As students we do have to deal with common misunderstandings of the Course—what we call “Course lore.” These are ideas that get passed around so much that people assume they are found in the Course itself, when in fact they are not. It’s tempting to let them slip by without response, but these misunderstandings can so distort the Course that it becomes another teaching entirely. Course lore tends to be:

• Narcissistic—“it’s all about me” (though the Course’s aim is to reverse our egocentrism)

• Anti-traditional religion (though there is much in Christianity the Course agrees with)

• Anti-authority (though the Course is full of loving authority)

• Anti-work/effort (though the Course asks of us a great deal of effort and discipline)

Examples of ideas commonly repeated but not in the Course

• This is a self-study course.

• We’re all students and teachers to each other.

• God doesn’t know we are here.

• God doesn’t hear prayers.

• Seek not to change the world. To think you need to do something in the world is to “make the

  error real.”

• My sole responsibility is to accept the Atonement for myself.

• The miracle is simply a shift in perception.

See the article “Course Lore: Common Misconceptions and Their Correction”

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