The Course is unique
True, the Course does say that it is merely one “form of the universal course,” along with “many thousands of other forms” (M-1.4:1, 2). Yet at the same time, when it describes the essence of the universal course, it lists its own unique approach: “God’s Son is guiltless”:
Each one has a special part to play in the Atonement, but the message given to each to share is always the same: God’s Son is guiltless. (T-14.VII.1:1)
But the content of the course never changes. Its central theme is always “God’s Son is guiltless, and in his innocence is his salvation.” (M-1.3:4-5)
“God’s Son is guiltless” means essentially the following:
We are all God’s perfect, beloved Son.
Since He is our Cause, our own “sins” have no effect on our identity.
We remain completely guiltless, as pure as when He created us.
The way we find salvation is simply to realize that this is equally true of everyone.
Choose any teacher and imagine them speaking these words—all of them. Imagine hearing this in a Christian church. Or in a Buddhist temple. Or from any contemporary channel, mystic, or awakened teacher (excluding those who may have gotten this message from the Course). Can you picture them speaking these words? I can’t.
You’ll want to say “Well, they don’t use those words, but they say essentially the same thing.” But I believe you’ll find that they don’t use these words or these particular ideas.
Why is this message so rare? The Course’s explanation is startling:
All blocks to the remembrance of God are forms of unforgiveness, and nothing else. This is never apparent to the patient, and only rarely so to the therapist. The world has marshalled all its forces against this one awareness, for in it lies the ending of the world and all it stands for. (P-2.II.3:3-5)
Why are the world’s greatest masters not teaching that “All blocks to the remembrance of God are forms of unforgiveness, and nothing else”? For the same reason that this is only rarely apparent to the therapist: “The world has marshalled all its forces against this one awareness.” The world “has marshalled all its forces” to keep out this single awareness. And it has worked. Even our greatest realizers have not had “this one awareness.”