Celebrating ACIM’s 35th Anniversary with David Hoffmeister

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) retreat is being held Feb. 18-20, 2011, featuring David Hoffmeister, a highly regarded teacher of ACIM and author of Awakening Through A Course In Miracles and Healing in Mind.

The event is being held in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first ACIM group that was started in Durham, and is sponsored by the Janis Foundation.

Hoffmeister began studying ACIM in 1986 as a tool to find enlightenment. He attended many Course groups, studied the ACIM book intensely, and meditated until he could clearly hear the voice of Jesus Christ, who began teaching him. Eventually, he experienced Enlightenment. In 1991, he began traveling in the United States and Canada to share his understanding of ACIM. Those who have been in Hoffmeister’s presence speak of the love and peace that emanates from him, and of his wisdom that is offered with authority and gentleness.

To better understand why ACIM students have become so enthusiastic, you must first learn a little about how ACIM came into existence.

The ACIM book was channeled and dictated by Helen Schucman and put into words by William Thetford, both professors at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Schucman and Thetford were engaged in a professional battle that had exasperated their faculty head, who asked them to work on a project together, hoping that they would iron out their differences.

While Schucman and Thetford pondered the collaborative project for several months, Schucman began having vivid and disturbing dreams. Listening to the advice of Thetford, she sat down to write a description of her dreams, and was surprised when she wrote, “This is a course in miracles.” And, thus the ACIM text channeling began and continued over the next seven years, and was finally published in 1975.

Kemp Ward, president of the Janis Foundation, stated that former Durham resident, Joe Janis, became familiar with the ACIM notes before the book was published, during a lecture in New York City. It was there that he met Schucman and Judy Skutch, who gave him photocopies of Schucman’s notes. Janis immediately saw the value in the channeled notes and introduced them to the spiritual study group that he led. The group put aside all other subject matter and began to avidly study the ACIM notes. The group’s questions, which were sent to Schucman for answers, eventually becoming part of the ACIM book named Clarification of Terms. The group was also honored with a visit from Schucman—the only known visit she ever made to an ACIM group.

Janis’s study and teaching of ACIM, which became his life’s passion, was honored after his passing in 1991 with the creation of the Janis Foundation.

The upcoming retreat is being held at The Barn at Valhalla in Chapel Hill. Hoffmeister will offer an open forum where participants can freely ask questions and receive immediate answers. For those interested in an introduction to or advancing their understanding of ACIM, this will be an excellent opportunity to learn from a gifted teacher.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the Janis Foundation’s website at www.miracles-nc.org or email Janis35th@gmail.com.