Laws must be communicated if they are to be helpful. In effect, they must be translated for those who speak a different language. Nevertheless, a good translator, although he must alter the form of what he translates, never changes the meaning. In fact, his whole purpose is to change the form so that the original meaning is retained. The Holy Spirit is the translator of the Laws of God to those who do not understand them. You could not do this yourselves because conflicted minds cannot be faithful to one meaning and will therefore change the meaning to preserve the form.” OrEd.Tx.7.15

          It would at this point be possible to address the richness and various implications of this single paragraph but let me in the following rather share a little about the reception of the German Original Edition by its audience and readership. This is the manifest “echo” following the initial decision to be helpful. It suffices to say that as translators we had to add and respect the faithful listening to Guidance to all efforts in obliging and complying to the very clear guidelines given above. Once we started our translations further instructions were given. One of them was to help organize the translation process in a collaborate way which would include soliciting and receiving immediate feedback from the readership. For this we shared the parts already translated successively among members of an interested group. Those members were then starting to share their findings with regard to the content and also the form, ie. therewith sharing in the proof-reading efforts. Everyone would then follow the translation's progress step by step while also having access to the finished audio-video presentations on the Internet.

          This process of collaborate and unified effort in order to reach the highest possible standard also facilitates a more intense and shared learning experience. Communications about the newly revealed original content are experienced as very helpful, since students were and are being presented with new aspects and in-depth elaborations which would also challenge their partial understanding accumulated so far, based on incomplete study resources of the past. Here are a couple of outstanding realizations among members of our readership:

          A greater consciousness regarding the Sonship's nature as a collective of individual Souls is emerging. With more than 125 occurrences of specific teachings on the individual and collective Soul, as well as almost as many teachings on humanity and the evolution of man the practical “down to earth” aspect in study and application is being strongly supported and developed. One central ingredient here is what we call the “revised model of the psyche” contained in the Original Edition's Text volume, which helps to understand how – on every level – the individual part of the Sonship contains the Whole. Also, how the 3+1 levels in the psyche's structure operate individually and function in their wider context – ie. under the ego's guidance and - more importantly and necessary for miracle work - under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the teaching authority. Further, individuality is finally being understood as a necessary and also God-created sharing mechanism rather than a witness to any form of separation, which latter misunderstanding is usually the way each of our egos wants to see it, and therefor does see it.

(with many thanks to H. Kooreman's inspiration)

          While there is only one occurrence of a quantitative or numerical information about the number of parts in Creation in The Course, namely in the workbook section “What is Creation?” where it says “...in number infinite and everywhere without all limit.” (OrEd.WkBk.SpTp321.1), the more than 800 places in The Course where Jesus addresses a collective rather than an individual reader also strengthen the bond among the 'members of his party' of active workers (2^nd cardinal).

          Especially life partners or couples of students who are working out salvation in the transformation of their special relationships into holy relationships benefit  much from entire chapters in which the personal pronoun is written in the 2^nd person plural, leaving no doubt that the author is addressing an audience of two or more directly, while giving his teachings. However, since the personal pronoun in English is the same for singular and plural, translators must determine its use by paying close attention to the context, where the plurality becomes apparent through contextual indicators such as “your minds”, “each other” and “yourselves”, to name a few.

          The two translation teams for the Original Edition in German and Dutch encompass 10 brothers and sisters who have taken on this honorific task. In these teams everyone brings in his or her specific talent, time and energy, in varying degrees. We all owe much gratitude to the board and fellow members of the CIMS for their important support, as well as one American charitable foundation without which we could have never come so far.

          Thank you in Christ, also to all contributions by readers and supporters of the interactive project! This is the Course being alive and manifest. The German translation has only approximately13% of the Text volume to go until publication of a 3 volume Original Edition and a complete audio-book, accompanied by originally composed and inspired happy dream~music.

          For the Dutch translation, only the text volume needs further thorough attention while the workbook and manual have reached a state of completion so far.

          The German translations also propel the Dutch translation, since important decisions with regard to form only needed to be made once for both.

          The ongoing exchanges and collaboration with translators into other languages, such as Russian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc is a very gratifying experience as well. While the restoration of the Sonship in time is the “only game in town” it is obvious that by joining in one purpose and unified effort on this level, this restoration encompasses literally everything and everyone and is being beautifully reflected in the restoration and presentation and sharing of the Original Course.

maz weber-caspers
Flevoland, October 2012

*Maz is currently the voice in the AUDIO and VIDEO SonShipRadio productions of the Daily Lessons of A Course In Miracles, Original Edition [OE]. Maz is also project lead on the current translations, ensuring that the OE will be shared globally; As chairman of the Curtis Knight Foundation he produces local radio programs, internet radio shows and other endeavors to promote and support co-creativity on a broader scale.  

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Original Edition Reaching out in EUROPE

          CIMS member MANUELA TORNOW has written a wonderful and informative article regarding the activities
          in Europe titled:  

"A Course in Miracles OE reaching out to heal minds in German speaking countries in Europe"   

          In the article, Manuela describes THE MIRACLE SCHOOL, the Non-Profit organization "Love Atones", the new
          building where Course Students reside and seminars are held, as well as a new Publishing Firm called, "Miracle
          School Publisher".

Complete ARTICLE