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A Course in Miracles has an interesting history and it all started when Dr. Helen Schucman, a non-religious Jew began working with Dr. William Thetford in 1958. It seems Dr. Thetford had ties with the CIA and was working on Project BLUEBIRD, which was later rolled over into the MK ULTRA Project. MK ULTRA was a program focused on mind control, it was created in the 1950s by the CIA with the goal to learn ways to manipulate people’s mental states, alter brain function and create Manchurian Candidates often through the use of drugs and hypnosis. Under the MK ULTRA umbrella there were over a hundred sub projects from the 1950s well into the 1970s and Thetford worked on Personality Theory, subproject 130. List of Subprojects
Schucman was employed at Columbia University with Thetford as a research psychologist for seven years without incident, but then one night on the subway she had a vision. A beautiful light filled the subway car and upon arriving home, the quiet voice, claiming to be Jesus, spoke to her for the first time. Soon, she and Thetford, a relationship that had always been strained according to reports, developed a close partnership while transcribing what this voice relayed. It’s an interesting coincidence that while working with Thetford, Schucman, a spiritual skeptic and scientist, had such an amazing transformation of spirit and mind.
Father Groeschel met Schucman at Columbia University while she was scribing the Course and he was writing his dissertation on the relationship between science and theology, he found her to be witty, engaging and a stimulating conversationalist. "Helen was a very scientific lady," he recalled, "a Jewish intellectual who considered herself to be an extreme agnostic, though not quite an atheist, and very skeptical about everything having to do with religion or spirituality." Groeschel also found Schucman to be an enigma, while writing the Course, she spent a lot of time in the Catholic Church, but refused to join, stating that as a Jew and a former Catholic "you Gentiles came along and made all these rules." He was confused by her reactions to writing A Course in Miracles, as she would often state, “I hate that damn book.” The Making Of A Course In Miracles
Groeschel also knew Thetford during his time at Columbia University and described him as "probably the most sinister person I ever met" and "the most religious atheist I have ever known.” Groeschel stated that Thetford was very excited about A Course in Miracles and personally arranged for its publication. It seems Thetford was quite a mystery at the University and none of his colleagues knew, until after he retired, that he had also been working for the CIA during his employment.
Although Father Groeschel felt that A Course in Miracles undermined authentic Christianity, he and Dr. Schucman maintained a friendship until her death. Most disturbing to him was the "black hole of rage and depression that Schucman fell into during the last two years of her life." According to Groeschel, who sat with Schucman while she was dying, "she cursed, in the coarsest barroom language you could imagine, `that book, that goddamn book.' She said it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. I mean, she raised the hair on the back of my neck. It was truly terrible to witness."
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http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... leID=46708
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