Glossary
An alphabetical reference for terms used throughout the ACIM Atlas documentation and companion site.
Abstraction code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies how abstract or concrete a motif’s treatment is in a given section: concrete, psychological, metaphysical, or bridge. See Controlled Codes.
Agency code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies where the “doing” is located in a motif’s treatment: behavior, mind choice, or beyond. See Controlled Codes.
Arc narrative: The editorial content at the top of a motif’s Overview subpage, telling the story of a motif’s journey across the Text. Composed of four subsections: How It Begins, How It Develops, Where It Peaks, and Common Confusions. Generated by Pass 4.
Atmospheric Constant: A role category. A motif with high frequency and low intensity—it appears broadly across the Text but usually not in a dominant role. More background fabric than foreground.
Banding: The process of dividing the motifs into Low, Mid, and High groups on the frequency and intensity axes using a tercile-by-rank split. See Frequency and Intensity.
Candidate motif: A concept identified during Pass 1 annotation that appears significant but falls outside the current controlled vocabulary. Candidates are recorded for review and may be incorporated into the vocabulary in future revisions.
Category code: An optional grouping label on a motif (e.g., ego-thought-system, perception, god-heaven) used for navigation. Not an analytical input.
Chapter page: A lightweight page for each chapter of the Text, offering a summary-and-patterns view that readers can land on before descending into individual sections.
Chapter patterns: A short observational note on each chapter page describing notable patterns in that chapter—which motifs receive their foundational treatment, how the chapter positions itself in the Text’s overall arc, or other structural observations. Generated by Pass 4.
Chapter summary: A single paragraph on each chapter page that weaves together the convergence-in-brief statements from every section in the chapter into one coherent chapter overview. Generated by Pass 4.
Controlled codes: Six analytical dimensions assigned to every motif occurrence during Pass 1: level, tone, relational focus, agency, abstraction, and frame. Each uses a small, fixed set of allowed values. See Controlled Codes.
Controlled vocabulary: The fixed set of motifs defined in Pass 0 and used throughout the pipeline. Every section is evaluated against the same list, ensuring consistent tracking across the full Text.
Convergence narrative: The editorial content at the top of a section page, describing how multiple motif trails interact in a single section. Composed of five fields: convergence_in_brief, Setting the Stage, The Threads That Meet, Key Moments, and Beneath the Surface. Generated by Pass 4.
Core Pillar: A role category. A motif with high frequency and high intensity—it appears often and registers strongly when present. The structural backbone of the Text.
Dense rank: The ranking method used to determine top-3 foreground status within a unit. Ties share the same rank, so if three motifs share the highest salience, all three count as top-3.
Echo: A salience tier (0.10–0.24). A faint mention or implication of a motif—detectable but not developed. Echoes are hidden by default on the site and are not eligible for seed, zenith, or milestone flags.
Evidence pointers: Paragraph-level references (e.g., p 1, p 4, p 7) recorded for each motif occurrence, indicating which paragraphs in a unit support the motif finding. On the site, they become clickable links into the ACIM Web Edition with the relevant paragraphs highlighted, and each section’s Paragraphs page maps them paragraph by paragraph. No quotations are stored.
First-pass context: A concise, factual description of what a motif is doing in a section, written by the Pass 1 GPT. Unit-local only—no trail-level comparison. Not displayed to site visitors; used for auditability and as input to later passes.
Foreground ranking: A measure of how often a motif ranks among the top 3 most salient motifs in the sections where it appears. Expressed as i_foreground (occ_top3 / occ_total). See Frequency and Intensity.
Frame code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies which interpretive lens is foregrounded: ego, Holy Spirit, or mixed.
freq_any: The proportion of units where a motif appears at any level (salience ≥ 0.10, including echoes).
freq_sub: The proportion of units where a motif appears substantively (salience ≥ 0.25). This is the frequency metric used for banding and role classification.
Fringe: A role category. A motif with low frequency and low intensity—rare and generally not foregrounded. At the periphery of the Text’s thematic landscape as measured by this analysis.
i_foreground: The proportion of a motif’s total occurrences where it ranks in the top 3 by salience within its unit. One of two components of the intensity index.
i_index: The blended intensity score: 0.5 × i_strength + 0.5 × i_foreground. The intensity metric used for banding and role classification.
i_strength: The mean salience score across a motif’s substantive occurrences (salience ≥ 0.25). One of two components of the intensity index.
Inclusion signals: Specific indicators defined in a motif’s metadata that signal the motif is present in a unit. Part of the Pass 1 rubric.
Key terms: A short list of terms capturing how a motif is expressed in a particular section. Recorded during Pass 1 as internal input to later passes; not displayed on the site.
Level code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies the teaching level foregrounded: metaphysical (non-dual), practical (within-the-dream), bridge (explicit connection between the two), or meta (about the teaching).
Long discussion: A 2–5 paragraph student-facing explanation of a motif’s role in a section. Generated by Pass 4. Displayed in Read, Study, and Research viewing modes.
Midfield: A role category. A motif with mid frequency and mid intensity—moderate presence and moderate force. Connective tissue in the Text’s thematic landscape.
Milestone: A structural anchor point in a motif’s trail—an occurrence that represents a significant deepening or development. Each motif has between 2 and 7 milestones total, including the seed and zenith. Flagged during Pass 2.
Milestone score: A 0-to-1 value estimating the importance of an occurrence as an anchor point in a motif’s arc. Distinct from novelty: an occurrence can consolidate earlier developments in a milestone-worthy way without being maximally novel. Assigned during Pass 2.
Minor: A salience tier (0.25–0.39). A motif that is present and identifiable but brief or secondary—the section doesn’t dwell on it.
Mixed: A role category. A motif whose frequency/intensity combination doesn’t match one of the five primary categories (e.g., high frequency / mid intensity).
Motif: A recurring theme tracked by ACIM Atlas across the Text. The project defines a fixed set of motifs as a controlled vocabulary, each with definitions, inclusion/exclusion signals, and disambiguation metadata. See Pass 0.
Motif occurrence: A single record of a motif appearing in a unit. The central data entity in the dataset, carrying salience, controlled codes, evidence, trail-level scores, and editorial content. Constrained to one per motif per unit.
Motif page: One of the two primary page types on the site. Follows a single motif’s journey across the entire Text, from an overview and charts through its Journey essay to every occurrence along its trail.
Narrative Journey: A long-form essay (typically around 2,900 words) telling a motif’s story as continuous, immersive prose. Lives on the Journey subpage. Generated by Pass 4.
Novelty score: A 0-to-1 value estimating how much an occurrence adds or shifts the motif relative to prior occurrences in the trail. Driven by observable differences in first-pass context, controlled codes, and key terms. Assigned during Pass 2.
Pass 0: Motif Definition. The manual step where the analyst defines the motif controlled vocabulary. See Pass 0.
Pass 1: Section Annotation. The GPT pass that reads each unit and produces motif occurrences with salience scores, controlled codes, evidence, and first-pass context. The only pass that reads the ACIM source text. See Pass 1.
Pass 2: Trail Synthesis. The GPT pass that processes each motif’s trail chronologically, assigning novelty, milestone scores, seed/zenith/milestone flags, and variation summaries. See Pass 2.
Pass 3: Corpus Metrics. The deterministic database pass that computes frequency, intensity, bands, and role categories from the Pass 1 and Pass 2 data. No AI involved. See Pass 3.
Pass 4: Editorial Content. The editorial layer that translates the analytical data from Passes 1 through 3 into student-facing content: arc narratives, per-occurrence discussions and practice content, section convergence narratives, section profiles, chapter-level editorial, Narrative Journey essays, and Teachings reference content. Authored through an iterative process of human-designed framework, AI drafting at scale, and sustained editorial review. See Pass 4.
Pass 5: Co-occurrence Analysis. The deterministic pass (database + script) that computes pairwise co-occurrence across all motifs, identifying strong pairs, triads, clusters, and notable absences. No AI involved. See Pass 5.
Pillar: A salience tier (0.60–0.79). A major motif that drives a significant portion of a section’s argument or practice—a load-bearing element.
Progression Sequence: A vertical timeline on the Teachings subpage showing the stations a motif’s central image passes through as it develops across the Text—from first appearance to final form. Generated by Pass 4.
Practice prompt: A concrete, gentle practice invitation generated for each motif occurrence by Pass 4. Mind-focused, doable in under two minutes, aligned with the Course. Displayed in Study and Research viewing modes.
Primary: A salience tier (0.80–1.00). The section is primarily about this motif—it drives the argument, dominates the teaching, or provides the organizing frame.
Reflection question: A single self-observation question generated for each motif occurrence by Pass 4. Specific to the occurrence, not generic. Avoids yes/no framing. Displayed in Study and Research viewing modes.
Relational focus code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies the primary relational target of the teaching: self, brother, sonship, God, or mixed.
Research mode: The most detailed viewing mode. Shows everything in Study mode plus score bars (salience, milestone, novelty), controlled codes, and evidence pointers.
Reversals: A set of cards on the Teachings subpage showing the specific corrections a motif’s trail asks the mind to make—what is released and what is recognized in its place. Each card is labeled by territory (the domain where the reversal applies). Generated by Pass 4.
Role category: A label classifying a motif based on its frequency/intensity combination: Core Pillar, Atmospheric Constant, Spotlight, Fringe, Midfield, or Mixed. Computed in Pass 3. See Role Categories.
Salience: A 0-to-1 score measuring how central a motif is to what a particular section is doing. Unit-local: the same motif can score differently in different sections. See Salience Tiers.
Scan mode: The lightest viewing mode. Each card shows only the snippet and the short discussion.
Second-pass context: An internal decision log written during Pass 2 documenting the rationale for novelty, milestone, and seed/zenith assignments. Not displayed to site visitors.
Section page: One of the two primary page types on the site. Shows all motifs that converge in a single section, from its convergence narrative down to which paragraphs each motif is cited in.
Section profile: A three-part editorial block (“Understanding This Section”) on every section page that interprets how the six controlled codes manifest in that section. Composed of Voice (tone + frame), Approach (level + abstraction), and Focus (relational focus + agency). Generated by Pass 4.
Seed: The first major establishing occurrence of a motif in its trail—the earliest substantive occurrence that begins the motif’s story for the reader. Every motif has exactly one seed. Flagged during Pass 2.
Short discussion: A 1–2 paragraph student-facing explanation of a motif’s role in a section. Generated by Pass 4. Displayed in Scan mode.
Snippet: A short editorial title for a motif occurrence, used as a navigation label and tooltip. Not a quotation from the Course. Generated by Pass 4.
Spotlight: A role category. A motif with low frequency and high intensity—rare, but when it appears it’s prominent. Creates concentrated moments of attention.
Study mode: The default viewing mode. Shows the snippet, long discussion, reflection question, and practice prompt.
Substantive threshold: The salience boundary at 0.25 that separates echoes (below) from substantive occurrences (at or above). Substantive occurrences are eligible for seed, zenith, and milestone flags, contribute to freq_sub, and are the primary focus of the editorial passes.
Supporting: A salience tier (0.40–0.59). A motif that is clearly developed and meaningful but not dominant in the section.
Teachings subpage: A motif subpage that distills the Narrative Journey essay into three structured study-reference sections: What the Trail Teaches, Progression Sequence, and Reversals. Section pages have a Teachings tab too, collecting the teachings and reversals drawn from that section, with links to the other sections they’re drawn from. Generated by Pass 4.
Tercile: One of three equal-sized groups formed by ranking. Pass 3 uses terciles to divide the motifs into Low, Mid, and High groups on both the frequency and intensity axes.
Thread: A compact horizontal visualization showing every section where a motif appears as a dot on a line. Appears as a full chart on the motif Charts subpage and as an inline element on section page cards (with a “you are here” marker and prev/next navigation). See Charts.
Tone code: One of the six controlled codes. Classifies the dominant rhetorical style of a motif’s treatment: expository, corrective, poetic, narrative, or meta.
Unit: A single analyzed division of the ACIM Text: the text introduction, a chapter introduction, or a section. Units are the structural grid against which all motifs are tracked.
Variation summary: One to three sentences describing what changed at a trail stop relative to earlier occurrences. Written during Pass 2. Not displayed to site visitors; serves as an auditability record and as input to the Pass 4 editorial layer.
Viewing modes: The four display modes available on occurrence cards: Scan, Read, Study (default), and Research. Each mode controls how much detail appears on each card.
What the Trail Teaches: A numbered list on the Teachings subpage summarizing the key teaching movements in a motif’s Narrative Journey essay. Each item captures a distinct shift or insight, ordered by how the teaching unfolds across the Text. Generated by Pass 4.
Zenith: The peak occurrence where a motif reaches its most mature, integrated, or culminating articulation. Every motif has exactly one zenith. Must be a substantive occurrence. Flagged during Pass 2.