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The Hugh Lynn Cayce Version

            

                       Manuscript              Replica Transcript                JCIM                      Sparkly         Corrected HLC(2006)       OE (2007)       Annotated HLC Manuscript (2009)

The Hugh Lynn Cayce Version (HLC) is the fourth version of the Text volume produced by the Scribes. It is a heavily edited abridgement of the Urtext Text volume. Approximately 40,000 words of the earlier Urtext manuscript on which it is based have been removed, including almost the entire crucial discussions of sex and possession and most of the discussion of distortions of miracle impulses.

Although it was typed by Helen Schucman in 1972, and was the version which Schucman and Kenneth Wapnick further edited into the 1975 Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) version, it remained almost entirely unknown until it became available in late 1999 as a manuscript photocopy. 

It first appeared in print in 2000 with the title “Jesus’ Course in Miracles” or “JCIM” under the imprimatur of A Course in Miracles Society. The HLC is currently available in a variety of highly accurate forms from Miracles in Action Press, in print and in free on-line e-books, audio books, as well as in manuscript facsimiles, and an exhaustive concordance.

There are other, older and less accurate editions which are at least largely based on the HLC for their Text volumes also listed below.

 On this page you will find brief descriptions of a variety of editions of the HLC which are available free on-line or in print or audio renditions.  There may be others of which I am not aware.   

Detailed reviews and analysis are also provided for some editions.

 

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Where to find free copies

Where to buy copies

Note: all PDF files that you can display in Acrobat Reader can be “Downloaded” by pressing “Save” (or the floppy disk icon) and then giving it a local filename.  That way you can avoid having to wait for these large files to download in the future.

 

The Original HLC Manuscript facsimile (photocopy of manuscript in PDF format)

This document is a digital scan of a photocopy of the manuscript discovered at the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) library in 1999.  While generally very legible, the 866 page manuscript, typed single-sided and double-spaced, is a rather large physical object to deal with.  Being a “photograph of text,” the text is not searchable on a computer, although it can be displayed and printed.

(free on line in PDF format 60 Mb – which can take a few minutes )

 

The Original HLC “Replica” Transcript (precise keystroke for keystroke transcript, errors and all in PDF format)

This document was created by copy-typing the manuscript (above) into a word processor.  The result was meticulously proofed by many people over several years. The goal was to create a keystroke for keystroke precise replica of the manuscript for reference purposes.  Its primary use is in proofreading subsequent edited copies to ensure that every change made was in fact intended.  It is probably not yet 100% accurate but it is AWFULLY close now.  This is the “Original” HLC text.  Any edition which differs from it without explaining why isn’t.  This copy is paginated identically to the manuscript with full cross-referencing, serving as a “look-up tool” to the manuscript.  (free on line in PDF format 2.1 Mb)

 

The Original 2000 Print Edition – Jesus’ Course in Miracles …A Course in Miracles Society’s first print edition (in PDF format)

This is the original print edition of the HLC from 2000. Weeks after the HLC was discovered, it was copy-typed and published on the net in January of 2000.  By March of that year it was printed by the newly minted Course in Miracles Society, and by April that edition was impounded consequent to a lawsuit initiated by Kenneth Wapnick who sought to suppress the material.  In 2004 that original edition of the HLC, CIMS(1) or “JCIM” went on sale again after Wapnick’s copyright claim failed in court.  You will notice that the frontispiece states: “The Original Dictation As It Emanated from the Mind and Heart of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”  At the time (2000) there was a misperception that this was the earliest and most “original” manuscript of the Course.  Some, apparently, still think so.  It’s not. (free on line in PDF format 1.4 Mb)

READ REVIEW  View Comparison with actual HLC Manuscript (2.8 Mb PDF)

 

The Original Blue Sparkly2002

Represented here is a copy of the original 2002 Australian first printing. This is a high quality print edition of the HLC Text combined with the Urtext Workbook, Manual and Terms volumes.  While it has a few typos, it is generally a very accurate rendition of the HLC Text and the Urtext Workbook, Manual and Use of Terms.  While copies are freely available in Australia and New Zealand, print copies may be hard to come by elsewhere.  It is, however, freely available as an e-book on line. (3.2 MB PDF)

READ REVIEW  View Comparison with actual HLC Manuscript (1.8 Mb PDF)

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The Original (2006) Edition of the Corrected HLC and the

Annotated HLC Manuscript in print (2nd Edition 2009)

ISBN: 978-0-9816984-1-0

 This is a precisely accurate and thoroughly documented print edition (also available on line as e-text) of the original Hugh Lynn Cayce Manuscript. The Corrected HLC has just been updated to reflect the most recent research into the Shorthand Notes. A few uncertain readings have been clarified by recent research and the Preface has been updated.  It is essentially identical to the First Edition. The JCIM edition of 2000 (above) had two serious shortcomings.  The typography was poor and it had several hundred typos.  In the years following the first printing of the HLC, we proofed the JCIM text against both the HLC manuscript and the Urtext manuscript which had become available late in the year 2000. The FIP version was also referenced where “errors” were suspected to see how it was handled there. There were ten proofing passes all told resulting in vastly enhanced accuracy.

Spelling was standardized, as Helen’s spelling was sometimes inconsistent. Capitalization was also standardized. Where we noticed words, phrases, and sentences which had apparently been omitted inadvertently from the Urtext, that material was restored, and of course all such changes to the manuscript were documented so the reader would have no doubt which words on the page of this book were directly from the HLC manuscript, and which were alterations which I introduced.

Making it clear exactly what’s “original” to the manuscript and what’s “original editorial modification” is crucial because no matter how sure any editor may be that he’s correcting a “genuine mistake” it is possible, and in lived experience inevitable, that editors will sometimes be mistaken.  ONLY by indicating exactly what was altered and why, and editing errors be easily corrected and editing corrections properly accepted.  Otherwise, all you’ve really got is an “inaccurate edition.”

The editorial policy was to change only those things for which there was substantial evidence that they were indeed “genuine errors” and where we had sound reasons to suppose Helen and Bill would themselves have made the exact same changes were they to have noticed what we were noticing.  It was more “proofreading” their work than it was “copy editing.”  And of course, since any human might err, all changes were documented so the reader is never in any doubt as to what is our work and what is the work of the Scribes.

This edition is for sale at Miracles in Action Press as a printed book and on line in various formats (see below)

READ REVIEW  Changes from the HLC Manuscript (257 Mb PDF)

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Annotated HLC Manuscript E-book in PDF (with corrections)

This PDF e-book is formatted for ease of reading and searching on a computer.  Identical to the print version (above) it is the Transcript (above) with the correction of typos and material from the Urtext which was apparently omitted inadvertently.  Every deviation from the manuscript is documented.  All the powerful search tools in Acrobat Reader are available, making this a flexible and powerful research tool. (free on line in PDF format 8.5 Mb)

 

 Annotated HLC Manuscript E-book in HTML (with corrections)

This is an HTML version of the above e-book.  It displays the HLC in your browser with a full Table of Contents in a sidebar frame on the left.  In HTML the text and frames can be resized to your preferences and scrolling is entirely linear making it somewhat easier and faster to navigate on a computer than the PDF.  It also loads faster than the PDF version.  All the footnotes are preserved as hyperlinks and are very easy to use.  It can of course be searched for words and character strings using your browser’s “SEARCH BUTTON” (generally CTRL+F).

(free on line in HTML format)

 

 

 

 

 

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The Original Synthesized Audio HLC

This is not the best audio recording of the Text of A Course in Miracles ever made, but it is the least expensive.  It was produced by a voice synthesizer engine with pronunciation heavily edited to remove the more extreme pronunciation oddities which are characteristic of voice synthesizers.

Initially I used the voice synthesizer as a proofreading aid but quickly realized in many hours of listing to “Eddie the Robot” reading the Course aloud, that the message of the Course often comes through more clearly “out loud” than “in print.”

Since it was cheap and easy to do so, I decided to make this version available on CD for the price of one CD.  “Eddie’s” voice can take a bit of getting used to, but many have found this recording to be of great value. (available from Miracles in Action Press for $20, portions on line for free).

 

The Original Exhaustive Concordance to the Hugh Lynn Cayce Version

While any serious textual scholar knows that a concordance is indispensible, newcomers to the tool will be pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it is to find almost any passage with this tool.

In this exhaustive concordance, every occurrence of every word is indexed and listed with five words of adjacent context. 

Finding any passage for which you can recall even just one word is thus made very fast and easy.  (Available from Miracles in Action Press)

The First Edition of the HLC Concordance is available free on line.  The Second Edition available on CD/DVD from Miracles in Action Press contains some error corrections, has had more proofing, and has an enhanced user-interface.  The old one is still quite useful however.

 

An Original Edition (2007) by Tom Whitmore and Peggy Howland

ISBN: 0-9764200-6-6

Because parts of this version derive from the HLC, this version is included here.  This version is also dealt with in the section on post-scribal versions because a great deal of it fits that category better since, while mostly based on the HLC, it often reflects the Urtext reading more closely and often is also something entirely “original.” For more details on this rather unusual publication, see the REVIEW.

READ REVIEW  View comparison with actual HLC Manuscript” (3.2 Mb)

View Printable PDF of Text volume with universal references added as bookmarks (4 Mb)

 

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