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  

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.