Yeah, the authority problem is the core problem and it is a question of authorship, which really,
if we boil it down, we could say: Am I a creation of a loving source- of a loving Spirit? Or can
I create myself any way that I wish to be. And admittedly- in this world- a lot of times when
I talk to people, they will say things like: “Diversity is good!” You know, that’s one of
the “good” things. Just like in- when you look at relationship counselling, compromise is good.
And then you get to this thought system and it is saying that there is a purity and wholeness
that literally- it transcends the compromise- it transcends the diversity, the multiplicity and the
pluralism. Sometimes you hear people talking about multi- dimensional reality and yet the multi- part
gives away that reality is just pure love, it’s just one- ness. So the authority problem is trying
to give some kind of reality to the duality or the multiplicity. And, you could say that underneath
that is still a wish to make oneself, to invent oneself or to have the ability to re- invent,
you know. And so, and what that ends up being is just a lot of spinning wheels- you know:
just trying and trying and trying again. To try to find some perfection in form,
when the perfection is pure Spirit, that is more of a letting go of the investment in the forms and
so forth. So, it’s really a great teaching, it’s a great metaphysics. I think there is a lot of
great non- duality pathways, but the Course, with bringing the authority issue in, with bringing in
this idea that...that God creates like God, Spirit creates like Spirit and then when you try to come
away and do something other than that and create something unlike which God creates. I have always
been fascinated like, I have met so many people and studied so many philosophies and done so much
travelling that- you know, sometimes going into a crystal store or a “New Age” - store and reading
the lines even: “Create your own reality” . And then having even people say: “Well, that’s what
the Course is teaching: Create your own reality!” It’s like: No- it’s not really teaching that at
all: It’s teaching that: Spirit, God- is the creator of reality and that you can accept your
reality exactly as it was created, but you can't make or create your own reality and that's really,
you know it relates actually, John- your question relates to the very first question about: Well,
here I am, I’ve lost my job, I still have to earn a living. I have to raise my children and
so on and so forth. And the world would say: Well yeah, you have got all these duties and
responsibilities and so on and so forth… and I’ve never taught like to abdicate on those things,
even if the ego set them up. The only way that you are going to be loosened from them is to be
unwound from them- by the Spirit- you know. You can’t be like the ostrich and put your head in
the sand and just say: I don't have a financial obligation, I don't have a this obligation or
that and just pretend that it’s not there, but to learn to tap in and to tune in to the spirit
to be lead in ways so that you, you have a transcendent experience, where you realize
that you are not bound or limited in any way. It was just these false identifications, this
false attempt to make an identity unlike the God identity, unlike the identity that God created.
So, I do find that that is at the core of everything. And also it plays out in terms
of control - because when I really started to get into the Course and practiced it there just came
a point where I just had a big smile on my face and I went - this is just the long version of
the serenity prayer and that’s all this is, you know. I just like, you know... 365 lessons and
all and 12- hundred and some odd pages and it’s just- talk about long division/ short division.
Thís ís like the long version of the serenity prayer. Well actually it's extremely profound-
the serenity prayer- you know: What do I have the power to change, what don’t I have the power
to change and the wisdom to know the difference. And I was like, in A course in Miracles terms the
Holy Spirit is like the wisdom that knows the difference- it’s this great discerner, in our
mind- that knows the difference- between the real and the unreal, and it’s just reminding us that
we are innocent. We are not guilty. We have never done anything wrong ever. We are just completely,
purely innocent and we always have been. What a great message, you know: That’s the wisdom. The
thing about what I can change and what I can’t change- well, it really comes down to: The world
was made as a distracting device- to get lost in. A world òf complexity, a world of distraction,
a world of many images. It was made that we would forget who we are. It was made as a way to keep us
from remembering who we are. And so, why would I think that I could change a distractiving device?
If the whole thing was made to - kind of- get my attention and keep my attention, where ít was
not helpful: where it would be dissipated, where it would be wasted- you know that was trying to
change the world. And I do remember you know, ít’s a huge text, with the Course. But I do remember
getting back and back- further and further towards the back of the text. And I remember, it just
struck me very strongly when I finally read in the Course. "You have no control over the world
you have made." And I am like: There it is: That’s the serenity prayer. You know when keep trying to
change the circumstances and keep tinkering with these projections and these images, it would be
like going to the movie theatre and having a reaction to the movie, like: I don't like that
scene, or I don't like that character or I don't like the way this movie is going and going down
and just banging on the screen as if somehow you know-it’s like you could go just right up. People
do talk to the screen but this would be actually taking action and just wacking it and just saying:
“Stop it, stop it, stop it. This is not right!” We would laugh because we would say: Well, it’s
a projection- you are not going to do anything at all by banging on that screen. But, how tempting
it is, when we are dealing with relationships, when we are dealing with job situations,
when you- whatever: have invested money into the stock market, and you are watching whatever the
Dow Jones Industrial Average or whatever you … and you are like: “ Ao, Oh, ah- you are all wrapped up
in these highs and lows and ups and downs and they don't really mean anything- ultimately,
because they were made to distract us from- seek within - find the Kingdom of Heaven within. That
you have it inside- not only that you have it inside. Not only, you don't even have to search
for it- it’s just who you are- it’s our very state of being. So for me that's the most important
thing about the authority problem. It is kind of a surrender moment, you know - where you can say:
I have...Thru all my efforts and trying to do it- I still don't know - I dont know the way. But
there is one who does. And for me that has been cultivating that experience has been my openness
to follow guidance. First I had to have an awareness that there was a guidance there. And the
Course is just a pathway to coming in touch with that eternal - guide. And call it whatever you
will, you know it doesn’t - the words don't even matter, what we- call that guidance. You can call
it intuition, you can call it higher power, the Holy Spirit, you know, some people call it Jesus
or “J” or whatever- it doesn’t really matter- it's just really tapping into that. And then when you
do really tap into that- then nothing is the same. And curiously you have such a contentment- you
know, it’s like - you could watch the grass grow and feel fulfilled. It just takes it away from
outcomes- you know. So, it’s beautiful- that’s the way out of the authority problem- to surrender.