02: The Language Of A Course In Miracles

On today’s episode of From Anxiety To Love radio we’ll be talking about the language of A Course in Miracles. It is a block for some people and if it bugs you, this show is for you! You are not alone.

We’re going to cover the Course’s use of masculine pronouns, traditional Christian terminology (which is used in the Course in non-traditional ways), the Course’s definition of forgiveness, and I’ll also suggest some substitutions.

Transcript

This is From Anxiety to Love Radio,

The show about undoing anxiety through A Course in Miracles and other pathways of love.

Gain insights and tools to deepen your awareness of the peace that is already in you.

I'm your host Corinne Zupko.

Hey everyone,

On today's episode of From Anxiety to Love Radio,

I'm going to talk about the language of A Course in Miracles.

It's a block for some people and if it bugs you,

This show is for you.

I promise you,

You're not alone.

When I first began studying the course,

I didn't care for the masculine language.

I was a women's studies minor,

So I was sensitive to these types of things,

But honestly,

I was in such pain and wanted to get the message so badly,

I was just willing to completely overlook it.

It really wasn't a hang up for me,

But I get asked all the time from people about how to deal with it because it is a hang up for some.

So we're going to cover the course's use of masculine pronouns,

The Christian terminology,

The course's definition of forgiveness,

And I'll also suggest some substitutions.

So let's first tackle the masculine pronouns.

I want to start by immediately saying that God is not male.

God is not a dude with a white beard who sits upstairs orchestrating things like Zeus did in one of my favorite childhood movies of the 80s,

The Clash of the Titans.

So thinking of God as male is our thought.

It's our projection onto God.

Though the word God really has become synonymous with male,

I checked a dictionary definition and one of the definitions of God actually said a male deity.

So there you go.

It's very ingrained in our thinking.

God,

According to the course,

Is our source,

A source with a capital S.

This source is pure love and is not male or female,

Which are simply constructs in the dream of duality.

So this is important for us to keep in mind.

If the word God bothers you,

You might substitute with an idea like father-mother God or just simply love with a capital L or source with a capital S.

These capital letters for me take me out of the realm of form and into the realm of the divine.

The Course does use masculine pronouns like he and him when referring to God and Holy Spirit.

And actually,

I've heard that the Hebrew version of A Course in Miracles refers to Holy Spirit as she,

Which is kind of cool.

But it's important to remember that even though the Course uses these pronouns,

They're being used in a genderless manner.

God and Holy Spirit are not male or female for that matter.

So my best suggestion for you is to bring your feelings about the masculine pronouns.

In other words,

Bring your gender issues to your inner teacher and ask to see it differently.

If irritation or something like that is coming up,

It's coming up because it's an opportunity for you to look at it with your inner teacher and experience a miracle instead.

It's all for the healing.

So next,

The Christian language.

The Course is written,

As you know,

In Christian language.

It has,

However,

Universal themes that can be found at the core of all the world's great religions.

So this makes the Course appealing to those who come from many different spiritual pathways.

And one of my favorite books about the Course,

Which is really just comprised of Course quotes,

Is called Gifts from a Course in Miracles by Frances Vaughn and Roger Walsh.

And to quote their book,

They say,

Some Buddhists feel that the Course echoes the words of the Buddha.

Yogis have remarked that it expresses the wisdom of the Vedanta.

And psychologists have found that it offers insights comparable to some of the best contemporary thinking about phenomena such as perception,

Belief,

And identity.

I'll also add to that that you're also going to find parallels between what A Course in Miracles is teaching and quantum physics,

Which is really cool also.

Now it's important for us to keep in mind that the Course uses traditional Christian terminology in non-traditional ways.

And this is really,

Really important to keep in mind.

And here's the thing.

If you come from a traditional Christian background,

It's very possible that you can find issue with the new ways in which these words are used if you want to find issue.

If you don't come from a traditional Christian background and maybe you've been turned off by traditional Christianity,

You can also find issue with the Course as well,

With the way that these words are being used if you want.

So the bottom line is that you have to come to this pathway with an open mind and with a willingness to learn.

That is going to allow you to be in a space to get the most out of these teachings as you possibly can.

So remember that words are symbols.

All words are symbols.

These symbols are merely pointing us to an idea.

So I want to give you some examples of the ways that the Course uses traditional Christian terminology.

So first,

The word Jesus.

You can think about Jesus as symbolizing our elder brother and his teaching demonstrated that you cannot destroy life.

The next term,

Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the part of your mind that remembers the truth.

The Holy Spirit's job is to look past what is false and see straight to the truth beyond the form.

In the Course,

The Holy Spirit is described as the communication link between God and all of us who believe we're separate from God.

And as we give our perceptions and beliefs to Holy Spirit,

The Holy Spirit upholds what is true and the rest falls away.

And this is how Holy Spirit heals.

Another term,

Son of God.

The Son of God in the Course is referring to all of us,

Every single one of us here in this seeming world.

And then there's the word God.

God in the Course is love and only love.

There is no opposite to God.

God is all encompassing and holy and completely loving.

This means that there's no hell.

Instead,

We experience hell when we block out the love of God.

Another term,

Atonement.

Atonement in A Course in Miracles is the undoing of fear in the mind.

It's the undoing of the ego thought system.

And this atonement process is what we allow into our minds when we choose to turn to our inner teacher,

Holy Spirit,

And ask for miracles instead of staying in fear mode.

In my experience,

My willingness to accept the undoing of fear in my mind,

It leads to pure joy.

And of course,

The undoing of anxiety comes with that as well.

And then I also just want to highlight the word forgiveness because the Course talks all about forgiveness,

But this isn't worldly forgiveness.

In other words,

If Tommy was a schmuck,

But I'll forgive him anyway because I'm going to take the higher road,

That's the ego's use of forgiveness.

This isn't the type of forgiveness that the Course is teaching.

Instead,

The Course is teaching a radical form of forgiveness that we actually can't do by ourselves.

We need the Holy Spirit's help.

We need our inner teacher's help.

And I like thinking of forgiveness as forgiving or for the giving to Holy Spirit.

So we take our issue,

Our gripe,

Our judgment,

Whatever it is,

And that issue is forgiving to Holy Spirit.

It's forgiving to our inner teacher.

So in other words,

Tommy was a schmuck perhaps,

But I'm willing to give my perception of him to my inner teacher and I'm willing to experience a miracle instead.

Through this process,

We experience miracles,

Expressions of love,

And shifts in perception in which we come to know the truth behind the form,

That only truth is true,

That we've never left God,

And I learn how to see the truth in Tommy instead of what's false.

So therefore I come to know the truth in myself.

I also want to mention that A Course in Miracles is just one path of many.

It actually says a universal theology is impossible,

But a universal experience is not only possible,

But necessary.

And that experience,

That universal experience is always of love,

The love that joins us,

The love that is the only thing that is real.

So substitutions,

I promise to offer some substitutions for some of these words if you need it.

So if the word God bugs you,

Think about substituting the word love with a capital L,

Source with a capital S,

Or even a phrase like Father,

Mother,

God.

There you're encompassing both the male and the female if it's hard to just sort of drop an idea of gender altogether.

Another word,

Holy Spirit.

If this word bothers you,

You can just say spirit.

You can just refer to Holy Spirit as spirit,

Or your inner guidance system,

Or your inner teacher.

In my book,

I refer to Holy Spirit as your inner therapist.

It's the part of our mind that hasn't forgotten truth.

So you might also think of the Holy Spirit as your right mind,

Right mind with a capital R.

And then of course there's the word Jesus.

You can think of Jesus as an elder brother.

Keep in mind that there are many course teachers who are actually Jewish,

So you don't have to be on the Jesus train to learn from and benefit from A Course in Miracles.

I couldn't even say the word Jesus for like years and years and years on my path of studying the course because it just made me so uncomfortable.

So again,

Any discomfort that arises is simply an opportunity to look at the discomfort with your inner teacher.

The course is leading us to an experience of the truth that we are love,

That we are one and that we've not left our source,

Even though it sure seems like we have.

As our awareness of the truth grows,

Anxiety has to fall away.

And this is where I come in and others come in as well.

Other teachers,

Other students,

As I've allowed my awareness to expand,

My anxiety issues have fallen away and I'm here to help you to get there too through this show,

Through my forthcoming book from Anxiety to Love,

Through my blogs,

Even through the Sunday night study group that I lead.

So your takeaway point from this episode is to have willingness,

Willingness to see past the language to the teachings and the truth beneath the words.

Words are just symbols and through our willingness to see those words differently will certainly open up to be receiving the messages underneath.

My gains are yours and yours are mine because we are one.

I'm sending you so much love.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

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Thank you for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.

Reviews

Awesome. Very explanatory and helpful. I wish unconditional love to you! Stay blessed.

I love your information, I love your message,. But I like to take notes and your delivery is so fast it makes it difficult. May I suggest you slow down you y our speaking rate even though you communicate wonderful enthusiasm.Speech therapist here. Again I love your message.
Best, Becky

Thank you. This is very helpful for me to communicate with my husband about the course.

It's a language problem. Gender neutral pronouns are scarce and awkward. Or at least feel awkward.

Thx! I needed this and plan to apply it to other things as well, such as language in AA! Much love:)

Basically all I can say is excellent lesson.