from the authors. . .
J. R. Richmond and Bette Jean Cundiff
Here are the two introductions from myself about 'A Course in Miracles' and from J.R. Richmond, my co-athor, about The Twelve Steps from our book 'Side by Side- The Twelve Steps and A Course in Miracles.
The book, itself, offers J.R. Richmonds' comment on each step on the left page, and facing that on the right page is a quote from A Course in Miracles and my comments.
Happily, this book has been translated into Spanish by Elvia Acuna (Schwenke) and offers the Spanish translation as the second half of the book.
Excerpts from 'Side by Side-The Twelve Steps and A Course in Miracles'
Introduction by J.R. Richmond:
I had been a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for five years before “A Course in Miracles”
appeared on my horizon. Prior to that I had been a student of Carl Jung, William James, R.W. Emerson, Edgar Cayce, Ramakrishna, Rajneesh and on and on. In the “Course” I found a context which satisfied not only my intellectual, but more importantly, my emotional need to make sense of my experiences. In short, it helped me to understand myself. If AA gave me the skeleton, the “Course” provided the flesh. Without my AA experience, the body would have been just another egotistic corpse I could have hung my hat on. As it is, the one nurtured and refined the other.
I am aware that some of you reading what is to follow who are “members in good standing” of AA could have done a better job. These are my experiences and are in no way conclusive for me nor should they be the final word for anyone.
I didn’t get sober because I needed to, but because I wanted to. In the process, it was important to get excited, to be involved in my recovery, in my new life. I learned that this new life is not a contest where you have winners at the expense of losers. And that joy is never found by comparing myself with others, but my loving and forgiving me. Since there is nothing to win there is no need to hurry. A moment spent loving life can last forever. One thing though, the cost of this new life is your willingness to relinquish the old one. Rebirth requires a death. Not all at once, but according to your ability to love and forgive yourself. You don’t do this; it is done for you, if you will allow it.
My way of life today has become quite simple and can be summed up in a few sentences: In life we are presented with situations. These are judged good or bad, painful or pleasant depending on our opinion of “how things ought to be.” Without our opinion, things are what they are. So do what is appropriate—laugh, cry or change the tire and move on. You needn’t have an opinion about it. Without your opinion, life can be beautiful and death nothing more than a change of your living situation.
Introduction by Bette Jean Cundiff:
Since 1977 I have had the pleasure of not only attending but also lecturing at “Miracles” classes and conferences across the nation. What became increasingly apparent to me was that close to one-third of these classes and audiences were either in Alcoholics Anonymous or in one of the other Twelve Step programs. There was obviously an important connection between these two disciplines. And I came to the opinion that the Twelve Steps was a spiritual discipline after reading them myself as a part of my continuing study of support materials for my own spiritual progress.
John Randolph and I have been friends since 1978 and have had many satisfying conversations on the philosophy of spiritual growth as expressed through “A Course in Miracles” and the Twelve Steps. It was only natural that we decided to put these observation down on paper for others to explore also.
As John Randolph expressed his thoughts and feelings about each Step, I found immediate correlation with the Course. My purpose in choosing the following particular quotes from “A Course in Miracles” was not to develop a full overview of the Course, but simply to show correlation to a particular Step. The Course is so rich with material that I left the choice of selection up to Inner Guidance. I am sure other students can find more and at times seemingly better quotes. Yet these were the ones I felt guided to include.
Both the Twelve Steps and “A Course in Miracles” share the same goal — sanity and peace of mind. To this purpose I offer these thoughts and observations in this book.
May it be of service to you.