Location: United States
Member Since:
Jan. 30, 2011
Course In Miracles Society
Publisher info
Founded in 2000, Course in MiraclesSociety [CIMS] is a non-profit organization created to discover, authenticate and propagate the divine teachings of A Course in Miracles.
THE FOLLOWING is a bit of background information and answers to frequently asked questions. It was written by Reja Janaki Joy Green, one of CIMS founding members.
-----------------------------
A Course in Miracles kept crossing my path beginning 1983, so many times that I finally had to buy the book and see what it was all about!
I’ve been a student ever since.
In 1994 the Foundation for Inner Peace [FIP] decided that the copyright on the A Course in Miracles and trademark on ACIM were being infringed on and started to make changes on what could be quoted, etc. The CompuServe forum that I was a part of was closed down for a short period and re-opened under another name since ACIM was trademarked by FIP. Marianne Williamson was asked to pay royalties. Robert Perry of the Circle of Atonement was denied permission to publish his book which was based on A Course in Miracles.
Over the next 4 years there were the beginnings of a push back by the Course community.Eventually a spiritual community found itself being sued by FIP for copyright infringement. During that time an old 1972 version of the Course was discovered in the library of the Association for Research and Enlightenment [A.R.E.]. It was the copy given to Hugh Lynn Cayce [son of the ‘Sleeping Prophet” Edgar Cayce] by Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford once they had re-typed the original manuscript three times! They wanted to know if the A.R.E. might publish it. Hugh Lynn declined to publish it but wished them success in their endeavors. He said the material was very much in line with what his father brought through. This copy is now referred to as the Hugh Lynn Version of the Course or “HLC”, later to be known as JCIM and finally CIMS: original edition.
Soon after giving the copy to the A.R.E., Helen and Bill met Ken Wapnick. Not too much longer, Ken and Helen began to ‘revise’ the Course. Ken believed that certain punctuation was incorrect, some terms needed clarification, section headings needed revision, etc.
“As a result of that editing, about a quarter of the Hugh Lynn Cayce version was deleted from the first five chapters of the Text, and the remaining material was rearranged and rewritten. The resulting derivation was then copyrighted by FIP.”
[quoted from “Jesus Course in Miracles [JCIM]”, which was published Feb 2000 before a temporary restraining order halted distribution until the copyright was overturned in 2003]
“A copy of the public domain Hugh Lynn Cayce version of the TEXT portion of A Course in Miracles was obtained, carefully transcribed into a digital format and widely distributed on the Internet…” JCIM
In 2000, a few individuals from around the country, decided to publish the JCIM, of which I was one of them. We formed the non-profit organization called “Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]”. With an anonymous donation, we were able to produce our first set of copies. We distributed 500 before receiving a temporary restraining order. The Judge wanted us to cease until the copyright case was decided. [The original JCIM is still available here although quantities are limited: http://jcim.net/Pages/JCIMSBook.html ]
CIMS resumed publication in 2003 once the copyright was ruled invalid due to pre-copyright distribution. There is no copyright on the CIMS edition. We offer it freely.
The following link is to a document which distinguishes the two versions. There are people who prefer the Ken Wapnick version and others who prefer the CIMS original edition. What is wonderful is that the COURSE is available, in all ITS glory, and we have ITS Guidance for our way HOME.
~ With love, Reja
THE FOLLOWING is a bit of background information and answers to frequently asked questions. It was written by Reja Janaki Joy Green, one of CIMS founding members.
-----------------------------
A Course in Miracles kept crossing my path beginning 1983, so many times that I finally had to buy the book and see what it was all about!
I’ve been a student ever since.
In 1994 the Foundation for Inner Peace [FIP] decided that the copyright on the A Course in Miracles and trademark on ACIM were being infringed on and started to make changes on what could be quoted, etc. The CompuServe forum that I was a part of was closed down for a short period and re-opened under another name since ACIM was trademarked by FIP. Marianne Williamson was asked to pay royalties. Robert Perry of the Circle of Atonement was denied permission to publish his book which was based on A Course in Miracles.
Over the next 4 years there were the beginnings of a push back by the Course community.Eventually a spiritual community found itself being sued by FIP for copyright infringement. During that time an old 1972 version of the Course was discovered in the library of the Association for Research and Enlightenment [A.R.E.]. It was the copy given to Hugh Lynn Cayce [son of the ‘Sleeping Prophet” Edgar Cayce] by Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford once they had re-typed the original manuscript three times! They wanted to know if the A.R.E. might publish it. Hugh Lynn declined to publish it but wished them success in their endeavors. He said the material was very much in line with what his father brought through. This copy is now referred to as the Hugh Lynn Version of the Course or “HLC”, later to be known as JCIM and finally CIMS: original edition.
Soon after giving the copy to the A.R.E., Helen and Bill met Ken Wapnick. Not too much longer, Ken and Helen began to ‘revise’ the Course. Ken believed that certain punctuation was incorrect, some terms needed clarification, section headings needed revision, etc.
“As a result of that editing, about a quarter of the Hugh Lynn Cayce version was deleted from the first five chapters of the Text, and the remaining material was rearranged and rewritten. The resulting derivation was then copyrighted by FIP.”
[quoted from “Jesus Course in Miracles [JCIM]”, which was published Feb 2000 before a temporary restraining order halted distribution until the copyright was overturned in 2003]
“A copy of the public domain Hugh Lynn Cayce version of the TEXT portion of A Course in Miracles was obtained, carefully transcribed into a digital format and widely distributed on the Internet…” JCIM
In 2000, a few individuals from around the country, decided to publish the JCIM, of which I was one of them. We formed the non-profit organization called “Course in Miracles Society [CIMS]”. With an anonymous donation, we were able to produce our first set of copies. We distributed 500 before receiving a temporary restraining order. The Judge wanted us to cease until the copyright case was decided. [The original JCIM is still available here although quantities are limited: http://jcim.net/Pages/JCIMSBook.html ]
CIMS resumed publication in 2003 once the copyright was ruled invalid due to pre-copyright distribution. There is no copyright on the CIMS edition. We offer it freely.
The following link is to a document which distinguishes the two versions. There are people who prefer the Ken Wapnick version and others who prefer the CIMS original edition. What is wonderful is that the COURSE is available, in all ITS glory, and we have ITS Guidance for our way HOME.
~ With love, Reja
Where to find Course In Miracles Society online
Website: http://jcim.net
Twitter: @ACIM_original
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://cimsmiracles.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @ACIM_original
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://cimsmiracles.wordpress.com/