I

   I first met A Course in Miracles in 1986, during a visit to the Findhorn Foundation (Scotland), of which I’m a Resource Person. I was visiting their bookstore when a friend of mine pointed to the “blue book” and said, “You should read this one!” At that time I felt that my English was not so good. I had been using it a lot in the past, but in the last six years I had worked in an organisation taking care of ill-treated and psychologically disturbed children with few opportunities to practice English. I said to myself, “The book is too big and difficult to read, and I’m not prepared to face it.” So I decided not to follow my friend’s suggestion.

   But the things changed one year later. As soon as I bought it, I felt I had to do something with it, not just for myself. However, as a counsellor and group and workshop leader, offering courses on personal and spiritual growth, I had never considered myself as a translator. I had translated only as a hobby for the pleasure to share with others something they were unable to access. Lacking a degree, I felt that I did not have the “title” to be an official translator. Nevertheless, I began to feel that I was called to do that.

   When Fulvio, Sergio and I met for the first time, none of us could even imagine where that first meeting would lead us. Each one of us had been working on the Course individually, and our idea was to compare our individual work and share our experiences as students of the Course. But after that particular afternoon together, I felt that we shared a common purpose. So I wrote to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles and asked if they were still interested in an Italian version of the Course and, most of all, if we could be the translators. That was the beginning of our adventure.

   Translating the Course gave me an opportunity to deepen my knowledge of English, as well as of Italian and, most of all, of myself. In the five years spent to do this job I had to look at myself, face many challenges, in particular my own resistances to the principles of the Course in my life. It was really a healing process involving new friends and colleagues. I especially want to honour the loving presence of Teresa Pasquetto Blanchard, and thank her for all her support I. She was Italian, but married an American man who took her to live in the States. She “appeared” when I was in need of help for the editing of the Italian translation, working on the computer to insert all the needed corrections. She died in a car accident, with her brother and sister, when the job was almost completed. Thank you, Teresa.

   Since the Course was published in November 1999, I have continued to share myself as much as I can… teaching the Course but mostly teaching people to look at themselves in a different, more loving way.