 A lot of time people in different traditions and philosophies talk about, or even religions, talk about God's will, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about that initially, is just to say that God's will for you is perfect happiness, and that probably resonates in your heart. If you're thinking of sometimes growing up, you know, there's some countries invaded, or something happens here, or some catastrophe, or weather condition, and they talk about, well that was God's will. Now let's just settle down a bit here before we start telling God what God's will is, and just be receptive and open to the idea that God's will is perfect happiness, undisturbed happiness, undisturbed bliss, and then also that we're opening to an experience that our will and God's will is the same. You know, initially there are even prayers of like St. Francis, not my will but thy will, we're opening, releasing all egoic sense of will to know perfect happiness. That's really our purpose, is to experience perfect happiness. So it doesn't really matter whether we call it God's will, or higher power will, or whatever you want. That will for perfect happiness is, you might say, where our life is, that's where our eternal life is, and also sometimes people will talk about God created man to have free will. I think it would be a little more accurate to say God created Christ in free will. Humans can oftentimes have the illusion that they have free will, but if they're not happy and they're not experiencing perfect happiness then this idea of free will on earth is quite strange actually. Yes, God created an extended free will, but that's talking about heaven or nirvana, that's talking about a gift of God. It's like God, perfect happiness, and oftentimes in this world free will is associated in philosophy with choice. God gave human beings the gift of choice. Again, we have to really be really clear about this idea of choice. If heaven and love are perfect oneness then to say that choice between opposites came from God is a bit strange. Why would perfect oneness start granting things like choice and multiplicity and complexity when love is simple? Love is joyful, love is one. So this idea that human beings have choice, that's another construct. It could be part of this sense of the ego of having an autonomous will apart from God, an autonomous life apart from heaven or apart from spirit. The ego will protect its make believe choice with many defense mechanisms. So when you talk about people wanting to be free and not wanting to lose their freedom of choice, the Course is really a beautiful teaching saying you may want to take a little closer look at this freedom of choice that you believe that human beings have as if it was a gift granted from God. Actually whatever the ego made can be used by the Holy Spirit to take us back to that pristine love and pristine oneness and choice is no exception. Whatever the ego made the Holy Spirit can use. And so right away you can see as you go through your daily life as a human being it seems like you have a lot of decisions to make. There's a lot of choices to make. But from a higher perspective all of those choices that make up the human condition are just part of a swirl of images that is really a prearranged plan of awakening. And the more that you can bring that idea that concept of choice back to your mind the more helpful it will be. The more you say well it seems like I have many choices in this world. There's many menus and many many options. And the ego might even tell you the more the better. You're going to be happier with more choices. More options. Bigger, better, faster, more. Some of us have started to experience maybe that's actually not true. That more choices in the world maybe isn't such a helpful thing at all. Maybe that's part of a trick. And many years ago I did a talk I think it was probably around maybe around 1993. Some decades ago where I did a talk and they made a little tiny booklet that fits in your pocket or your purse. It's the tiniest little booklet that I have but it's the most profound. It's the best of all the other books and the big thick books and this and this. This is a little pamphlet. It's about this big. It's a little black and white pamphlet called Purpose is the only choice. It's a little tiny little pamphlet that's designed to simplify things to start to come into this experience like wow. That choice of purpose that I have in mind is the most important decision I can make. You could think of it as going through your day and just aligning with the Spirit like one of Helena's songs, Decide for Me. Say to the Holy Spirit, Decide for Me when you are joining with the purpose of the Holy Spirit, joining in forgiveness, joining in alignment with God then you could say that when you have decided to do this with God, with the Holy Spirit on a regular habitual basis then each seeming choice becomes as easy and as right as breathing. And Jesus says it's as if you're carried down a summer, a path in summertime. It's so soft and gentle. You just are in that place of surrender. Even if you still seem to have choices to make in this world, they're so given. They just flow in your mind like soft, silky, melty butter. Just smooth as can be. You're in the smoothness. You just flow it along the day, not so interested in the cares, the concerns of the world. You're just in that smooth flow. You're in the rhythm. You're in the vibe. And that's really the goal of A Course in Miracles. That's how you are taken into this forgiveness state of mind. It is through these surrendered choices where you are saying to the Holy Spirit, decide for me, show me, you lead the way. I would make no decision on my own today. I would join with you and be connected and linked with you in every seeming choice that I have to make as I move through the day. As part of a greater context of unwinding the whole belief in choice, because if I want to be perfectly happy, which is God's will, then I in the end will have to surrender even the concept of choice. After the Holy Spirit has used it enough, it'll be like, you can kiss that one goodbye too. In heaven there are no choices to make. In oneness there are no choices. There is nothing to choose between. And that's the surrender that comes where you start to pray for simplicity, you're praying for harmony, and you're coming closer and closer to that choiceless awareness, that choiceless experience.