Though time is illusory, we yet find ourselves living in a temporal world in which certain dates and anniversaries are meaningful to us as individuals and as members of society. The rapidly approaching millennium is one of those dates, and just as birthdays and the like afford us the opportunity of expressing thoughts and feelings we might not otherwise express, so too does the end of this one-thousand-year milestone provide us with a vehicle for making some very brief observations about the state of the world, A Course in Miracles, and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles.

I -- The World

To even a casual observer of the current scene, the world is in bad shape -- "Yet it is time alone that winds on wearily, and the world is very tired now. It is old and worn and without hope" (M-1.4:4-5). It seems astonishing that people would think that the world is indeed "getting better," or becoming "more spiritual," simply because God and spirituality are now spoken about more freely throughout the media, or geopolitically there have been some changes in leadership and in forms of government. A recent lecture given at the University of Colorado by Kevin Danaher(1) highlighted the actual state of affairs in our world. Among other statements, Danaher presented the clear economic inequality of our world, which shows that democracy is just a word, and one not supported by the facts, some of which are as follows:

The richest twenty percent of the world's people consume 86% of the world's resources...[which] means that the poorest 80% of the world's people account for only 14% of the world consumption spending. [Moreover,] this richest 20% of the world's population also accounts for about 75% of the world's environmental destruction.

He concluded:

There's more and more global inequality all the time, and the system keeps producing more and more inequality and greater distance between the rich, the powerful, those who rule and those who are ruled over. But the inequality in the U.S. is getting greater, too....[in which] the richest 10% of the population controlled about 88% of the stock, bonds and real estate....The richest 1% of American families owned more wealth than the poorest 90%. Incredible inequality, and it's getting worse all the time.

With these facts in hand, it should be clear to all but to those possessing an ostrich mentality that a true democracy is impossible given this gross inequality among its citizenry. The obvious relationship between wealth and power points to the fact that the expression of the majority will of the people is only paid lip service to in the propagandistic hyperbole of the spin doctors and advertising media. Statements from two celebrated Americans, quoted by Danaher, summarize the economic problem of our nation and the world at large; the first from Thomas Jefferson, our third President, and the second from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis:

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of the country.

We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. But we can't have both.

Beyond all the rhetoric, what is truly going on is what A Course in Miracles describes as the confusion between form and content. As we approach the millennium's end, a discerning observer of the human condition would do well to recognize the essential difference between them. Herein lies the core of the problem and the dilemma we face living the dream that is the world. The democratic form often conceals the underlying anti-democratic content, wherein wealth and power hold true sway. Thus, it is imperative that we stop confusing change in one with meaningful change in the other. This is not, however, the place to discuss the difference between form and content in the state of the world, but we do wish to address the important issue that so often follows observing world events: the desire to change the world that so cries out for change. Indeed, it can be said to be an almost universal aspect of the human condition that many members of our species continually attempt to make the world a better place in which to live. Such utopian visions go back at least 2500 years to Plato's Republic. Meanwhile, even as we are writing this article, nations are producing multifarious weapons of mass destruction, be they dynamite, or of a biological, chemical, atomic, or electromagnetic nature. Hopefully, as the new century dawns, this pathological split between love and hate will be addressed and corrected, otherwise, those weapons will inevitably continue to be built and used.

Freud wisely observed generations ago that Marx's utopian system would fail because it did not take into account the true cause of the world's suffering: humanity's "self-preservative instinct...aggressiveness...need to be loved...[and] drive towards obtaining pleasure and avoiding unpleasure."(2) Such misplaced emphasis on the external effect can be seen, moreover, as effective parts of the ego's strategy to distract our attention from the true source of the problem. Jesus teaches us in A Course in Miracles that all such utopian attempts are missing the mark, unless they undo the cause in the mind, and not the effect, which is on the behavioral level.

This important teaching reflects a much deeper metaphysical and non-dualistic principle that underlies everything we find in the Course. The real problem remains in the mind that has chosen to believe that it can make a world that is the opposite of Heaven and, even more to the point, is an attack on God (W-pII.3.2:1). A mind that is in such a state of attack can hardly be in a state of peace. It is therefore this mind that must change, because it is the cause of the dream that is the world and all the problems inherent in it. Changing one's mind from the ego's attack mode to the Holy Spirit's right-minded forgiveness is thus the only way to achieve true and lasting peace and equality. One of the more meaningful statements in A Course in Miracles that deal with this theme of cause and effect -- among hundreds and hundreds of others, to be sure -- is the following:

There is no point in lamenting the world. There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause (W-pI.23.2:2-6; italics ours).

A central statement in the Course, repeated over and over again in different forms, is: The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself (T-2.V.5:1). This means, simply, to have our mistaken choice for the ego be corrected by now choosing the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, Who can then guide us to be a manifestation of His love in the world. Our goal as students, therefore, is to adopt Jesus' words for ourselves, thereby choosing to become the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, just as he was.

As we frequently say in our classes and workshops here: A Course in Miracles is for one person and one person only -- the reader or student of the Course -- along with the corollary that we should not confuse our role with the Holy Spirit's, as we see in this representative passage:

Extension of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's function. Leave this to Him. Let your concern be only that you give to Him that which can be extended. Save no dark secrets that He cannot use, but offer Him the tiny gifts He can extend forever. He will take each one and make of it a potent force for peace (T-22.VI.9:2-6).

II -- A Course in Miracles

The aforementioned emphasis in the Course, based, again, on an underlying non-dualism, is a stumbling block for many, many students, who are more comfortable with an understanding of A Course in Miracles divorced from this metaphysical principle of the uncompromising difference between truth and illusion. Thus, students caught in this dilemma may then shift their focus to asking the Holy Spirit's help to make this world a better place, to help them (or others) live a happier dream here, through the now misunderstood principles of the Course. It was because of her understanding of the inherent difficulty in accepting the radical nature of Jesus' teachings in A Course in Miracles that its scribe, Helen Schucman, would say that the Course was for five or six people. Therefore, if the focus remains on making a better dream in the world, it becomes impossible to uproot or undo the cause of the dream itself.

It is not surprising that after almost twenty-five years, worldwide acceptance of the radical non-dualistic metaphysics of A Course in Miracles has not occurred. Consumerism, greed, and immediate gratification are the hallmarks of the new religion of materialism that permeates our atmosphere, thus blocking the embrace of the Course's true message. At the close of the twentieth century, one can observe that the ego has it both ways: destroying the world through the development of weaponry (special hate), or "saving" the world through good works performed through seemingly altruistic or religious motives (special love). Regardless of the form, the ego has succeeded in convincing all of us to focus -- to say it once again -- on the effect of the problem, and not its true cause, which resides in the mind. This focus of the ego thereby ensures that in truth nothing will ever change, and the dream of usurpation of God will continue unimpeded.

These statements, it must be noted, should certainly not be taken to suggest an attitude of selfishness or self-centeredness, but rather one of true Self-centeredness, in which the Voice that speaks for our true Self is allowed to guide us to be fully present to all people. Thus, we would be present without being disturbed by judgments, specialness interests, and the misguided belief that our judgments are correct and that we know God's Will and what is best for the Course and for the world. It is therefore not the teachings in A Course in Miracles that we are to do nothing in the world, but rather that the doing follows our first bringing our ego investments to the Holy Spirit's truth, that the ego thought system be undone. This then allows His love to guide us in our daily activities. As the text says:

To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides....This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly (T-18.VII.7:7-8; 8:3-4).

III -- The Foundation for A Course in Miracles

The purpose of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles has continually been to provide a body of teaching -- publications, workshops, and classes -- whereby students could better learn what A Course in Miracles teaches. Thus they could return to its study with a clearer understanding of its message -- both in theory and practice -- and with guidelines for developing a relationship with Jesus or the Holy Spirit, Who would then be their true Teacher. In this regard, we have from the beginning been the teaching organization of the Foundation for Inner Peace, publishers of the Course and original owner of its copyright. As most of you know, in keeping with Helen's vision of the continuity of the Course's stewardship, that copyright has now been transferred to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles. We have always understood our function, along with that of our sister organization, the Foundation for Inner Peace, as maintaining the integrity of the Course for generations to come. Thus, in addition to teaching, we would see our function here as establishing a foundation for the Course upon which future students will be able to build. As its radical non-dualistic teachings -- the cornerstone of the forgiveness that is its primary focus -- are increasingly accepted, our hope is that A Course in Miracles, would be readily available for future generations, and the Course preserved in its pure and unadulterated form so that it best serve the needs of our ego-based world. The attitude of the sacred trust which guided Drs. Helen Schucman and William Thetford in their original roles as the Course's first two students, and has guided the two Foundations since their inception, continues to guide us as we move into the next century. Thus we believe that, in the future, it will be seen that the function of the current generation of students of A Course in Miracles was to prepare the way for those to come.

While many of you reading this newsletter may not have heard of the copyright disputes currently underway, some of you have raised questions about them. We therefore thought it might be helpful to make some general comments here about the copyright of A Course in Miracles. We have always appreciated the following anonymous statement: Wisdom has two parts: 1) Having a lot to say, and 2) not saying it. In line with this principle, therefore, we shall keep our comments about the copyright issue succinct and to the point, and thus attempt to exemplify the wisdom of saying little.

Helen's very clear instruction from Jesus, in addition to his request that it be copyrighted, was that A Course in Miracles was not to be substantially excerpted, or any of its three volumes separated one from the other two. The three volumes of the Course were thus always conceived to be parts of an integrated thought system and spiritual path, and we have striven to maintain that integrity. By adhering to this guidance, it certainly is not our desire to thwart any student's study or practice of the material. We have never attempted, are not attempting now, and will not attempt in the future to squelch or censor discussion or commentary on A Course in Miracles, nor to insist that students adhere to a single understanding of the Course's principles. We are simply upholding standard copyright practice as to the use of the material itself. Indeed, we have granted permission to quote directly from the Course to authors whose point of view differs markedly from our own, and shall continue to do so. In this spirit, we invite all students of A Course in Miracles to send their material to our Director of Publications.

Moreover, we have always felt it to be a mistake for students to treat A Course in Miracles itself as something that is distinct from other books or spiritual teachings, thereby demanding special treatment for it. Jesus himself emphasizes in the early pages of the manual for teachers that A Course in Miracles is but one form among "many thousands" of "the universal course" (M-1.4:1-2), and reminded Helen not to make the Course special in relation to other spiritualities.(3)

In summary, we express our hope that in its own time A Course in Miracles will do its part in helping the Sonship change its mind about "the aim for which [it] came, and which [it] seek[s] to serve" (W-pII.14.5:2), and that the Foundation for A Course in Miracles, along with the Foundation for Inner Peace, will fulfill its part as well to ensure that this certain outcome be facilitated through the preservation of the Course's purity and integrity.

In light of all the foregoing, we would like to announce that sometime in mid-2000, the Foundation for A Course in Miracles will be leaving its home of over eleven years in Roscoe, New York and moving to Pawling, New York, a small village in southeastern Dutchess County. As the time grows nearer, we shall provide more details about the move to this non-residential setting, which will shift our focus from totally live presentations to electronic and digital forms in order to maximize the benefits of the burgeoning field of electronic media communication. This will allow us to increase our teaching outreach, the content of which will remain the same, allowing its form to adapt to the 21st century. The property we have purchased was formerly part of the Holidays Hills Conference Center, run by the YMCA. The Conference Center itself remains, however, and is readily available for larger workshops, which we would hold from time to time. Food and lodging would be provided by the YMCA, freeing us, again, to devote even more attention to teaching and writing. Finally, we should like to wish all of our readers a very happy holiday season, and the best of wishes for the coming year, as well as for the new century and millennium just ahead.

FOOTNOTE:

1. "Corporate Accounting vs. Corporate Accountability," available from Alternative Radio, P. O. Box 551, Boulder, CO 80306.
2. New Introductory Lectures to Psychoanalysis, Volume XXII of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (London: Hogarth Press, 1953), p. 178.
3. QKenneth Wapnick, Absence from Felicity, Second Edition (New York: Foundation for A Course in Miracles, 1999), pp. 313-14, 430.