The Christ Poems: Communiques from the Inner Life

By D. Patrick Miller

What does it actually feel like to be growing, struggling, and learning on a mystical path? In this remarkable collection of new poetry from D. Patrick Miller, a leading writer on A Course in Miracles, the reader is taken into some of the deeper feelings and subtler thoughts of the mystical journey.

"Although students can certainly get lost in the intellectual complexities of A Course in Miracles," says the author, "I have always experienced ACIM as a highly emotional path, in which shifts of thoughts and feelings are nearly always simultaneous. So I believe these poems have arisen within me as expressions of what it feels like to be on a mystical path in which I am increasingly informed and inspired by what I call 'my Christ,' my personal experience of an inner, active wisdom....

"My hope in sharing these poems is that other Course students, and indeed any seeker on a mystical path, will recognize echoes of their own experience and thus be enriched by a greater understanding of what’s going on in their spiritual life. An inner voice of instinctive and loving wisdom is accessible to anyone, regardless of how you name it. May this little book help it be heard more clearly."

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. Patrick Miller
• Release date: Dec 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311393135

D. Patrick Miller

Patrick D. Miller is Charles T. Haley Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. He is the author of numerous books, including The Religion of Ancient Israel. He is coeditor of the Interpretation commentary series and the Westminster Bible Companion series. In 1998, he served as President of the Society of Biblical Literature. He was also editor of Theology Today for twenty years.

Book preview

You taught yourself the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator. Yet you remain in close communication with Him, and with everything that is within Him, as it is within yourself. Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance, and learn of all the communication that you have thrown away but could not lose. — A COURSE IN MIRACLES Text, Chapter 14

Introduction

At the heart of any mystical path is the notion of an inner, active wisdom that can be accessed and relied upon for personal guidance and spiritual growth. It may be called the Holy Spirit or Higher Self or the God within, but it is this focus on the interiority of wisdom that distinguishes the mystical seeker from the churchgoer of any faith. While there is certainly some overlap between mystical and religious paths, for the most part a religious devotee believes the tenets of his or her previously established, organized faith and attempts to follow its rules or appointed authorities for guidance.

One of the primary mystical paths of our time is A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a spiritual teaching first published in 1976 and contained entirely within the covers of a 1200-page book. While there are countless informal study groups, some small schools, and a few churches inspired by ACIM, it is not intended to be the basis of a new religion and has no central authority governing how it is taught or studied. Although it uses Christian terminology, the Course overturns many fundamental precepts of Christianity and refers to itself not as a religious document or catechism, but as a curriculum or mind training intended to awaken within its students a reliable Inner Teacher. This inner teacher is usually referred to as the Holy Spirit. While ACIM’s language is Western and heavily salted with psychological terms such as ego and projection, its metaphysics are largely Eastern. This blend of ideas makes the Course one of the most modern and pro vocative syntheses of psycho-spiritual thought available.

While the Course does have a complete and radical philosophy about reality, its chief intent is not to instill