Exploring A Course in Miracles

Katherine Woodward Thomas is the New York Times-bestselling author of Conscious Uncoupling and Calling in the One. Katherine is also a licensed marriage and family therapist and a teacher to students all around the world who want to learn about ending or beginning a significant relationship with love at the center. In this interview, Circle of Atonement Executive Director Emily Bennington interviews Katherine on the overlap between her work and A Course in Miracles.

The time between Palm Sunday and Easter is widely known as ‘Holy Week’. For many raised in Christian traditions, this has been a sacred week which is rich in ritual, meaning, and emotion, all of it building up to the joy of Easter. Course students from other traditions may not have any associations with Holy Week at all. Regardless of your background, wouldn’t it be wonderful to celebrate Holy Week under the umbrella of A Course in Miracles? In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Circle of Atonement founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington explore how we can celebrate Holy Week in a new way. As the Course says, “Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God’s Son, but happily in the celebration of his release.” You can register to watch these podcast recordings for free on our events page and participate via Zoom. Go to circleofa.org/events for details.

Course students have long struggled with the fact that the feminine seems entirely absent from the pages of A Course in Miracles. God is “Father.” The Holy Spirit is referred to as “Him.” We are all called “Sons.” Other people are called “brothers.” In this podcast episode, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington speak about what this means while also highlighting examples of where the feminine does appear in the Course. You can register to watch these podcast recordings for free on our events page and participate via Zoom. Go to circleofa.org/events for details. #exploringacimpodcast #acim #acourseinmiracles #circleofatonement

As the Course community has become aware that far more editing was done in the Course than was previously known, the idea has grown up that all of this editing—done primarily by Helen Schucman—was guided. In other words, just as the dictation was from Jesus, the editing was too. That’s a comforting idea, but we don’t have to speculate about this. We can see literally thousands of editing decisions that Helen made. What story do those decisions tell us? In this podcast episode, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington will answer the important question “Was Helen’s editing guided?”

We all know healthy boundaries are important. Long before boundaries were celebrated as an essential part of self-care, Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And yet, as Course students, the topic of boundaries brings up many significant questions: How do we reconcile boundaries with the spiritual teaching that we ultimately have no boundaries, that the lines between us are a fiction of the mind? When does an emphasis on setting boundaries get in the way of the supreme value of love and forgiveness? How would the Course advise us to enact a boundary or even to end a relationship? In this podcast, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington share what the Course has to teach us on this very important topic.

We often think of Christmas as the celebration of Jesus' birth in the world. The Course has its own take, however, one that celebrates a holy birth within all of us. In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Circle of Atonement founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington share an encapsulation of the Course's Christmas teachings and how we can all apply them to our lives. To listen to other Exploring A Course in Miracles podcasts, visit circleofa.org/podcast.

A Course in Miracles contains 325 references to gratitude and thanks. Circle founder Robert Perry has compiled these references, pulled out the main themes and what we are left with is a truly unique and loving approach to practicing gratitude. In this episode of Exploring a Course in Miracles, Robert and Executive Director Emily Bennington take a closer look at these teachings that offer us practical guidance on what the Course says it really means to be grateful. NOTE: Exploring A Course in Miracles podcasts are recorded live (typically every other Monday at 11 am Eastern) and then released on YouTube and various podcast outlets including iTunes and Spotify. Attending the live recording is free and all are invited. To receive the access link, please visit circleofa.org/events.

When it comes to spirituality, so much of the focus is on how we ourselves can benefit. Does this practice bring us peace, are we feeling healthier and more motivated, etc. As students of A Course in Miracles, we all have personal goals we hope to achieve through this path, but have we ever stopped to consider what the Course’s goals may be? Have we ever wondered whether the Course itself has a purpose to achieve in the world and how we can help it get there? At the Circle of Atonement, we hold a vision for the Course that is based on guidance Helen Schucman received just a few months before the book was originally published. In this video, Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington share this guidance as well as the Circle’s plans for 2022. If you’d like to learn more about our vision for the Circle and the Course, we invite you to visit www.circleofa.org/vision.

A Course in Miracles famously says “Seek not to change the world” and even declares “There is no world!” What, then, do we do as Course students about trying to save and heal the world? This question came vividly to the fore when bestselling author and Course teacher Marianne Williamson ran for President of the United States in 2019 and continues to strike a chord to this day. Within the Course community, some students see involvement in the world as an abandonment of Course principles while others feel it is an extension of them. But what does the Course itself teach? In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, Circle of Atonement founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington discuss this topic with Marianne herself. If you’d like to join our live podcast recordings via Zoom or Facebook, you can register HERE.

A Course in Miracles is a sacred text. Any edits or changes of any kind are not done so lightly. And so, the addition of the lost section, The Journey into Fear, is a significant thing and it's one we are excited to share with you. In this episode of Exploring A Course in Miracles, join Circle founder Robert Perry and executive director Emily Bennington for a lively discussion on not only this new section of the Complete and Annotated Edition of A Course in Miracles (CE) but also on a discovery Robert has recently made. Within the journals Course co-scribe Bill Thetford kept in 1966, there are connections with this new material. NOTE: Exploring A Course in Miracles podcasts are recorded live (typically every other Monday at 11 am Eastern) and then released on YouTube and various podcast outlets including iTunes and Spotify. Attending the live recording is free and all are invited. To receive the access link, please visit circleofa.org/events. #acourseinmiracles #acim #circleofatonement #exploringacimpodcast