Key Concepts and Terms Articles

As I'm writing this it is Holy Week, the time when Christians commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The events of Holy Week have been celebrated as "good news" for centuries, and for good reason: They represent a great reversal, the overcoming of...

A Commentary on Helen’s Concept of “Healthy Guilt Feelings” In our Complete and Annotated Edition of A Course in Miracles (CE), there is a curious line that was originally Jesus’ appraisal of a concept of Helen’s: “The concept of healthy guilt feelings has great...

Projection is one of those bedrock concepts that seems to figure prominently in nearly everyone’s understanding of A Course in Miracles. Projection crops up so frequently when we talk about the Course because it explains so much about its thought system. The Course...

What Does That Line Really Mean? “The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself” (T-2.V.5:1). Most every student of A Course in Miracles knows this statement. It is the statement we quote when someone implies that we have a...

The Blessings of Infinite Patience True confession: At times, I find it difficult to be patient. Now, I don’t want to exaggerate—I’m actually a pretty calm, even-keeled guy much of the time. However, I have to admit that more often than I’d like, I get frustrated with...

Personhood. I think we all innately sense there is something of ultimate importance, even sacredness, to a person. By person, I mean a sentient being, a thinking and feeling self who is aware, who makes choices, who has goals and hopes, and who feels pain and joy. I...

I recently read a fascinating book entitled The Language of Pain: Finding Words, Compassion, and Relief. This book, by Dr. David Biro, deals with the issue of how pain isolates us and erects a wall between ourselves and others. It focuses on how we can communicate our...

My article What Is Vision? in last month’s A Better Way focused on examples of vision rather than on Course teaching about vision. This naturally raised the question of whether the experiences I included actually fit what the Course means by vision. I especially...

Students of A Course in Miracles are universally attracted to the idea of holy relationships. It sounds like such an exciting prospect—who wouldn’t want to have such a relationship? The Course itself speaks of holy relationships in the most glowing terms, again and...

A Course in Miracles is often described as “nondualistic.” Many compare it to the nondualistic Hindu philosophy known as Advaita Vedanta—it has even been called a “Christian Vedanta.” It seems to be a nearly universally held view that the Course and the great...

The idea of being in the present is extremely popular in spiritual circles. A classic book by Ram Dass calls us to “be here now.” Another by Eckhart Tolle extols “the power of now.” Little children and animals, the conventional wisdom goes, are free of suffering...

If you’ve been a Course student for a while, you’re probably familiar with the movie projector analogy. This analogy illustrates the Course’s teaching about projection by comparing it with the common experience of going to a theater: we project our thoughts outward to...