What Can I Place My Loyalty In?

Spiritual Practice | Betrayal, Family, Guidance, Listen and Follow, Loyalty, Paauilo Hawaii, Sacrifice, Series Unwind Your Mind Easter Retreat, True Forgiveness, True Peace, Values

As you open up to the Call of the Heart, you will be guided to extend the truth to all without exception of any kind, including your family members. Let the joy be the teacher and allow the idea of loss to be washed away. Join David Hoffmeister in this deep talk on family values, betrayal, loyalty, and following guidance.

Download “Morning Session: Loyalty”

Gold Nugget:

“Betrayal is an idea that is really tied into the idea of loyalty. A lot of us have been raised with family loyalty, loyalty to country, to a certain culture that we have been raised with, or it can even be loyalty to certain values that we hold dear. For example, I believe that people should be this way and do this. I started to see how loyalty and betrayal are really connected. It was my strong investment in loyalty—whatever it was—that was really triggering my feelings of betrayal; that if I was not so loyal I would not have such intense betrayal issues.

I asked Jesus about this one time and I said, What about this? I thought loyalty was a good thing? I really believed it was a good, true value; that there were things worth being loyal to. And he said, ‘No. Actually, peace of mind is where your loyalty belongs. You are worthy of peace. You are created in peace. You, in one sense, need to protect that peace by valuing it above anything else that you experience in this world. In fact, that is the only way that you will come back into that experience; by being loyal to peace—not loyal to the images, not loyal to the appearances, because they were made to cover over the peace. If you stay loyal to that which was made to cover over the peace, you are not going to ever find the peace.’

It was more of Jesus’ divine logic like, Yes, I am telling you the fact; the truth of it. It’s okay to be loyal. It’s okay. It’s good to be loyal, but be loyal for peace of mind. Be loyal to joy. Be loyal to happiness. Be loyal to Presence, to Divine Presence, and really stay strong to your loyalty to that above everything else.”

Recorded at the Unwind Your Mind Easter retreat on April 4, 2015 at the Center for the Waking Mind in Paauilo, Hawaii

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.