Give up Your Plan B and Let Present Trust Direct the Way

Spiritual Practice | Commitment, Control, Distractions, Ego, Fear, God-Dependent, Guidance, Guilt, Idols, Independence, Memory, Miracles, Pacific Palisades California, True Freedom, True Joy, Trust

Happy Dream Retreat – Give up Your Plan B—Give up Your Plan B and Let Present Trust Direct the Way

The more you give yourself over to the joy of the Spirit and trust, the more you see that your Plan Bs avail you nothing. The world’s mantra that we need to plan for the future and be prepared for all situations is not our real concern. Our real fear is present joining. As we give up our little plans and align our mind with the Spirit’s plan, we experience life as a joyful, spectacular unfolding.

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Gold Nugget:

“When you give your life over and you say, ‘I give it all to you Jesus,’ it’s not like you’re doing anything for some kind of standard or ritual. But when you say, ‘I’ll give you my possessions; I give you my body; I give you my resources; I give you my mind; I give you my thoughts; be you in charge; you lead, I will follow,’ when you do that, you are saying, ‘I don’t want to live a life of compromise any more. I don’t want to straddle the fence. If you show me, I want to jump in with both feet. I’m not going to just stay at the pool; a wading pool with my toes dangling in the water and then pulling them out. I’m going to jump in, and if you tell me to jump in I’m going to go in with both feet. I’m going to throw everything in.’

And what does that mean in a practical way? It means that the ego doesn’t want you to do that because it’s going to be out of business fast! If you do that it’s going to defend against this jumping in all the way with what it calls Plan B; not just one Plan B, lots of Plan Bs. You could say B,C,D,E…It wants you to have a lot of Plan Bs and maybe call them by other names. It wants you to believe that the grass is always greener on the other side, and you are never stuck, you can always go back. You can fall back on this, and you can fall back on that. If we admit it, that’s what our education has been in the world. Not only from our parents, but from our universities, our seminars, our workshops. Save for a rainy day. Never get caught in a situation or relationship where you have nothing, and you are left cold and lonely out in the rain. Always be prepared. When I was in the Boy Scouts that was our motto:’Be Prepared.’ Prepared for what? Future catastrophes!

And that’s what happens when we have Plan Bs: We are ignoring the present moment. We are ignoring this beautiful teaching in the Course: Let go of your past associations and let present trust direct the way. Isn’t that beautiful? Let present trust direct the way. We could just pour our hearts into that one; that would answer all these hypothetical problems and concerns so directly and immediately. Let present trust direct the way.”

Recorded on February 11, 2017 at the Happy Dream Retreat in Pacific Palisades, California

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.