I was introduced to A Course in Miracles (ACIM) over 35 years ago through the book, Love is Letting Go of Fear, written by Dr. Jerry Jampolsky. To say it had a profound effect would be putting it mildly. Jerry’s “little book” made a huge impact on my life. I found a spiritual teaching that resonates with my soul. I literally cannot imagine my life without the wisdom of ACIM.

Jerry died December 29, 2020 at the age of 95. Until the very end he remained a student, ever vigilant, open, and willing to learn. While in hospice, Judy Skutch Whitson, founder of The Foundation for Inner Peace—the scribe-authorized publisher of ACIM—asked Jerry how he was doing. She reported he replied, “Still learning,” with his characteristic broad smile. Wow…going into the grand adventure of death as he learned to live, with his eyes, mind, and heart wide open.

As one of the first students of ACIM, Jerry was integral in publicly communicating the Course’s principles. His many books made the Course’s teaching accessible to millions of people.

A graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine, his chosen path was psychiatry for children and adults, and here Jerry actively applied ACIM ideas. In 1975, in Tiburon, California, Jerry founded the Center for Attitudinal Healing as a way for children facing life-threatening illness to honestly discuss their own questions, fears, and thoughts on dying. The effectiveness of this group inspired the creation of others for siblings, parents, and caregivers.

Attitudinal healing proposes that we have the power to choose our attitude in any given moment regardless of circumstance. Thus, healing is defined as letting go of fear and health as peace of mind. With this, and his belief that people have an extraordinary ability to help one another heal, he pioneered the first peer support group of its kind. Today the Center for Attitudinal Healing is at work in over 60 countries spanning six continents. The peer support group model has become standard practice across the medical profession.

ACIM informs the twelve principles at the heart of the Center of Attitudinal Healing:

1. The essence of our being is love
2. Health is inner peace, healing is letting go of fear
3. Giving and receiving are the same
4. We can let go of the past and of the future
5. Now is the only time there is, and each instant is for giving
6. We can learn to love ourselves and others by forgiving rather than judging
7. We can become love finders rather than fault finders
8. We can choose and direct ourselves to be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside
9. We are students and teachers to each other
10. We can focus on the whole of life rather than the fragments
11. Since love is eternal, death need not be viewed as fearful
12. We can always perceive others as either loving or fearful and giving a call of help for love

I had the great honor to meet Jerry, and his wife Diane, a couple of years ago while working for the Foundation for Inner Peace. They graciously welcomed me into the fold and offered me their complete support. One time I arrived at their office in Sausilito, California, in a state of distress. I was immediately enfolded with their loving kindness. Jerry, with great patience and understanding, helped me work through my concerns. I left with my heart much lighter and my mind at peace.

Jerry wasn’t a saint or a supernatural being. He had a troubled past which included alcoholism and difficult relationships. ACIM introduced him to a thought process that freed him of his personal demons and motivated him to help others do the same. He developed a burning desire for the peace of God. The Course’s workbook lesson #205 was his personal mantra, “The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home.”

He was an ordinary person— no different than you and me— who took full responsibility for his state of mind. He recognized a way out of his emotional pain and suffering. If anything sets him apart it was his consistent and persistent practice of the principles that would get him there. He taught what he most wanted to learn, reinforcing the concepts in his mind and embracing them with his heart. Through the years his body aged and became frail yet until the moment of his death he continued to heal his mind. From that standpoint, he died a healthy man.

I think about the difference Jerry made by simply, and continually, choosing to release fear. One man with a focused intent: the peace of God. One man with the willingness, discipline, vigilance, and humility to confront his fears, own them, and let them go. By wanting solely the peace of God, he had it. By giving only the peace of God, he embodied it.

I can only imagine the reception he is receiving on the other side. And I can imagine the joy, enthusiasm, and sparkle in Jerry’s eyes as he sets his sights still higher in his journey of God consciousness now that he has entered the celestial plane.

Jerry, if you’re listening, I want you to know how grateful I am for the gift you gave me. Your “little” book led me to the “big” book that led me to my self. I’m still learning, and by your example I hope I’ll never stop. Love is the way I walk in gratitude…to you.