How Do I Stay Consistently Connected?
“Into the Mystic” Online Retreat: Session Three—How Do I Stay Consistently Connected?
In this brief session, David and friends answer questions from participants. Topics range from motherhood to attending Course groups and connecting with mighty companions.
Gold Nugget:
“Well, this journey is something that I would say for me, and for most of us, when the calling starts to come in, this deep calling, it can be a bit startling and a bit surprising. Because I don’t know about a lot of you, but I can just speak from my experience in the parable of David, that I didn’t really see this coming. You start to feel it on the inside. But I didn’t come from a lineage of saints or a lineage of mystics. If I even mentioned those words, my biological family would look at me with a funny, twisted look on their face, like ‘What are you on about? What are you even talking about?’ And so I didn’t have a lot of past reference for this deep dive into the mind, into the spiritual presence. I mean, like a lot of you, I’m sure I had a religious context that I was raised in a cultural context, and there, the ego projected the whole thing out, and yet, when we start to answer the call, we start to be taken—you might remember that poem—the road less traveled. You know, ‘took the one less traveled by,’ talking about the road less traveled, ‘and that has made all the difference.’ (Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”) We are all being called on a journey that is so radical to the ego. Because it’s an ego alien journey. The ego doesn’t believe there is such a journey to God. It doesn’t believe in this presence and love and stillness. The ego is the defense against that divine love and stillness. So for us, we can say that’s what has all brought us together in this kind of quantum way, on this online retreat, is this presence of love that’s guiding us, and we’re all being brought together in what seems like a situation called an online retreat, but it’s actually just a reflection of our desire to wake up, to remember our true identity in Heaven. And we’re all here by readiness. And I was just giving this talk not too long ago at the Mystery School, the Tabula Rasa Mystery School, with the Monastery, and I understand our Monastery group is joining us today. So now we have, yeah, groups from Mexico and from the Monastery, and from all over, that are—you know, the Mystery School is blended in with the online retreat—it’s all, it’s all based on readiness. We’re all ready to be here. We’re ready to hear what’s going to be spoken. We’re ready to let go of the concepts of the world and the pursuits of the world.”
Recorded at the Awakening from the Dream Online Retreat – Into the Mystic on September 8, 2018
Recent Posts
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.