 Okay, is everyone settled in? Ready for our first movie night. Well, since the theme of this retreat is the gift of happiness, we are going to spring off on our first movie of the retreat with the theme that I started off with today of the gift. And the best way we can come at opening to the gift of happiness is we cannot approach it from the I know mind. We cannot approach a gift or giving from what we already know. Because what we already know, what we've learned, we've learned from the ego. And the ego is blocking us from understanding the gift. So we really can first say we're clueless about the gift, the gift of happiness. Because we have to give it in order to receive it. But we have to learn how to give as God gives. God doesn't have strings attached. God didn't create Christ and say, now you're going to owe me. I'll give you eternal life, but it's going to cost you something. You're going to have to pay me back, like a loan in this world. You give it, but you've got to pay something back. There's a price to pay. God doesn't know what price means. It's just unconditional love. That's what a gapé love is. It's just an unconditional gift. I love you and that's that. Nothing attached, no strings attached. And in human terms, that's what makes the relationships love hate relationships. How quickly the love I love you forever can turn into I want a divorce. How quickly I love you forever can turn into I don't ever want to see you again. Or I don't ever want to speak to you again. I never want to see your face again from I love you forever. It can turn quite vicious. And then you could ask the question, was there ever love? If it can turn into I never want to see you again. That's not the way God loves. God doesn't create eternal life and then say, you messed up. I never want to see you again. It's just the way the ego operates, but not God. So our movie tonight is a great parable of a young man's journey of undoing pride, undoing arrogance, coming into humbleness and humility, which is coming towards the gift to learn what the gift really is, and coming into a place of service and wanting to be of help in a greater plan. And it's not like this movie is overt religious or spiritual terminology. It's just going to be a young man starting to see for himself that it feels good to give. It feels good to pour your heart into giving, and that's really where joy and happiness can be found. So it's a beautiful parable of awakening. And it's also a beautiful movie because it uses a device where his grandfather is... He's had his own struggles and issues, but he's very, very, very wealthy as the world would see it. He owns more than we can imagine. He owns so much. He's in control of so much in terms of planet Earth, and yet he's dying. He wants to pass on something to his grandson. That is the title of the movie, The Ultimate Gift. He'll give his grandson something that he'll experience in his heart, and he'll carry with him forever, not just give him a bunch of money. And so the way he's going to do it, the device, is before the grandfather dies, he makes a series of DVDs of video messages, so he's going to do it from the grave. It's a pretty interesting idea. I'll leave this for you, but I'll lead you through a series of exercises or tasks that will take you into... The grandfather knows into a place of humbleness, which is really the greatest gift. He wants to leave his grandson with something that will last forever, not something that is temporary or perishable. So, some of you know the actor James Garner, very, very famous actor. He's playing the grandpa, and he's going to use this device. And I think it is very applicable for all of us, because as we go deeper in this journey, the ego will come in with many temptations to try to get into the old way of giving, which is reciprocity. I'll do this for you if you'll do this for me. It's very much based on abundance and happiness being something that's on the timeline. And remember what I was sharing earlier today, that hatred is under this linear cosmos. Rage is under there. We're not going to find the gift in the device, the distracted device that was put there to shield us from the gift. You can never find the pearl of great wisdom in the distracted device. You actually have to turn your gaze inward away from the distracted device. And that's what Jesus taught us. The kingdom of heaven is within. Like you have everything within your mind as you were created. And you have a small still voice, an intuitive voice that will guide you to this state of mind, that is the kingdom of heaven. It's not a place, it's not a location, and it can't be found through the images. The images can be pointers. And even a book as helpful as A Course in Miracles is a book that has a text and a workbook and a manual for teachers. It has over 1200 pages in the English version and it's much larger in other versions that there's more words. And yet, it's a collection of words that are designed to point you in the direction of the kingdom of heaven within. Are the words valuable in and of themselves? No. What he tells us in the Course are words, are symbols of symbols, twice removed from reality. So just trying to find the kingdom of heaven through the words won't work either. Just like we've used symbols in this world to try to find salvation or redemption or healing and the symbols aren't going to do it but the spirit's use of the symbols is to get you to take a looping off point within your mind, just like meditation People will sometimes work with a mantra in the East or they'll work with breath work, postures, there's lots of techniques, transcendental meditation, yoga nanda had a system of kriya yoga, there's many different systems, even of meditation, but that's still the use of symbols to take you into a leaping off point that's beyond the symbols. It's never about in the end the postures or the breath. It's never about anything that's the technique. It's about just having the desire with all your heart to go for it and practice and sink down deep beneath all these thoughts, the stream of thoughts. And of course the Miracles is doing the same thing that ancient meditation techniques have advised and accept. You might say a Course in Miracles is used for the most part the workbook is open-eyed meditation. You're literally practicing with the images that you see and Jesus will teach you that the thoughts that you think you think and the images that you think you see are actually the same. There is no inner and outer but that's going to take a lot of mind training to see that there is no external world outside the mind. It's just a swirl of cloud patterns going on in the mind blocking the mind from the light and those cloud patterns are projected by the ego and they seem to take three-dimensional form but they aren't really three-dimensional at all. They're just blocked. They're like shadows. And as long as you're inside of those clouds you can't see. Jesus will even use guided meditations in the workbook of Of Course in Miracles where he will ask you to sink down beneath the clouds and he'll even say feel them on your cheeks. You see, he's using very graphic imagery of sinking down beneath these clouds. Feel them on your cheeks. Clouds cannot stop you, he says. He's very strong. Keep coming. Sink deep within to the Kingdom of Heaven. That's one of his guided meditations in the workbook. We use the same thing. This movie is a good starting off point for us because as long as we value the things of this world then the light within will seem to be frightening. Why? Why is the light so frightening? It's the unknown. When we had amnesia and forgot about God, when we forgot about the light we got into image-making instead of creating creating as God creates in love and light. That was our original purpose, our gift from God to be a creator. You've heard of co-creator with God? God gave us everything including the ability to create like God in spirit not in material, but just in spirit. So as long as that's pushed out of awareness and we have, we'll say, absolute and complete amnesia of that love and that light which is what this world is. It's complete amnesia. It's not a partial amnesia. The only way we can flip it back around and undo that mistake of amnesia is instead of forgetting God and believing in a world of images we can forget the world of images and come back to God put our full attention on reaching God. Our mind is that powerful. We can flip it on the ego. We flipped it once away from God we can flip it back. We always have that power. We could never turn our back on God actually and we always have the power to come back. So a good step in doing that is the step of coming into genuine service. We're not talking about that kind of egotistical service where you're doing a lot of things trying to be helpful using past associations and with ego service there's still some desire for recognition. It's still like, see what I'm doing. Even in the Middle East back in the days of Jesus there were rabbis that would go out and go out in public and they would paint their faces and they would pray. They're saying in the Bible Jesus says, no, don't pray as the high priest pray like in this very public way to try to impress like, look at me look how much I pray all day look at my position in this business. He said, go to your closet Jesus says in the Bible and pray in secret. You see how this is the exact opposite of trying to pray and get attention to even praying. He said, no, go to your closet and pray in secret. It says right there in the red words that I was talking about earlier. So that's a good indication and that's what eternity would say like, you're not making it back to eternity if you're trying to get famous as a famous prayer or a famous priest. It's not going to work. So this movie is amazing. Michael, this was one of your first movies that you saw you said it was extremely impactful. So we're talking it was your first devotional and again to give a little background on Michael, Michael was here living in Australia a very successful CEO of a company that was a construction company that built houses. So just like with Francis Francis was head around business financial management. Successful as the world would judge it and then got inspired that there has to be a better way. There was a disillusionment always with Michael who's searching there's got to be more there's got to be something else and then this movie was one of the first ones that you've seen the first one down here that was during a retreat that just had a huge impact. It was just it was only a few weeks after I went to my first retreat with Jason and Kirsten said well this I was just inextricably drawn just felt I just needed to move in this direction I didn't even know what that meant but very quickly I seem to have moved on from a 19 year marriage and work was just so I just couldn't do anymore really and I went to this devotional and we had this this movie came on I just yeah really brought me undone actually I was in a mess for about three quarters of an hour after it actually just slobbering tears and it's not and it was just something wasn't even anything one specific thing because it's just such a great movie it covers so many different areas you know there's like 10 gifts I think that come out of it and there is the ultimate gift if you like. Yeah it was just a huge forgiveness it seemed to be some symbolism about the father and the son you know the heavenly father and the son just reunited after the separation and just the whole service thing really I really got the service the way out of service you know with this guy I could relate to his arrogance in a way and it shocked me how arrogant I was actually from this movie I thought I was a pretty nice guy and I realised I'm I used to think of humour and sarcasm and things like that and I think it was like a big bang for me because it was just so many different areas that got popped it seemed like just like that you know from this movie so it's just very very helpful so it feels really beautiful to share it with you all and have it as one of our first movies here yeah it was this one and brother son sister moon that completely brought me undone so yeah and it's I think it's it's also just it's an excellent teaching device to truly teach what we would learn and send us in the right direction in the sense that that in this world it's just a world of images that have been made as a veil to cover over the truth the light of truth but but images certain images can seem to take on magnified importance which is exactly what the ego wants to do to keep you from recognizing who you are if the ego can make the distracted device attractive then you're not going to want to meditate you're not going to want to pray it's going to be go go go achieve attain own possess more more more there's even a section in the later part of the text which is be called beyond all idols where Jesus titles this section the subsection of the chapter beyond all idols and then he opens up his first sense of his first paragraph with what is an idol do you think you know this is how Jesus opens the subsection what is an idol do you think you know because some of us have heard that word before you might remember even from if anybody remembers anything about the Bible you know the commandments you know and hold no idols before the Lord thy God if we're not supposed to hold on to him before the Lord thy God it's like whoa hold no graven images before the Lord thy God it's not really talking about golden totem poles and statues that are worshiped in some cultures it's talking about the entire cosmos all the images of the cosmos are the graven images because the ego made them all and in that same section beyond all idols Jesus has an amazing sentence which is only four words in a period but to me those four words in a period really give you a true sense of the metaphysics of a course of miracles such a tiny little sentence placed in there with only four words in a period but that can really help you out immensely and the four words are God knows not form period God knows not form period so if I want to know God and God knows not form put those together in divine reasoning you can just your mind can go whoa God knows not form God knows not words the I am presence is prior to time before Abraham was I am the way Jesus taught it in the bible before history was I am before time and space was I am God knows not form so we can see that it's going to take a dedication in the mind and we're not even going to reach God through the words because God knows not words, words are form but the prayer of the heart you know that's it remember the beatitudes remember the sermon on the mount blessed are the pure in heart where they shall see God wow little tiny little beatitudes but they've got the whole key to waking up to God that's it are the pure of heart where they shall see God so we're going through a purification process and we're learning to give the form that the ego made the words and the images over to the Holy Spirit and we're learning to say I don't know how to get there but you do and that's why you're placed in my mind as the bridge back to eternity you are the one that knows the way this small still voice this intuition if you will that all of us have is guiding us surely back to love and light the kingdom of heaven nirvana call it whatever you want perfection we're surely being guided back it is actually inevitable Jesus says inevitable inevitable is very fearful to the ego of course ego is out of business in the inevitable of love and light and that's why the ego is doing everything it can to defend against this remembrance of love and light and even though it's a puff of nothingness if you give your powerful mind over to this puff of nothingness then what you have is a clever puff of nothingness you see how suddenly it takes on an attribute of clever cleverness and Jesus even says the ego is ingenious we tend to think of Einstein mind is ingenious but the ego is ingenious and if we feed this puff of nothingness it can turn into a very long long long journey seemingly back to God spanning many seemingly lifetimes or a millennium of time and space wandering in the darkness for a long long long time just by feeding this puff of nothingness in our mind in fact in the Garden of Eden in the Bible it talks about the fall the fall of mankind in their in Jesus's version of mercy miracles there's no snake there's no Adam and Eve there's no tree there's nothing like that there's no plants in it now he's reduced the entire apparent separation to one sentence isn't that good for us now we've got past Genesis now we're down to one sentence into eternity where all is one they're crept a tiny mad idea at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh that's it it's a new story he's condensed the entire book of Genesis which was so called creation and the fall from grace he's condensed it to one sentence and I remember I was sharing that one sentence one time with a group in Wisconsin into eternity where all is one they're crept a tiny mad idea at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh so I gave that idea and my friend Al whose sentence passed away he was in the audience and crept all his rage came out on that one word crept he was furious Jesus' new little story just one little sentence and the same rage that people feel when they're in Genesis reading Genesis in the Bible why would God put a tree like that into paradise that's a nasty tree to have in paradise and why would God tempt Adam and Eve by saying you can eat from all the fruits but don't eat from this one tree what happens when you tell children don't get into the cookie jar I'm putting the candy up here on the top shelf so you can't have any and I'm going away but don't eat from the candy jar they've got ladders and chairs on top of chairs if you tell a child don't do this what will they try to do they will try to do this that's what many people in Christianity have said gosh that's a heck of a thing to tell Adam and Eve don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and of course in miracles Jesus says God would never do that even that is just symbolic the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is symbolic of duality don't give your mind over to duality because God is love, God is oneness everything is pure oneness so in the Course in Miracles Jesus even corrects that he said God would never put you in such a position well hallelujah give it to me straight correct the Bible there's only one that can really come out and forcefully honestly directly correct the Bible and that's Jesus who's transcended the Bible he can make commentary on Genesis I wouldn't recommend doing this until you are clear because if you have a firestorm you're what you're correcting Genesis the first book of the Bible Jesus can do that in fact in the first book of the Bible it says Adam fell asleep if you go back to the Bible and nowhere in that Bible does it say that he woke up so with the Course we're going Adam did wake up it was Jesus and you would expect the one who woke up to send word back good news sin is not real good news separation is not real and more than that here I'm going to give you a pathway to experience the good news that I discovered as well you know he's not going to there's not a sense of leading anybody behind ha ha ha I made it and you didn't you know that's not the way love is it's more like come my brethren my sisters come and join me in the freedom that's a wayshower that's what a wayshower does so again with this movie we'll sit back and enjoy it I may pause it if there's any commentary to come during the movie but as Michael was saying it's very powerful and it's very delightful and I think it offers a great mechanism for beginning to open your heart up to experience a true gift or the ultimate gift another thing that you know when people talk about distractions in this world they usually talk about you know money and sex and food there's certain things that the ego just emphasizes so strongly that it's going to try to distract you from that be still and know that I'm God it doesn't want you to get into be still and know that I'm God it's over for the ego if you get into that so it's going to try to distract money the only reason money seems to be a strong distraction is because it's so exchangeable for other things I mean you can trade money currency for other things for goods and services so if the ego is the getting mechanism of the mind you can see where money will be highly elevated for the ego because it's going to use the money to get things for itself to perpetuate itself to perpetuate its police system and so really the money in the Holy Spirit's eyes to Jesus it's just neutral it's just another neutral symbol that can be used in the awakening as needed but in this movie we see that a very very very wealthy man has died he is going to direct he's got a large family and they want the money he's died they want the money and he's going to direct them through a series of DVD video messages they're all going to be showing up like come on let's cut the chase cut the check let's have some houses money, he's a financial empire they're wanting that and so it's going to show us in the context of all of that which there's jealousy and greed and infighting and all kind of bickering and typical things that go on when somebody dies in this world and leads a big inheritance then actually in the context of all of that it's going to take us deeper into the ultimate gift which has really nothing to do with the form of this world it's coming back to that true giving that spirit of giving that spirit of true generosity in the heart I think that's what's to me what's so touching about this movie in that context it takes you and uses it as a teaching device to take you inward okay everyone ready? the name of the movie as Michael mentioned is the ultimate gift starring James Garner his first gift the gift of work and why is work a gift? because when you've fallen asleep and forgotten your source and your very nature and you find yourself in a dream of lack surprise surprise that's what the ego is the belief in lack then you will have to get yourself out of what Jesus calls an impossible situation and this world is indeed an impossible situation it's so impossible that it could never happen in reality it's a hallucination of lack it's a hallucination of death it's a hallucination of pain and suffering and sickness it has no basis in reality it has no foundation to stand on if you are walking through a desert and you are thirsty you may have a hallucination that we call a mirage of an oasis and of course the miracles is your oasis you're hallucinating a book now in this crazy impossible situation of a world and you need help to extract from impossibility and turn to inevitability eternity so there are things in the course that imply work Jesus uses the word effort suppose you were a fish in a river and the stream and the current is carrying you along and you're just going downstream and suddenly at some point in your life you realize that the current is taking you into oblivion you're just been floating with the current of the world bigger, better, faster more, comparison productivity striving success that's the current of the world and you float in that current you just keep floating downstream and in one sense what Jesus is saying that's not where you're going to find the source by floating downstream you're going to have to go upstream to find it like the salmon, when the salmon spawns the salmon, you ever see the salmon how they swim? they leap they're going upstream to spawn they're leaping and leaping and they're powerful little fish and they've got an important mission and they're leaping and leaping to go upstream in one sense your mind has become so accustomed to illusions and so accustomed to the ego's thought system that it's going to initially take some effort to turn it around because you made the ego and you made the world and now you become accustomed to the world and it's become familiar and now to escape you're going to have to go the other direction in A Course in Miracles there's three lessons only three lessons of the Holy Spirit isn't that nice, we only have to get three it's not ten or twenty or a hundred three lessons to have, give all to all see how that relates to our lesson to have, give, all to all that's the first lesson of the Holy Spirit to have peace number two, to have peace teach peace we're going to have to teach peace over and over the attitude of peace in countless situations countless situations teach peace over and over to strengthen it in our mind it's going to take an effort of teaching that peace because we've become accustomed to a world of conflict and war and we need to teach peace to learn it and then the final lesson of the Holy Spirit is vigilant only for God in His kingdom look at that word, vigilant do you feel the effort behind vigilance do you feel the discipline behind vigilance Jesus knows we can do this He did it He knows it's inevitable for us too He's just trying to save time and get us moving in the right direction in vigilant for God in His kingdom it will seem initially when the mind is untrained it will take an effort but if you can put your effort into escaping from this world wouldn't you do it instead of just trying to go downstream and be successful learn lots of things accolades, respect degrees, all kinds of and all that stuff that the ego wants were you just floating down the stream or would you make the effort to go back upstream back to the source that's why even in this world when you try to learn a skill an ability it takes some effort think about it when we were kids and we were going to ride our bike for the first time remember that it took a little bit of effort it took courage to get to the point where it would fall in my case little David had mom running along the side holding the seat of the bike behind I was pedaling the thing was teetering like this and mom was holding on to the back of the seat to keep the bike up eventually I think she got tired of how slow learner David was so she got training wheels you know those little things and tilts and you know it's like oh mom we'll come back but you know it took an effort it generally took some effort and anybody who's gone through a college degree anybody who's graduated from high school or even grade school anything for that matter even in this world to learn skills and abilities it requires some effort to forgive to find forgiveness in your mind it's going to take some discipline it's not like you can twinkle your nose or kick your heels together and go ok no place like home three clicks ok I did it I've got the red boots on is that good it's not going to work that way you know it's going to take some discipline Jesus says in a Course in Miracles an untrained mind can accomplish nothing hmm that's good to know from Jesus like give it to me straight an untrained mind can accomplish nothing he also says you are much too tolerant of mind wandering hmm put those two together you start to realize wow he's getting me a curriculum to follow with this book and he's getting me instructions and they're actually really simple instructions and there's only two instructions for the workbook only two only three lessons to learn from the Holy Spirit and only two instructions don't do more than one lesson a day and as best you can try not to make exceptions to the lesson as you practice when you move through the day and we only have one central lesson per day just one lesson to focus on and only two instructions which are really pretty simple exceptions don't try to do more than one lesson a day so you see this is the master this is actually another group of words for Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life if you're going to follow a teacher it's good to follow the way the truth and the life because why because he's gone through the key hole of time and space and he's returned to eternity I would rather follow a teacher who's accomplished the learning goal than someone who's kind of in an iffy stage maybe would you follow certainty or would you follow maybe if you're going for a learning goal if you had a teacher to choose I would go for certainty myself and so he's telling us we're going to have to work at this not in reality basically I'll give you a clue that the third lesson of the Holy Spirit be vigilant only for God and his kingdom he tells you what the realization of the final lesson is so he lays it right out in there and it's really simple it's so simple you go oh my god this is it this is what the whole thing the final lesson of the Holy Spirit is pointing to he says in the recognition in the realization of the final lesson you see that having and being are the same what you have is what you are having and being are identical and you can see how it's in direct opposition to the ego's teachings of this world what you have is what you possess what you have are your assets what you have is what you own what you have is what's to your name what you have involves a body think of it I have a body no you don't not really we've been taught that having is different than being I have a house I have a child I have a bank account I have a personality I have a personality trait you see that have word is tied into what getting that's how you have you got to get well the getting is good you got to get get get get get and you got to get get get for years and years and keep on getting keep on getting and then if you keep on getting and getting and getting for years and years and years then you'll have like Gus wish I had a dollar for every post I've done matter of fact I do come to think of it for every post you see but that's that but Gus was sent by Red a good friend of Red's just for that initial lesson of work because if you're prideful, if you're arrogant if you're just like our main character there Jason he's like well this doesn't pan out I can just still live on my trust fund my mother's trust fund there's a dependency there no interest in working no interest in discipline you know drives the motorcycle up to the airport with the police following chasing him, hops off he said police escort sort of he just throw away, he's like okay I leave the motorcycle behind he's not really interested he doesn't looking at consequences he's not looking at anything and so this is a very good first lesson that Red is leaving for his grandson Jason the gift of work he sent him down to his buddy Gus down in Texas just to experience to experience work not because that's an end in itself but because he's going to need what the discipline of getting up at five in the morning going out and doing something on a repetitive basis digging post of itself doesn't mean anything but the discipline we've all had many experiences where we've had discipline opportunities and the Holy Spirit's saying good I can use that I can use that what in your mind training most of us aren't living in convents or following rituals like they have in a lot of monasteries and Buddhist monasteries and centers you know there's lots and lots of ritual even if you work in corporates you know there's going to be rituals there's lots of rituals actually in corporate in fact even if you're flipping burgers at McDonald's there's going to be some rituals that you're going to have to do and all of those things will involve discipline and then the Holy Spirit and Jesus are saying good I can use that quality of mind that discipline for a goal is so high it will get you out of an impossible situation you can train your mind to escape an impossible situation and wouldn't you want to do it if you could wouldn't that be a good application of effort if you could escape time and remember eternity remember your true home remember your true source now a lot of times in religion different churches and theology it's like here's the beliefs do this to be a good boy a good girl learn in hell you know it's almost like here's what you do here's what you don't Jesus is like more well we need your discipline we need you to put your effort towards forgiveness towards training your mind to release attack thoughts release grievances release judgments and it will take you into the experience of a pristine mind of an I am presence that's prior to time you will literally escape time by seeing that who you are before time was the I amness of your being and the I amness of what you have as well because having and being are the same you have eternity you are eternity it's the same thing but that having doesn't involve possession or ownership so that's where this is moving we've just seen the first gift Michael mentioned there's quite a number of gifts how many 10 gifts just starting off with number one to get him moving in the right direction like welcome the discipline welcome embrace the idea of discipline because why because the Holy Spirit can use it and all of us know that in our professions in our relationships we've developed some discipline we can't say that we haven't that's definitely a skill a characteristic that the Holy Spirit can use crazy oh you're going to have to serve somebody Bob Dylan it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you're going to have to serve somebody Bob Dylan just got the Nobel Prize Nobel Peace Prize and that was his song we know his contribution to the plan of awakening you're going to have to serve somebody it may be the devil it may be the Lord yes yes that's an aspect you might say that it all depends on the purpose some of the ones that I meet are kind of like indigo or crystal children and even indigo children and even crystal children if they don't have that discipline they may know in their hearts that there's something beyond this world they may know in their hearts that society is wacko and that trying to gain all these skills and earn lots of money and be successful as a world judge is not really where it's at but if they haven't developed that sense of discipline they don't really have that they're still going to need that for the mind training so it actually depends more on actually where the mind is at because that's important as well that if you had a child I think a good example of something that may be a little counter to what we're talking about here is there's a new movie that came out I believe this year and I've seen it and it's very good Mel was talking about Risen there's also one called Young Messiah where it's like a 12 year old Jesus and it follows this 12 year old he's working miracles at 12 he's like really come in to this world aligned with the father's will in many ways so he's working miracles at 12 and he's interested in talking to the rabbis but he's doing more teaching he's teaching the rabbis already at 12 he's not, he's your rare he's like your heck of tall back then he's already had his experience and he's 12 and he's already well into miracles so in that sense we could say he's not so in need of the education of learning anything and he's not so in need of developing so much the discipline maybe some he still has a family life he's still got Mary and Joseph and from the Oransha book we know he had brothers and sisters and there was a lot of lessons that happened with his childhood so he's still really working towards that atonement where he could say before Abraham was I am the final lesson that having and being are the same but I think you've made a good point that for a lot of children like this woman who just wrote to me whose 9 year old wants to quit she's I think intuitively aware that there's some avoidance going on that this is a child who's old until she was she was 7 and now there's a fear of interacting with children and she's aware of that fear so I did tell her you need to talk directly with her with your child about these things because you're all in this together we're all in this together you don't have to feel all the responsibility is on you but if you intuitively feel that there's some fear and avoidance going on and as you're bringing up there are benefits this classroom can be used as a very good backdrop for discipline and that would be another I didn't mention that aspect but that would be another aspect of mind training like use what's given to you to advance even learning feels like for me business rushing so now I can write pretty well but if I had never learnt that then it's not there to be used I felt that way too I went through I went through kindergarten I went through grade school I went through junior high and then I went through the University of Cincinnati for 10 years full time so I went through 10 years of full time university and there were lots of skills that I developed during those 10 years full time of university but meeting people from all over the world it was a very eclectic population so I had friends that were from India and from different parts of the world in the United States and so I feel it was the same way I felt like I was developing a vocabulary I was developing disciplines work skills opening my mind learning to listen to all these different opinions and stereotypes and thinking I don't like the way people are stereotyping my friends friends from India friends from different places I started to say I don't like this stereotypical thinking I even took such a range of everything I was in engineering to start off with I was in urban planning so I was in the conservatory of music I was in the college of design art architecture and planning I was I took sociology anthropology I was all over the place taking a little bit of everything and paying close attention and developing skills and so when Jesus finally after it wasn't like he took me right out of university because I had student loans debt so Jesus says we gotta work on that first gotta pay off your debts and I'll do you the more mind training with you while you're paying them off I'll free your mind through all that too and then after a few years of like knocking all the chips off the shoulder kicking the pride out of me power washing the pride out of me you know like with a fire hose after that and paying off the debts as a byproduct through all that then he said now you're mine and I will use you in ways that you can't even imagine don't ask what the future holds your mind I'm your boss now I will give you the instructions moment by moment and you will do fine but this is for the whole planet now this is the salvation of the world that we're working on this isn't for a corporation we're working for a company you're working for me and that was pretty intense too because I still had all these beliefs about how I would be provided for and pride about work ethic I can't just receive things from people I've never met oh yes you can he said that's me giving them to you through the people you have to be very humble but right here we're just this is such a great teaching movie Jason is very proud he almost didn't even go for it you know he almost said I'll get back at this guy for what he's done to me I'll ignore him and that's what the ego would have us do even when help is offered us we get an olive branch we get a beautiful gift from heaven saying here's your way out just grab a hold somewhere on this branch and I'll pull you out of the water then we still have that choice or do we swat it away and say I mean I know there's sometimes the teenagers have said to their parents why did you bring me to this world you know how could you do that and maybe the parent didn't have the answer which is can be frustrating like well yes this world is an impossible situation but I seem to be here too so we're both in this together you're forgetting I seem to be here too we both need to help each other get out instead of I'm not responsible for bringing you here and you're not responsible for serving me but we need help major help here to get out of an impossible situation now that would be an answer that would be an actual answer but most of the times parents want to help but they don't know where of the escape hatch or that there even is an escape hatch so they don't have an answer okay we'll move forward to see what happens he's just got back from his first gift nine more to go okay wow sometimes it's so great to see a movie where you see so many life lessons compressed in one viewing you can see it but it's just coming out of this personal sense of self and just getting into this vast sense of all the love and gratitude and the gift of our creation coming back into that so okay we'll open it up anybody have anything to share from watching that movie that came to you we've got Jeffrey standing by here anybody has anything to share I'm feeling extremely grateful because I feel like I've got such an incredible amount out of this gathering in 24 hours I just can't quite believe it and if I had to leave right now I would feel like I've got full value out of this week so thank you to everybody I really enjoyed like that the gift of a perfect day and that was so beautiful like that's what I can give to myself every day and the way she says in the end like this is the end of that perfect day and today is I feel the end of that perfect day right now thank you for giving us so much perfection the gifts in that finding $100 in a bottle of my suitcase after you guys after I go on the bus and just being there when I need somebody and that but I feel as though I want to give him a copy of that movie the first time I saw Jason smile in the whole film that I remember it was probably after he completed three or four gifts I can't remember which one it was it might have been gifted giving so to me it was the first time he looked happy I experienced true happiness and he started giving these gifts it's beautiful that the more he went along the less he seemed to know and the less he could figure out he could feel the underlying trust growing and the surrender growing and then the reflections coming back when the little girl said yes guys are clueless even the reflections coming everywhere of that sense of not knowing I guess since the time of Jesus there's been this word there's a word in Christianity called salvation and there's been many meanings given to that word salvation many different connotations and salvation comes from salvage salvage when you salvage something you save it so it's like I know all this stuff about being a Christian and being saved and professing the name of Jesus it's not that, it's not some kind of belief in a man that lived 2,000 years ago or belief in a story in the story or not doesn't matter remember all of history is generated from the ego anyway so whether you believe that he rose from the dead or not no it's not a theology it's not a theology it's not about being saved as a person and of course in miracles Jesus says only the mind needs salvation only the mind needs to be salvaged he says and it's only salvaged through peace so it's very important that he lays it out you don't need to save the whales you don't need to save the dolphins you don't need to save Mother Earth you don't need to save the planet you don't need to save your family you don't need to save people go around and save people convince them that they need to be saved you don't need any of that nothing needs to be saved except the mind Jesus says the mind needs salvation this mind that has believed in separation needs salvation needs to be salvaged you need to salvage that mind and it's only salvaged he gives us the how only through peace not through anything else not through saving souls not through doing something on earth not through making the world a better place not through self improvement not through making yourself a better person nothing but peace peace is the means and the salvaging of the mind is the only thing that is there and if you really get into the course you go deeper and deeper and deeper he's got a section called I need to nothing this salvation of the mind is through peace but it's not through doing there will be never a doing nothing that ever is done is needed to accomplish it no behavior is needed it's in the mind it's a shift of purpose in the mind and it's the tiniest tiniest little tweak that you'll ever discover because it's not a big tweak there's one point where Jesus says prepare ye now for the undoing of what never was wow it can't be difficult if it never was it can't really be difficult if it never was and it can't really need a lot of preparation if it's that tiny of a tweak if it's coming back to just accept and so he does late in his text he finally comes out and he tells us what salvation is I do not know the thing I am what I'm doing where I'm going or how to look upon myself or the world that is salvation just be 100% clueless about this world because the Holy Spirit will give this world a new meaning if you give him the crack of complete cluelessness as soon as you think you know anything at all about this world you block salvation from awareness as soon as you believe you know anything at all about this world you have a past association you've written a false meaning on the screen of the world on the script of the world so that is just think of it it's miraculous it's amazing it's grace it's truly the gift of grace of not knowing anything about anything and the only way you can come into that is through trust trust would settle every problem now to pray to be open to say show me to say show me show me show me show me if you go through the workbook lessons you start off with number one and when you get down to 360 he's got the same repeating lesson for the final five lessons in the workbook this holy instant would I give to you be you in charge the presence the essence of that finally when you get to the final five lessons are lessons in surrender he says this course is a beginning and not an end the whole point of the course is just to put you in touch with the internal teacher and he says and the Holy Spirit will direct all subsequent lessons you just get aligned that's all it is it's just to come aligned just to feel that love feel that connection to feel and to know in your heart that it's within you that you are inner directed and you don't need to rely on people places things theology in fact it's so beautiful in lesson 189 Jesus says simply do this be still lay aside all thoughts of what you are what God is hold on to nothing do not bring with you one thought the past has taught nor one belief you've ever learned before from anything forget this world forget this course and come with holy empty hands into your God remember when I first read that paragraph my heart chords were just going so strong it's like Jesus is like pay attention I'm giving it to you straight forget this world we talked about that earlier forget this world not in kind of a denial way or not in kind of a way of trying to push something away but just because you can you forgot God you're capable of forgetting this world and you're capable of surrendering and coming back and yeah I have to agree this has been a perfect day like Pam was saying this has just been a perfect day it's there for us to feel the perfection of like every nuance everything that seems to occur is just absolutely in divine order and always has been and it's only been the ego that is feeling something is wrong something's gone wrong and you need to add a little bit to the script or take a little bit away every day that's all the ego's trying to do things would be better if they would be just a little different which is what denying perfection denying that all things work together for good let all things be exactly as they are that is available that state of mind is available but it's let all things be exactly as they are or you remember the famous Beatles song let it be speaking words of wisdom let it be we don't have to change the world we can't improve the world there is no hope of a better world it's just a different perception of the world and it's like Jesus is just like saying come off the timeline it's so beautiful when you're not on the timeline and it it just seems so difficult when we're identified as being on the timeline with regrets of the past and worries and concerns of the future it's too precious this moment is too precious to be drawn into that and Jesus does get very metaphysical sometimes people would say well I would be back home in God if it weren't for this body I put so much care and attention in this body if I wasn't thinking about this body and working on behalf of the body and Jesus is saying the body is a means and not an end it's just a means that the Holy Spirit can use it's not an end don't hold it in your mind as an end as something important in and of itself even says it doesn't even exist in and of itself nothing in this world exists in and of itself it's all part of the holistic mind experience one point Jesus says at no single instant does the body exist at all it is always remembered or anticipated but at no single instant does it exist at all and you can think about all the time and effort that goes into the body the survival the comforts the conveniences the preparation of the future future goals future body goals all of that seems recognizable within the ego's perception but it's not really reasonable in the ultimate perception of the world like simultaneous perception so it just takes of faith to let go of the wheel of karma to let go of the hamster wheel of busyness of the mind spinning around and we all have had those moments those glimmers I remember many many years ago when I was sitting there watching the movie Gandhi and Gandhi was over in South Africa and he was taking a walk with an American journalist named Walker and they were walking along and the journalist was looking around at the ashram that was being built into South Africa and went to the place where this ashram was in South Africa a couple of years ago I think two or three years ago and the American journalist said to Gandhi Mr. Gandhi you're quite an ambitious fellow and Gandhi's reply was I hope not and I remember as I was watching that many many years ago my heart just kind of leaped with that I hope not that we've bought a bill of goods even to be ambitious ego motive ambition that is a sense of self deception on the grandest scale instead of being who we are and have always been to buy into this thing called ambition that it'll be better Jesus says at one point he's got a section called the immediacy of salvation he said future loss is not your fear future loss is not your fear your real dread is present joining when we feel uncomfortable as human beings if there seems to be a pause in a dead space when you're with somebody and there's this awkward feeling or this uncomfortable feeling where you want to look away you don't want to keep gazing in the eyes you don't want to hold a glance when there's this awkwardness that comes with the human condition it's a fear of love it's facing that fear of love it's a fear of dropping the mask persona and his mask personality comes from persona and the meaning in Latin of persona is mask holding a mask holding a mask is how we defend against our fear of love if the mask would drop we think what then I would be naked I would be exposed without this mask who would I be without these defense mechanisms who would I be without protectionism that is really where these expression sessions tomorrow that we'll go into that's what we're doing is dropping the mask you can speak whatever the thoughts are there's no penalty it's just the hiding of the thoughts maintains the mask can I be transparent can I just speak from the heart can I just say this is what I'm feeling now these are my thoughts don't hold it against me I want to let them go I'm just going to let them come and roll off my tongue but they're not me don't hold it against me this habit of judging is not who I am and this judgment has not changed reality I just need to convince myself be convinced that I'm not guilty will you join me in that that's really what we're all about we're asking for a joining in innocence and the ego is so frightened is fear yet in the ultimate sense it can't be our own fear we must when we feel afraid we must be feeling the ego's feelings our spirit is not afraid perfect love cast out fear our spirit is not afraid but if we're feeling fearful we're just feeling the imposter's feelings what a glorious realization I cannot be afraid who I am cannot be afraid that's the release right through my childhood and teens and halfway through uni I was incredibly shy and then there was this moment that just popped into my head when I was speaking when I was about 19 or 20 and I was saying goodbye to my parents to drive back to uni and I never have recalled them saying prior to that time ever telling me that they loved me I knew they did but I'd never heard the words they're not very affectionate they never hugged or anything and I just had this impulse I jumped out of the car and I jumped up and I told my mum who's very stoic and I just said I love you and I go for a big hug and I said the same to my dad and my dad said it back and I was blown away but it was almost like I had an instant of apprehension or fear I'd just let it go like it came through something else I dropped the mask and I think that was a bit of a turning point because from that day forward I could look at strangers in the eye when I walked past them instead of hiding my head away and I could smile at strangers and things and in the early years if a stranger didn't engage my eye contact or looked away or didn't smile back or you know they kind of glance at you when you're walking past I used to be upset or not offended but just take it as like a personal affront or something or like a rejection I felt rejected and then I was contemplating it and I realised that's just their fear their afraid to let that mask down like I remembered that moment happening with my parents on the driveway that day and so ever since then I just continued smiling or eye contact and if they look away it doesn't affect me at all I just feel compassion with them I guess and I remember what it felt like very separate so I was just recalling them I'm glad you share that because I think of all the movies I've watched in my life where the whole theme is this fear to say I love you and it's just the ego that has the fear of those words because there's some kind of expectation that's tied in almost like don't say it because it'll cost you too much don't say it there's too many expectations that come with those words you're going to have to pay for that if there's a cost to expressing the truth what a crazy crazy idea that it costs something to say from your heart I love you when that's who we are that's the core of our being we simply can't do anything else except love because we were created as love and yet the human condition is this awkwardness around that I have to say that's one of the greatest things in working with A Course in Miracles for all these years 30 years since I picked it up I think the best part is the I Love Yous is going through a day or weeks or months or whatever and having that I love you come out so much over the years it's come out in so many ways you can put it as a signature on your email you can I even put that as your voicemail your phone it came out so naturally where it said record at the beep I love you you know even as a answer part of your answer and your answering machine it starts to come out naturally so naturally that's the best experience when you start to feel it and it feels so natural more natural than breathing when it doesn't have any overtones or associations with it when it comes off so freely just bursting out of your heart and there's no cost to it there's no nothing, no price to pay no sense of somebody saying back it up no sense of a force or an entity or anything saying, prove it it's who we are and we can allow it to be more and more and more natural there was a movie a movie you remember with Allie McGraw and Ryan O'Neill called Love Story and there's an interesting line from that movie I don't know if you ever remember that but love is never having to say you're sorry love is beyond apologies because apologies still acknowledge something has gone wrong and the whole point of no worries back to my no worries talk but the whole point of no worries of reason for no worries is because of innocence that no worries is founded on innocence founded on original innocence no worries comes from this awareness that there is no original sin could never have been an original sin if there's sin how can you not worry the sin is in the era of mages sin was missing the mark it was an archery term but if we have a perfect day that means we hit the mark we hit the bullseye yeah I love you so it's a celebration I love my travels down to Mexico and South America Fiesta, David Fiesta Fiesta I don't know the meaning but as Jeffrey knows there was that time he came to me and they said absoluta mente spectacular I don't even need to know what that means in Spanish because absoluta mente spectacular it comes through I know what spectacular means and mente is mind and absoluta you can put these together absoluta mente spectacular the mind is pristine the mind is undisturbed the mind is whole the mind is complete the mind of God the mind of Christ that's what we're celebrating there's much to celebrate there's much and that's just coming into an acceptance the acceptance of that that's the acceptance of no worries the course talks about mighty companions down here is the mighty mates rejoice in the mighty mates every day rejoice in the mighty mates glee joy happiness without end day one yeah that's what we're here for we have a song called the perfect day I'm not going to sing it but it says just a perfect day I want to spend it with you oh such a perfect day I can't remember just beautiful yeah and that reminds me of today such a perfect day and I never thought I would have a perfect day but I have very good oh that's beautiful that's beautiful yeah it's a celebration and I quite use the love thing I particularly love singing the bit with their shaking hands saying how do you do I love you I just love that one I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do they're really saying I love you beautiful yeah we love that song our resident singer has the mic just a little quick I remember I just years ago I don't know 15 or more years ago I went through a little bit of a stage just different things I've done and at one point I would answer the telephone and I would say hello beautiful person and interesting that was usually okay but one day there was this really pregnant pause and I thought and it was Sally's great great aunt great aunt and then she just said that's ridiculous and I said okay and then she said what if it was poor skating not poor skating that's the point of this expression session exposing exposing the awkwardness that's what we could call expression sessions just exposing the awkwardness very healing very healing I just loved going around different countries and seeing all this exposing the awkwardness and then everything gets more just so polite and playful and happy it's like the feeling like oh it's nothing's gone wrong these thoughts haven't changed anything you know but the hiding of the thoughts is take the toll on awareness truth is unchanged but it takes the toll on awareness it puts clouds our our vision clouds our minds so that's really the one thing that I've really got from the course is don't there's just no need to hide and protect anything like that moment when you said I love you to your your parents just you went right past that hesitation there's that little bit of doubt yeah I could know it's so important and the I love you came out and then your dad even said it right back that was beautiful an instant reflection sorry it's associated with guilt if we do something inadvertently that hurt someone or damages something or upset someone even if we only find out about it later I still feel like I should apologize yeah it's one thing I always liked about Jesus I would ask him about these things and I would say what if what if someone else is offended or seems to be or I've been offended and he said you have to pluck the offense from your mind it's still comes back to the mind you can't even perceive it unless you believe it and he's like pluck like they were pluck the offense that it's it is a full-time job so to speak minding the mind I know when I would go on this the tubes over there in London it'd always be this recorded voice in the tubes mind the gap and Jesus talks about the gap actually in the course he talks about everything he covers my gosh he covers the gap he says there's a tiny gap and I'm like oh my God all this mind the gap mind the gap Jesus is like yeah you've got to overlook the gap you seem to have a gap between you and your brother between you and your sister that makes you separate people and he's saying that gap is not there he even has that I need do nothing section where he talks about all these pathways to God fighting against sin and meditation and contemplation and he rattles off all these traditional pathways when people approach God and he says these approaches will work because of their purpose but they are tedious and time-consuming the master says meditation is tedious and time-consuming contemplation you know your way will be different okay I'm all ears he says your way will be different the way is given you in which you can escape time you can save countless years there's a way of quick direct access back to eternity okay I'm all ears what is it what is my way relationship is given you as a means of awakening your way will be different a holy relationship now you've really got my attention what is that what is this fast escape hatch into self realization he says you and your brother are together that's his way of saying it's all one mind it's always been one mind you and your brother are together you should focus on I need to do nothing it seems to the ego the most ridiculous crazy thing I need to do nothing but ultimately it's coming in to that place of acceptance of just absolute oneness absolute connection and then actually practicing with relationship starting to see brothers sisters as mirrors so if there's something that I find annoying something irritating something disagreeable wow you can tell it's going to be a fast track if he's going after annoyances irritations all those things and saying these are not tiny things these are the gap these are the gap that is not there you must expose this you must first acknowledge this and much of the course is about exposure but then actually when you really look at the course what he's saying is the exposure is just the beginning that actually forgiveness is joining with the Holy Spirit and overlooking the error entirely exposure is not forgiveness it's an aspect that leads us into joining with the Holy Spirit and overlooking the error entirely in fact there's one pamphlet where he emphasizes when Jesus italicizes words it's like oh my god he's italicizing some words I remember the first time I saw this in the pamphlet and I went oh my god he's italicized four words and I thought these are really important but first of where that Jesus was italicizing do not see error do not see error you have to join with the Holy Spirit to reach that state of mind that overlooks the error entirely it wouldn't matter whether it's Adolf Hitler it wouldn't matter whether it was Mussolini Osama bin Laden all the ones they talk about these what so called terrorists or your own government whatever do not see error what is he saying but acknowledge divine innocence acknowledge the innocence that is real that is true and what better way than to practice with relationships instead of seeing them as traps things that are holding you back things that are blocking you from the light which is the ego's use of seeing them as blocks oh I'd be so happy if it weren't for this one and this one and that one and that one to go that extra step that you you go more than minding the gap you transcend the gap imagine hearing that recording over and over transcend the gap it's alive yeah well we will come tomorrow with the expression sessions in the morning in golden opportunity for I think is it about an hour yeah 9 to 10 tomorrow very precious you can come and bring it bring it to the expression session knowing that you're doing it for the whole universe that you're not going to just take the awkwardness the feeling of awkwardness and just stuff it this is bring it instead of stuff it yeah and it's precious it really is feel the release of that thank you thank you for this night for sharing this movie yeah it's precious