David Hoffmeister shares an experience he had while practicing A Course in Miracles workbook lesson 163, “There is no death. The Son of God is free.” He had the experience that there truly is no death and that death is the ego. A woman in front of David had collapsed on the ground and stopped breathing in the grocery store he was in while practicing the ACIM lesson. When David had the experience that there truly is no death, the women seemed to be a reflection of mind and simultaneously began breathing again. What does Jesus mean by, “There is no death. The Son of God is free”? He’s really saying, “There is no ego. The Son of God is free.”
Self-Concept
Problem with Self-Help
There is only one problem with self-help—the Self that we are doesn’t need any help. As we move towards the Atonement, we move increasingly to the awareness that we have been wrong about everything, and towards the realization that, “my mind holds only what I think with God.” Our purpose is not to create a utopia on earth, but only to open our minds to a state of deep love and gratitude for the One, our Creator. Many of us were taught that it’s not wise to become too happy, but Love invites us to be divinely and fully happy now.
What Am I Going to Do with My Future
Have you been tricked into believing that the future is different from the past? Let your ideas about time be retranslated! The whole of A Course in Miracles brings home one central teaching. Much like a kaleidoscope or a fractal, this teaching might be said with thousands of different words, and in a thousand different ways, but the core remains the same.
Divine Providence
Lesson 50 of A Course in Miracles: “I am sustained by the Love of God.” In that lesson, Jesus tells us that, “In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything but God.” By following the Holy Spirit’s prompts we begin to trust that we will be divinely provided for in every circumstance.
No Compromise
David shares the practical application of the teachings from Enlightened Mind in this session. When you are healed you are not healed alone. Examples and parables are used to convey the central teaching of forgiveness and other A Course in Miracles ideas.
Let Thine Eye Be Single
How do you change something that is not real? How do you live in a world that was made as an attack on God? What is the purpose of my life? As long as you believe in the ego, you’ll seem to have needs. When you’re coming from a place of lack, you don’t make the jump from needing things to needing nothing. The Holy Spirit uses the seeming needs to lift us higher until we realize we don’t have any needs. Enlightenment is an emptying out of all self-concepts and is a state of being. We now give all our seeming talents and needs to the Holy Spirit for the ultimate re-translation.
Give up Protecting
Give up the idea of protection. What are you protecting? Evil is not real. There is nothing other than God. The ego is not real. Only the truth is true. You are the dreamer.
Becoming Passersby
Empty the mind of concepts. The mind is the classroom. Spirit will use many different backdrops for mind training. The goal is to be able to watch the world without having investment in it, to become a passer-by.
Curiosity vs. Surety
In this talk, David Hoffmeister uses A Course in Miracles principles to guide the mind towards a new perspective. ACIM is a pointer towards non-dual awareness. All temporary symbols eventually fade away into the awareness of the Self. The truth is a state of pure stillness. Following this brings an actual experience that everything else is just props. They are now used by Holy Spirit and happily laid aside when no longer helpful. Therefore we need not be afraid to let everything up into awareness. It will be healed for it is already healed!
Exploring Concepts Such as Religion
David defines Christ as love and then says Christianity is a defense against Christ/love. In essence he says this is true of all religions. The ego has taken something in form (e.g., Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohammed) and then turned it into a religion. David then reinterprets the word “religion” to mean a peaceful state of mind. David does not view himself as belonging to any formal religion but instead part of a religion of oneness and truth.