When I first heard Gary Renard was working on another book, I thought "well what else is there to say after the DU?" Well, in some ways, a lot! It's true that the message is always about forgiveness and the Love of God. It's also true that the message can become lost when infused with various controversies among Course students or from those of other spiritual paths. In light of this, YIR (Your Immortal Reality) serves as an important corrective for controversies that have sprung up recently in the Course community (if you could call it that) as well as a corrective for several ancillary spiritual teachings that have in various ways become associated with ACIM. As a brief example, Gary's teachers address the editing of the text of ACIM, the story of which has been somewhat distorted among some students; as another example, they address kinesiology, something of a buzzword these days.
Suffice to say there are several such topics that can make it difficult for students of ACIM to get to the heart of what the text is saying. Gary's new book does an excellent job of framing these issues and of bringing us back to the unadulterated message of ACIM. And, as usual, the text is full of extremely interesting tidbits about history (including an offhanded remark about Shakespeare that almost made me fall out of my chair) or about the future (better break out those Star Trek DVDs). I could go on . . .
I love Gary's books. They're fun to read and, as I work through them, I have that rare feeling that every word is vital and important, especially upon reading Pursah's dictation of the Gospel of Thomas. I devoured YIR in one reading the day I got it, and have since been reading it more methodically. And I'll probably read it a third time after that. Yes, there is more to say; I hope I have ears to hear.