June brings again "Miracles Atlanta," the annual southeastern conference for enthusiasts of the book A Course In Miracles. This year's conference is hosted by Unity North Atlanta Church in Marietta on Saturday, June 17th. ACIM has sold over a million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1976. It has been translated into over twenty languages including Portuguese and Hebrew. Many people still do not know much more about it except that it seems to be extremely popular. What does it actually say, what is its central theme? And why is it so popular, what effect has it had on people's lives?

       There are two terrific books that explain how ACIM came about. Journey Without Distance by Robert Skutch is a short biography of the people responsible for the book's inception. Absence From Felicity by Kenneth Wapnick is an in depth biography of the book's scribes and a great introduction to the new language and thought system. According to these two books, in mid-1965, Dr. Helen Schucman began hearing an inner voice which told her to take notes. Nightly, she took word for word dictation from the voice and later read these notes to Dr. Bill Thetford, who typed them into a manuscript. The voice eventually identified itself as Jesus, although one does not need at all to believe it is Jesus to derive benefit from this book.

       "Before Jesus was cold in his tomb, his message was already being changed around due to squabbling among the twelve disciples. Within a hundred years, once the Romans got a hold of it, it was virtually unrecognizable," says Kellie Love, one of the conference's workshop facilitators. Kellie believes the book "brings modern day, overeducated man back to Jesus' true message of love and forgiveness."

      Katherine says the central theme is forgiveness and love. She and her husband both study the Course and it has made a difference in their marriage. When any problems or disagreements come up, they use the thought system of the Course as their base of reference. Being both committed to coming from love and forgiveness, the disagreement is quickly resolved. She is glad to have something they can share on a spiritual level, "the most important level of our relationship."

     Jane says the central message is that love is our earthly job and forgiveness is our access to that love. "It's so simple that it seems complicated, but it's not." Jane has seen a dramatic change mainly in her relationship with herself, citing workbook lesson 187: 'I bless the world because I bless myself.' "I am more accepting and forgiving of myself. I take myself a lot lighter. Because of that, my relationship with everyone else has changed. People treat me differently because I'm more open and easier to get along with. I look for the best in people now. In fact, my brother said to me 'you're one of the nicest people I know'."

      John sees his values changing as a result of studying ACIM. "One of the things I don't do anymore is pray for specific needs. What I value now is my relationships. If I don't see a smile on someone's face and I can leave them with a smile, that is what I value now. Instead of praying for this or that bill to get paid, I am always looking in my relationships for unforgiveness and neglect. When I look there, in my mind, the bills get paid. Not that you neglect the practicality of what's in front of you, but now therešs a force behind all my situations that makes a way out of no way."

      To Anthony, the central message is that we don't know who we are. Our identity is based on the ego thought system which tells us we are separate from God. ACIM is about "the re - identification of my being" based on what God knows us to truly be, completely sinless and at one with him even now. Before the Course, Anthony characterized himself as cynical. "I'm not a cynic anymore. I've given that up and I'm seeing the world differently. I've quit looking at the differences in everyone, which is what a cynic does, and I'm focusing on the similarities." Anthony says before ACIM, he couldn't sit still for ten minutes. "It has given me - I cannot tell you how much peace of mind."

      For this author, before ACIM, I was a perpetual fixer. I never dated a man for what he was, I always dated them for what they would be when I was done "fixing" them. I cannot tell you how many men I "fixed" right out of my life. My friends rang my phone off the hook asking for my advice because I was so free with it. ACIM assures that our home coming with God is certain and in fact, inevitable, therefore there is nothing that needs fixing. When people ask me for my advice now my answer is usually something along the lines of "I know it doesn't feel like it now, but you are one with God and you are fine. Would you like me to pray with you?"