Helen Schucman

Helen Schucman, portrait by Brian Whelan (1981)

Helen Schucman (born July 14, 1909 in New York City , † February 9, 1981 ibid) was an American psychologist who wrote down the spiritual work A Course in Miracles , according to her own statements, after the transmission of an inner voice.

Life

Helen Schucman was the second child of the chemist and metallurgist Sigmund Cohn and his English-born wife Rose. The father was religiously indifferent, the mother dealt with different directions of Christianity . Helen took an early interest in religion and, with the help of her religious nanny Georgia, was baptized a Baptist at the age of 13 . In early adulthood she broke off her search for God disappointed and unsuccessful and from then on saw herself as a rational atheist.

In her sophomore year at New York University , Helen met Louis Schucman and married him a few months later, on May 26, 1933. After graduating with a BA , she worked in her husband's bookstore. In 1952 she began studying psychology and graduated in 1957 as the best of her year with a doctorate in clinical psychology . In 1958 she received a position as an assistant, later as a professor of clinical psychology at the medical faculty of Columbia University in New York and held this position until 1977.

Writing A Course in Miracles

The writing of the spiritual work A Course in Miracles (originally: A Course in Miracles ) began Helen Schucman in 1965, shortly after the experience of a reconciliation with her superior Professor William Thetford . He was head of the psychological department at Columbia University Medical Center and a close confidante of Schucman. Thetford had unexpectedly confronted Schucman that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feelings between the two of them. There must be “another way” to deal with one another and with colleagues: lovingly and peacefully instead of attack and judgment. Schucman, who almost never agreed with him, spontaneously agreed to help him find this way. This connection cleared the way for writing. The writing process took the form of a transmission. The method described is about healing relationships through forgiveness.

According to Schucman, he began to hear an inner voice that transmitted the three volumes of A Course in Miracles to her over the next seven years . Schucman wrote down in shorthand and read the notes to Thetford the following day, who typed them on the typewriter. Thetford strongly encouraged and supported Schucman throughout the seven-year writing process.

Schucman described himself as a "writer" (scribe) to express the fact that they - unlike Channelingprozessen - in the transcript never in a kind of trance fell or into another state of consciousness. It was never automatic writing. If the situation required, she could "turn off" the inner voice and continue writing later.

According to Schucman, her voice was recognized as Jesus . The text of A Course in Miracles presents Jesus as the author and source of the course.

Publication of the course

The work was initially kept secret while it was being written and afterwards. Schucman's supervisor, William N. Thetford, encouraged her to continue writing down the words received while she believed she was going mad and feared for her reputation as a professor.

The publication of the course was preceded by an encounter with Kenneth Wapnick , who immediately after reading the original manuscript ( Urtext or 1972 edition ) was greatly taken by it and consequently helped to edit it as a book edition . Judith Skutch is seen as the driving force behind actually publishing the work , who initially made it available to her extensive circle of friends and acquaintances in photocopied form and later printed it in several smaller editions ( Criswell Edition 1975 ). From 1976 the work was published in three volumes by the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP), a foundation chaired by Judith Skutch, in rapidly increasing editions. In 1990 the copyrights were sold to Penguin-Verlag , who published the work in one volume. After that, the rights were transferred to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM), which has published the work in various editions to this day. The 1975 registered in the US Copyright was declared in 2003 by the competent New York court to be invalid, so that the original version of the English book in the public domain ( public domain ) was. However, parts of the so-called "Second Edition" published today are still subject to copyright regulations. Since the judgment, the book has also been published by A Course in Miracles International .

Since the course was published in various editions from 1976 onwards by various publishers, it has achieved very high print runs and a high level of awareness, especially in the USA. The estimated world circulation is currently over 1.7 million copies, with the English original edition accounting for the lion's share with over 1 million copies, while the number of translations in 16 other languages ​​(Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French) , German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Slovenian and Swedish) are rather low. The amount of secondary literature is growing steadily, also in German. As a result of the restrictive handling of copyright law and the subsequent lawsuits that dragged on for years, many sympathizers of the course turned away from him.

Since the course was first published , thousands of informal study groups have been set up in various countries, primarily in the United States. In addition, various healing and communication centers, specialist journals, Internet discussion groups and websites, churches and academies have also sprung up that refer to his teachings.

Schucman herself never appeared as a teacher or " guru " for A Course in Miracles and did not take any active part in promoting the course. She was determined that her name should not appear on the front page of the course because the course could and should stand on its own. The course is not intended as a basis for another cult or religious community . Rather, its purpose is to provide people with a path to independent spiritual growth on which they can find their own inner teacher.

Complementary writings and poems

In the same manner as the course, Schucman wrote two supplementary works to A Course in Miracles : Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process, and Practice and The Song of Prayer . She also authored a collection of inspired poems published under the title The Gifts of God .

In 1980 she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. She died of complications from her illness in 1981 at the age of 71.

A course in miracles

The Book: A Course in Miracles

Structure and content

The course is a textbook that aims to remove the blockages "that prevent you from being aware of the presence of love [...]". The book uses Christian terminology, but interprets various Christian terms in its own way. With miracle the usual change of external phenomena is not meant, but the change of mind of the aspirant. This process is called healing in the book .

The course consists of three parts:

Text book

This textbook represents the most comprehensive part of the concepts and theoretical foundations of the thought system used in the course .

Exercise book

In the exercise book , lessons are offered that are intended to contribute to the practical implementation of the basic ideas presented in the text book.

Handbook for teachers

It contains answers to questions that students are likely to ask during their studies. It also includes a concise glossary with definitions of frequently used terms.

The underlying concept is summarized in the foreword of the book :

The course makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal, between knowledge and perception . In the course , knowledge is the truth , under one law, the law of love or God . The truth just exists, it has no opposite, no beginning and no end.

The “unreal” world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time , change, beginnings and ends. The course states that the ephemeral world is based on beliefs of lack, loss, separation and death.

According to the course, knowledge and perception generate two different systems of thought that contradict each other in every respect. In the realm of truth, according to the course, there are no thoughts separate from God, since God and his creation share a single will. The unreal world of perception, on the other hand, is based on the belief in opposites and separate wills that are in constant conflict with each other and with God, which creates a world of illusions .

God provides the only way out of the “unreal” world, which the course also calls dream. According to the course , it is the function of God's voice or the Holy Spirit to mediate between the two worlds. Forgiveness , which brings about a conversion in thinking, is called the “great learning aid” of the Holy Spirit . The course defines forgiveness differently than, for example, biblical theologians do. According to the book, one should remember the means of forgiveness in order to reverse the worldly pattern of thought.

By recognizing Christ in all people, one will recognize his presence in oneself. By forgetting your "misperceptions" and not being held back by anything from the past, one can remember God, the ultimate purpose of learning.

Critique of the course (book and movement)

Criticism from the denominational Christian side

The Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauungsfragen deals with A Course in Miracles in several articles in its series Material Service .

In the MD 05/2002 edition, the author Matthias Pöhlmann explains that the “incompatibility” of the teachings of the course with the biblical perspectives is now also recognized by those familiar with the course . He is referring to a document that was the result of a conversation between the psychologist Kenneth Wapnick, who heads the Foundation for A Course in Miracles , and the 1985 professor emeritus of philosophy and Jesuit father W. Norris Clarke (most recently Fordham University, New York ) be.

The Evangelical Information Center in Switzerland writes: "The course combines gnostic principles with biblical ideas in an esoteric way, whereby the Bible does not contribute to a better understanding of esotericism, but vice versa: Biblical ideas are reinterpreted gnostically-esoterically."

Criticism from non-religious side

The New Age expert Wouter Hanegraaff , Professor of Comparative Religious Studies in Amsterdam, sees EKIW as the development of an orthodoxy within the New Age movement.

Remarks

1. ↑ See the foreword to A Course in Miracles , p. Xv, and Wapnick, Jenseits der Glückseligkeit , p. 109 ff.
2. ↑ For a more detailed description of the writing process see the website of the Foundation for Inner Peace,
   The Scribing of A Course in Miracles ( Memento of the original dated August 5, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Kenneth Wapnick in Jenseits der Glückseligkeit, Part II, p. 59 ff., Provides a particularly detailed description with numerous biographical background information . 
3. ↑ Preface by Ein Kurs in Wundern , German publisher Greuthof Verlag ( PDF ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) 
4. ↑ cf. MD 9/1996, 256 ff; 10/1999, 306 ff; 10/2000, 346 ff)
5. ↑ s. Wapnick / Clarke 2001
6. ↑ Complete statement of the Protestant information center for churches – sects – religions

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Original American editions

• A Course in Miracles (1976). Foundation for Inner Peace, Mill Valley, ISBN 0-9606388-9-X
• Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice (1976). Foundation for Inner Peace, Mill Valley, ISBN 0-9606388-6-5
• The Song of Prayer (1978). Foundation for Inner Peace, Mill Valley, ISBN 0-9606388-4-9
• The Gifts of God (1982). Foundation for Inner Peace, Mill Valley, ISBN 0-89087-585-5

German translations

• A Course in Miracles (1994). Greuthof, Gutach i.Br., ISBN 3-923662-18-1
• The additions to A Course in Miracles: 1. Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process, and Practice 2. The Song of Prayer (1995). Greuthof, Gutach i.Br., ISBN 3-923662-34-3
• The Gifts of God (2003). Greuthof, Gutach i.Br., ISBN 3-923662-48-3

Secondary literature (selection)

• Kenneth Wapnick: Introduction to A Course in Miracles . Greuthof, Gutach i.Br. 2000, ISBN 3-923662-33-5 (brief introduction to the thinking of the course).
• Kenneth Wapnick: The Message of A Course in Miracles . Greuthof, Gutach i.Br. 2000, ISBN 3-923662-55-6 (well-founded presentation and explanation of the teachings of the course).
• Kenneth Wapnick: The Gifts of God . Foundation for A Course in Miracles, Temecula, ISBN 1-59142-141-1 (review of Helen Schucman's poetry on 4 audio CDs).
• Kenneth Wapnick and Clarke: A Course in Miracles and Christianity . Greuthof Verl. 2001.

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• Kenneth Wapnick: Beyond Bliss: The Life of Helen Schucman and the Writing of A Course in Miracles . Greuthof, Gutach i.Br. 1999, ISBN 3-923662-49-1 (biography of Helen Schucman).

• D. Patrick Miller: Complete Story of the Course . Fearless Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9656809-0-8 (journalistic report on the creation and dissemination of the course).

• Robert Skutch: Journey Without Distance: The Story Behind A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace, Mill Valley 1996, ISBN 1-883360-02-1 (history of the course).

Web links

• Foundation for Inner Peace (Foundation for Inner Peace, publisher of A Course in Miracles )
• Foundation for A Course in Miracles (Foundation for A Course in Miracles , Academy and Teaching Institute)