A Course of Love - Book Discussion

Dojo
1

I have not read this book and am looking for Reviews/advice before purchasing it. Neither have I read A Course in Miracles. I have seen two members of this community recommend the book and I wanted to do this breakout thread to discuss it.

I listened to an interview with the First Receiver (AKA author) Mari Perron on the podcast Buddha at the Gas Pump. I liked a lot of the message, thinking/feeling with the heart instead of the mind.

I was very put off by the authors story of having received this message directly from Jesus after reading A Course in Miracles 7 times. I accept that I have a lot of prejudice within me which causes me to bristle at such topics.

But am completely open to this being an important and amazing book regardless of where the author states the source material. Maybe its 100% true, I am open to that as well.

I would love to hear some personal thoughts on the book and even how it applies within an integral perspective.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

2

From Amazon;

Product Description
There is a way of knowing that can take you beyond where all your learning has taken you. It is the way of direct experience of Truth. It is the way of the heart.

It may be astonishing to hear that there is a continuation of A Course in Miracles, but it is true. Forty years ago Jesus dictated ACIM to the scribe Helen Schucman. More recently, over three years, he similarly dictated A Course of Love to Mari Perron. Students of ACIM will recognize the Voice. Students of truth, whatever their background, will find that ACOL resonates with the heart.

In A Course of Love Jesus says: “This time we take a direct approach, an approach that seems at first to leave behind abstract learning and the complex mechanisms of the mind that so betray you. We take a step away from intellect, the pride of the ego, and approach this final learning through the realm of the heart. This is why, to end confusion, we call this course A Course of Love.” (Prelude.44)

ACIM and ACOL are complementary. The same Voice, more accessible. The same thought system, expanded.

Like all non-dual teachings, ACOL is not about adding to one s life but about un-doing the ties that bind us to what it calls the “house of illusion.” In ACOL we are gently guided to awaken, step by loving step. We find ourselves in the unlimited, eternal field of our own awareness, laughing and crying at the glory of what is.

3

I’m still in the middle of it, and haven’t deeply synthesized A Course of Love. I also was hipped to it from the Buddha at the Gas Pump interview with Perron. A few points I’ve picked up:

  • It’s a path that facilitates integrating the head and heart, and learning to navigate from the heart.
  • The inner work is letting go of patterns and surrendering to a new level of trust (the “embrace”).
  • The outer work is about entering into dialog with others from a space allows a deeper truth to emerge.

The themes from ACOL that are echoed in integral theory include:

  • The kind of work being done by Patricia Albere and others with dialog and emerging as a “we.”
  • The “Big Mind/Big Heart” process by Genpo would fit in.
  • The core messages and processes of Enneagram work fit perfectly with this.
  • The idea of stages of waking up, including Unity Consciousness, is talked about in ACOL

The books, combined into a single volume, are well-written and long. It takes a while to work through them. It’s recommended to go through it sequentially. There are online groups, and meet-up sessions. Without a strong anchoring practice, it’s difficult to shift a group into a new kind of dialog that brings in transcendence. I’ve just joined a group, and my first impression is there is a kind of accidental power here, related to intention, but on the surface the whole discussion seems pretty primitive.

4

I have not read “A Course of Love” and most likely will not, unless it should fall serendipitously into my hands, and then I would probably give it a look-see.

I have read “A Course in Miracles,” both the text and the workbook. At the time of doing so, I did not care from whom or what source the teachings came. Channeling/mediumistic work takes a lot of different forms–from the Oracle for the Dalai Lama to the possession trances of Korean shamans who channel specific deities to the scribery of one such as Helen Schucman.

For me personally, it’s not necessary to have absolute “proof” that a pure form of channeling is occurring, if the results, or in the case of ACIM, the contents find a resonance in me. There is a lot of quackery channeling, and that’s pretty easy to recognize, but some other stuff is not, So I live easily in “don’t know” until if/when I do, not insisting on proof, as there aren’t sufficient means to establish “proof” anyway in many areas of life.

The way I read ACIM was not as books to be studied, reflected upon, discussed as many people do; there are tons of ACIM study groups and I’m sure many people benefit from that. But I had no desire to approach them that way. Instead, I read a few pages each night in bed, relaxed, before going to sleep, without straining to understand.

What I found is that certain statements from the material would show up in my consciousness at the exact moment as needed in daily life. And that still occasionally happens, I think my unconscious “got” what it needed to get from the books. I actually read them twice, years apart, in this way, and recently pulled them out again to see if there was still juice in them for me. About 50 pages into the text, no, done with this, at least for the time being, probably forever.

Many people find ACIM quite valuable, and I wouldn’t argue with this.

5

I just looked up “A Course of Love” on Amazon, and there are several books with that title. Which author are you referring to?

6

I am referring to the book by Mari Perron.

Interview with the Author here:
https://batgap.com/mari-perron/

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