He has seen in another person the same interests as his own.
A Course in Miracles (1)
Marianne Williamson is running for president as we write this essay (July 2019). She is an advocate of a 1300 page, 3 volume book she believes to be the channeled revelations of Jesus himself. Notwithstanding the fact that Jesus’s gospel could be summed up in a short paragraph, the “Course” is a wonderful and profound book. Nevertheless, if Ms. Williamson is basing her campaign on the gospel, it would behoove her to know what Jesus’ “good news” in fact was. Not to worry Marianne, even most Christians could not tell you what Jesus’ core beliefs were. We’ll get to what Jesus taught in a moment but first we need to make this essay an entertaining experience for our loyal readers.
Is Marianne Williamson correct in basing her political future on the revelations of A Course in Miracles? Again, that depends on what she thinks the book says. “At first, as she wrote in 2004, she saw the Course as the key to changing one’s personal life. ‘Today,’ she went on ‘I see its guidance as key to changing the world.’” (2)
Jesus never saw the gospel as the “key to changing the world” (“render unto Caesar”) nor did he believe such a change was necessary or even desirable. Why is that? “For followers, it [the Course] holds out a hope that there is a greater world than that we are experiencing, that illness, emotional torment, fear, self-doubt, prejudice are all simply illusions.” (2) Ms. Williamson has obviously abandoned the core teachings of the Course when she enters the world of illusion so aggressively. She has surrendered to the fear and anger of the delusional world Jesus warned about.
If you find yourself thinking, after reading A Course in Miracles that it is “woo woo,” you better read it again. It’s as if, to speak metaphorically, that while your wagon train was under attack, you waved off the 7th Cavalry signaling, “we’ve got this handled.” This was maybe your last chance to prevent your scalp from becoming a battle trophy flapping in the wind after some Sioux brave has affixed it to his lance. Admit your ignorance and try to “feel” the profound insights that you have just read and give your intellect a rest, you probably know next to nothing about how to transcend the pain and suffering spelled out so profoundly and simply in Jesus’ second attempt to give life to his “gospel.” We all could use some “good news” about now.
Insight # 119: Heaven is here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time. (1)
Link:
- A Course in Miracles in this blog and in print in The ABC’s of Simple Reality: The Encyclopedia of Self-Transformation, Vol 1 (2018), pages 111-112, by Roy Charles Henry.
References:
- Foundation For Inner Peace. A Course in Miracles Volume Three: Manual For Teachers. Farmingdale, New York: Coleman Graphics, 1975, pages 5 & 58.
- Kestenbaum, Sam. “Inspiration for a Presidential Bid.” The New York Times. July 7, 2019, page 22.
