 Hi everybody. Hello. Thank you for joining us again. So nice to be together. And I'm Peter for those who are new. And we've got a full day ahead of us. We're going to have a movie commentary with David just coming up. And then we always like to have a 10 minute break after then and then we go into questions and prayers. So during that 10 minutes you'll have time to submit your questions and prayers. So I'm going to pass it right over to you now, David. Thank you, Pete. Hi, everyone. Welcome. It's so beautiful to see you go to the gallery view. Look at all your smiling faces. Joy, joy, joy. Here we go. Well, you know, every week we just pray to be illuminated. We pray to be graced by God's loving presence. We pray to be happy. It's pretty simple. We just want to be happy. We feel we want to be happy always, all the time. And Jesus is telling us, yeah, that's your birthright. You were created happy and you will be happy when you remember your true self and you remember your creator. So that's not a small thing to be happy. And we're not talking about little temporary happiness based on a circumstances going a certain way. You know, you're in the lottery. Oh, you're happy for a few weeks. Something happens in the world. You're happy for a little while. We're talking about bursting happiness, a happiness that comes from right within you and radiates out to everything and everyone. So, wow, what a treat today. Jesus is answering our prayers with you hear me talk about it sometimes like I did last week. We have a classic movie today. Jesus is pulling out a classic movie out of his collection. And the only thing better than a classic movie is a classic movie. That's a comedy. Oh my gosh, if you have a classic movie that teaches you what you want to learn and shows you what you need to release and forgive and it's a comedy. And you can laugh while you're being raised up to the light. There is nothing better in this world than a comedy that inspires you a comedy that helps heal your mind. A comedy that brings you so much laughter during the movie and even after the movie tonight tomorrow, you still find yourself laughing for no reason at all. You just burst out laughing and you can't even control it. And that's because the whole point of the teachings of A Course in Miracles is to remember to laugh at the silly idea of the ego and the projection that the ego made. If you take the projection seriously, it's not funny. There's nothing funny about a projection that you believe in. There's nothing funny about believing something that's not true. And why would one choose fear when you can choose the replacement for fear and the reinterpretation of fear? Isn't it beautiful to think that fear is not a solid set thing? Fear is not an absolute. It's just F-E-A-R, false evidence appearing real. And Jesus is retranslating the fear and saying you really don't have anything to be afraid of once you start to allow the retranslation in your mind of everything that you perceive. Whatever you perceive can be retranslated. I mean, I grew up as a Christian and I went to Bible school and summer Bible school. And, you know, there was parts of the Bible that I kind of had a bit of a fearful reaction toward, you know, like there was a part in the Bible that says vengeance is mine saith the Lord. And I never liked that. I thought, oh, that sounds nasty. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. But then when I got to a course of miracles, Jesus said, you know, vengeance is not a thought that belongs in your holy mind. Give it to me. Ah, vengeance is mine saith the Lord. Give it to me. Give it over. Give over that idea of vengeance. I thought, well, if you can retranslate that, I think you could probably retranslate anything. And Jesus is like, of course, of course I can. I can take your vengeance thoughts away. I can take any of your unreal thoughts away and poof, they're gone. Poof, they're gone. Poof, they were never there. Poof, they were never there. So today's movie is the answer to our prayers. And these are the themes that you voted for. The number one theme that you want to experience today is become conscious of where I reject or ignore the spirit's prompts. Wow, that's a big one. Become conscious of where I reject or ignore the spirit's prompts. That's just, it shows you how subtle this is that even when you make contact with the Holy Spirit and Jesus, even when you start to live much more of an intuitive life and much less of an analytical life, when you start to be more focused on the present moment and less on the past, then you will still find that you have to become very conscious of where you reject or ignore the spirit's prompts. Basically, Jesus told us, let your yes be yes and let your no be no. That the spirit's guidance is not going to be saying yes to everything and everyone. It will require discernment. And there will be times when you will have to let the spirit put the word in your mouth. Yes. And sometimes you have to let the spirit put the word in your mouth. No. But the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit is the one who's helping the mind navigate toward the light. People don't do a very good job of navigating to the light because the people were made as incomplete. They were made by the ego as images, idle images. And there are no perfect people. And even the idea of self-improvement, if you think you can improve the person you are, you actually have to go a little deeper than that and you have to start to learn to forgive the past and forgive the person and forgive the image that has been made to take the place of the Christ. So it's not really about self-improvement. It's more about let go of the self that the ego made and then let the light shine through the mind and radiate, which is its natural state, natural condition. Number two, let my mind be rinsed from attack thoughts. Yeah, we just went through the workbook lessons for those of you that are doing the Course in Miracles workbook lesson. That's lesson number 23. I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. That's real basic. Jesus is not only giving us the key to happiness. He's teaching us how to forgive and then he happens to slip in in that exercise. This is the only way that will work. And just in case we think we might try to come up with another method, Jesus is like, oh, and by the way, I'm giving it to you straight. Number one and number two, this is the only way that will work. Obviously, he's talking about forgiveness in our mind. So he's not saying there's one way informed that's better than another. But he's saying, I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. He's just giving us a straight shot to heaven. Number three, all things are possible with God. Wow, that is the source of faith. All things are possible with God. Just whenever you feel like something seems to be too much or too difficult or too challenging. That's a very comforting theme to have in your mind. All things are possible with God. Another version of that is from the Bible is if God is with us, who can be against us? I like that one. I've used that for many years. Oh, if God is with me, who can be against me? Okay, that's the end right there. No need to search any further. Number four, being aware that I am only dreaming. Dreaming, dreaming. All we have to do is remember it's a dream because once you're aware that you're dreaming, then you can actually allow the purpose for the dreaming to be shifted. But if you're not really constantly and consistently aware that you're dreaming this world, then you can't shift the purpose from hatred to forgiveness. You will keep looking outside and keep hoping that the people will change. You'll keep hoping the world will change. The environment will change. You keep hoping the dream will change. And there is no hope of changing the dream. But if you come back and you humbly say, all right, I'm just dreaming this and I've mistaken about the purpose for which it was made, now give me your purpose and let me see the world differently. Let me interpret the world differently. That's so beautiful. That's such a humble prayer. I'm dreaming and I need to know how to forgive the world. I need to know how to see it differently. And finally, seeing through the belief in being unfairly treated. Unfairly treated. Yep. There's the core of all grievances, the belief in victimization, the belief that someone not you can do something to you apart from your will. Why would God create a being that could be tortured by something else? Why would Almighty God create a being that was at the mercy of anything? If God created you, God must have created you perfectly a spirit. We must all be spirit because that is how God creates. You know, even in this world, you get apples from apple trees. You get oranges from orange trees. We get grapes from grape vines. And Jesus is carrying it forward and he says, yeah, in heaven, spirit comes from spirit. God creates in spirit. God does not create unlike God. God is love and God creates love. And what we see today in today's movie is actually Jesus is giving us a comedy and a classic so we can go look closely at one very, very straightforward concept that Jesus has in his Course in Miracles. And the concept that this movie will help to undo is called the authority problem. Authority problem. The question is who is my author? And here are the options. This is what we have to choose from. We get to choose from one of two options. One, God is my author. God is my author and I am still as God created me. Okay, that's one option. And the other option is and the other option is that I can make myself. Okay, there you go. That's it. That's the range. Either God is my author or I can make myself. And for all, we could say for the mind that seems to be asleep and dreaming and has chosen to witness this world. Some say it's a beautiful world. Some say it's an ugly world. What does Jesus have to say about this world? Well, we just went through one of his workbook lessons. What I see is a form of vengeance. That's right. If you're looking out even at the birdies and the bees and the trees and the sky and the clouds and the stars and the sun and you're seeing separate objects that seem to exist in and of themselves, there's that lesson. What I see is a form of vengeance. Fragmentation is a form of vengeance. You're holding onto vengeance in your mind if you're seeing a fragmented world. If you're interpreting the world as separate people, separate places, separate situations, separate objects, separate scenario, separate dreams, separate languages, separate countries, separate governments, separate solar systems, solar systems, separate galaxies. Listen, fragmentation is a form of vengeance. Most people get to that lesson in the course workbook and they go, oh, I don't like this. Let's get back to the nice flowery ones. I want some flower power. Jesus, not what the world I see is a form of vengeance. But I will give you a hint. The reason that Jesus says the world I see is a form of vengeance is basically what Jesus is saying is, underneath this world in your mind, there's an authority problem. God created you in perfect love and light. You're a creation of God. You're abstract love and light. And now when you believe in the body and separate things, you are trying to invent yourselves. And that's why he has a workbook lesson that says, I have invented the world I see. So let's go back to the original question. Authority problem is the belief that I can make myself and the solution to the authority problem is God is my author. God created me whole. God created me one. God created me love. God created me peaceful. That's the truth. And that's what we have to do in spiritual awakening. It's letting go of the authority problem. Now, for most of us, most of us have gone through a progression where we were going through our life trying to better ourselves, trying to better our careers, trying to better our relationships, trying to better our circumstances and surrounding, trying to better our environment. And how many of you went through a phase where you were into self-improvement? I did. Anybody go to the library and look at the self-improvement books? What color is your parachute and all of the books on self-improvement? Well, I have to tell you now books on self-improvement are still part of the authority problem. The self as God created it is Christ. And Christ doesn't need self-improvement. Christ is perfect. Christ always has been perfect, always will be perfect. So it's more of a surrendering over even the wish to improve myself and to say, God, you show me who I am. God, reveal to me how you created me as perfect spirit. That's the prayer. I'm willing to toss out self-improvement even if that's what it takes to wake up. I'll toss out self-improvement. There's a lot of New Age philosophies that teach you have a powerful mind. Good, good, like that. You have powerful thoughts. Okay, all right, all right. And you can manifest anything that you want. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nada, nada, nada, nada. Strike three on that last one. Strike three. No, we're blowing past the New Age. That's right. Oh, no, we're not here to manifest. We're not here to become great manifesters. Oh, I manifested a yacht and I manifested a million dollars in my bank account. Oh, I manifested my soulmate. Oh, let's get the violin out and play too bad. No, that's part of the authority problem too is the belief that you can manifest anything that you want because, as Jesus tells us, you don't know what you want. You are so confused in this dream state that you can't judge your advances from your retreats. You can't judge pain from joy. You are so confused about your identity that you have lost the ability to consistently discern between pain and joy because Jesus says if you could discern between pain and joy, the pain would be gone forever. You would choose the joy if you weren't tricked into choosing pain. If you weren't tricked into suffering, you would choose joy so you don't understand your own best interest. We just did lesson 24. We were going through the workbook lessons and Jesus said in no circumstance, in no situation do you perceive your own best interest. He didn't say some. He said in no situation do you perceive your own best interest. Now we understand why. That's because the authority problem is like a veil drawn over the truth in our mind. It's a veil drawn to cover the light. As long as we believe in that veil, it must mean underneath that we still prefer to be right about a false identity. We still prefer to be right about wanting to make ourselves, instead of admitting we were completely wrong about that and wanting, God is my Creator. God is my Creator. And that is not a manifestation. This is where a lot of the spiritualities and philosophies get caught up of trying to connect God to the projected world. The world, the cosmos is a projection of the ego. God didn't create it. God didn't make the body. The ego made the body. And all of the other images that seem to surround the body. So we're in for a big treat today. And now let's shift our attention a little bit to the movie. The movie for today came out in 2003. Not only do we have a classic movie, a comedy classic movie, but as far as directors go, this is a director that he's got my heart. Tom Shadyak. I tell you, I adore, absolutely adore Tom Shadyak movies. I have never seen a Tom Shadyak movie that didn't open my heart. Every single movie this guy does is absolutely spectacular. That is, I mean, it's gone from this world. And you got to have a good director. So we have Jim Carrey, one of the funniest comedians in the history of the universe. And sometimes people ask me, I wish we could elect better politicians to help turn this world around. Listen, I'll take a comedian any day over a politician. I'll take a comedian over a dictator. I'll take a comedian over anything you can offer me, because our main problem is we forgot to laugh. And I would rather spend the day with a comedian than the king or the queen or the prince or the princess or the dictator or the president. You know, you got to like, Jim Carrey has got, he's top of the line. Jesus is throwing in his primo comedian. He's throwing in Jennifer Aniston, a great, great actress. And in this, this movie, her name is Grace. Oh my gosh, she plays Grace. He's throwing in all the best. And he's got Tom Shadyak directing. He's the best, the best of the best when it comes to directors. So you have, we have a character, our main character is Bruce Nolan. And Bruce Nolan lives in Buffalo, New York. And he works for a television station. And he's 40 years old. And some of you know, 40 years old can be that time when you're trying to really advance your career. I wish I had the advice from Jesus when I was a teenager, because Jesus, it took me into my 20s for Jesus to convince me that the only vocation he wants for us is healing the mind. He's not interested in careers. He's interested in our one true vocation, which is healing the mind. Harriers are still part of the self concept. And there's a lot of struggle and crisis around the career idea. Some of you have noticed that. I noticed that for sure. There was a lot of stress. There was a lot of struggle. There was a lot of analysis. A lot of pining and wondering, what am I going to do with my life? And a lot of it was reflected from my parents, you know, who would say, Oh, David, we want you to be happy. We want you to have a joyful, fulfilling life. And bottom line, how are you going to make a living? How are you going to get out of our house and make a living? And that's pretty common. You know, we're supposed to leave the house of our origin and make a living. And basically Jesus is saying, well, if you want to know what true life is, it's eternal life. And the way that you reach it is you devote your entire mind's energy into spiritual awakening through forgiveness, healing the mind. So I'm glad when I was in my late 20s, that in the parable of David, that Jesus gave it to me straight. I said, Really? Is this really what you're saying? And he said, Exactly. That's what I'm saying. And I said, Well, what do you want to mean? And he said, Give it all back. Give it to me. I'll use it. Give me your mind, your skills, your abilities, your meager bank account. Give it to me. Give me everything that you think you've learned in the world. Give it all to me. And now I will give it back to you in a retranslated purpose. So you will, you will not be identified with any of it. You'll just see that you're dreaming it and, and that I'm with you. I'm with you in the right mind of your dream. And that's the, that's where you find the peace is dream with me. He says, come in. If you're before you wake up, dream with me for a while. And a lifetime is not too short for Jesus, you know, he'll actually take, take your life, your seeming life in form. So Bruce Nolan, he's very career minded. He's got a lot of stress and pressure and lack and unfulfillment and, and basically frustration tied into his identity and his career as, as a, as a broadcaster as, as somebody who works for a broadcasting company. Grace, she's his girlfriend. They have a dog named Sam. Sam provides him with lots of forgiveness opportunities by peeing all over the rug and the furniture. And, and he has his own temptations, probably his greatest temptation is comparison, because he wants to advance his personal interest, personal career. And then there's Evan Baxter is somebody else who works at his, at his place of employment. And there's a competition going on there. Now this is not strange for us because we've grown up in which there seems to be competitions at work, competitions in relationships, competitions in all aspects of the fabric of the cosmos seem to involve competition. Even if you have bugs that you believe are in your house, it turns into a war between the homeowners or the renters and the bugs. Who's going to be victorious? You see, because the belief in competition is what made this world. So we shouldn't be surprised that our forgiveness lessons are about letting go of competition and, and coming into deeper prayer. This movie has all the classics. It involves God's voice. It involves instructions. It involves prayer. It involves development of trust. It involves letting go and surrendering to God's will for perfect happiness. But we're learning now that the only way we can have a lasting happiness is we have to surrender the belief that we can make ourselves. We have to surrender the authority problem. God created us as spirit. That's a fact. God extended Christ. That's our identity. Our shared identity is, is the Christ. That's a fact. Perception is not a fact. Perception is temporary. Our, our identity is eternal. Perception will come and go and perception will seem to begin and end. But our identity has no beginning and ending. It goes on forever and forever and forever. Hallelujah. Thank you, God. That's the spectacular part is God created us as pure love. And there's nothing we can think or say or do or make that can change eternal love that can change our true identity. Thank God. We cannot break away from God because we could never be happy if we could break away from God. And, and that's why we always pray to God, show me what you want me to see. Show me the vision of Christ. Show me the truth. So in this movie, I think again, the context of the movie is, first of all, we, we feel great frustration with our perception of this world. The fragmented perception of the world is frustrating by definition because it's not our reality. And if we, if we're perceiving it all, we're not knowing God because Jesus teaches us to know is not the same as to perceive to know is to be one with God to perceive is to invent. All Jesus says is give the invention back to the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit use the invention for a while because the Holy Spirit will ever destroy what the sleeping Christ has made. But the Holy Spirit has to use it to wake the sleeping Christ up to remember the Christ. And so we're here to learn to just let it all be used every day. Wake up in the morning, clueless as you can be. The more clueless you can be, the better. I feel grateful. My cat, who is not in the room right now, but will come into my room, has got sometimes one of the, the best kind of clueless, the clueless look that you could ever find. And I'm so grateful for that clueless look. It's just the wide eyed. I do not know what anything is for. It was a couple days ago that Svava was saying that our cat had the mind of what was it? It was some simple animal. But basically our cat looks most often very, very clueless. And that's just a reminder to us that we pray to be clueless about this world so that we can be shown our true identity. We actually pray to be clueless. We have to forget everything we've learned about this world in order to make space for the truth. So it's really important. It's really important. Oh, it was a goldfish. Svava said that cat has the memory of a goldfish. And the cat was so clueless the cat was not offended at all. It just was like, what does that mean? The cat doesn't even, the cat did not get insulted with, you have the memory of a goldfish. Now, if somebody said to me, you have the memory of a goldfish, I would, I would take that as a compliment. I would say, I've got to hold on to that one. I want to have the memory of a goldfish, please. Most goldfish I know look very peaceful and serene. Even if they're in a glass and they're enclosed, they look like little Buddhas, little, little yellow gold Buddhas, you know, they are pretty clueless. So I want you to sit back and enjoy. Today, you can fly your magic carpets pretty freely because it's a comedy. Don't worry if your hands get off of the carpet a little bit. You still laugh. Jesus is here. Jesus is saying, you guys definitely need more comedies. You need so many more comedies because he said, I want you to breach the state of mind where you can laugh consistently at this world, where it all turns funny. And once it all turns funny, then you're starting to really get, get into the flow of, of what true love really is when everything starts to seem funny. So enjoy the movie. I will pop in with you from time to time and classic comedy. We got to savor this one. Just enjoy. Enjoy the ride.