original teaching. If you find my book of interest I would encourage you to study the Course’s teaching, for which there can be no substitute.
For Salice Dawson who helped me so much and for Kenneth Wapnick
who has guided my path of understanding.
Author’s Note
The thought system in A Course in Miracles is the foundation for this book. I first started to read the Course in the early 1980s, and once I completed it I put it aside. One day I received through the mail two introductory books on the Course — 'A Talk Given On A Course in Miracles' and 'Christian Psychology in A Course in Miracles' — both written by Dr Kenneth Wapnick. To this day, I do not know who sent them. Reading the books gave me considerable new insights into the Course’s thought system and this encouraged me to continue studying the Course. Since that time I have received great help from Kenneth Wapnick’s books and CDs, as well as his personal help in the production of this book. His review of its outline and his insightful comments on the first draft produced major changes in the finished book. I find Ken’s teaching models and ideas excellent in putting across a thought system that is initially difficult to understand. Over the years I have absorbed many of Ken’s ideas and inevitably some of them are reflected in this book, especially in Chapters Three and Four.
I am indebted to my late wife Salice, a fellow student of the Course, who was a constant source of help and encouragement throughout the planning and writing of this book. Salice literally scrutinised every word and gave invaluable comments on style and content, as well as typing the entire manuscript.
The combination of Salice’s and Ken’s advice guaranteed that I wrote a much better book than if I had followed through on my original ideas. At times my ego felt quite threatened by their combined attention. However, I know the main purpose of writing this book is to help me move closer to the reality of spirit and their astute feedback has served me in this purpose.
I also wish to give thanks to Caroline Myss for her thoughtful review of the outline of the book and her encouragement to get it published.
I would like to thank the following people who also read the original manuscript and offered me their support and suggestions — Charles Frizell, David Pashby, Sandra Kramer and Lori Sunshine.
Lastly, a big thank you to my wife Elinor Drake for volunteering to read through this eBook version with her eagle eye and applying her considerable editing skills as well as loving support in this project.
Although the case histories in this book are true, the clients’ names and other identifying features have been changed to ensure privacy.
I have used male pronouns throughout this book and I apologise to anyone who finds this practice offensive. I have done so to conform to the conventions of grammar and avoid the constant clumsiness of ‘he or she’, ‘himself or herself’, ‘his or her’ , etc. No inequality between the sexes is in any way intended.
May 2011
ACIM Reference Notation System
The following references have been used in this book for quotations taken from A Course in Miracles and two related pamphlets:
Text (T)
Workbook (W)
Manual for Teachers (M)
Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice (P)
The Song of Prayer (S)
The Course and the two pamphlets are now in their Second Edition with different page numbering. The first reference after the quotation will be one of the above letters followed by the page number for the First Edition. Then comes a semicolon, followed by notations that locate the reference in the Second Edition. Please see Appendix 4 for an explanation and examples of this.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
from A Course in Miracles
(Intro., Text)
Chapter 1 - Introduction
It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. No one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognising what you are.
from A Course in Miracles (W351; W-pI.190.5:1-6)1
Symptom Relief Versus Healing
False healing can indeed remove a form of pain and sickness. But the cause remains, and will not lack effects.
(S16; S-3.II.1:4-5)
"I’ve had this headache for three days and nights. Can you help me?" Joan was the mother of a friend of mine and had heard I was quite good at relieving headaches through giving massage. "I’ve consulted two doctors but have not received any relief. Unless I keep my head upright, I feel nauseous as well." After listening to the severity of the symptoms, I felt my simple head massage technique would be of little value in this case. However, I said I would do my best and asked her to lie down and relax. To help centre and relax myself, I laid my hands gently on her head for about a minute. When I felt more at peace, I started the first massage strokes on her scalp. Almost immediately Joan said, "Thank you, the pain has all gone!" But it can’t have, I thought, I have hardly started yet!
This experience had a profound effect on me. What was going on here? I started to read about spiritual healing and the laying on of hands. It was pleasing to think I might have special powers or energies which could help others. My friends began to turn to me to help them with their aches and pains and I was happy to try to help. On most occasions it was possible to reduce or eliminate their pains.
Whilst visiting a friend, I was introduced to his flatmate, Peter. He suffered from lifelong lower back pain. On hearing that I gave healing, he asked me for a session. As I worked with him, he reported that the pain was moving out of his spine and into his right buttock. From there the pain travelled to his right leg and finally left his body via his foot. The whole process took about ten minutes. He was free of pain for the rest of the day. The following morning, the back pain had returned to its normal level.
I had noticed this return of symptoms on other occasions — headaches, back pains and other complaints had been cured for a while and had then returned. This was not always the case but had happened often enough to arouse my curiosity. It reminded me of people who had chronic pain which could be relieved by medication; however, the pain would return the moment the effect of the medicine wore off. Were my hands simply a form of aspirin to be taken regularly? And if so, was I doing the best I could for my clients? Why did the pain return sometimes? What was the causative level of the problem? I began to read widely on this subject, especially in the field of psychosomatic medicine.
The link between the mind and the body began to assume a major importance in my research. As long ago as 500 BC Socrates had said, "There is no illness of the body apart from the mind." Even Louis Pasteur, the father of antibiotics, stated "It is not the bacteria, it is the terrain." My study of spiritual healing took me into the area of channelled books. Here I found deep sources of wisdom and inspiration. I became a member of the Arcane School which was started by Alice A. Bailey. Over a number of years she had telepathically received some 18 volumes of esoteric teachings, including the book A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol IV, Esoteric Healing. In here I read:
The basic law underlying all occult healing, may be stated as follows: All disease is the result of inhibited soul life, and that is true of all forms in all kingdoms. The art of the healer consists in releasing the soul, so that its life can flow through the aggregate of organisms which constitute any particular form.
This