A New Year Present

Today is the second day of the new year according to the Lunar calendar, which means everybody is in a holiday mood this part of the world. I was surfing aimlessly when I stumbled upon a blog post. Nothing unusual at first, it was about a man named Ray who has a son who got bitten by dogs, and Ray is trying to rationalize it using some strange philosophy. The name of the philosophy is A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I've seen books on ACIM countless times before in bookstores at the Christian section. I've read the Bible and attended church a few times and not being a devotional person, have decided that Christianity is just not my cup of tea. But this blog really wakes me up! Here are some nuggets of wisdom I found:

The inner is the cause of the outer.

I am responsible for what I see.

And everything that seems to happen to me
I ask for and receive as I have asked.

This definitely can't be Christianity! They sound more like Zen or some eastern metaphysics. My interest is perked. I have to probe deeper.

The material for ACIM was written by psychologists Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford. It's content of 365 lessons were dictated to Helen in some sort of trance purportedly by Jesus! (Christ). Reading the lessons serve as a graduated process in dismantling our false perception of the world - which sounds very much like Zen.

I've read the first few lessons and are very much impressed and I intend to finish it.

Here are some interesting links:

Through A Mirror, Brightly - Ray's blog post which got me interested in ACIM.

Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford - some intro on the ACIM scribes.

ACIM lessons - free and complete lessons of A Course in Miracles.