Spiritual and Esoteric Directory

A Course in Miracles (also referred to as ACIM or "the Course") is a book considered by its students to be their "spiritual path". According to psychologist Helen Schucman, she and psychologist William Thetford "scribed" the book by means of a process coming from a divine source through a form which Schucman referred to as "inner dictation". Schucman said the source of her channeling was Jesus Christ. The teachings of the Course have been compared to the fundamental premises of Eastern religion. While the message of The Course uses traditional Judeo-Christian terminology, it is not aligned to the doctrines of those religions. J. Gordon Melton notes that it has been most popular among those who have been disillusioned by organized Christianity.

He has been expected for generations by all of the major religions. Christians know him as the Christ, and expect his imminent return. Jews await him as the Messiah; Hindus look for the coming of Krishna; Buddhists expect him as Maitreya Buddha; and Muslims anticipate the Imam Mahdi or Messiah. Preferring to be known simply as the Teacher, Maitreya has not come as a religious leader, or to found a new religion, but as a teacher and guide for people of every religion and those of no religion.