 This is a really good question, so I want to read it first. Hi, David and Francis. So with giving up the world and letting go of false responsibility, how do you know when you are avoiding love and responsibility and using this truth to face, to not face what is given? And how does this linguist Ken Wapnick's teaching, as well as Arden and Persha, of just being normal and doing your forgiveness work? So this actually, someone asked me this question not so long ago. She is going through a divorce right now and when we know, when you actually take the step to leave a very familiar construct or life, very comfortable, she was going through a lot of emotions. With the mind training that you have done for all these years, I wonder whether you could just do the forgiveness without having to divorce and in your own family. I felt like when she first said that my mind short-wired, it feels like I couldn't understand the question. Short-circuit. Short-circuit. Short-circuit is like, it's like, what? How could that be? I don't understand the question. And then in the end, after this short-circuit, it went on for a few seconds, I said, but that will be done. It all comes down to you should be able to forgive in this circumstance if you had the mind training without having to go through these steps. And I found it was really interesting because my mind could not comprehend that hypothetical scenario. All that I had in mind was, but that will be done. How can that be that I do not follow the script and the will of God and achieve forgiveness? It was completely uncomprehensible in my mind, so I was just like, that's the only thing that shows up. And I feel that is why it is a very good question to point in the guidance retreat because that is true. Normal is what ego basically constructs the world. Normal situation and constructs, separated certain people, you have a relationship with most of the people you don't have a relationship, and you need to fulfill responsibilities according to those people. These are the responsibilities. And the rest of your identity with God, your peace of mind, they are not your responsibility. Your responsibility is in this world. So that is a total different set of responsibilities that we were taught. So yeah, I was just thinking, this is such a beautiful question because I remember when I heard the big voice, first of all came from the sky when I actually just asked that question, what was I to do? And the voice said, just wait here in Australia for something about to happen in your life. I waited for five years when David came and I was feeling this calling to leave my life and come over, but in my mind and also in my perceptual world, all the reflection was selfish, selfish, selfish. What about us? We love you. You love us. Why can't you do the work in this construct? Why can't you do this in the family? Why can't you love us? Why can't you extend your love to us? What about us? You love everybody else? So that was what I was facing and I had to really, I mean, I really thought about it in my mind. I thought, okay, let me really get this question clear. Why do I have to go? And I thought, you know, I do love my mom. I love my ex-husband a lot. I want to be with him if I can. So let me just jump ten years of my life and think what state of mind would I be in? I thought I would be resentful. I would be projecting. I would say I stayed because of you. I sacrificed for you. I hope you're happy now. And I thought, oh no, that's not love. Even I knew that's not responsible. That's not loving. And I cannot equate that with love. Even in my untrained mind, I knew that. I thought if I want to be loving, I need to be inspired. I need to be grateful. And I had no idea. Only God knows how I can turn from a bored state of mind, uninspired and resentful state of mind to have a total turn. So since I don't know, my life is yours, God. Lead me to that state of mind. And when I left, I knew I left for love. I knew that for fact I left for love. For love that I could tap into so that I can extend to them whenever I think of them. That's why I was saying to say that I love someone is better in this world to say I forgive you because I need to learn forgiveness first and foremost in order to tap into that love. But I think that is a good question just because it also comes back to what is our responsibility and what is a normal life situation. Why can't we do that? Yeah, you know, I think there are when I was reading the course and I was reading the I need do nothing section, I could feel this huge energy starting in my chest like this huge vibration and this vast energy and it was like Jesus saying pay attention. And I'm like, this is the I need do nothing section of the course. And in a book that has instructions and a workbook and everything what's this huge fluttering and energy going on in my chest with I need do nothing. And then it came back again in Lesson 189 in the workbook. Simply do this, be still, lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is. Hold on to nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past is taught. One belief from anything you learned before. Forget this world, forget this course. Forget Ken Wapnick. Forget David. Forget everything. Forget everything. Can you hear this? Forget everything and come with open arms unto your God. Jesus never says be normal. What did Jesus say 2,000 years ago? Be passers by. He said, judge not. Be passers by. If he puts a word after be and usually he doesn't if you want I mean Shakespeare I think had it to be or not to be that is the question. The question isn't about being normal. The question is to be or not to be. Jesus says in the Course we say God is and then we cease to speak. He says now we shall go beyond the words. Actually all interpretations of what Francis just said of this normal Jesus is saying what you believe normal to be is inside of time and space and I am calling you out of the world. I'm calling you out of that crystal ball. Don't think you're going to find any answers inside there. In fact one time I went to the dictionary to the psalms and tried to look up normal and one of the synonyms for normal is average. Do you think the Christ is average? Do you think the light is average? Do you think before Abraham was, I am, is average? The average is in mathematical terms it's a statistical balancing. It's a statistical word actually if you look at what is average it's you have to divide all of the false beliefs whether you call them numbers or people or things or circumstances and you divide them equally and you come up with a number and that's the average and in the world that's what it is. Now what could Art and Purse or Ken have been talking about except this the Gospel of Thomas Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is within you, the kingdom of heaven is all around you, the kingdom of heaven is everywhere. So the only meaningful thing we can take from this normal word is right in what seems to be the here and now. Can you forgive? Can you so completely overlook the form? But be right there in a world of appearances where the body's eyes continue to report differences but in your mind you just have this soft calm loving feeling that it's all the same. All the forms are the same. There's no better forms or worse forms. There's no hierarchy of forms. If you can see the sameness in what you perceive everything that's why the Course uses relationships because here seems to be the appearance of two people and that's called a relationship. I guess you could call it a relationship. The ego thinks it's a relationship. The ego made it to be a relationship, these two forms. But we know falling in love we know reaching that place of judge not. We know reaching that be passers by even with the context of what seems to be physicality Jesus is saying I am there with you because I am a state of mind I am an attitude I am love and even with the form of what seems to be in front of you you can be in peace because you don't make any interpretations of what that means because the Holy Spirit sees the light beyond the appearances sees the light of the blazing light of the great rays and these forms will never be able to contain you, they will never be able to accurately even represent who you are. But if you can let go of every thought you have of these forms and every belief you hold you can meet in this moment for the very first time. But be normal is actually one of the greatest defenses that the ego came up with to defend against the Holy Instant. It's one of the ultimate weapon at stay in time and space. Miracles transcend time and space. Miracles are so they show you the false is false they show you the vastness they show you that your will is universal and can never be content with form of any kind. Be normal used by the ego is saying that the world is your classroom. And I'm here to tell you right now the world is not these situations family classroom interpersonal classroom all this classroom is phony baloney. The mind is the classroom the mind is the place where the awakening occurs and you have every single thing back to mind and that's always the lesson the lesson what seems to be art and in persa seem to be a relationship between a man and a woman and then enlightenment would have to be be passers by with that concept too because the truth is not a man and a woman those are just witnesses and the truth of those witnesses would say be passers by so everyone when I met Francis when I met Svava when I met every single one who's in this room and every one of the thousands and tens of thousands I seem to meet all over the world in all these countries my message was I'm calling you out of the world my message was don't settle for normal go for the atonement in the Course in Miracles Jesus says you have only one responsibility he says it twice the sole responsibility of the teacher of God and the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for themselves he's not saying you have worldly responsibilities he's saying you have one responsibility is come back to your mind and accept the correction and don't let anything accept this atonement so this was important I know just to use Francis as an example because when we would have our joining and discussion it was it's not about Francis as a body leaving a husband or leaving a family behind it's the mind leaving the family construct behind it's the mind leaving the political constructs behind you know can you be a fully awakened mind and even understand what politics mean can you even understand what family is if you want to use the family construct you don't actually leave anything behind you start to realize in your mind is the family of God sometimes people would ask me how so and so have you seen them lately what are so and so up to and everything I say oh they're doing great did you get an email did you get a phone call no they're doing great because they're in my mind and my mind contains all minds and my mind contains all people their mind is all encompassing it's a state of mind where you see that there is no world apart from mind there are no people apart from mind there are no lives apart from mind that's why there's no suffering is because there's only one mind and that mind is still part of the mind of God I am an idea in the mind of God that is the answer to everything before Abraham was I am is a beautiful teaching that the I am presence is one there's only one Christ and that Christ is an idea in the mind of God and so that's the ultimate of caring and yet to the world to the ego that is spooky, spooky spooky action at a distance he even Einstein was frightened of that that unity of that light that's why he said he called it spooky action at a distance he started to realize everything of time space was relative but then he would tell his daughter and he would tell others whether you call it God or whether you call it intelligence or whatever you want to call it a scientific word for it I mean even the scientist they have very strange words for unity because it basically dispels all of Newtonian science that's why it's so frightening because connectedness doesn't have parts or we could say that in forgiveness you would see beyond the parts you would see the love that is present even with the appearance of parts like be not deceived with the perception of fragmentation or the perception of parts love is truly all that there is and how better than to demonstrate forgiveness by having a loving honoring respectful state of mind in relationship to what seems to be the world but you can't do it what Francis is saying you can't do it by trying to define something inside the crystal ball otherwise it's just another story Francis left a husband Francis left a family Francis left a society Francis left China Francis left Australia Francis played the game fulfilled the family duty or Francis avoided the duty escaped avoided this is the two explanation of the ego you either avoid or you play the game and to the spirit actually Jesus says there is only one way there is one way only one way he says in the same sentence one way only one way to free yourself from the imprisonment of your own plan which is follow a plan that is not of your making period follow a plan that's not of your making to free yourself from every single belief from your false responsibility from either avoiding or playing the game follow the plan that's not of your making the ego doesn't really care which of those options that you Francis leaves the family or Francis stays with the family because either one you're guilty because there are two options in time and space it's like talk about a paradox you're guilty if you stay and you're guilty if you go if you stay oh you play you stayed in the role and you stay tiny and small in that self-concept and you people please honor thy father and mother honor thy partner whatever you say or you go you abandoner you rejecter you're going to face the guilt because the question solved in time and space and stay and go it must be that I've heard people say oh I stayed and I felt guilty and then they said I left I still felt guilty so I tried to do it I went back I was still guilty felt guilty then I left again we actually know people in our community that have stayed and left tens of times trying to solve the guilt and then if you take the normal idea be normal well what's a normal human being a normal human being is one who feels guilty why because the guilt's in the mind it's not in the form and you can try the geographical escape you can try the financial escape you can try the I gotta be me I did it my way yes there are times I'm sure you knew when I bit off more than I could chew but through it all when there was doubt I ate it up and I spit it out yet through it all I stood tall and did it my way it's absolutely inescapable there is no personal freedom Jesus says what do you want freedom of the body or freedom of the mind for both you cannot have he's telling us that there's a purpose in our mind called forgiveness that will set you free that will really truly set you free it will take you into your experience of who you are in the kingdom of heaven and that's a purpose in the mind it's not a purpose in form the ego made up all these separate images and then it gave a purpose to every one of the separate images as if there could be purpose could be fragmented and Jesus is like no no purpose is unified that's forgiveness if you're listening to what we're sharing right now and you're saying where does it say this in the course can you give me one place where he talks about this actually it's throughout the course it's all the way through the course but I'm going to give you a lesson to do today for later on on Sunday it's called homework and read lesson 184 if you doubt what Francis and I are sharing and you just want to read one lesson and say where in the course does Jesus talk about what you're talking about right now then you read lesson 184 and watch your mouth drop open oh my god he's spelling it out he actually spells it out all throughout the course but if you want to read one lesson and if you still are not convinced with this lesson 184 then you can go to Ken's favorite lesson and 128 will get you if you can escape with your normal questions if you want to be normal read 184 and see how normal you can be in lesson 184 and if you still feel you can be normal then go to Ken's lesson 128 and read that one that will knock the normal out of your mind if that doesn't do it maybe you should watch the matrix again that will knock the normal the one Neo accepting himself as the one beyond time and space that's not normal that's rare that's absolutely rare how many people in the history of the world said before Abraham was I am does that sound like a normal thing do you hear normal people saying before Abraham was I am that was the eternal spirit speaking through a man 2,000 years ago but that was not a man speaking if you're dating a man and the man says to you during the first date in the middle of eating the mashed potatoes before Abraham was I am see what that does to the date you know see what that does to the date that presence is not looking for a second date presence could care less about a second date but I'll tell you that's talk about a show stopper that can bring the whole date to stillness before Abraham was I am could you elaborate on that I and the father are one okay dates over I'm going to take my raspberry pie home and eat that at home and I'll contemplate that date stopper I and the father are one where do you go from that you don't go anywhere but that presence takes you into what is real and true you might as well be saying you're talking about you have a date going what do you think about conspiracy theories well the truth is true and only the truth is true that stops the date there's no more opinions that follow that line that's like ken out on a date and he says the truth is true and only the truth is true check please you know that's it you don't even get to desert on that one that's like right in the mirror you just leave the meal you leave the meal and that's what Jesus is doing he goes into the holy instant he's not saying I want you to get a little intellectual grasp of a course and miracle so you can talk about it with other people he doesn't want you to talk about it with other people he wants you to have the experience of I amness and then do your Truman show in case I don't see you good afternoon good evening and good night this isn't some kind of trail scene this isn't some kind of an abandonment scene you know when Jesus at the end do you think with the apostles Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary all around I am with you always even until the end of time poof gone gone they say in the bible he went up into the clouds but that's I think he went more higher than that the body disappeared the body disappeared there was no need for a body in I amness there is no need for a body in I amness so what we're really saying here is don't play small don't think you're going to play human and just have an intellectual grasp of a course and miracles what good does an intellectual grasp of a course and miracles inside of the crystal ball do you does that bring you the experience of heaven no it doesn't bring you heaven you want to come to a state of invulnerability where you start to realize suffering is impossible not suffering is optional that's just a bunch of new age spiritual mumbo jumbo suffering is optional did Jesus ever say suffering is optional at that presence of Christ was so strong there was no suffering it could be within a cosmos or a galaxy of that presence if they touched the hem of the garment then it was gone it disappeared suffering can I touch your garment who touched me who touched my vastness my love suffering and Christ don't go together Christ and normality don't go together they are not compatible and yet Jesus is saying in your presence of who you really are you will be radiating love and you are not going to be into the push or pull you're not going to be into should I stay or go inform what would that even mean to spirit hmm should I stay or should I go saith the lord just put saith the lord no put saith spirit after your statement should I be normal or not saith the spirit no way no way to spirit ask that question because spirit is allness, spirit is everything spirit is vastness without an opposite way beyond the world of opposites but as long as we're playing crystal ball we're playing small and then inside the crystal ball is this good, is this not good in the crystal ball there's ethics in the crystal ball there's morality not in spirit, spirit is the vastness of allness that is all encompassing and no opposite but don't you know that ethics and morality both have opposites because why they're trying to figure out behavior is it good Francis is contemplating leaving your husband and oh leaving your family leaving your country is that good or bad don't even think that you can solve it inside the crystal ball because the ego wants you to you want to heal okay good good stay in the crystal ball you can do your art course of miracle things but that takes you completely out completely out the ego says stay in some kind of a self-concept and practice with your book the ego doesn't even care if you just have a course in miracles self-concept like you're gonna I'm just gonna be a human who studies a course in miracles but you can't graduate the course if you hold on to the self-concept because the ego made the self-concept so you can never graduate the course and so if you can't graduate the course then it must be you're ignoring this line in this book that says you will believe this course entirely or not at all you're actually making an exception saying well I'm is it okay Jesus if I do the not at all but I become a good course in miracles teacher he's like what does that even mean how can you be a good course in miracles teacher if you're not happy if you're not eternally happy and the course is not saying its course is saying a son of God is happy only in the environment in which he was created which is spirit so the course is teaching that it's impossible to be happy as identified as a body you see what that is you can't be identified as the body and be eternal spirit because the body is very temporary it's just a construct construct it's make believe and the eternal spirit is real it's truth it's divinity it's oneness it's love so he's saying bring the two together and you'll realize the illusions not true and that you are eternal being but you can't be a temporary time based crystal ball creature you can't be a crystal creature and be the holy son of God you can't be both that's what you're doing you're just bringing them together and saying one is real perfect love one is not cast out fear that's the bible we're back to the bible if you just understood one line from the bible perfect love cast out fear then that would be it you wouldn't even need to read all the books and the Psalms and all the Old Testament New Testament you know it's very complex if you think it's to be found in the words but it's not it's not in the words