Judith Skutch
Judith Skutch’s trademark is her energy, enthusiasm, curiosity and action. Were it not for her A Course in Miracles might never have been published.
Reading it for the first time in 1975, Judy Skutch knew from that point onwards it was to be her life’s work.
Judy made it her mission to share ACIM with the world, something she still does today as the President of the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Judith’s Journey
Judith Skutch was brought up in a hectic, family-orientated, inquisitive home. Her education included a grounding in Judaism and the family household was a magnet for world-renowned thinkers.
Sharing shared meals and conversations with eminent thinkers of the day Judy developed a thirst for knowledge.
Her natural inquisitiveness continued developing as she grew older and was further piqued when her daughter displayed an inexplicable psychic ability.
This led Judy and her husband Bob to form the Foundation for Para-Sensory Investigation.
Judith Skutch hits a low
Immersing herself in the world of parapsychology, Judith Skutch led a stimulating and fascinating life that on the face of it should have completely fulfilled her.
However she felt depressed. Despite on the surface seeming to have everything in the 1970’s she reached a low ebb.
In the book Journey without Distance Judith describes her lack of drive.
“Here I had everything, a loving husband, two wonderful, talented children, inspiring work that put me in contact with the most interesting of people and yet I felt a huge void inside me as if I were splitting apart.”
Her listlessness continued to increase. Judy didn’t feel she had a sense of direction and her work wasn’t fulfilling.
At this point a numerologist told her she was destined to meet an older woman who was to become her teacher and that within a year she’d publish one of the most important spiritual documents known to humanity.
Although Judith dismissed this prediction out of hand, it was to prove uncannily accurate. Just a few days later she was to meet Bill Thetford and Helen Schucman.
Judith Skutch meets Bill and Helen
When she received the invitation, Judy was keen of the opportunity to meet Bill and Helen. She wanted to talk to these respected psychologists about her research into parapsychology.
However, as it turned out neither Helen Schucman or Bill Thetford seemed interested in her work and Judith was left wondering why she’d been invited along.
It was towards the end of the meeting that she suddenly found herself turning to Helen Schucman and saying out of the blue, “You hear an inner voice don’t you?” Helen blanched whilst Bill Thetford ushered Judy back to the office.
It was here Judy first caught sight of the huge ring binders that contained A Course in Miracles.
When she read the first lines of the text, she heard an inner voice saying, “This is your map home”.
Judy was fascinated to hear the story of how Bill and Helen had written ACIM.
Taking it home that evening she read it non-stop for eight hours. She knew this was set to become her life’s purpose.
Judy Skutch spreads the word
Armed with enthusiasm, a large contacts book and an uncanny ability to spread the word - Judy started to copy ACIM and share it with some trusted friends.
As the word spread so the demand for the manuscript increased and Judith found herself Xeroxing more and more copies. The interest in A Course in Miracles was snowballing.
Publishers started coming forward asking to publish the manuscript, but every time Helen, Bill, Kenneth Wapnick and Judy would sit together and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, the answer would come back as a ‘no’.
When they asked the Holy Spirit ‘who’ should publish it they soon realised it was to be Judith Skutch through the Foundation.
The Foundation for Inner Peace is created
It was at this point that the name of the Foundation (at Helen’s request) was changed from the Foundation for Para-Sensory Investigation. to the Foundation for Inner Peace. Helen Schucman was most insistent that the Course was not associated with anything remotely ‘weird’.
When Psychic Magazine asked if it could do an article with Helen the answer from the Holy Spirit was ‘no’.
ACIM was to be associated with the spiritual and metaphysical and not confused with anything psychic.
It wasn’t until the name of the magazine was changed from Psychic Magazine to New Realities that an article about A Course in Miracles was eventually published.
What happened to Judith, Kenneth, Helen and Bill?
Judith Skutch, Kenneth Wapnick, Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford each had such different personalities and skills. Combined they made a formidable team.
Judith Skutch Whitson (as she is now known) is still active with the Foundation for Inner Peace. Judith is the president for the FIP.
Kenneth Wapnick went on to create a teaching organization for ACIM called the Foundation for A Course in Miracles FACIM.
Helen died in 1980 from pancreatic cancer and Bill Thetford passed away seven years later from a heart attack.
Information and Sources
The Complete Story of the Course - D. Patrick Miller
Journey without Distance - Robert Skutch
Foundation for Inner Peace website
