ACIM: An Owner’s Manual for Happiness

Spiritual Practice | Choice, Feelings of Lack, Guidance, Guilt, Monterrey Mexico, People Pleasing, Private Thoughts, Reciprocity, Series Monterrey Full-Day Workshop 2017, Sickness, Spiritual Journey, True Love, True Peace, Trust

How to Find Inner Peace—ACIM: An Owner’s Manual for Happiness

A Course in Miracles is a direct pathway back to God that teaches us how to forgive. The goal of ACIM is not about making a better life in the world, but about letting the world as we perceive it fall apart. This necessarily involves letting go of control, and as we pray to be shown the world through the light of the Holy Spirit, it becomes easier and easier. Peace becomes our natural experience. We experience miracles. And we become peaceful demonstrations of the love of Christ. True happiness always comes from within.

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Gold Nugget:

“Working with A Course in Miracles is a very direct pathway back to God. And you have to be very intuitive when you work with it because it can be very strong. Many times people get into spirituality because they want to make a better life in this world. But the journey is about going through a purification process where the world as you perceive it starts to fall apart and this is not a time to panic. It’s a time to pray and say, show me the world in a different way. And many times things fall away. Where things you thought were very familiar and you would see them your whole life, they start to disappear. It could be friends, it could be family, jobs, your whole career. It starts to be washed away, rinsed away. But there is nothing to worry about because you are still provided with everything that you need. And all you are doing is, you are learning that this world is not home.

Everybody likes the Spielberg movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Everyone in the theater is crying because we all want E.T. to go home. And the reason we’re crying is because we want to go home. So in one sense ACIM is like your owner’s manual. It gives it to you very direct, very straight. And you definitely have to be ready for it. This is why you don’t have to try to convince the presidents or the pope because it’s just for your mind.

I think if you presented ACIM to the presidents they might laugh and say: ‘This is one of those crazy New Age writings. Who wrote this book?’

‘Jesus.’

‘Ok, next.’

Because you have to be ready to go on this spiritual journey. And you really don’t have to convince anybody else about this course. When you feel peaceful and loving that is the convincing. And if you are a demonstration of the love of Christ then people may ask, ‘Why are you so happy,’ or ‘Why are you always smiling?’ They may honestly be very curious in a very sincere way. And even then you just have to let the spirit come through you as the spirit guides.

At the beginning I got so excited with all the miracles that I tried to talk to my mother and father about this. They were not interested. My mother was a Christian woman, a very devoted Christian woman. She said, ‘I already have a minister. I don’t need another minister.’ And I thought, ‘That’s Jesus speaking through Mum.’ Don’t try to convince anybody.”

Recorded on January 19, 2017 at a full-day workshop in Monterrey, Mexico (with Spanish translation)

I Taught the World to Teach Me

I Taught the World to Teach Me – In this session, David Hoffmeister emphasizes the importance of loyalty to the Spirit, the inner teacher, over personal desires and external opinions. This loyalty stems from truth and a deep connection with the Holy Spirit, not the ego’s demands. David shares parables of taking full responsibility for our state of mind by recognizing that we taught the world to teach us. By keeping this empowering thought in mind, it’s possible to remember that we don’t need to wait for externals to choose to be happy.

Coming Together with the Purpose of Healing

Coming Together with the Purpose of Healing – David Hoffmeister explores the perceptual problem, which pertains to the belief that the subject and the object are different, that the observer is different from the observed, and that the personality-self is different from the world that surrounds it. When we see an issue in the world, it really is just a split in the mind. This belief can result in significant problems such as conflict, climate change, and hunger, all of which can be traced back to the division within the mind. “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved,” (W-79) and “Let me recognize my problems have been solved.” W-80 By examining the projected world, we often fail to identify the core problem because it manifests in many forms. You may resolve a few problems today, only to encounter more tomorrow. Therefore, the key lies in our perspective, which stems from our interpretation.

Relax, Step Back, and Unwind from the World

Relax, Step Back, and Unwind from the World – David Hoffmeister shares about the importance of placing the future in God’s hands, a concept that requires enormous trust. This trust is crucial as we have been conditioned to learn the past and plan the future. Trust is the foundation of a teacher of God and allows us to relax and feel divine ease. During this profound talk, David also gives an overview of the very first Strawberry Fields Festival in 2009. Jesus tells us to go from nightmares to waking with a transition between happy dreams and gentle waking. This process helps us feel softer and gentler, making the struggle and challenge easier. Enjoy this deep discussion with the participants that goes deep and yet fun.

Opening to Deeper Prayer

Opening to Deeper Prayer – David Hoffmeister begins this 4-day Japan retreat by exploring the concept of undoing the self-concept—a conditioned expectation that obstructs our understanding of the world. The ego arises from the mind’s pursuit of self-improvement, crafting illusory goals that keep the mind preoccupied and detached from its boundless nature. The ego’s game is endless, as it neither begins nor concludes. The purpose of our practice is to abandon the pursuit of temporal goals and relinquish the false identity—the mask of the ego. In doing so, we experience the mind’s all-encompassing nature, recognizing that the world, society, and everything once perceived as external are within the mind. As the mind reaches a state of rest, the external world reflects this peace, becoming more harmonious.

A Path of Gentle Letting Go

A Path of Gentle Letting Go – In this session, David Hoffmeister speaks about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, focusing on self-actualization as the top goal. This concept is based on the Greek belief that ‘know thyself’ is the ultimate goal of human development. The ego attempts to deny this through hypnotism, mesmerism and imagination, covering the truth with unreal images. Atonement, the correction, is the awareness that the separation never happened.

Teaching the Holy Instant

Teaching the Holy Instant – At the beginning of this talk, David Hoffmeister discusses the concept of choice and the duality of life. We seem to live in a world of duality, where one of the primary goals is to find a life partner. We can see even that is dualistic because even a successful life match involves two, while reality involves only one.