While..before..we felt..the comfort of knowing..that our scripture, unlike.so many others,..was free of human influence,..we now began to wonder..how much of the Course..was altered by human editors.

We also wondered..which was the.."true" version...Indeed,..the Hugh Lynn Cayce Version..was quickly..published under..the rather in-your-face..title Jesus'..Course in Miracles..(and just as quickly..became unavailable..due to a court..injunction).

Two running/topics are notable...First,..there are several lengthy discussions of Freud,..pointing out the strengths..and weaknesses of his system and..at times,.of his character.

Second,.there is an ongoing presentation..(running through the first four chapters)..of the levels..of the mind.

In this model,..the conscious mind..*is sandwiched between the superconscious..(heavenly knowledge)..and a two-layer/subconscious, with..*an upper level..*dominated by fear,..*and a lower level filled with pure..miracle-working ability.

Impulses from all/three non-permanently/conscious levels..try to stream into the conscious mind,..but are often blocked by the "censor"..[unbiden fears/within..each..of our minds]..or distorted by the fear-filled upper subconscious.

Some impulses..make it in,..though,..and the
*conscious mind..must choose between them...[love or fear...dear]

The most notable..[touchy]..of these life/issues is sex, which is discussed repeatedly...By the HLC,..however,..all such discussions had been removed..or reworded so as not to mention sex...Yet this is not personal material;*it is abstract teaching.

Indeed, Jesus says..that this material is crucial
for all miracle workers:.."I want to finish..the instructions about sex,..because this is an area..the miracle worker must understand."24

What does Jesus say about sex?
In essence,..he says the sex drive..itself must finally be uprooted, for our attraction..to physical-bodies essentially..turns people into objects...[OBJECTIFICATION..creates delusion]

Once..the drive..has been uprooted..(which I consider..a very advanced state),.we see the only purpose.of sex as to bring children into the world..for learning opportunities...and as mutually obigated responability communion].

This may..appear to be saying,.."Control your behavior..so that you only have sex..for procreation."..*However,..Jesus says the answer is not simply..controlling yourself...Instead,.."the underlying mechanism must be uprooted."26

We must reach a place..[beyond time]..[ideally]..where we just don't find..*bodies..that obsessively/attractive anymore...I personally see this as consistent..with the later Course,..which talks about "when the body..ceases to attract you." (T-15.IX.7:1)

What happens to sex..when
you have..zero attraction..to someone's body?

Religious..and theological material

Material..has been removed..that discusses angels,
fallen angels,..Lucifer,..reincarnation,..karma,.spirit possession, speaking ..in tongues,..witchcraft,.auras,.and Christian Science.

A number..of clear theological/statements
have also been deleted,..including two mentions of the soul's three functions..(knowing, loving, and creating)..and theological statements..about the Father..and the Son..(for example, "In the Divine psyche,..the Father and the Holy Spirit ..are not incomplete at all.

The Sonship..has the unique faculty..of believing in error, or incompleteness"27)...All references to meditation..and most of the references to prayer..have been removed.

Also removed..are a number of pages..of commentary on the teachings of Edgar Cayce,..which came because Bill and Helen..were reading the Cayce material..*at the time

There are a whole host of other things that have been deleted, which I will simply class under "miscellaneous specifics." These include intellectual and literary references, including some brief discussions of mathematics and a bold interpretation of the real meaning of Don Quixote.

There are many references to common expressions, such as "think big," and "live and let live." There are references to several individuals. I've mentioned most of these, but we can add Descartes and Jean Dixon (the astrologer) to the list.

And finally, there is the following list of miscellaneous specifics: the Holocaust, daylight saving time, the CIA, sex crimes, kleptomania, bankruptcy, gambling, alcoholism, eyesight problems, alchemy, cryogenics, wars, money, voting, educational exams, ESP, and the psychological significance of names.

As you can see, far more than personal material was taken out.

The real target was specifics. Virtually anything
that was specific, concrete, or down-to-earth was removed.

[as..guided..by]
http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-history-issues/copyright/earlier-versions/

Line-by-line editing

There..is,..as mentioned,..copious..line-by-line editing.
The sheer volume..of it takes..one aback,..as we are..accustomed to thinking/of the words..of the Course..as straight from Jesus.

The following/example..will give you a sense/of
the line-by-line editing..I suggest you read it..in two ways.

First,..read down..each column.
http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-history-issues/copyright/earlier-versions/

Then,..read across-reading..each line
as it evolves..through..the different versions.

Urtext#...Hugh Lynn Cayce/...Standard Course*

You..now share..my inability#..As you share..
*my inability/..As you share..my unwillingness

to..tolerate..the lack/of love#../..to tolerate lack of love
*to..accept error

in yourself..and..in.everyone else,#..
/in..yourself and..others,...*in..yourself...and others,

and must/join#/you must/join..*you..must/join

the/Great-Crusade..to correct it.#
the/Great/Crusade.to correct it.
*the/great*crusade..to correct it;

The..slogan/for this..Crusade..is."Listen,..Learn,.and Do."#
/The.slogan/for..the Crusade..is.."Listen,.learn,..and do;"—
*..This..means Listen..to My-Voice..Listen..to my-voice,..listen..to my voice,

#..Learn to..*undo..the error,#,../learn..to undo..error//*learn..to undo error..

#and..do something..to..correct it./and..do.something..to.correct it..29..*and..act..to correct it..(T-1.III.1:6)

#The..first..two..are not enough...
/The..real members..of my party...are active workers..28

This brief example..contains..almost all..of
the important..characteristics..of..the line-by-line..editing:

Lots..of editing...The..sheer/volume..of changes..is striking.
Out of..68 words,.45..*words have..been changed..(removed,/replaced, added,/or...de-emphasized).

Faithful...?The editors..have clearly..tried very hard..to be faithful.to the meaning of the original...It is..difficult..to detect a.significant/change..in meaning.

Slight/alterations..in meaning?..While there..are..no significant changes..in the..superficial-meaning*..of our passage,..there are some..slight..alterations...[of emphasis]

In..the standard/version,..you join..the great crusade..
because..you have..become unwilling..to accept/error..(or..lack..of love/or..over/fearing..anything]).

In..the original/version,..however,..both..your joining..the Great Crusade..and*..your unwillingness..to accept..lack of love..come from the fact..that/you have.."been restored..to..your original state"..where..*all fear..is illusion..

(from..the line..preceding..our/passage)...

That's..a very minor..alteration...Slightly more significant..is the downplaying of behavior..in the editing..of..the final lines...This is a consistent/pattern..in the editing..which I will discuss below.

Less lively,..more tame.[erantly/safe]

After editing,..the material..is generally..less lively and spirited. In the original,..you become unable..to tolerate..the..lack of..fearless-love...In the standard version,..however,..you become merely unwilling*..to accept error.

There is..an insistent,..emphatic note..in the original
that is..consistently softened..by the editing...This makes the Course sound..more remote,..more tame.

Set..next to..the original,..it feels sanitized.

Less specific...The removal.of..specifics..takes place on a line-by-line basis...You can see..that here...The Crusade no longer has a "slogan,".and there is no longer..a "party"..with "workers."

The familiar..cultural image..of a political party..on a crusade,
with busy workers..chanting their slogan,..has been taken out.

More vague.. Although..the meaning.of our passage h..as not been changed,..it is somewhat less apparent...For instance,..we now may wonder what.."act to correct"..error means.

Does this mean..physical action?
The original,..however.. leaves no doubt:

"do something..to correct it….
http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-history-issues/copyright/earlier-versions/

The original,..however,..leaves no doubt:
"do something..to correct it…..The real members..of my party are active workers."

Yes,..jesus is talking..about physical action.
Another reason..for loss of clarity..is the removal of emphasis

As our passage evolves,..the emphasized words..go from eight to zero. While the lessening..of emphasized words..(a trend throughout the editing)..is stylistically..*practical,..the emphasis/definitely enhances..clarity...[at expence..of act/deed/work..its been..subverted into..academical..[theory]..not life application[fact]!


I..have found..many passages..where knowing
a particular word..was originally emphasized..unlocks the whole meaning..*of the passage.

There are..three other aspects..of the line-by-line editing..which I'll discuss. The first is..editing to harmonize..the meaning of passages..with the later Course-part..of the process..of correcting scribal errors.

The chief..examples of this..are the following:

* All..(six).references
to..the celestial speedup..have been removed.

* All (seven)..references..to the Record,
which seems similar..to the Akashic records,..have been removed.

* As mentioned above,..good-behavior..[v]..miss-behavior
has been systematically..downplayed...In the first five chapters, references..to "behavior"..and "behave"..drop from 68..in the Urtext to 20..in the standard Course.

All (five)..references..to the "doer".have been removed.
In Chapter 9,..the line.."This course..is a guide to behavior".has been removed.

I assume..all this..was done to fit/with the Course's emphasis on thought..rather than behavior...However,..I think these changes are inappropriate,..*since behavior*..remains important.throughout the Course,..*despite the word being rarely used.

* Some of..the very first references...to the Holy Spirit..(in Chapter 5)..speak of Him..as an "it"..that is simply.."your own right mind,"..rather than as.a "He" Who.."abides in…your mind." (C-6.4:1)

These references..have been changed..to read like the later Course.
* In the early Urtext,..the world is sometimes characterized as being..made by the Divine..in response to the separation,.as a teaching device..to lead us out of the separation.

In the later Course,..the world is the direct..manifestation of the separation,..although the Holy Spirit..*uses it as a teaching device.

Because of..this discrepancy..(which may have come from the influence of the Edgar Cayce material,..which Helen was reading at the time of the early dictation),..four of these early references have been softened.

For example:
SEE LINK

Compressed.into..obscure academical-abstraction

<<..the instructions..that Jesus..gave
for..the editing.were as follows:

* If..what..you write..is so personal
that it..cannot benefit others,..take it out.
* If you take..down scribal errors,..correct them.

key-source/text
http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-history-issues/copyright/earlier-versions/

The editing..results in fewer..and fewer words.
[bigger and bigger destractions]..We go..from..68 words..(Urtext) to 47 (HLC)..to 34 (standard Course).

The/same ideas..get compressed..into a smaller..and smaller space.

One unfortunate..result of this..is that,./quite often,
ideas which you originally..had time..to digest,.now come too fast for..you to..adequately take in.

[EN-VISION}

More formal,..less conversational..and plainspoken.
Overall,..the editing..seems designed..to make the early Course sound less informal..and..less/conversational...If you read the first and last versions..of our passage above,..you can feel the difference.

For..another example,..a line that originally read,
"You and Bill..have been afraid of God,..of me,..of yourselves, and of practically..everyone you know..at one time or another"30

becomes simply,.."You have been fearful.of everyone and everything." (T-2.VII.3:4)

The early Course..now reads less like..someone talking and more, in fact,..like the loftiness..of the later Course...The question is, which is better?

There are times..when I prefer..the edited passages, but most of the time I prefer..the plainspoken original.

ME TOO..
http://miraclevision.com/acim/urtext/acim-urtext-2003-upe-ready-edition.pdf

I like being spoken..to in a clear,..down-to-earth way
in the early chapters,..before the Course lifts off into the stratospheric..tone of the later material.

Mostly unnecessary...If you will,
go back..and read the first version..of our passage.

Then ask yourself,..what is wrong with it?
How much editing..does it really need?..Does it need any?

I personally don't think..it needs much editing,..if any.
In fact,..I prefer it..to either of the edited versions.

Now this is not true..of all the Urtext passages./Many of them are very rough and..obviously need cleaning up...However, my opinion is that most..of the line-by-line editing..was unnecessary.

Think about Jesus' instructions.

He said remove personal/material..and correct scribal errors.
Does the editing..in our passage fit either of..those rules?

Editing..to make content..Course-consistent
(in the opinion of..the editors)

Editing errors

It would be hard..to do so much
line-by-line editing..and not make an occasional mistake.

Indeed, a number of unambiguous errors—changes..in the meaning of the original—have crept into the material..(I count 27 in the first two chapters).

Here are a few examples:[see link]

PERSONAL-Revelation..induces/complete..but..temporary
suspension..of doubt..and fear..It..reflects the..original form/of communication..between God..and His..creations,

involving..the extremely personal..sense of creation
sometimes sought..in physical..relationships...Physical closeness cannot/achieve it..Miracles,..however, a..re genuinely interpersonal, and result..in true-closeness to..others.

P.Revelation...unites you..*directly..with God.
Miracles..unite..you directly..with..your brother.

Neither emanates..from..consciousness,
but..both..are experienced*..there.

Consciousness..is the state..that..induces action,..though
it does/not inspire it..You are free..to believe..what you choose,..and what..you do*..attests to what..you believe.

2 Revelation..is intensely-personal
and..cannot..be meaningfully/translated...to..other
That is why..any attempt..to describe it..in words is impossible.

Revelation..*induces..only experience.
Miracles,..on the other hand,..induce action.
They are more useful..now because of.their interpersonal nature...In this phase of learning,..working miracles.is important..because freedom..[from fear..]..cannot..be thrust upon you.

Revelation..is literally unspeakable..because
it is..an lived-experiencing..of unspeakable love.

"This Course..Is a Guide..to Behavior"

3.Awe should..be reserved..for revelation,
[not that revealed..but..our..revealer;..god]..to which..it is perfectly..and correctly..applicable...

It is not appropriate..for miracles..because a..state
of awe...is worshipful,..implying..that one..of..a lesser order..[under]-stands..before his Creator.

You are..of/by..for..a perfect-creation,..and should
experience awe only..in the presence of..the Creator of..all..perfection's.

The miracle..is therefore
a sign...of love..among equals.

Whenever..we want
we..can CHOOSE..to..hit the fast/forward button.
This happens..by accepting..a miracle,.which allows us
to jump..past a batch of scenes..and more quickly.reach the happy ending..(see T-1.II.6).

This theory ..of time can sound..nothing short/of bizarre.
Yet it is..not nearly..as implausible..as it sounds at first.

The Course points..to the very nature..of time
itself..as evidence..for its theory.

from
http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-commentary/text-commentary/commentary-on-the-little-hindrance/
Time is composed of cycles, rhythms, repetitions;
the cycle of the days and nights, the tides, the seasons.

When we look..closer at these cycles,..we see
that each one is composed,..in essence,..of a single repeating..pulse..of rhythms/cycles..[via sympathetic harmonic/reverberation]..unending cycle..of beginnings/endings..of birth and re-birth..

but..not ever..death.
[E=infinite..E]

Each cycle..springs up with..a fresh burst of life,
and then sinks/down..into the deterioration..of death...At any given moment our body..is undergoing countless..such..begining[rejuvination/expiry endings]..pulses,
as old cells..die off[subsumed]..and new cells are..born..into duel form,..or..as new air..is inhaled..[absorbed]....and..old air exhaled.[excreted].

These smaller pulses..exist within the larger pulse..
of the day;..each morning we...are reborn..only to "die"..at the end of the day.[but because..when..we awake..all..our program..knows..
is..by our life experiences..[held safe..in..the mind-acces code[vibe]...with/in..the..cloud-mind..]

each..relative to..the being..we are being].

just like..a computer..OnLY..knows..its
own..history,..[regardless..of who's energy..[E]..pushes..the key*.

http://www.aboutadidam.org/growth/seven_stages.html