland) Unknown.
Amazon.se (Sweden) Unknown.
Dedication
Author’s Note
Introduction
1. Absolute Truth
2. Aspects of Reality
3. Permanent Perfection
4. Possibility
5. Inclusion and Wholeness
6. Omni-Presence
7. Holographic Reality
8. Unlimited Sharing
9. True Equality
10. The Golden Rule
11. Inclusive Logic
12. Creation Means Sharing
13. The Power to Create
14. God is Alive
15. The Act of Creation
16. Co-Creation in the Kingdom
17. The Premise of God
18. Cause and Effect
19. Permanent Creation
20. Free Will
21. God is the First Cause
22. The Awareness of Knowledge
23. The Vision of God
24. Real Relationships
25. The Machinery of Mind
26. Unlimited Power
27. Joy and Happiness
28. Permanent Peace
29. Unconditional Love
30. Absolute Freedom
31. Worth and Validity
32. Willingness
33. The Freedom to Deny God
34. The Potential for Miscreation
35. The Light of Truth
36. Gratitude
37. Innocence and Holiness
38. The Good and The Positive
39. The Expansion of the Kingdom
40. Giving and Receiving
41. Multiple Wholeness
42. The Attraction of Meaning
43. Symbiotic Relationship
44. Communion and Prayer
45. Every Soul is Christ
46. The Sonship as The One Son
47. The Family of God
48. The Brotherhood of Christ
49. Super-Natural Miraculousness
50. Oneness
51. The Father-Son Relationship
52. God is Greater Than You
53. The Creation of Your Kingdom
54. Independence
55. Immortality
56. The Holy Spirit
57. Angels of God
58. Final Word
To perceive truly is to be aware of ALL reality, through the awareness of your own. But for this, NO illusions can rise to meet your sight, for ALL reality leaves no room for ANY error. This means that you perceive a brother only AS YOU SEE HIM NOW. His past has NO reality in the present, and you CANNOT see it. Your past reactions TO him are also NOT THERE, and if it is to these that you react NOW, you see but an image of him that you made and cherish INSTEAD of him. In your questioning of delusions, ask yourself if it is REALLY sane to perceive WHAT WAS NOW. If you remember the PAST as you look upon him, you will be unable to perceive the reality that is NOW.
You consider it "natural" to use your PAST experience as the reference point from which to JUDGE the present. Yet this is UNnatural, because it is delusional. When you have learned to look upon everyone with NO REFERENCE AT ALL to the past, either his OR yours as you perceived it, you will be able to learn FROM WHAT YOU SEE NOW. For the past can cast no shadow to darken the present, UNLESS YOU ARE AFRAID OF LIGHT. And ONLY if you are, would you choose to bring this darkness WITH you, and by holding it in your minds, see it as a dark cloud that shrouds your brothers, and conceals their reality from your sight.
THIS DARKNESS IS IN YOU. The Christ revealed to you NOW has no past, for He is changeless. AND IN HIS CHANGELESSNESS LIES YOUR RELEASE. For if He is as He was created, there IS no guilt in Him. No cloud of guilt has risen to obscure Him, and He stands revealed in everyone you meet, because you see Him through HIMSELF. To be born again is to let the PAST go, and LOOK WITHOUT CONDEMNATION UPON THE PRESENT. For the cloud which obscures God's Son to you IS the past, and if you would have it past AND GONE, you must NOT SEE IT NOW. And if you see it now in your delusions, it has NOT gone from you, although it is not there.
Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation of it you use. Past, present, and future are not continuous, UNLESS YOU FORCE CONTINUITY ON THEM. You can PERCEIVE them as continuous, and make them so FOR YOU. But do not be deceived, and then believe that this is how it IS, for to believe that reality is what you would HAVE it be, according to YOUR use for it, IS delusional. You would DESTROY time's continuity by breaking it into past, present, and future, FOR YOUR OWN PURPOSES. You would anticipate the future on the basis of your PAST experience and plan for it accordingly. And by so doing, you are ALIGNING past and future, and not allowing the miracles, which could intervene BETWEEN them, to free you to be born again.
The miracle enables you to see your brother WITHOUT his past, and so perceive him as born again. His errors ARE all past, and by perceiving him WITHOUT them, you are RELEASING him. And since his past is yours, you SHARE in this release. Let no dark cloud out of YOUR past obscure him from you, for truth lies ONLY in the present, and you WILL find it if you seek it there. You have looked for it where it is NOT, and therefore have not found it. Learn, then, to seek it where it IS, and it WILL dawn on eyes that see. Your past was made in anger, and if you use it to ATTACK the present you will NOT SEE the freedom that the present holds. Judgment and condemnation are BEHIND you, and unless you bring them WITH you, you WILL see that you are free of them.
Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the ONLY things that are forever true. All healing lies within it, because ITS continuity is real. It extends to ALL aspects of consciousness AT THE SAME TIME, and thus enables them to REACH EACH OTHER. The present is before time WAS, and WILL BE when time is no more. In it is everything that is eternal, and they ARE one. THEIR continuity is timeless, and their communication is unbroken, for they are NOT SEPARATED by the past. Only the past CAN separate, and IT is nowhere.
The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you WITH them, and free YOU from the past. Would you, then, hold the past AGAINST them? For if you do, you are choosing to remain in the darkness THAT IS NOT THERE, and refusing to accept the light that is offered you. For the light of perfect vision is freely given, as it is freely received, and can be accepted only WITHOUT LIMIT. In this one, still dimension of time, which does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at Christ, and call His witnesses to shine on you, BECAUSE YOU CALLED THEM FORTH. And THEY will not deny the truth in you, because you looked for it in them, and FOUND it there.
Now is the time for salvation, for NOW is the release from time. Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. In timeless union WITH them is YOUR continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. God's guiltless Son is ONLY light. There is no darkness in him ANYWHERE, for he is whole. Call all your brothers to witness to his wholeness, as I am calling you to join with me. Every voice has a part in the song of redemption, the hymn of gladness and thanksgiving for the light, to the Creator of Light. The holy light that shines forth from God's Son is the witness that his light is of his Father.
Shine on your brothers in remembrance of your Creator, and you WILL remember Him, as you call forth the witnesses to His creation. Those whom you heal bear witness to YOUR healing, for in THEIR wholeness you will see your own. And as your hymns of praise and gladness rise to your Creator, He will return your thanks, in His clear answer to your call. For it can never be that His Son called upon Him, and remained unanswered. His call to you is but your call to Him. And in Him you are answered by His peace.
Children of Light, you know not that the Light is in you. And you will find it through its witnesses. For having given light to them, THEY WILL RETURN IT. Everyone you see IN light brings YOUR light closer to your OWN awareness. Love always leads to love. The sick, who ASK for love, are grateful for it, and in their joy, they shine with holy thanks. And this they offer you, who GAVE them joy. They are your guides to joy, for having received it OF you, they would keep it. You have established them as guides to peace, for you have made it manifest in them. And SEEING it, its beauty calls you home.
There is a light which this world cannot give. Yet YOU can give it, as it was given YOU. And AS you give it, it shines forth to call you FROM the world, and follow it. For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. And you will lay aside the world and find another. This other world is bright with love WHICH YOU HAVE GIVEN IT. And here will everything remind you of your Father and his holy Son. Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy. All those you brought WITH you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in gratitude, because they brought you here. Your light will join with theirs, in power so compelling, that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on them.
Awaking unto Christ is following the laws of love OF YOUR FREE WILL, and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. The attraction of light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by GIVING. Those who accept love OF you, become your willing witnesses to the love you gave them, and it is THEY who hold it out to YOU. In sleep you are alone, and your awareness is narrowed to yourself. And that is why the nightmares come. You dream of isolation, BECAUSE your eyes are closed. You do not SEE your brothers, and, in the darkness, you cannot look upon the light you GAVE to them.
And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep. And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been faithful in your giving, for you were NOT alone. Even in sleep has Christ protected you, ensuring the real world FOR you when you wake. In YOUR name He has given FOR you, and given YOU the gifts He gave. God's Son is still as loving as his Father. Continuous WITH his Father, he has no past APART from Him. So he has never ceased to be his Father's witness, AND HIS OWN. Although he slept, CHRIST'S VISION DID NOT LEAVE HIM. And so it is that he can call unto himself the witnesses that teach him that he never slept.
We may think that when ACIM refers to the past it may be talking about 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago.
But when you think about it, the world seems to present a continuous unbroken stream of events. Objects morph from one state to another without any seeming gap in between. It's not like the present is "missing" in this sequence. Actually Jesus refers to it as a continuum, as in the continuum of spacetime.
In this continuum bodies and objects appear to constantly exist from one moment to the next, seamlessly. And yet, we're also told in the course, that at no time does the body really exist in the present. It is always slightly away from presence in the past and the future. We're also told that in holy instants the world may disappear, as happens in revelation also.
So the apparent illusion of a continuum of time in which we seem to think of the past as "a long time ago" and in which there seems to actually BE a present moment, this is not really the nature of time. Time is delay, denial and avoidance. Somehow there is a gap, of space, between the real present moment and everything that appears. And yet everything appears to always be present in this timeline, without a gap.
This MUST mean, that time is more of a vertical "immersion" or sinking down into density, away from true presence, which is above the battlefield. It must be a general sense of distance or avoidance of reality, which results in a more dense experience and a seeming solidity of matter. "The past" must not so much refer to certain measurements of time "ago", but rather to the general sense of how heavily you are in denial, and therefore how "darkened" your mind is.
Jesus describes in the course that with shorter distances we tend to think of it as space, and as distance increases we tend to think of it as time. This means distance from immediacy is spacetime. And without ANY distance there is no spacetime. Total stillness would eradicate it. Slight distance produces an illusion of a world which is slightly "laggy" and seems to gloss over the present with an illusion of a present.
"The continuity of past and future, UNDER ITS (ego) DIRECTION, is the only purpose it perceives in time, and it closes over the present, so that no gap in the EGO's continuity can occur. ITS continuity, then, would KEEP you in time"
So the ego illusion actually produces a sense of past, seamlessly and smoothly transitioning into the present, and continuing on to the future, in a continuous stream. But Jesus is saying this is an illusion. And the "present" in this continuum of time is NOT really the present. In time we're not quite in the real present of eternity because it's always a bit removed from it, and filled with images that make it seem like there is no moment at all.
As such the ego has made time look as though it's a totally closed system and it hides the real eternity beyond it. The real eternity is the real present. It is not a state of change or transition or delay or distance or avoidance or denial. And it does not entail the imaginary images of "right now" that the illusion of spacetime shows to us. If you want to find out what the real present is you have to go to heaven.