If you’ve never done the Course, Start Here

If you have never done the Course in Miracles mind training, start here.  This is what you need to do to begin:

1. Get a copy of the Course in Miracles book, or read it online  You must have a copy, or read the original Urtext version at http://courseinmiracles.com.  The Workbook is the mind training, the Text outlines the basic principles.  It’s all included in one book which you can get at  Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.
2. Read the first 50 lessons, one per day. Don’t skip them, don’t jump around,  just read them one per day, and do as it instructs and move onto the next the following day.
3. How long does it take?  This takes about 5 – 10 minutes in the morning and again before you go to sleep.  Nothing will occur if you don’t make a commitment to this time requirement. Gradually, more time is asked but it is up to you how much time you devote to this.
4. Notice what changes.  Do you feel different during or after reading the lesson?  Notice how you feel after four weeks, see what changed for you or how you feel about yourself.  Perhaps you aren’t as easy to be angered, or are less inclined to judge others.  Miracles happen all the time with or without your awareness of them

Common Barriers and Pitfalls

When you begin a new course, there will be certain pitfalls that tempt you to give up too soon and quit before you realize the goal.  You might encounter great resistance, yet if you just continue, it won’t matter, even if you actively resist the ideas presented in the lessons. Reasons to stop might include:

• I don’t understand what I’m reading.   It’s OK if you don’t “get it”. The Workbook is brilliantly designed to take you from one idea to the next, which is an important systematic approach for the human mind.  Don’t try to understand everything at first. The lessons are not working with your intellect, but with your “right brain”, or the part of your mind that is visual and intuitive, and does not analyze. It experiences, feels and receives information without judgment.  The change of mind occurs in spite of your need to “figure it out”.
• I don’t have time, I’m too distracted.  OK. So, just do the lesson and search your mind as it directs you to do.  Don’t worry if you feel you aren’t getting it.  It will work anyway.
• My mind has incessant fear thoughts, I am constantly worried.  All the more reason to do this mind training, to retrain your brain to think differently.  Fear is not actually real, you are making it up.  YOU CAN STOP.
• I don’t understand today’s lesson.  No problem, I didn’t understand them either when I began.  This is because the lesson is so different from how you think now. Do it anyway.
• Am I being brainwashed?  The ideas presented I don’t agree with.  That’s fine. You aren’t supposed to agree or disagree, just do the lesson.  Do you want to be free of fear?  Do you know how to get there?  If so, you would be free of fear right now and would not need this mind training.
• I can’t meditate.  This is not a problem.  The Course is aimed at saving you time, you don’t have to meditate at all.  Just do the lesson and see how you feel. Notice what you notice and see if any change occurs within you.
• What is a miracle anyway?  A miracle is a shift or change in your perception, a correction of erroneous thinking.  Read the first chapter of the Text, the 50 miracle principles for a description of miracles.
• I want to just jump around and read whatever grabs me. Fine but you will not progress with ease.  The lessons are systematically designed for minds like you that can’t follow simple instructions and want to do it your way.  It won’t work for you.  If you were learning an instrument, you would learn to read a few notes before you went on to a major scale.  Then after you master the scale, you go on to the minor scales.  So, don’t try to be your own teacher, you will fail.
• I don’t think this is for me.  Who else is it for?  You have the book in your hand. It is a sure sign that it IS for you. What do you have to lose?
• Why is it in Christian terminology? The author is Jesus.  He has written this Course for you to clear up misunderstandings and misinterpretations that have gone down through the last 2000 years.  Jesus is the guide and other Masters were involved, or so it seems.
• Do I have to believe in the author?  No.  This is not about belief, it is about wanting to become free of fear, guilt and pain.  Then you will find yourself in a totally different state of mind, without knowing how it happened.
• Can I become enlightened, truly free of fear forever?.  Yes, if that is your desire, you have all power, so you will be undone and the Divine Love of the universe will free you. But you have to do your part.  No one can do it for you.
• Do I have free will?  Absolutely.  This is a Course that opens up your creative powers and frees you to become fearless, guiltless, doubtless and perfectly happy. You will find out who you really are, which is freedom itself.
• What is the goal anyway?  The goal of the Course is peace, deep abiding, perfect peace.  This is not understandable to the human mind.  So, your doubts are part of what needs to be undone.