The sources of A Class in Miracles can be tracked back again to the relationship between two people, Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, equally of whom were outstanding psychologists and researchers. The course’s inception happened in early 1960s when Schucman, who had been a medical and research psychologist at Columbia University’s University of Physicians and Surgeons, began to experience some internal dictations. She explained these dictations as coming from an interior style that identified itself as Jesus Christ. Schucman initially resisted these activities, but with Thetford’s encouragement, she started transcribing the messages she received.
Over an amount of eight decades, Schucman transcribed what would become A Program in Wonders, amounting to three volumes: the Text, the Workbook for Students, and the Handbook for Teachers. The Text lays out the theoretical foundation of the class, elaborating on the primary concepts and principles. The Workbook for Students contains 365 instructions, one for each acim online of the year, made to guide the audience via a daily exercise of applying the course’s teachings. The Handbook for Educators provides further guidance on how to realize and train the concepts of A Program in Wonders to others.
One of the main styles of A Program in Wonders is the thought of forgiveness. The program teaches that true forgiveness is the main element to inner peace and awakening to one’s heavenly nature. In accordance with their teachings, forgiveness isn’t only a ethical or moral exercise but a simple shift in perception. It involves letting go of judgments, issues, and the belief of sin, and alternatively, viewing the world and oneself through the contact of love and acceptance. A Course in Wonders stresses that correct forgiveness results in the recognition that we are typical interconnected and that divorce from one another can be an illusion.
Another substantial facet of A Program in Wonders is its metaphysical foundation. The class presents a dualistic see of reality, unique between the confidence, which shows separation, concern, and illusions, and the Sacred Spirit, which symbolizes love, reality, and spiritual guidance. It suggests that the ego is the foundation of suffering and conflict, whilst the Sacred Spirit provides a pathway to healing and awakening. The goal of the program is to greatly help persons transcend the ego’s confined perspective and arrange with the Sacred Spirit’s guidance.