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The Script vs. Free Will

I remember reading in the Disappearance of the Universe how Gary was driving to see a movie and was supposed to be involved in a car accident as per "the script". Pursah and Arten explain to him that he avoided the the accident because of the forgiveness that he had previously done. In other words, the lesson had been learned and so the accident did not need to happen.

How do you explain the difference between there being a written script and our ability to alter the script, like Gary did, based on what we do and who we do it with?

Tags: free, gary, holy, renard, script, spirit, will

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Permalink Reply by Danielle Boonstra on March 8, 2012 at 9:46am

OMG Suzanne! This is perfect! I know Michael hasn't had the chance to watch it yet, but I'm going to let him know how helpful this is!!!!

Thanks so much ♥♥♥

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Permalink Reply by Michael Boonstra on March 8, 2012 at 11:56am

Hi Suzanne,

Thank you so much for the video. Extremely helpful:-) Thanks for taking the time to share. - Michael

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Permalink Reply by Mike Lemieux on March 7, 2012 at 1:26am

Hey Michael, well, first I would say that the point of doing the Course is to be at peace regardless of what transpires within our dream script, then ultimately to go Home. But erything that is going to happen has already happened, since within the illusion of time, the past, present, and future all occur simultaneously. So we are just watching a movie play itself out, what the Course refers to "reviewing mentally what has gone by."

With all that said however, as a result of practicing forgiveness, it is possible, as demonstrated by the example you gave about Gary and the non-car accident, you can collapse time so that certain events that you no longer need to learn from don't take place. Or you can even change scripts (dimensions of time) altogether, "parallel realities" if you will, but that script has also already been recorded. Of course, none of that is the focus of the Course; it's just what Arten and Pursah refer to as a "fringe benefit" of practicing forgiveness, not the main purpose which of course is Salvation. Giddy up!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Boonstra on March 7, 2012 at 12:03pm

Thanks Mike. Some very helpful insights for me. Appreciate it!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Lemieux on March 7, 2012 at 7:49pm

No problem. Also, I had posted this Note on Facebook a few months back that you might find helpful, titled: No Free Will - So Why Bother? Excerpts from The Disappearance of the Universe with some of my own commentary mixed in. Giddy up!
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=1015046421...

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Permalink Reply by Warren Cotton on March 7, 2012 at 7:21am

There isn't just a single script. Various teachers describe this in different ways. I like to think of it as a big role-playing computer game, where you have a choice of what you say to other characters in the game, and the characters respond accordingly. But the responses are all pre-programmed in the game.

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Permalink Reply by Patri on March 9, 2012 at 9:32pm

Agree. I think you've hit the nail on the head. Everything is scripted, but you choose which door to open (think of a maze - the layout has already been, well, laid out, but you choose how you move around it).

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Permalink Reply by Julia Olsen/ the Mixie Pixie on March 21, 2012 at 7:00am

Why this talk about scripts? I mean, we don't know what the script is, and so we don't know when and if we've altered it, right? (except those who have visitors telling them so). Is it our function to alter scripts? The script isn't real anyway, right? Or am I missing something? Peace and love!

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Permalink Reply by Warren Cotton on March 21, 2012 at 7:29am

Julia, I think the idea is that the ego wants us to believe that everything is hopelesss and it doesn't matter what we do, so it tells us to latch onto the idea that "the script is written." Then we can quit making choices, quit choosing HS. Then we can just relax and listen to the ego exclusively, because it doesn't matter anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Boonstra on March 21, 2012 at 12:38pm

Thank you Warren for this clarification. Very helpful. I often feel with the Course, it is difficult to be motivated/inspired to do anything, since nothing exists. I know Ken Wapnik often says to Course students to "be normal". I just find this hard when on the same token nothing here supposedly has meaning... so choices don't matter on this earthly plane, just in the mind. In otherwords, why do a job I don't like if it doesn't matter?

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Permalink Reply by Julia Olsen/ the Mixie Pixie on March 22, 2012 at 1:23am

Oh, yes! I'm so glad you said this. I feel the same way, like nothing matters and it is all pointless. I struggle with figuring out what to do with my time. I had always wanted to please God and do the right thing. Now it seems there is no right thing - an idea that makes me uncomfortable, and God is already "pleased". So now what? To me, "normal" is a setting on the dryer. I ask the Holy Spirit all the time, and the answer so far has always been "just be", "be present".

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Permalink Reply by Warren Cotton on March 22, 2012 at 7:28am

Nothing here has meaning in itself, but only the meaning we give it. The reason to "be normal" and go about our daily business, I think, is because that is how we encounter our forgiveness opportunities -- it's easy to feel "spiritual" sitting all alone on a mountaintop, but not as easy in a traffic jam. If you don't like your job, then ask HS for guidance. Or maybe the fact that you don't like it is guidance.