A Course in Miracles Explained

In the few months just after the scribing of the Course, Bill showed the material to a select group of people – among them was Hugh Lynn Cayce and a Catholic priest called Father Michael. Father Michael had studied comparative religion and mysticism, who also found the principles of the Course in-line with many of the mystical teachings of the East.

Helen was incredibly resistant to showing the Course to anybody, and although Bill felt that ‘A Course in Miracles’ needed to be shared with more people, he did not feel like going through more difficulty with Helen, and for a few months, the Course was kept safely in the filing cabinet.

During this period, Bill read in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology an article entitled “Mysticism and Schizophrenia” by Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D. It was certainly an unusual article for a professional journal of this kind, and it caught Bill’s attention immediately. Bill knew the article would be of interest to Father Michael, and passed it along to him. Bill was right, and Father Michael ‘did a lot of thinking’ (JwD, Pg. 85) about the article and the author.

Kenneth Wapnick

Kenneth Wapnick, 30, had received his Ph.D. at the young age of 26. He was born Jewish, and although having attended Jewish elementary school, he felt that there was no ‘real sense of spiritual feeling’ in what he was being taught, and considered himself agnostic by the time he was 13. He describes his adolescence as being influenced by two forces: Freud and Beethoven. After being introduced to Freudian psychoanalytic theory by Calvin Hall’s ‘A Freudian Primer’ at 16, Kenneth was fascinated, and quickly devoured everything he could find on psychology and psychoanalysis. He recognised that there was something ‘really important’ in Freud’s work, and knew he wanted to be a psychologist.

A Primer of Freudian Psychology, Calvin S. Hall

Ken’s first encounter with Beethoven was at about the same age, and was brought about by his mother, who had thought it would be a good idea for Ken and his brother to be exposed to classical music and joined a classical record club. Ken writes in ‘Forgiveness and Jesus’:

The introductory offer was the Toscanini recording of the nine Beethoven symphonies. It was love at first hearing for me, and it began a romance that was to continue for many, many years. Classical music, and especially Beethoven, opened up a world I had never known existed. It was not an outer world, but one within, beyond the normal range of my feelings and experiences. Over the years I felt myself increasingly drawn into this world, and music became the most important influence in my life. When I would hear the late music of Beethoven or the mature Mozart, I knew its depth was still beyond me, but it acted as a guide for an inner development I intuited but did not understand.

Portrait of Beethoven by Karl Joseph Stieler

After a series of personal experiences, Ken found himself focused on God, and his life became increasingly monastic in form, although he did not realise it at that time. He was inspired by Thomas Merton, and after visiting the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky where Merton lived, he found a deep sense of peace and belonging, and that the Trappist monks had much in common with himself – they were living a life totally dedicated to God. Ken was unconcerned with the fact that they were Catholic – he writes in ‘Forgiveness and Jesus’, “I knew they loved God as I did; everything else seemed unimportant.”

Thomas Merton

In October 1972, certain that it was ‘God’s Will’ for him to become a monk, Ken was baptised. The priest who who performed the baptism spoke enthusiastically to Father Michael about his new convert, and the name stuck Father Michael immediately. After a series of introductions, Father Michael, Ken, Bill and Helen had dinner, where Bill mentioned the Course to Ken, asking if he was interested in taking a look. Ken, who was leaving for Israel in a few days, politely declined, saying that he did not have time to give it a fair appraisal, given the length of the manuscript. Ken spent 5 months in Israel, in various monasteries, and although he was ‘unusually happy’ (JwD, Pg. 87), he found himself thinking about the manuscript. Upon his return, Ken was exclusively preoccupied with reading the Course for about 3 months, and his feeling of spiritual affinity with the material grew stronger and stronger.

When he had finally finished reading, he was clear about his direction – he was to work with Bill and Helen on the Course, and that he would go back to Israel for a short period to tie up some loose ends. Bill and Helen had some vacation time coming up, and Ken invited them to go to Israel and offered to be their guide to some of the holy sites. Helen had a number of experiences in Israel – at Qumran, Helen was visibly shaken and suddenly burst into tears as they approached the area where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. She later explained that it was the exact same cave in her vision where she saw the scroll that said “GOD IS”.

From A Forgotten Song (Produced by Bridget Winter, 1987)

Back in NYC, jobless and living off his savings, Ken nonetheless dedicated himself to reviewing the material and discussed with Helen the best way to present the material clearly whilst leaving the content unchanged – issues such as sections breaks, capitalisation, and punctuation. It was a laborious effort, which involved poring over thousands of pages with painstaking detail. Thus began the final round of editing of the Course, which would take about 2 years. Ken would meanwhile augment his income with a modest counseling practice and managed to secure a part-time position as a psychologist thanks to Bill.

In early 1975, what was formerly a 500,000 word run-on document was now a properly formatted self-study course. The Course was now ready and waiting – but for who? The answer would come in the form of an energetic lady called Judy Skutch..

Continue in Origins & Evolution:
Part 4 – Distribution and Publishing of A Course in Miracles: 1975 onwards