This little book carries a big message and that is the personal renewal you will feel from forgiveness. The perceptions covered in the book will help you to see how powerful forgiveness is, for your own well being. It's a really great book, and one to have on hand in case you ever have some forgiving to do.

I first became aware of D. Patrick Miller thanks to his book THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE COURSE, which is a beautifully written and wonderfully researched account of the history and theory of the three-volume book of spiritual psychotherapy known as A COURSE IN MIRACLES.

The central teaching of the Course is that we need to forgive, that "forgiveness is your peace." So it only seemed logical to me that Mr. Miller, himself a student of the Course, would write a book called A LITTLE BOOK OF FORGIVENESS.

The Course's version of forgiveness is quite different from conventional ideas about forgiveness. I won't go too far into here (for that, I recommend turning to any book by Kenneth Wapnick), but basically the Course teaches that you forgive another not for what they have done, but for what they have not done. And what they have not done is get in the way of your relationship with God -- because, as the Course says, no one and nothing in the physical universe can do that. "There is no order of difficulty in miracles."

It appears to me that in A LITTLE BOOK OF FORGIVENESS D. Patrick Miller is a bit more conventional in his approach to forgiveness. While the influence of the Course is certainly felt, the content of this work seems to be more of a worldly nature than what is found in the Course. It seems to me that Mr. Miller focuses on acknowledging the wrongs that have been committed against the listener, be it a betrayal by a friend, the neglect of a parent, etc., and then encouraging the listener to let go and move on in his life. Though, at least in my opinion, this is certainly different from the form of forgiveness mentioned in the Course, it has its validity. The truth of the matter is that we all have a list of grievances that we very truly do believe have occurred in this physical universe, and it is a gift to ourselves to be able to move beyond them. It took a great deal of growth on my part to realize that all of my grievances ultimately hindered me. There are people I have been angry with for years (such as my first grade teacher who accused me of having learning disabilities and sent me to remedial reading classes; proving her wrong is actually a great motivational force behind my writing), but who most likely have not thought about me one bit. So who suffered as a result of my anger? I did, of course. What a waste of time! In A LITTLE BOOK OF FORGIVENESS D. Patrick Miller seems to be suggesting that the listener stop wasting his or her time.

I think that A LITTLE BOOK OF FORGIVENESS is something of an in-between step from the conventional ideas about forgiveness and the more radical ideas of forgiveness put forth in A COURSE IN MIRACLES. I say this because there seemed to be no mention of the more esoteric and metaphysical ideas of forgiveness put forth in the Course. Actually, I don't recall hearing one direct quote from the Course, which did surprise me. But D. Patrick Miller's thoughts on forgiveness dovetail nicely with what the Course has to say.

About the production value of this CD: the music by Michael Masley is beautiful and otherworldly, and the text reading by Gene Bogart is theatrical if not a bit staccato.

Overall, this is very uplifting CD.

Andrew Michael Parodi