 you decide not to believe in the fearful idea and you ask to what to? You have to let that go yourself, right? The fearful idea, because all the universe couldn't take it away from you, if you want to keep it. But then how do you, then is that choosing the miracle to let the fearful idea to release it? Or is it, do you literally ask for a miracle and just, that's it, you just ask for it and that's choosing a miracle? Well, it's like when a toddler is learning to walk. You know, when you watch these toddlers, they, if they don't have the parents' hands, they're gonna fall down a lot, because they don't have, they don't have that experience. They don't have everything together that they need to walk. It's the same with learning to ride a bike or learning anything. So in one sense, miracle is like a state of detachment. It's really like just the glimpse of being the dreamer of the dream. Or a parallel in this world is a branch of psychology called lucid dreaming. And that's where you're simply aware that you're dreaming. That's what a miracle is. Just those moments, you know, it could be anywhere, anytime. You could be seemingly doing anything or watching anything and then you have this moment, this kind of feeling like it's a dream. It's a dreamy feeling, even if it's just a fleeting instant. I've had that feeling when I've been in a car accident and the car is turning and you're just going, and the car is just going like this and you end up upside down or something and you just, yeah, it was just like a dream. It's just really not, but it totally still. Yeah, that's a miracle. It's that calm state of watching. It's that sense of being aware that it's just a dream. So when you ask for a miracle, you're asking for that calm, peaceful mind above all the battlefield. Yep, that's what you're asking for. And then you get a glimpse, it seems initially you get a glimpse here and there, just a glimpse, a glimpse, a glimpse and then the point of this course of miracles is to make miracles habitual, to become habitually miracle-minded. So it's great, you get one of those glimpses where you're absolutely carefree, joyful, happy for no earthly reason. You guys, one of those, you can't wipe the smile off the face and it really doesn't have anything to do with an outcome, you're just like almost just like, wow, it's just so dream-like and so happy. Well, that's a miracle. That's what a miracle feels like. Then the purpose of the exercises and the purpose of letting all this stuff come up and not hiding and protecting unconscious beliefs is to clear away the debris in the mind so that you can maintain that state with anything, regardless of what seems to be happening. It wouldn't matter if bullets were flying. It wouldn't matter if a nuclear device went off. It's kind of like funny, like, I was wrong. When's it happening? Now! Then it kind of goes like this, it's like, is it gonna crouch, you know? It's like, duck, that's what I was saying, duck. Duck, it's a nuclear explosion. But you can see it's a Holy Spirit's humor, because it's like, you know, it's a line and I think it's the teacher's manual. Patience, Jesus says patience is natural to those who trust. No outcome already seen or yet to come can cause them fear. Because it's this collapse of time so you can really see ultimately that there is no already or yet to come. You're in the moment. That's where you're invulnerable. That's where your strength is. That's where you are as God created you in the moment. So isn't, though, but isn't part of all the releasing of the attack thoughts and the nitty-gritty of the mind training, you know, the part of it where it's, we're going through the pain and all that kind of stuff. Doesn't that, in effect, erase the possibility of projection of that old fear, that old belief, so that actually what you're witnessing in your consciousness or in the experience is actually shifting as well. Not just the way you're witnessing it, but actually what there is to witness. Actually those two things, you know, the way you're witnessing it and what you're actually witnessing are actually the same. You might just think of it as a lens, because it's all mind. So it's like whenever there's pain involved, it's the ego's lens. It's not like pain ever has some kind of values. Like you can go through all this and go, oh yeah, that was a lot of pain, but it served me well. Pain never serves you well. It's just a decision. It's a lens to look through. So there is no value to pain. In fact, sometimes I said pain is optional. It just, as you are going through the initial phases of mind training and you're just letting all this darkness that was pushed out of awareness rise up. The ego is interpreting it, it's horrific, because it's telling you that the pain and these thoughts and beliefs are real. And these memories are real and everything. But that's just almost like, again, a clearing process that goes on. And basically Jesus is saying, well pain is actually unnecessary, but it is usually perceived that way. It's usually experienced that way. In other words, it's extremely rare to think of releasing the ego without going through some of this desolation back and forth. He's just trying to be realistic in terms of that. He's saying it's actually always a false perception, but don't throw in a towel and don't give up if it seems to be painful. Your mind has been upside down for millennium and now it's turning right side up. That's a huge shift, like having your whole perception turned completely 180 degrees. And as that turn is going on, the ego is still interpreting it as painful. And as long as you're identified with the ego, you feel it's pain. It's not really your pain, even, because you're the Christ. You really don't have any pain. As long as you're misidentified with the ego, you feel it's emotions. So it's good to notice when you say, I am angry. Notice that I am identification with the anger or I am in pain. You know, that's not true empathy. That's actually not even honest. The way, you know, Jesus, we were having that first day of meetings and Doug was pointing out, he went to that part on honesty back in the manual and he was saying honesty actually means consistency. You know, everything you think, say, do, perceive, feel, it's really all in alignment. That's what honesty is. So it starts to break you out of this mold of, you know, I'm honest. You want to know how I honestly feel I'm in pain or I'm honestly angry at you. You start to see by Jesus' definition. It's like, no, you're never honestly angry. You know, you're just tricking yourself if you think you're angry and you've got a good justified reason. He says in the course, anger is never justified. You have to believe certain conditions are in effect. Believe they're in effect before you can even get angry, with including the belief that there's something outside of you that can hurt you and has hurt you. It's just a belief.