The Course is the result of the collaboration between two Columbia University psychologists: Dr. William T. Thetford and his colleague, Dr. Helen Schucman.

In 1965, Helen experienced what she described as a Voice which spoke clearly in her mind, saying “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.” With Thetford’s support and assistance in transcribing her shorthand notes, Schucman took down some 1,500 typewritten pages of A Course in Miracles over a period of seven years. Schucman did not claim to be the author of the material herself.

As she often explained, she heard a kind of inner dictation and she felt compelled to write it down, even though at times she disagreed with the content and resisted the process. The voice which spoke through Helen clearly identifies himself as Jesus.

Nonetheless, one need not be Christian nor accept Christianity’s traditional doctrines to benefit from the teachings of the Course.

Indeed, traditional Christians will at first find many of the pronouncements contained in this work to be startling and perhaps unbelievable. Persistence and open-mindedness will nevertheless be rewarded.

The ‘original edition’ is the unabridged volume of the Course as it was completed by Schucman and Thetford in 1972. 

A COURSE IN MIRACLES
How CIMS Came TO Be
JCIM Links Page
 Editing of Text Chapter One
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Original Edition & FACIM
What Exactly IS the ACIM ‘Original Edition’?
ACIM – Comparison of Versions
CIMS Books

Why are there PEARLS embracing the ‘original edition’?

In the months preceding the beginning of the dictation of A Course in Miracles, Dr. Helen Schucman experienced a series of vivid waking and sleeping dreams. In three of those dreams, she was presented with a book. It was thick and black and had large gold letters on the cover. In one of those dreams, she saw it draped in a strand of pearls.  That image is  reproduced in the artwork for this edition  in homage to Dr. Schucman’s perseverance and dedication to the completion of the Course.

There is an ancient symbolism to pearls. From the earliest of times, pearls have been considered miraculous. Unique in all the world of nature, their beauty comes from the most mundane of substances and yet it is somehow transformed by a living organism into one of the most beautiful objects known to man. And it is the way pearls “play” with light that gives them their fascinating beauty and their almost mythical status. Pearls have become, in other words, an archetypal image of what can happen to the human mind that dedicates itself to perfection, utilizing the hard knocks of daily living as a stimulus to growth.

“The Pearl of Great Price”.
That which is of such momentous value that you would sell all that you own to possess it.

“Pearls of Wisdom”
Thoughts which illuminate and simplify one’s thinking, bringing peace and clarity.

“A String of Pearls”
A veritable chain of wisdom and insights, spreading out and then interweaving as a string of brilliant flashes that lighten up the very dark world around us. A string of pearls is, in other words,
the perfect symbol for “A Course in Miracles.”