 that patience is my divine right and patience is mine now, I may get through or pass some of the lessons. But maybe my thought level wasn't sure enough that I was thinking I need more patience, sure enough I get opportunities for my patience. And that would be a step short of acceptance of the fact that patience is indeed mine and that I'm one with the universe of mind. Yeah, this prayer idea is really important. We can take it, everybody heard like the law of karma or giving and receiving are the same. Or as you sow, so shall you reap. I mean my gosh, this one basic law is like, is to take in many different words and forms but it's kind of the same. Now, you know, as you sow, so shall you reap. If the mind gets exactly what it wants, always, okay. Then the question is, does the deceived mind know what it wants? You know, if it had two soft systems, that's what the definition of a deceived mind is, one that has a split mind, one that has the ego and the Holy Spirit. If it really doesn't know what it wants, I want the Holy Spirit, I want the ego, I want the Holy Spirit, I want the ego. If the mind is confused, if it's split, you know, then it doesn't know what it wants, but it gets exactly what it wants. But it doesn't know what it wants. It's confused, so it gets confusion. You see? You see how this works? That's why it's so important that, you know, blessed are the pure heart for they shall see God. If we don't have pure intentions, if we don't have a mind with pure thoughts, thoughts that only come from God, then we're going to keep calling forth witnesses in the world that will attest to our confusion, to our conflict, you know. So that's what, to me, it's why it gets so important to get really clear and discern between these two soft systems and let the egos go. Because other than that, it's going to be like an automatic, I'm just going to continue to call forth witnesses in the world that are going to prove, you know, I'm teeny, I'm little, I'm frail, I'm able to be harmed by the slightest thing going wrong in my life. That's the ego's thought system. As long as I hold on to it's thought system, that's what's going to continue to happen. So if I get a confused thought, I mean another way to look at that would be to say, I'm experiencing confusion when I want to experience peace, so this is an invitation to peace, for me to choose peace. Now, we talked last night, we went into pretty great detail about backward thoughts and forward thoughts, which for those of you who weren't here, are backward thoughts we define as how does an effect being split off and turned around. Where there's something on the screen, there's something in the world that has the power to give me peace or to take away peace. You see how both extremes get back to that codependency. If there's something in the world that can give me peace, then I'm dependent on it. I'm going to try to pursue it. If there's a certain person, if there's a certain place, if there's a certain career, if there's a certain physical way of looking, you can see how whatever it is, if that's going to bring me happiness and peace, then I'm codependent on that thing. And conversely, if there's crime areas, if there are some, you know, areas with bad weather or, you know, areas where the economy is terrible and I'm not going to be able to make it. You see how if these are identified as things that can take away my peace, then I'm codependent there too. Because I'm going to have to find the areas that don't have crime, the best economic areas, the ones with the best weather. You can see how you can be on an endless chase to try to pacify the ego and to try to get the peace of mind. So if we really pull it away from there being anything external that can give me peace, then it comes back to what is it in my mind that can give me peace and happiness. And we got into the idea last night about function or purpose. That my function and my happiness are one. As long as I'm holding onto my function, then happiness will be in my awareness. And the verse would be true, or that there's nothing that can take my peace away. Yes. And so that comment you made about, did I call it to me or did I create it? Yes, by my interpretation of it, you know, how I chose to look at it. I certainly did. It's the interpretation that upsets us. See, a lot of times, too, what happens is when you say, did I call it to me, the mind is still perceiving itself in a linear world with linear events that are happening to it. And the Course's view is really radical. The Course says the descriptor's written and, you know, it's going to, it's playing out. It's going to, it's all stuck. That one idea, it just keeps coming back, you know. And we've, we've talked about it, and the Course has brought up sometimes the feeling of resistance. The script is written. That sounds like predetermination. That sounds like destiny to me. Where's my choice? Where's my free will come in? And what the Course does, again, it says, yes, the script is written. But you have a choice. You're, you're only remaining choice if you have left. And this is the state is how you look upon the script. Which lens are you going to look through? Which guide are you going to listen to when you're looking at the script? You know, that's a choice. That's the only choice that we've got left. And it's kind of like that brings us back to content and purpose. Because the ego has a purpose of death for the script. It wants to call for the witnesses to prove that sickness and pain and death and destruction are who you are. You know, you're teeny, you're little. And the Holy Spirit has a purpose of healing that's given to the world. It's a, it's a completely different purpose. But it takes a lot of practice and mind training to hold that, that purpose of healing in mind. Because it's, it's literally a completely different purpose. Another way to come out would be, the Course calls this world a dream world, okay? And basically the mind that, that is deceived doesn't believe that it's dreaming this thing. It believes this is real, and a real person. These are real events that are happening to me. I really lost my job. I really don't have enough money to pay the rent, you know? And that's how it feels. It really, it doesn't see it as a dream. In fact, when we, when we go to bed at night and we dream, do we react to the, to our dreams at night? Is it just dreams? About you, but you know, there's, there's running and sometimes fear and sweat and emotions that seem to go on in those dreams. Why? Because the dream, it's like the mind thinks it's in the dream. So, what the Course is just saying is that if you, if you really let go of judgment, you'll start to see more that you're the dreamer of the dream. Or like Tim was saying, you're the cause of the dream. Now, if I'm in the dream, it seems like I'm not the cause of the dream. Things are happening to me that I have no control over. But if I'm back, and if I'm the dreamer of the dream, then I can accept another purpose for the dream. I can say, okay, I'm going to change the purpose out with the ego, in with the Holy Spirit. And the Course calls that a happy dream. You see, because the purpose is changed. Nothing happens on the screen that's changed. I mean, there still are things going on, what the world would describe as wars and so on and so forth. But my purpose for the world has changed. So, is it the same, it's the same script? I mean, nothing, we're not changing the script. Right. Okay, we're just, we're just seeing it all. Definitely. It's a way of looking the same, but everything else is the same. Now, that seems to be kind of like real high because it's like, wait a minute. I'm a person, I'm autonomous. I could choose to raise my arm or lower it. That's changing the script, you know. And that's what makes it seem so difficult to pull back is because the mind believes that bodies are autonomous and the behavior is autonomous. You know, I could decide as a person to go from Seattle, Woodley Island to Cincinnati or not. You know, and the court comes along and says, no, the script is written, you know. Don't you agree with that? I had to do it. Yes, you had to do it. You know, which can seem like ludicrous, but really it's like the script is just playing itself out and behavior is not autonomous. What you do comes from what you think. You have a choice in what you think. And that's the only choice you have. So if you can think and align with the Holy Spirit and the behavior just follows automatically. You know, this is sort of like that topic. And something that you said, David, something that you said to everybody still brings me back to thinking that I can make the choice. That I have a choice in how to interpret what happens. But if I'm choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit then I can choose to act on the direction I receive from the Holy Spirit. So I feel like I'm still choosing. I'm still creating. Or if I want to be right, I can choose from the place of the ego and perhaps thumb my nose at this guy who wanted my parking place. I mean, I can be right, I can be obnoxious. I'm still making the choice. I mean, I really want to get... I would love to walk out of here clear about this. It's that level stuff. In other words, there's one line that's real thick. Clear where I mentioned last night, Jesus says, you may believe that you are responsible for what you do, what you're saying, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think. For only at that level is a choice, a real choice possible. So we're back to that thing that sure seems convincing in this world that we're individual, unique little persons that have choice. And not only that, but there are other individual, unique persons on the planet that also have choice. And then when they make a choice, the conflict with my choice, you see, but the mind has denied that this is like an optical illusion that this is a screen that I've projected out there and that illusion and that illusion, you know, it's that subject object split that I talk about. As soon as there's all these objects, and as soon as I will say it's a jigsaw puzzle, that's a good image. So now here's a jigsaw puzzle with all these little, we'll say hundreds of little pieces. And I go, I pick one out and I go, this is me. Out of the whole puzzle, I pick one little piece. I go, this is me. And now there's a me apart from all the other pieces. You see now there's fragmentation. Because now I've got this piece. It's me. And this other piece, I'm going to move this one over here. I don't like this one. These are the ones I like. I'll surround myself with these. But you can see there's still a sense of otherness. There's me and there's the other. And that's what the optical illusion of this world is, is that the course is saying that that split that you believe is there between you and your brother, which of course is based on beliefs and bodies. I mean, you can't, you know, that's what the fragments are. Bodies. Now I'm a person which includes the body and this is another person. And as long as once I perceive that split there, then it seems like that I'm constantly battling against all these other fragments, you know. And I need my space and I need autonomy and I need, you know, I don't want to become too codependent. But I don't want to, I don't want to be isolated. You know, that whole tug of war comes into play. So if I recognize my oneness with the sun chip, then that's where I get confused because that's when I feel like, well, I should back my car out and let this person back in my parking place because he or she is more upset than I am about, you know, having it or not having it. So then I get into caretaking and that's crazy-making. I know that that's still dealing with the form. So, and I know that I'm responsible for the peace within myself only. There's a peace missing. I just feel like, you know, to say that I don't have any, to say that the script is already written. He wants our choice and the behavior. That's what you want, R. No, it's like choosing the thoughts which determine the behavior and I can choose thoughts which are peaceful and joining and then, you know, my behavior can stem from that. I mean, that's what I want. And that's what, I think that's what David's saying. You either line up with the Holy Spirit or you line up with the ego. To me, staying in the script is written. It doesn't say that because it feels like I don't have any choice about aligning with the Holy Spirit with the ego. It's already a done deal, as Robin said. I've done this and I think what helped me was that my fortune saved. Choosing between illusions is out of choice.