Archive of Articles
—Major Course Concepts
The Circle of Atonement is making these thought-provoking and inspiring articles about A Course in Miracles topics available to you online. Most of these articles have appeared in past issues of our newsletter, A Better Way.
For a selection of Circle of Atonement articles translated into Spanish, go to Artículos del Círculo de Expiación en Español.
For a selection of Circle of Atonement articles translated into Dutch, go to artikelen in het Nederlands.
Enjoy!
Reader Feedback
Every article, at the bottom, has a link you can use to send us feedback. Let us know what you think of the articles and how they affect you. Reader comments appear at the bottom of the article.
Our library of articles is organized in various categories. Click on one of the major categories below to go to that category or just browse the whole thing.
- The Religion of the Ego by Robert Perry. Most Course students would call themselves "spiritual but not religious." But what if the truth is that we're all religious? In this article, Robert shows how, according to the Course, the religious impulse is inherent in all of us. And until we change our minds, we are all devoted followers of the religion of the ego.
- Sacred Tenets Of Egoic Relationship by Robert Perry. A light look at the rules we live by in our relationships.
- Don't Let the Ego Stop You by Allen Watson. How should we react to our own mixed motives when the ego sneaks in to our attempts to act in love?
- "The Ego Does Want to Kill You": An Experience of the Murderer Within by Greg Mackie. Greg shares a harrowing but ultimately rewarding encounter with his ego unmasked. This article describes this experience of the "murderer within" and relates the many positive lessons that came from that experience.
- How Can We Distinguish Between the Ego and the Holy Spirit? by Allen Watson. An in-depth answer, including practical advice for application, to one of the most perplexing questions for Course students.
- What is the Ego? by Allen Watson. Allen's commentary on the Workbook page, What is the Ego?, has been extracted from A Workbook Companion and made available as a separate article.
- Forgiveness: The Recognition of Inestimable Worth by Robert Perry. Is Course-based forgiveness rooted in the idea that "there's nobody out there"? If so, it would seem that forgiveness depends on regarding other people as unreal and therefore without real worth. In this article, Robert shows how Course-based forgiveness wants us to go in the exact opposite direction: Forgiveness depends on regarding other people as real Sons of God who are of inestimable worth.
- Medicine for Those Pangs of Guilt by Robert Perry. This article unpacks a portion of Lesson 133. This lesson teaches that the way to heal our pangs of guilt is not to assert the purity of our motives, but to look on our motives undisguised. How can this wipe away our guilt? The lesson provides a brilliant answer.
- How to Enter Paradise Today T-20.III.9-10: by Allen Watson. Allen examines a passage in the Text that implicitly asks us to place ourselves in the position of the thief on the cross, and to see that person we have been resenting as the Christ, crucified next to us, yet able to take us to Paradise with him.
- Forgiving Bush: Seeing Our Holy Savior in Brother George W. by Greg Mackie. Perhaps no one in our world today inspires such intense reactions as President George W. Bush. Many people hold strong grievances against him, and in our work at the Circle, we’ve seen that many Course students are struggling to forgive him. This article is meant to help alleviate this struggle. It provides practical Course tools, including a visualization exercise, to help those who hold grievances against Bush forgive him and see him as the holy Christ he really is.
- How Do We Forgive? A Composite Forgiveness Exercise by Robert Perry. Robert locates the pattern at the heart of six Workbook lessons aimed at helping us forgive another, and then builds a lengthy forgiveness exercise based on this pattern.
- Let Me Behold My Savior Lesson 78: by Robert Perry. Course students are often confused about how to forgive. Yet the Workbook offers many exercises in which we pick a person and then forgive that person. This article walks us through one of the Course's key forgiveness exercises, which is found in Workbook Lesson 78.
- Common Fallacies About Forgiveness by Robert Perry. Because the Course defines forgiveness differently, students spend ages trying to figure out what it means by forgiveness. Along the way, they often fall into misunderstandings. This article examines seven such misunderstandings about forgiveness.
- "Let Miracles Replace All Grievances": How Can We Let Go of Our Grievances and Find the Happiness Beyond Them? by Greg Mackie. In this article, Greg explores the topic of grievances, drawing from the Course and relating its teaching to his own wrestling with grievances during his move to Arizona. What exactly is a grievance? What are the consequences of holding grievances? Most importantly, how can we let grievances go?
- What is Forgiveness? by Allen Watson. Allen's commentary on the Workbook page, What Forgiveness?, has been extracted from A Workbook Companion and made available as a separate article.
- Misunderstood Passages: Trust Not Your Good Intentions T-18.IV.2: by Allen Watson. Allen discusses the real meaning of the often-misunderstood saying from the Course, “Trust not your good intentions.” He shows that it may mean something nearly opposite to what you might suppose.
- What Is a Holy Instant? Part 1 by Allen Watson. The Course uses the phrase "holy instant" 147 times. In an early discussion it identifies the holy instant as "the lesson God gives you" through the Holy Spirit (T-15.II.2:3); it says that the holy instant is sufficient to "re-establish perfect sanity, perfect peace, and perfect love," "exchange hell for Heaven," and "transcend all of the ego's making" (T-15.I.14:2,4,5). What then is this incredibly powerful thing? What is a holy instant? In two extensive articles, Allen Watson summarizes the Course's teaching on this topic.
- What Is a Holy Instant? Part 2 by Allen Watson. The conclusion of What is a Holy Instant Part 1.
- The Holy Instant (Part 3) by Allen Watson.
- The Holy Instant (Part 1) by Allen Watson. The first of a three-part series providing an in-depth examination of the holy instant. In Part I, Allen describes two senses of the holy instant: 1) the one eternal instant of creation that we experience constantly once we are fully in the real world, and 2) a moment in time in which we experience, to a greater or lesser degree, the reality of that eternal holy instant.
- The Holy Instant (Part 2) by Allen Watson.
- Receiving the Holy Instant by Allen Watson. We all want to experience holy instants. Why don't we experience them more? In this article, based on the Text section "A Little Willingness" (T-18.IV), Allen describes the many blocks that keep the holy instant from us, and then concludes by giving us the one requirement for receiving the holy instant.
- A Day in the Life of the Miracle Worker by Robert Perry. Living the Course really comes down to living each day in a new way. In this article, Robert looks at how the early references to being a miracle worker suggest that, according to the Course, we live each day.
- Miracles in A Course in Miracles by Robert Perry. An overview of the concept of the miracle in the Course, written for a scholarly anthology on miracles. Includes the concept of the miracle in the Course, examples of the miracle drawn from the story of the Course, and how the Course's miracle relates to the traditional miracle.
- Brother, Can You Spare a Miracle? by Greg Mackie. The big thing on everyone's mind today is the economy. What do we do in the face of such hard times? In this article, Greg presents a prescription for how we can survive and even flourish during the current economic crisis, a prescription rooted in what the Course calls the "law of love": "What I give my brother is my gift to me."
- A New Vision of the Miracle by Robert Perry. In this extremely important article, the examples of miracles from Helen's early notes teach us that miracles are mainly not internal shifts in perception, nor need they be dramatic acts that change time and space around. They most often show up as simple acts of kindness and helpful messages given to another.
- What Is a Miracle? by Robert Perry. What student of ACIM hasn't been puzzled about how the Course defines the word "miracle"? In this article from the mid-90's, Robert attempts to clear up the confusion, as well as set straight some misconceptions.
- How Can We Receive Miracles by Allen Watson. Why don't we experience more miracles in our lives? Is it a misunderstanding of what a miracle is, or are we failing to meet the conditions for miracles? Allen addresses both potential causes in this article.
- Are Miracles Only in Our Minds? by Robert Perry. Robert responds to a reader who claims that miracles occur only in our minds and that "any discussion of extending help or healing to people who are suffering 'out there' merely perpetuates separation [since] there is no 'out there.'"
- The Promise of a Miraculous Life by Robert Perry. The Course is not just promising us the occasional miracle. It’s really beckoning us into a life which is itself an ongoing miracle, the life lived by history’s great saints. Are we up for it?
- Miracles as the Power of Reality by Robert Perry. It may seem that seeing a miracle as an amazing happening within the world is incompatible with the Course's teaching that the world is an illusion. In this piece, Robert defines "miracle" to show that amazing happenings in the world are the natural consequence of the world's unreality.
- What is a Miracle? by Allen Watson. In this short, moving piece, Allen attempts to encapsulate how the Course would have us see ourselves. He says, "There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing bad about you, nothing twisted or spoiled. You really are the innocent child of God."
- There Is No Sin by Robert Perry. A Course in Miracles talks a great deal about sin. Yet the Course has transformed this concept, acknowledging its power in this world, while denying that it's actually real. In this article, Robert explores how A Course in Miracles has reframed the traditional notion of sin.
- A New Way of Looking at Yourself by Allen Watson. In this short, moving piece, Allen attempts to encapsulate how the Course would have us see ourselves. He says, "There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing bad about you, nothing twisted or spoiled. You really are the innocent child of God."
- The Ocean of Your Mind Review IV Introduction: by Robert Perry. This article is based on a passage in the fourth review of the Workbook, a passage that metaphorically depicts our true mind as a vast ocean whose majesty remains unaffected by all that flotsam we throw into it. Robert explores this powerful image in detail, and then gives us a guided visualization to help us experience the ocean of our mind.
- A Case of Mistaken Identity by Allen Watson. Who are we, really? Not the ego.
- What is the Body? by Allen Watson. Allen' commentary on the Workbook page, What is the Body?, has been extracted from A Workbook Companion and made available as a separate article.
- What Am I? by Allen Watson. Allen' commentary on the Workbook page, What Am I?, has been extracted from A Workbook Companion and made available as a separate article.
- Your Name is Brother by Greg Mackie. Greg shares a stirring example of Course principles from the pages of fiction: the story of Jean Valjean and his encounter with the Bishop of Digne, from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.
- Fejzić and His Cow by Robert Perry. This is about the true story of a Muslim man in war-torn Bosnia who reaches across the gap between warring ethnic groups to sustain the life of a Serb infant. Robert likens this story to the event that gave birth to the Course: Helen and Bill reaching across the gap of their differences to join in finding a better way.
- "Do You Believe in Miracles?" The Holy Encounter between Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols by Greg Mackie. Greg looks at the celebrated story in which Ashley Smith showed love to the criminal holding her hostage. He demonstrates that this is a classic, real-life example of what the Course calls a holy encounter.
- Facing the Topic of Holy Relationships by Robert Perry. In this article, Robert calls on us to face just how important the holy relationship is in the Course, and to face the Course's definition of it, as a relationship in which two people have joined in an ego-transcending goal. He claims that the place the holy relationship has in the minds and discourse of Course students is significantly out of step with the place it has in the Course.
- The Holy Relationship: The Source of Your Salvation by Greg Mackie. A Course in Miracles regards holy relationships as "the source of your salvation" (T-20.VIII.6:9). Yet as appealing as the idea of holy relationships sounds and as important as holy relationships are in the eyes of the Course, the concept is almost universally misunderstood by Course students. This article aims to clear up some of the confusion. Just what is a holy relationship? How does it develop? Why are holy relationships such a vital aspect of the Course's path to salvation? And if they are so vital, how exactly can I find one for myself?
- Seek Not to Change the World? by Greg Mackie. The Course famously says, "Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world" (T-21.In.1:7). Course students generally take this to mean that changing things in the external world, including behaviorally extending help to others, is not part of the Course's path. But is that really what this line means?
- How Is Our Brother Our Savior? by Robert Perry. As Course students, we probably all know that our brother is actually our savior. But how is he our savior? Is it by pushing our buttons and flushing out our ego, or does the Course have something else in mind? In this article, Robert says that the Course does indeed have something else in mind: our brother is our savior not because he is a great button pusher, but because he is the Christ, whose holiness sets us free.
- The Importance of Relationships in A Course in Miracles by Robert Perry. Interpersonal relationships in this world are "the means of return" according to the Course, but Course students often have difficulty reconciling this with the Course's metaphysics. If the world is an illusion, why would relationships in this world matter? Robert shows that the Course's emphasis on relationships is actually an expression of its metaphysics: Relationships are part of the very fabric of Heaven, so our earthly relationships are meant to be a reflection of Heaven's perfect relationships.
- Helen and Bill's Joining: A Window onto the Heart of A Course in Miracles by Robert Perry. What is the heart of the Course? What is the point at which it all comes together. This article views Helen and Bill's joining in "a better way" as that point, as the example of what the Course is trying to have happen in the lives of all of its students.
- The Importance of Relationships by Allen Watson. This article examines the importance of relationships in the Course's scheme of things. Why does it make them so important? It looks first at the importance of relationships overall, and then at what makes a holy relationship such a powerful tool of transformation.
- The Ark of Peace Is Entered Two by Two by Robert Perry. Many Course students don't believe that a holy relationship takes two. Robert explains how a relationship in which two people are truly joined in a common goal is a powerful way of learning that oneness is not a theory, but a fact.
- The Depth and Intricacy of a Single Paragraph T-20.III.2: by Robert Perry. This article is an in-depth explication of a particular paragraph in the Course, one that speaks of the ego as "the self-appointed mediator" of all relationships—the thing we look to to help us iron out our differences. How good of a job does it do?
- What Is the Soul? by Robert Perry. Talk about the soul is rampant in our culture and in spiritual circles. But is it a concept in A Course in Miracles? Is there room in the Course for an individual spiritual entity that is journeying through time back to its Creator? In this article, Robert explores the usage of "soul" in the Course's early dictation, and then finds the same concept scattered elsewhere in the Course, as well as graphically depicted in one of Helen's inner visions. The result is a new concept of the soul, one uniquely Course-like. You may never look at your soul the same way again.
- Thoughts on Nonduality by Robert Perry. Robert summarizes the Course's unique version of nonduality.
- The Course's Nondualism: Love Is a Law Without an Opposite by Greg Mackie. A Course in Miracles is often described as "nondualistic." But is it saying the exact same thing as other nondualistic philosophies like Advaita Vedanta, or does it present us with a different kind of nondualism? In this article, Greg presents his view that the Course's version of nondualism is indeed different than the conventional understanding, and explores the benefits of this view—the primary one being that it gives us a totally loving God.
- What Does It Mean to Be in the Present? by Greg Mackie. The idea of being in the present is extremely popular in spiritual circles. When people speak of being in the present, they often mean that we must get in touch with the immediate experience of our physical world, to "lose your mind and come to your senses." But is this what the Course means when it speaks of being in the present? Or is it pointing to something else entirely?
- What Does the Course Mean by "Heart"? by Robert Perry. Does the Course use the word "heart" in the familiar way we hear the word used in spiritual circles, as that unreservedly positive place in us that we need to reconnect with, that place that is contrasted with the mind, the seat of the ego? Robert goes through the many references to "heart" in the Course and provides an answer.
- Confused about Level Confusion? by Robert Perry. Level confusion has been a source of confusion among students since the Course first came out. Robert examines the key passages about it and provides a simple explanation of what it is and what it isn't.
- From Monkey Mind to the Mind of God. Our Real Thoughts and How We Can Find Them by Greg Mackie. The Course criticizes our current thoughts but then rather than disparaging thought altogether, urges us to find our real thoughts. What are these real thoughts? How exactly can we make contact with them?
- It's For Real: Finding and Fulfilling Your Special Function by Robert Perry. In this article, Robert addresses the more down-to-earth side of the special function, drawing from his personal experience and the example of Helen Schucman to answer practical questions such as "How do I find my special function?", "How do I make myself fit for it?", and "How do I deal with my resistance to it?"
- What on Earth Is Our Special Function? by Robert Perry. We all yearn for a special calling or life's purpose, and the Course term "special function" seems to refer to exactly that. Yet we often resist this interpretation and conclude that our special function is simply to forgive particular people in our lives. What does the Course really teach here? Does it teach the "specific calling" or the "just forgive" perspective?
- Is It Our Special Function to Save One or Many? by Robert Perry. Many students believe that our special function involves just forgiving one person, perhaps the person we find to be our biggest challenge. Yet how do we square this with passages that say our function is to save thousands? Robert tries to solve this crucial question in this article.
- Why Should We Be Grateful? by Robert Perry. This is a talk Robert gave at Thanksgiving time, based on the lesson "Love is the way I walk in gratitude." It addresses what, in the Course's eyes, we should be grateful for and whom we should be grateful to.
- Who Made the World? by Robert Perry. The question of how the world began and who made it is one of the central issues for students of A Course in Miracles. In this article, Robert shares a new vision of the relationship between God and the world, based on passages from the early dictation of the Course.
- The Creative Impulse by Robert Perry. There is a deep-seated urge in our nature that we tend to associate more with art than spirituality: the impulse to create. This urge tends to get short shrift in spiritual circles, yet in various forms it is a major component in the Course's path. The Course sets forth a theory of the mind in which the creative impulse is portrayed as fundamental to the mind's nature, both on earth and in Heaven. In this article, Robert explores what the Course says about the impulse to create.
- Happy Fiction by Greg Mackie. In this article, Greg looks at fiction through the lens of the Course, both human fiction and the fiction we call life in this world. Why do we create fiction? What do we aim to accomplish with it? Is fiction exclusively the domain of the ego, or is it something the Holy Spirit can use too? If this world is indeed fiction, as the Course says it is, how should we regard the story we are living in, and what if anything should we do to change it?
- What Is the Meaning of Love? by Robert Perry. One of the most well known lines in A Course in Miracles is from the introduction: "The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught" (T-In.1:6). Most of us take that line to mean that the Course does not offer a verbal definition of love, for its real meaning is beyond words. Yet to really understand that line, we need to interpret it in light of related discussions in the Course. In this article, Robert draws on those related discussions to answer the question: What is the meaning of love?
- How Exactly Is Attack a Call for Love? by Robert Perry. Virtually every Course student is familiar with the idea that attack is really a call for love. Most take this idea to mean that even when a person's actions look like an attack, the person is really just looking for love. But is that what the Course actually means?
- "For This You Yearn" by Robert Perry. We Course students tend to shrink from the word "holiness," rarely using the word in our conversations about the Course and redefining it as "wholeness" when we do. Yet in the Course itself, the goal of holiness—true saintliness, godliness, purity, perfection of character, sinlessness—is front and center. In this article, Robert helps us reconcile ourselves with the word and idea of holiness and the central role holiness plays in A Course in Miracles
- "This Course Is a Guide to Behavior": Part II by Robert Perry. In this article, Robert describes the Course's new vision of behavior as the constant extension of miracles as a result of releasing the miracle drive.
- "This Course Is a Guide to Behavior": Part I by Robert Perry. If you thought that the Course was perhaps ambiguous or noncommittal about behavior, please read this article. Robert provides copious evidence for the importance of behavior in the Course, and then describes the role behavior plays in the Course's salvation process.
- How Can We Understand Projection Without Going Overboard? by Robert Perry. So often the understanding of projection we hear or hold seems overblown. Students, for instance, often talk as if we only see a trait in another because we ourselves have that trait. But aren't there times when we see a trait in someone because that person obviously has that trait? In this article, Robert draws on some guidance given to Bill Thetford to iron out an understanding of projection that does not go overboard.
- Accept No Compromise in Which Death Plays a Part M-27, What Is Death?: by Greg Mackie. Because death is pure illusion and totally incompatible with a loving God, the Course instructs teachers of God to totally deny the reality of death. Yet because death seems so real to us, most of us make various compromises with it, in an attempt to reconcile the apparent reality of death with a God of Love. This article examines the Course's view of death as presented in Section 27 of the Manual for Teachers ("What is Death"), describes some of the compromises we make with death, and offers suggestions for how we can let those compromises go.
- Handling Our Fears by Allen Watson. The tough truth the Course sets forth is that we are responsible for our fear. It tells us that fear is not involuntary; it is our responsibility. The good news is that there is a way out of our self-made fear. Allen shows us the way out, drawing mainly on a couple of sections from early in the Text.
- How Holy Is the Smallest Grain of Sand! T-28.IV.9: by Robert Perry. There is a passage in the Course that talks about the holiness of a grain of sand. Yet the Course also teaches that all form is illusion. Deciphering this puzzling passage reveals a view in which life or mind is present within all natural forms.
- How Long Until I Am Out of Here? by Robert Perry. This article deals with a question that is a source of anxiety and confusion for many students of the Course: How long will it take us to fully awaken from the dream? How long will it take us to leave illusions behind for good and return to our Heavenly home? In this article, Robert offers his own views on this question, based on his reading of the Course. The answer in a nutshell: We could awaken at any moment, but it will likely be a very long time before we choose to do so.
- Are We Responsible? by Robert Perry. How can it be that we are responsible for everything that happens to us, on the inside and the outside, including our physical illnessess, yet are never to blame?
- The Course's Definition of "Idols" by Robert Perry. In common parlance we speak of idols as false gods that we look to for salvation. The Course takes this same usage and expands and deepens it, providing remarkable insight on the things we look to for salvation and why those things will not save us.
- Laughing the World Away: Laughter in A Course in Miracles by Robert Perry. Laughter heals and A Course in Miracles is about healing. It makes sense, then, that we would find in the Course a philosophy of laughter, which ultimately grants laughter the power to laugh away not only our personal troubles, but the entire troubled world.
- The Purpose of Time by Allen Watson. The importance of time's purpose cannot be overemphasized. Our concept of what time is for, what our lives are for, and what our very being is for, needs radical realignment. If this does not change—if we continue to be guided by the ego's dark belief in our guilt, in which this world functions as a place of punishment—we will never find God, and we will never find our Self.
Please report problems to the webmaster.