“Salvation” is for the sleeping mind. God would not give us the means of Awakening without the assurance that the plan would succeed. And we don’t have to save the whales, or the forests, or the planet. No rituals or holy relics are needed; we are not into spiritualizing matter. In 1160, the Cathars were a Gnostic group who actually knew all these things. They taught the same principles that ACIM teaches. These symbols of transcendence keep repeating down through the corridors of time until we finally awaken to Truth.
Beliefs and Concepts
The Power of Desires (Part 2)
The power of desire is very strong. Anything that you truly desire, you experience. If you feel bad, the desire is what is at the core of it all. When you want to open yourself to the grace of God, you must first recognize the power of your wanting. The ego’s judgment pushes the awareness of that power down. People are afraid of the power of their thoughts. Until you first start to take the limits off the mind, you think you are tiny. Defense mechanisms are there to keep you from seeing how powerful your thoughts are. You ask for too little and pray too small.
The Power of Desires (Part 1)
The power of desire is very strong. Anything that you truly desire, you experience. If you feel bad, the desire is what is at the core of it all. When you want to open yourself to the grace of God, you must first recognize the power of your wanting. The ego’s judgment pushes the awareness of that power down. People are afraid of the power of their thoughts. Until you first start to take the limits off the mind, you think you are tiny. Defense mechanisms are there to keep you from seeing how powerful your thoughts are. You ask for too little and pray too small.
The Power of Prayer
The belief system of the ego taints your mind, and its thoughts are not your real thoughts. They are a web of distortion that springs out of the idea that you could separate from your Creator. The ego arose from your desire for something more than everything. Jesus says in “A Course in Miracles” that truth will be returned to you by your desire. The power of prayer is everything; everything emanates from it. When your desire is unified your perception is unified. Miracles are your birthright but purification is necessary first.
The Most Important Thing in This Lifetime
The most important thing in this lifetime that you seem to be in is mind-watching! It is the most important thing you can do. Dis-identify with judgmental thoughts and grievances. When you dissociate from those thoughts, you can see that you are not those thoughts. You are not a stream of guilt thoughts! Your identity is pure innocence. Jesus in ACIM asks you to give up all goals and find present peace.
Time and Quantum
What is time? This discussion gives the mind a different way to perceive time, relationships, and the world that eases frustration. The sleeping mind gives a strong emphasis on changing things in form. It wants to change people, fix situations, improve the self or the world. What if you were able to change your perception and become the observer? Time is the past. You might think of it as linear, that it goes in one direction. You might think that there is a future that hasn’t happened yet. The ego says, “no it’s not over!” The sleeping mind says, “the past is not over and can be changed.” The point of coming to the understanding that time is the past is that you can’t really change it. Once you begin to grasp that, you stop trying to change and fix it. You can move back in your mind into the role of the observer and stop playing the game. It’s an illusion.
Raising Children While Practicing ACIM
Raising children while practicing ACIM can be very powerful! This experience gives you the opportunity to learn from your children. Just because you feel you are in a bigger body with a bigger brain and have read more books does not mean that you are superior. Learn the lesson of perfect equality! Nothing can obscure this perfect equality. Resign from this role of superiority and instead see what is going on in your own mind. Relationships in the world mirror your mind. Children deserve gratitude for mirroring back your belief system. A parent’s darkness and guilt may be acted out by children. If you unconsciously believe in abandonment, you will see scenes of abandonment. Find fearful beliefs in yourself and let them go. As you find inner joy and love, your children will witness to it. Lessen the sense of control. Children are our equals.
Interview with David Hoffmeister
In this interview with Lesley Kelly, David Hoffmeister speaks on the topics of guidance, trust, relationships, sexuality, people-pleasing, and inspiration.
Stop People-Pleasing, Reduce Stress and Worry
Stop people-pleasing and you will feel how wonderful life can really be. The people-pleasing defense mechanism is subtle, insidious, and heavily engrained. You’ve been raised with the belief that people-pleasing is good—please your boss, your spouse, your children, etc. Meanwhile, people have all of these underlying currents of conflicts inside. Acknowledge your feelings! Let Spirit give you your yes’s and no’s, and say what you need to say.
What Is My Identity?
What is my identity? Who am I? How do I define myself? Maybe you’ve had the feeling that Neo had in the movie “The Matrix,” that there is a splinter in your mind driving you crazy. It is a deep-down feeling that something is not right. It makes you question your self-concept. Anxiety and discomfort comes with having a split mind. People try to feel better by changing things out in the world. They try to see if they can feel free by giving away all of their things, living a life of renunciation and simplicity. It doesn’t matter what you do in form. It is not the possessions that are the problem, it is the belief in possessions that is the problem! It is an identity crisis in the mind.