 Some of the same things that we reacted to with Christianity, you know, it's all or nothing, black and white thinking Well, we get to the core, so it's like it is all or nothing thinking not in terms of behaviors, you know that somehow it's a sin if you don't wear a hat to church or some of this crazy beliefs and everything, but in terms of thought systems, you know, this is completely uncompromising So when I trailed around sometimes people would say Gary told me that what I was teaching was not the course or He told me that this isn't really the teachings of forgiveness or something and they would have reactions and And in one sense it's there has to be different people to play different parts and rules and so forth and in one sense You could say that's just calling a spade a spade Of course the miracles is a beautiful teaching, but like everything in form it is open to interpretation by the ego and The ego will interpret the course in many different ways to its own liking Ascended masters are not really interested in Multiple interpretation It's just boom Here it is like it or not here it is and so when you get into interpretations, you know, there's always going to be conflicts, disagreements and so on and so forth and the good thing about the state of peace or ascendance or transcendence is that it doesn't It doesn't buy into any of those conflicts It sees that there really is not to to conflict there isn't that duality It has to conflict which is beautiful. That's the blessing of Enlightenment that's the blessing of the present moment Ascension I'll call it this does not have an opinion. So, you know if you Have an ascended master and you say what's your opinion about this about that? You're not going to get an opinion Ascension does not give opinions And I can tell you From experience that this is really glorious state of mind because it is a very very glorious state of mind Not to have any opinions about anything Not about people not about fashions about Countries politics the environment Not about exercise No opinions about nutrition It's it's really very joyful Opinions Drain the mind Drain the mind the mind is actually a state of Vitality it's just that spectacular energy and radiance and joy and Opinions just put a damper Try to in awareness not in reality to bring the mind down into a state of sleep sluggishness deception and It's no fun above all opinions are no fun and so One thing I could say would be that it is impossible To live of life and live in a state of mind that has no opinions without the Holy Spirit in Jesus Or whatever name you choose to call spirit You choose to use other names that aren't Christian oneness this spirit is essential and Trust in this spirit is absolutely essential to that state of mind It would it would just be a pretense to kind of make a statement like okay I will no longer have an opinion if you didn't have a very trusting relationship with spirit Because you would just be fooling yourself, you know, you could try to just put a clamp on your mouth or Try to put on a happy face, but without that connection with spirit, it would just be empty It would just be another pretense and we don't want those pretenses So that's why we have this great opportunity here to really go deeply into this belief system called ego to go very deep and to expose it and to Reach that state that is beyond the opinions I find that in my journey and my life questions were very helpful they were always encouraged and Not so much questions about Like the gospel of the world who did what the what and What's the latest on this and what's the breaking news not those kind of questions But questions about the mind about consciousness about perception about beliefs About the thought system those are all helpful questions because they tend to unravel the ego The ego is is not something to just assume is real and true and just kind of leave it alone You do have to question what you believe in To be free of it So to me those are very helpful questions I have seen teachers of the course over the years that will it will not even respond to questions of the world that will say that's not a real question move on to the next one and In one sense We want to encourage the spirit of asking those real questions, but again, we're not putting any kind of limits of parameter So you can still feel free to ask any question whether it's about something in physicality or something in the mind Something about consciousness to feel free and open to ask anything Another thing about this is How far did you take this stuff? And you take it all the way anyone Who isn't really interested in taking it all the way to enlightenment? will soon tire of me because They usually don't hang around and they don't show up and that's fine too. My lesson always was Take it all the way And in taking it all the way you will see that nothing can be judged There aren't judgments about people who people who are taking it all the way or who aren't there aren't judgments about You know, who's getting it who's not getting it in the state of forgiveness Everything is equally acceptable and there isn't this sense of timing delay and there isn't this sense of before during and after It's a unification experience. It's a state of mind where everything is completely unified and in that unification there's really nothing to question or nothing to confront and it's really been good Over the years I've just watched a lot of things that have gone on in this world and a lot of things have gone on with the course and I never felt it was there was anything to Confront in form there was never a person to confront Also, I remember reading it in the teacher's manual that To an advanced teacher of God, there is no challenge and I thought well, that's cool No challenge Not that the experiences you go through don't seem challenging You certainly can seem very challenging to the ego, but it's that that you really don't have to go challenge anybody You don't have to challenge anybody on their beliefs There's no one to convince That's the best part. I find a trail around this world and going with these 26 countries is I Had an experience where I could feel the contentment and the peace and the joy of my heart and I knew that I there was nobody to convince and You're really you have this feeling of being relieved or off the hook When you have this feeling that way you can talk to anybody. You don't really care Whether they profess to believe in something or not whether they profess to believe in God or not Suddenly this whole thing about whether somebody is a believer or a non-believer Who cares? I mean who really cares If somebody's a believer or a non-believer when you're in the joy yourself Everyone is in that experience with you. You feel totally connected Like in quantum physics, you feel like you're part of the unified field You feel that everything and everyone is you. It's literally not figuratively or sentimentally But it's just all of you