 You should be glad to be here again. The last couple of times we've come, we've had such lively discussions and gotten into all kinds of things. To me, that's what it's all about. It's just coming together with that real strong intention to get clear. Where two or more come together, the ego can't hide. We were talking about that before dinner about how there's just something that takes place when you come together with a real strong intention to get clear. And basically, my approach is that everyone has the truth inside but it's just covered and buried with all these crazy false beliefs. And whenever we come together we get a little more insight into attachments that we have or certain beliefs that are in there that we weren't conscious of or whatever and then the mirror of our mind gets a little clearer so that we can reflect the light into the world, be the light of the world. And so I just want to again encourage everybody tonight that if we're going into things, if there's anything that comes up, an issue that you're dealing with or if you're working with a particular lesson that seems to be perplexing or struggling or questions about my own life or about Beverly's, they're all open game because I really feel like the whole point of the course is you can't just read it and study it and memorize it. We need to live it. And if there's parts of our lives that are not in congruence with what the course is teaching or whatever, it's helpful for all of us to kind of be aware of those things so we can have the mind shift and be a witness and a demonstration of the truth. And so that's always really helpful. Again, I think maybe tonight we'll start off with as I'll discuss some of the basic metaphysics because I've just been over and over and over. But it's like no matter what discussion we get into, it's nice to have some kind of a basic framework to kind of run our discussion through. I mean, that's kind of been my experience with the courses is just learning the metaphysics very, very well and then just kind of like as I'm going through my daily life as I have upsets come up or whatever we're talking about that too, just tracing it back through the metaphysics of the course and Mark was sharing going to work and having a situation and I mean that's the bread and butter of the course. It's meant to be a very practical, applicable spirituality, which really all spiritualities at the core are meant to be applied. And I think basically what I want to kind of come at the course tonight through is through a basic thing like the problem and the answer or the question and the solution and kind of come at it from the point of view that the course is basically saying that there's only one problem and there's only one solution and there really is only one question that the mind keeps asking over and over and over at a very deep level. Who am I? It's like the ego asked the first question ever. There was no questions in heaven, there just was one this and the first question that was ever raised including and there's an awful lot of questions right after this first question but the first question that was raised was who am I? And it was the ego that asked it, Christ did not ask this question. There's complete certainty in heaven. So every question that has come from that first question including all the questions about the professions that we seem to be in about the world, about the subatomic levels, about science, philosophy all the other questions are just stacks and layers and layers of questions on top of that first one. And in the deceased state the mind is still asking that basic question who am I? The ego has got lots of answers. You're a man or a woman, you're a son or a father or a brother or sister you're a husband or a wife, you're a construction worker, you're an engineer you're a mathematician, you're a tennis player, a tennis teacher it's just the ego gives us lots of answers and it's kind of constantly in there saying well you're a combination you're this, this, this, this, you know and underneath it all the mind just isn't sure because it's still asking that central question who am I? Identity seems to keep shifting and changing well I was a son, now I'm a father now I'm a grandfather or you know just I was a banker, now I'm into this and that it's just very unstable and shifting and everything So I think what we'll do as we go into our discussion tonight is maybe we'll keep working back down deeper and deeper into the mind to try to get at that central question of who am I and where are the answer, the experience of the answer is Another thing about questions is basically the ego asks questions and the Course describes them as double questions I don't know if any of you have got to the part it's laid in the text where Jesus is talking about how every question asked within this world is a it's a double question it's in the quiet answer section page 533 and so I'll just read you a little bit of this because really you start to see that how are we going to come to an understanding of the answer if we can't even ask the right question you know if we're asking questions that are like nonsense questions or kind of like questions that ask an answer in themselves they've already got a built-in answer already in that they really are like circular questions they don't go anywhere they just go in circles and how are we ever going to get deeper and this is what Jesus has to say in that section he says all questions asked within this world are but a way of looking not a question asked a question asked and hate cannot be answered because it is an answer in itself a double question asks and answers both both attesting the same thing in different forms the world asks but one question it is this of these illusions which of them is true which ones establish peace and offer joy and which can bring escape from all the pain of which this world is made whatever form the question takes its purpose is the same it asks but to establish sin is real and answers in the form of preference which sin do you prefer that is the one that you should choose the others are not true it's starting to give it a sense when we really start to pull this back to our daily lives it's kind of like that's what the dominant theme of our day is I mean there's all these seeming situations in the menu of the world and Jesus is saying that they're illusions and basically it's like we spend a lot of time or a lot of frustration sometimes debating about well do I want to go here to eat dinner or there do I want to call this person or not do I want to date this person or not do I want to buy this kind of car or not do I want to invest in this mutual market fund or do I want to invest in CDs it's like there's a lot of strain and energy put into which of these illusions is true which ones are the best and what's underneath that is that the mind has a hierarchy of illusions it doesn't see that these are just projected images it's kind of got these images ranked these are my top illusions I spend a lot of effort and energy pursuing and seeking those then there's the middle level of difference about these illusions let people pursue and say when I really care, I don't care about it and then there's the negative one that I spend my energy avoiding I don't want to be around this person I don't care if they're illusion or not I don't like them or I don't like this kind of weather if I have to move to Hawaii I'm going to get away from this weather because Hawaii's got better weather you can see that there's kind of a hierarchy in there and what he's saying in here is that the questions that are asked during the day are just they ask and they answer it's kind of like that's where the preferences come in it's like each person has this hierarchy and it's like everybody's got a version of the good life it can be different for some people the good life can be extremely different from others because everybody's got an unconscious so he's starting to say now you've got to really take a look at these questions that you're asking he continues on he says what can the body get that you would want the most of all it is your servant and also your friend but tell it what you want and it will serve you lovingly and well he's speaking very sarcastically here because this is how the ego thinks and this is not a question for it tells you what you want and where to go for it it leaves no room to question its belief except that what it states takes questions form so in other words in this world it's been forgotten that we're spirits and that we're mind and basically in the deceased state the ego is kind of saying well, God made you a body very well already you've got a limit here so you better make the best of it you better go for all the gusto you've got because, you know, you're stuck you're limited you've already separated from the kingdom you've thrown away your spiritual inheritance you might as well just go for the gusto eat, drink and be married for you shall die and it's going to be over so you might as well go for the gusto you know and the ego doesn't tell us that this is aiming for the gusto and seeking for seeking for peace and happiness in the world is the last place that we could ever find it because the world was made of this smoke screen so we wouldn't go back in our mind in meditation so to speak and sink down inside to be with the Holy Spirit where our true happiness and salvation reside you know the old Bible saying the kingdom of heaven is within and the ego says no, it's without it's that codependent relationship you know take go for the relationship, go for the possession go for the fame, go for the glory you know go for something out there and we've had a lot of examples of people who have followed it all the way out extreme examples like maybe like Marilyn Monroe all the money all the fame, all the sex appeal married to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller I mean you know you've got a famous playwright you know we had variations but you know according to the world it's kind of like you know fame fortune, money, good luck all those things that the billion dollar cosmetic industry aimed at you know all the magazines to sell sex and so forth and very sad very sad, very depressed and the Course kind of gives us a framework to say ah the ego's basic premise is seek and do not find you know it's very different than the biblical seek and you shall find but it's like seek and do not find keep putting the carrot out for us and we keep looking for these satisfactions in form and we keep asking these pseudo questions and he says the pseudo question has no answer it dictates the answer even as it asks thus is all questioning within the world a form of propaganda for itself later he says an honest question is a learning tool that asks for something that you do not know it does not set conditions for a response but merely asks what the response should be but no one in a conflict state is free to ask this question for he does not want an honest answer where the conflict ends so that kind of gives us a springboard you know if we kind of tie that framework into the metaphysics of the Course is the very instance that this tiny mad ridiculous belief in separation seems to be bought into by this powerful, powerful mind the Holy Son of God getting such a powerful mind is such a teeny little ridiculous thought that you can separate from your creator literally that was the big bang in the mind that's where all the guilt in the mind arose and everything but the Course says that the answer was not given after it is given simultaneously that the instance of the belief seemed to be believed in the Holy Spirit was given as an answer for it so the good news is that the Course is basically saying that your only problem has been solved it's already solved that's good to know because at the time it can seem like oh it seems like at times I can still open the question whether this is solved or not and the feelings that are experienced and we might have addressed the great question that's asked all over the country the number one question how could this happen in the first place kind of a thing and Jesus answered Bill Fetford kind of early on in the text when he asked the question about it's a good question but you know you're looking for an answer in terms of history you're looking for an answer in terms of the past and he says you can just note by your reactions that obviously you're still making the same mistakes and history wouldn't exist if you didn't keep making the same mistakes for the present so you know it's kind of like oh he just zoomed back into the present it's like the present moment is your point of power that's where you make decisions and that's where you can choose salvation a lot of us when we really do conceptualize ourselves is maybe we've been on a spiritual journey for a number of years and we're moving back towards our awareness of God and wholeness and completion but Jesus goes even a step further in the course he says