A Course In Miracles, Something for Everyone

My first blog post here. I feel that it's important to call attention to the Copyright page that I wrote for this site. It was hard to do, write, own my own work, and expect that it will have value for others. I delayed writing it, but told myself I couldn't post anything else until it was up there.

It's done finally and I'm glad. I think I made the right decision in putting the Creative Commons 3.0 license on the site. I may relax the 3.0 status on some parts of the site at some other time, but, for now, the 3.0 license basically decriminalizes what people will do anyway: copy. And I thank Cory Doctorow for introducing me to the concept.

I wish that the whole matter wasn't controversial at all, but when you look around at what's out there, you realize that people are still divided over it. Some sites infer the subject, some don't mention it, but you know they wouldn't be out there at all on the web if the copyright on A Course In Miracles hadn't been overturned. There are many teachers, and they are all needed. There is something for everyone.

A title is not copyrightable, but the title, A Course In Miracles, and its acronym, ACIM, had been trademarked. Both trademarks were overturned in 2004. I did not know that at the time i was working on the Notebook file of The Miracles Journal, A Course In Miracles Notebook. I added "A Course In Miracles Notebook" after I started the web site and learned that the title was no longer trademarked.

I wonder if the original group–Helen, Bill, Ken, and Judy–would have used a Creative Commons license, if such a thing had been available back in 1975? There's no way of knowing now, and neither does it matter, but I do recall reading that, about the Course, Helen said, "It's for whoever wants it."

Everyone is on the way, but each on his own path. If we do not judge one as either good or bad, we see that there is something for everyone. If we take away time, we see that we are all there.

Copyright Information for www.fromoutoftheblue.com, The Miracles Journal web site and A Course In Miracles Notebook

Summary of Copyright information as it pertains to this web site for those not inclined to read the entire copyright commentary.

The contents of this web site, www.fromoutoftheblue.com are copyright, 2008, by Peter Demers. The copyright includes all the text, graphics, images, and format presented on this web site, unless otherwise specifically noted and which specific note is adjacent to a specific item (ie. found on the same page). In addition to the copyright, a Creative Commons license 3.0 is applicable to most of the content on this site, unless otherwise noted. This license allows a non-commercial1 copying of the content with attribution, author’s name and source (this web site, http://www.fromoutoftheblue.com), and that derivative works are not permitted without permission.

I have been listening to Cory Doctorow’s 2 podcast for quite sometime now. I found it mainly because he was one of the first writer’s to put his stories online in a podcast. I have to admit that I haven’t listened to all of the podcast readings yet because the genre seemed more geared to teens. Sprinkled in the podcast subscription Cory put all of his talks, speeches, lectures, and interviews which are all about copyright and digital rights management, and the like, and the draconian nature of most of these. I was introduced to Creative Commons 3. I’d say I was a convert to the Creative Commons philosophy, but I was already bent in that direction. One thing about I did not understand about Creative Commons licensing, until I looked and read the manifest on their web site, was that a Creative Commons license is not a replacement or substitute for copyright. I think Cory touches on this in his talks, but does not make it clear. Creative Commons licensing applies to copyrightable works. A Creative Commons license, and there are several to choose from, is a layer over a copyrighted work. Commercial copyright is not waived nor relinquished with the application of a Creative Commons license.

I am making a big deal about copyright here because some of the work I’ve done and that I’m presenting on this web site is based on a document in the public domain. Specifically, that work is A Course In Miracles. The public domain declaration is a matter of law, but it is still controversial in the minds of some. Undoubtedly,I will address that matter elsewhere. Some believe the work is scriptural, like the Bible or the Koran or similar work. What I have done with the public domain edition of A Course In Miracle is to create a derivative work. I edited the punctuation, typographical errors, grammatical errors, and general readability problems I found in that edition. I offer the Text and Manual in a proprietary format called Notebook. The Workbook, when finished, will be offered in that same format. The Workbook is also being added to this web site incrementally.

The offer of my edition of A Course In Miracles, which I named, The Miracles Journal, A Course In Miracles Notebook harms no one. It is a convenience item, a luxury item. A Course In Miracles is still available for free online on many sites, and it is still available in book form. Many derivative works of the Bible are copyrighted.

Of course, a derivative work, changing A Course In Miracles, is what the original publishers did not want. That was understandable. The Course needed to be kept intact. But the copyright business of A Course In Miracles was questionable in the first place. It was photocopied and mimeographed many times before the thought of copyright came up. Helen, one of the “scribes" of A Course In Miracles, may well have said, “Ok, go ahead, copyright it." But, The Course had already been published and when the funds became available to print hard bound books, they were published in October, 1975. Copyright was applied for, but Helen requested that it be published anonymously. The U.S. Copyright office said no, saying that it could not issue a copyright to no one. The application was changed to author: Jesus Christ. Again, the U.S. Copyright office turned down the application saying that it could not issue a copyright to a non-living entity. When A Course In Miracles was published, in its second edition, it stated its authorship: “Anonymous (Helen Schucman)."

Helen probably did say copyright The Course and probably did so in exhaustion. The editing of The Course has been said to have taken sixteen months and the whole process over ten years. It was closure for her. It was done. And what about Bill, the other scribe? He was already dead at the time of the court case. But, without Bill, the miracle of producing A Course In Miracles would not have happened at all.

Please see the CreativeCommons.org web site for more information:
about licensing and FAQ

1. 1. Non-commercial: There is almost no such thing anymore. If your publication is free, on a free to use web service, it is really an advertising service for the hosting company. And, not-for-profit (NFP) is just another way of doing business and some are essentially fronts for government activities. Strictly speaking, a non-commercial use would be a web site you pay for out of pocket, with no ads, and nothing to sell. Does anyone know where the line is drawn?
2. 2. Cory Doctorow’s web sites: Craphound; Boing Boing, editor; Electronic Freedom Foundation
3. 3. Creative Commons: Creative Commons", Joi Ito, co-founder and CEO

Terms of Use

Details on the matter of copyright are forthcoming. The contents of this site and its format here are copyright 2008, Peter Demers.
Some of the content provided on this site will be identified with a Creative Commons, 3.0, License - attribution required, non-commercial sharing, no derivatives. Please refer to the Creative Commons web site for more information.

A Creative Commons License does not affect the commercial rights of an author or artist.

Further details on the use of the material on this site are forthcoming.
Please ask. See the contact page.

The sky-earth-light graphic used as the logo for this site is copyright 2008 Peter Demers, all rights reserved.

"Websites' terms of service are notoriously frivolous and overreaching1, often hard to find, and routinely written in legalese bound to confuse a non-lawyer. Many courts have found them unenforceable in civil cases. They certainly should not be the basis for a criminal prosecution," said Granick"2

1. 1. eg. facim.org
2. 2. from the web site of the Electronic Freedom Frontier