Are You Willing to Follow Spirit?

Spiritual Practice | Chapala Mexico, Guidance, Listen and Follow, Living in Community, Mighty Companions, Miracle Impulses, Purpose, Readiness and Willingness, Resistance, Series Light of the World, Sex and Sexuality, True Forgiveness, True Freedom, Trust, with Friends

Final Session at La Casa—Are You Willing to Follow Spirit?

Hear these parables on following guidance, the development of trust, the miracle of forgiveness, and the value of mighty companions. All it takes is one full “yes” to following Spirit; that’s it. Follow your “yes,” and with your trust Spirit makes your path obvious.

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Gold Nugget:

“All ideas from God can be freely shared. The Holy Spirit has no copyright policy on his words. And the more you extend or share them, the more you strengthen them in your awareness. So, there are really no restrictions on the miracle. The more you extend the miracle, the more you are aware of the miracle. And there is no force in the world, not even the ego, that can stop you from sharing your miracles. You just have to ask Jesus, ‘Where would you have me bestow my miracle?’ Let him direct the way, and then you will see how freely it works. There is never a block, no limitations. And that is how your mind becomes truly free.

What is guided is provided. And that makes things very simple, because a lot of mind energy is spent on hypothetical thinking as if there are options and choices and I personally have power to choose. It is a choiceless path. One ‘yes,’ and that’s it. You just follow your ‘yes,’ and the Spirit makes it very obvious. It takes such a deep devotion and a deep willingness to just say, ‘only Your Will,’ and to stay with the simplicity of that. Even the hypothetical questions of, ‘Should I be celibate or should I be sexual?’ … It come down to: what is given now?”

Recorded at the You Are the Light of the World retreat on September 29, 2014 at La Casa de Milagros in Chapala, 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.