CIMS 1st
Edition, a.k.a. JCIM
Course in Miracles Society 2000
Quick and dirty, but surprisingly accurate
-with a superb appendix showing the differences with
the FIP abridgements
This is the book that made history, stunned the Course
world, and started a lawsuit. This is the book that was tied up for years
with draconian court injunctions. This is the book that was put together
almost instantly by an amazing crew of volunteers from around the world.
And while it has some typos it is vastly more accurate than some of its successors,
when measured against fidelity to the original manuscript.
While claims are made for and by other editions,
this is the “original printed edition” of the Hugh Lynn Cayce version. Helen and Bill apparently never “published”
more than a dozen copies of this version in their lifetimes. The Hugh Lynn Cayce version was abridged
into what became the FIP First Edition, 25% shorter in the first five
chapters. As far as we know, only one of the original dozen or so copies
survived to 1999, that being the one Hugh Lynn Cayce himself preserved at the
A.R.E. Library.
The Cayce manuscript was found on November 29,
1999. Within a month the folks at Endeavor had done a ‘paper capture’ in
which the whole manuscript was copy typed by a small army of volunteers.
That was proofed, though not adequately, and published on the Internet in
January of 2000. In February 2000 Doug Thompson, Gene Ward Smith, Tom
Fox, Carmen Cameron, Reja Joy Steadman, Peggy Howland, with Tom Whitmore as pro
bono consulting attorney joined to create the Course in Miracles Society.
Our first project, funded by a donor who made himself known to us as “John
Smith,” was the printing of this book.
When Ken Wapnick sued it, the Course in Miracles
Society underwent a transformation.
The litigation ended and this volume became
available finally.
It’s value as a collector’s item is liable to
increase, this is the genuine “Original Edition.”
It was a hasty and extremely amateur production
and it shows. There was not enough proofreading but at the time it went
to press no one knew that. The typesetting is utterly bizarre. The use of
9 point type on a full 8.5 inch page width makes for difficult reading for any
purpose other than looking up a reference. It’s very hard for the eye to
not lose track of lines when it has to cross an entire page on such small
type. Type of that size is fine on pages of that size if set in two or
three columns, as magazines using that format do.
The accuracy issues are the accuracy
issues. At the time it came out, having assumed that Endeavor would have
proofed it to a high standard, I was shocked to find there were residual
problems. It’s only when other editions came out in vastly worse shape
that I came to view this one as pretty good, relatively speaking.