NR:  Weren't there times when Helen seriously considered seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist about all this?  Or maybe consider obtaining some medication that might take away the voice dictating to her?

THETFORD:  It wasn't a voice in that sense at all.  Helen was not pursued by voices; it was a very specific sense of channeled communication that would come to her from time to time.  She would be aware that there was material to be transcribed, and she could do it when she chose.  There was no pressure to immediately drop anything she was doing in order to take notes.  Rather, the material was there almost as if it had been pre-recorded, and was waiting for her attention.  It presented itself to her in a very separate and distinct part of her mind; she did not experience it as an external voice at all.

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NR:  There has been some speculation that you and Helen edited the Course.  Did you?

THETFORD:  No.  Bear in mind that at the beginning we didn't know exactly what was happening.  So we asked questions of a personal nature and recorded the answers that Helen would receive.  I would type these answers as part of the continuous process, no distinguishing them from the inner dictation that Helen was recording in her shorthand notebook.  Later when we realized that this material was obviously not a part of the Course itself, we did indeed, delete it.  It is true that there has been editing of capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing and section titles in the Text.  However, these changes were minor and the Workbook and the Manual for Teachers also appear exactly as they were taken down by Helen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
NR:  What do you now think about all of this, the fact that you were a special integral part of what some prominent people have referred to as one of the most important documents of the century?

THETFORD:  Quite frankly, Helen and I had no intention of publishing the Course when we were transcribing it.  Quite the contrary.  The material seemed specifically for our spiritual education.  We regarded it as our "guilty secret," something we were committed to doing, but at that time there was no indication we were supposed to share it with others.

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