 Okay, can you hear me now? Sorry about that. I had some microphone difficulties. Okay, hi everybody. Welcome. Welcome to the Saturday Movie Workshop. Hi. And yeah, for anybody who's new today, I'll give you a little heads up about what we have coming. So we're going to start with a movie from David. And then we're going to have some little breakout sessions where we can share what was coming up for us during the movie and we will have a closing session after all of that. So we will start it off with David and I'll pass it over to you now. Hi, thank you Peter. Hi everyone. Thank you all for tuning in. I see Susan Jamison is here. Our birthday girl is here. So she's a music fan so she gets a special treat on her birthday. And we have all kinds of people from around the world. Every time I look at the list of the different countries, it's amazing to me that we can bring these countries and language interpretation, translations all to wake up, all to feel the joy in our heart and let the joy shine through. So I'm happy to see all of you today. And we have a movie that I think you will all be able to relate to very deeply. And a couple weeks ago, I showed a movie about Father Thomas Keating and we explored the pathway to God of silence and contemplative prayer and centering prayer. I think the week before that we were showing Fatima so I was seeing visions as symbols to open your heart up to listen and follow the spirit. Last week we had the movie I Am with Tom Shadyak as the director and this was a pathway of going through extreme pain and then as a contrast experience turning inward to the light and changing your mind about the purpose of the world and giving up the pursuit of fame and money and success. And of course Tom is a filmmaker extraordinaire so I will call that that was like our movie watchers tip to reach enlightenment through watching movies. For some of you who have trouble meditating and who are not so able to go in and close the door in your closet like Jesus told you to do 2,000 years ago then we have movie watching as a way to go in if that suits you a little bit better or some of you may have seen visions but that's pretty rare. So today Jesus is giving us another inroad into God into the light and we're going to use the means that I have used and probably most of you have used so you're going to love this one. We're going to use music as a means to waking up. Collaboration as a means of waking up. Relationship as a means of waking up. Anybody can relate to that? You have trouble meditating. Jesus says no problem. I can use the music, the collaborations and also the relationships to get you there in the fast track because he does say that long hours of contemplation and meditation he calls up tedious and time consuming and that's taking a very traditional means to God and he's saying well it'll get you there but it actually is not the fast track. So today we're going to take the fast track and our tour guides on our journey to the light today will be John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Oh my gosh, what a relationship to use to reach God. An unlikely pair. John from Great Britain, a famous beetle. Beetle John. Beetle John's going along and having trouble with this conflicts inside the beetles and lots of love and light poured through the beetles and amazing songs. It was like a meteor of light hitting the planet earth when the beetles came and yet the beetles was just the first phase in John, John's life. It was preparing him for something else, something even deeper, something even more profound than love songs for 17 year old girls and teenagers. There's something even more profound and that is spiritual awakening. So in order to help John serve the greater plan, Jesus sent in Yoko Ono from Japan. Now Yoko some of you may not know that when she was a little child the bombs started dropping on Japan. Most of us don't know what that's like to be a small child and have our country bombed, to have to flee to the woods, to have to go days without food as a child and yet that is part of the conditioning, the things that she went through to help her open up to the presence of love within. And so she brings into this relationship with John a really extraordinary perspective. The first time I showed this movie to the community I was driving over here to this house actually and there was a little sign posted along the road and it said, find Yoko. Right before I was showing this movie I see a sign on the side of the road saying find Yoko. It was a missing cat. But when I got here I said, wait a minute that's a message from Jesus. Most everybody knows John Lennon. But what do we know about Yoko? And Jesus was saying find your inner Yoko. And we're going to find our inner Yoko today as we go diving in to an episode in John and Yoko's relationship where they've moved to this big white country house in the rural areas of England. They've moved away from being involved with the Beatles and Apple records. They're kind of like, this is back in their phase like Megan, Marco and Harry have kind of left the Royals. Well the Beatles were the Royals of music and John and Yoko have moved into a big house and they've got their son Julian and they're in a creative phase and Jesus will use them to bring in collaborations. George Harrison, good old George, he doesn't care if the Beatles have split. He's there. He's your man. And other collaborators come all brought in to this house so they can build a music studio and they can join together and record the song that will later on be voted, not the song of the week or the month or the year, not the song of a particular country or whatever, but it will be voted the song of the century. The song of the century and that song is Imagine. Some of you know it very well. I remember when I first heard it, that song touched me so deeply. That song was a huge part in my spiritual journey and now you're going to get to see the rest of the story. You're going to get to see what went on behind the scenes in the making of that amazing song. You're going to get to see that miracles are indeed collaborative and that is we learn to join together and collaborate and we learn to forgive and release these dark emotions that arise in our relationships. Then we open our mind to the light and this is the pathway of a course in miracles. This is the pathway that Jesus is giving us. He calls it holy relationship is a means of saving time for the entire universe, for everyone. So just when you thought, oh my gosh, I could be advancing so much faster if I just was in a cave in Tibet and I could get rid of these people that are slowing me down like barnacles. There's parasites on me. I need to get rid of the relationships. Jesus is saying, no, no, you just need to see them in a different light. They're offering you a huge gift and you need to learn to pray with them. You need to learn how to collaborate with them, to join with them truly and you will have the fast track to the present moment and the fast track to enlightenment. So how did we arrive at this movie today? Above us, only sky. If you remember lyrics from the Imagine. No hell below us, above us, only sky. That's our movie, 2018. And we arrived at it, of course. We start off with our movie poll. That's right. Power to the people. Power to the people. Power to the people. Power to the people. That's right. The votes are in. You voted for the theme that you wanted. You asked for this. You're going to get it, too. You asked for this. And the number one theme that came in on our poll between Spanish and English, a combined total of... Is that 85? 85 votes. Opening to being fully used by spirit. Wow, what a theme. Now you know why John and Yoko came to mind. Opening to being fully used by spirit. And what I always am talking about is being trusting, being clueless, being spontaneous. Are John and Yoko spontaneous? Yes. How many rock and roll couples do you know that do a bed in New York City and invite the press so they can talk about peace? I don't think the Beatles ever did that. I don't know the Rolling Stones. Captain and Tenille, I don't think... I know of any rock and roll couple that invited the press into their bed and under the covers did a press conference telling people to give up their ways to end war and to go for peace. That's spontaneity. That takes some spunk to do that. That's unconventional. That's a miracle. Second in the poll, accepting everyone as whole and complete. Why is it so important to accept everyone as whole and complete? Well, this is how you learn to collaborate. If you show up and you have the goal of peace out front, if you set the goal for peace and harmony and love, then in the setting the goal section of the course, Jesus says you will perceive everyone and everything as fulfilling their parts perfectly. Ah, wow, I think that's a key for us. Jesus says the only the ego looks back to the past and if you want to find God, you need to set the goal. You need to put the goal out front. I see Esther's there. I just talked to Esther yesterday about putting that torch up front when you're going into that dark cave and there she's smiling again. She remembers it. Now today we're going to see an example of John and Yoko putting the torch out in front and letting it carry them. They don't know where their life is going, but they know that they're doing what's in their heart and they are there to collaborate. It's a love story. John and Yoko, they fall in love and then Jesus is going to use their love story for the benefit of the whole universe. This is why I tell people you have to think in expansive terms. If you just are going to try to be stuck in a romantic love where you just have one love partner and then billions of people that you're indifferent with and then have a few special hate partners like Hitler and Mussolini, you know, some tyrants. That's not going to get you anywhere. That's just like basic specialness. Oh, I'm in love with one person. Oh, it's so great. And then, well, I got a few friends. And then most people, well, I don't care. And then there's a few people that I hate. That's that status quo for the ego. Let's talk about being human. That's the definition of being human. Where is the unconditional love that Jesus talked about? Where is the nonviolence that Gandhi talked about? Where are you going to find the sparkle in your eyes if you settle for that, that as your standard? So we're going to see that accepting everyone as whole and complete is part of collaboration. And it doesn't mean that in every single circumstance that you will necessarily see them as whole and complete. That's what enlightenment will show. But as you're collaborating, the emotions are going to come up. And this, we will see with John Lennon, you know, he is a great example of that. He's playful. He's spontaneous. He's got this creative connection where he's letting these lyrics come through him. He's quite musical. But remember, this is the period right after the Beatles have broken up. So we're going to see in this movie, there comes a point where he's starting to write his song where he's got some intense anger coming up at Paul McCartney. I think he actually, in the song, he calls Paul McCartney a cunt. Okay. There's some anger coming there. But still, he's using it for his healing. You see, he's using his music writing and his singing to get in touch. That's his expression session. When he's in with his group in the recording studio and he's got all this anger coming up at Paul McCartney, then that's part of the healing. And that's what we're saying. You have to allow the darkness to come up. This is John Lennon demonstrating expression sessions back in the 70s. When did the Beatles break up? Do you remember 60? Around 70. He broke up around 70. So this is shortly after that. And there's still John and Yoko are together and they have John's son, Julian, there at the manner, the expensive manner with them. And also, this is before they have moved to New York City, which is basically where they will go complete the song Imagine in New York City and publish it and distribute it for the whole world. But most of this movie is actually focusing on their time of collaboration and joining in England. When I look at this movie, I see a lot of parallels with what we've got going on with our community. We're at this house right now and we were using a small upstairs casita or bedroom as our studio. And you'll see in this movie, out of this big house that they've got, John's like, well, we need a music studio in this house. So they basically say, where are we going to put the music studio? And John knows his buddies like their tea and crumpets and they like their snacks. The British like to have their snacks. Ken is a witness here for me. And so he's like, let's put it right next to the kitchen. You see, that's the way we operate. We're like, where can we put it here? Now we're in the living room. But we kind of are operating on the fly with what works. Jesus, what do you want from us? What works? We're just trying to listen and follow. And that's all John and Yoko were doing when they moved into this big house and then felt there was something to come through them. And then John had the idea of a music studio and then his beautiful collaborators started showing up. Just like we're all showing up for you and you're showing up for us, you will feel the joyful collaboration in this movie. This is not something to be taken lightly. Jesus is telling us in the Course, he says, the lonely journey fails because it excludes the one that it would find. What does he mean by that? He's saying that the temple, your temple and the temple of the Holy Spirit is not the body, which can be quite individual and separate and autonomous, but he says the temple of the Holy Spirit is your relationship. Your relationship with your brothers and your sisters is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if you want the fast track to God, you will invite the Holy Spirit to use your relationships for the purpose of forgiveness. Is it a fast track? Oh, it's super fast. Even the original four that were called on by Jesus for, of course, the miracles, Judy, Scotch, Ken Wobnick, Bill Thedford and Helen Shuckman. That was a strong team that was supposed to bring forth the Course in Miracles to the planet. And there was a point where actually, Judy had this great idea and she went to the rest of them and she said, I've got a great idea. I'm so inspired. Let's live together. Let's all live in the same house. And the other ones went, you are crazy. No way are we going to live in the same house. No way. But they continued on for years, actually for decades with their part in editing the Course, translating the Course, publishing the Course, distributing the Course. That was their calling. Now I've lived in spiritual communities for maybe 20, 20 years, 20, probably at least 20 years. And people would say, why would you subject yourself to that when you could have a happy, regular life? Why would you subject yourself to spiritual community? It's not my choice. I gave my life, my will, my heart over to Jesus and Jesus is in charge of the atonement. So Jesus orchestrates the life. And I've loved it. I find it very joyful. People say, how can you stand it? It's more than standing it. I actually relish it because I know that Jesus is in charge and Jesus has brought this to me as a gift, not as a punishment. I hear many people say, oh my God, I must have been asking for punishment to have a partner or a roommate or worse, a spiritual community. But actually, I want you to watch this movie and how this movie unfolds and pay attention to the collaborations. Pay attention to how John and Yoko invite people into their house. Once they move into this big house in England, watch how they invite people in. That's amazing. And not just in to have a cup of tea, in to talk, discuss, in to collaborate, to share ideas, in to face whatever they have to face in terms of their own internal resistance, their own internal doubts. They invite their friends into their house. Are they talking about the British soap operas? No. Are they talking about who's got more money? No. Are they talking about who's more beautiful or who's ugly? No. What's going on at this time of year? Well, this is the tail end and they've just been living through the 60s. First is the Beatles and then some of you might remember there was a war going on called the Vietnam War. There's nothing like a war going on at the time and Yoko, she was aware as a child at World War II, as a child, her country being bombed, bombs falling out of the sky. But John and Yoko are very well aware of the Vietnam War and they're very aware that there's bombs being dropped on Vietnam and there's seemingly destruction of war. Then Cambodia is bombed and there's war protests. I mean, nowadays people are looking around and they're going, wow, we live in extreme times. There's extreme poverty now. There's extreme political arguments and strife. There's the pandemic, COVID. There's all these things going on. Wow, we live in tough times. Well, actually, if you roll it back to the time of this movie, it's very extreme. There's testing nuclear weapons. There's a war going on in Vietnam. There's huge political debate and protest that are going on and the issues that are still part of the human condition are on display. And so with this, John and Yoko feel a call to peace. They feel a call inside their heart towards something much deeper, towards what is the truth, towards coming to a place of harmony. And what better way to start than with your own partner and with your own household? A lot of times people talk about peace movements and broad movements sweeping the planet, but what Jesus is telling us is you need to watch your thoughts and you need to pay attention to your emotions and you need to see that the war that you perceive is inside your split mind. That's what a split mind is. It's a mind divided against itself. Part of the mind is where the Holy Spirit resides. I talked about that yesterday with Maria Del Mar that the Holy Spirit resides and lives in the right mind in the present moment. And the ego is the belief that there is no God or the belief that separation from God is possible and it's a belief system of pain, suffering, guilt, shame, death. And so John and Yoko are good examples of they are called toward peace and yet right in their own relationship and in their own house, they have to take a stand for that. They have to go for it because the only way you can truly collaborate is from a sense of peace. You can't really collaborate in war. That's a contradiction in terms. I've never even heard people talk about that. I guess maybe generals. You want to be an ally? Let's collaborate against Hitler. That's strange. That's weird. There is no collaboration, true collaboration in war. There never will be. So in this movie, we're going to really get a chance to see that. I think the thing about this movie is it actually shows us a new way of perceiving relationships because in this world, relationships are used by the ego for the getting mechanism. What can I get, the ego says from the relationship? Can I get money? Can I get physical pleasure? Can I get comfort or convenience? Can I get possessions? Can I get respect from an external person? Can I get adoration from another person? All those are not the correct motive for relationships. And we know if all of us have tried that out, and actually it blows up in our face, the specialness always is a trick by the ego to keep us searching for love in externals and never looking within ourselves inside our own heart for the peace and the harmony. So John and Yoko are a good example of the desire to find the peace. And I think part of it is because the world that they perceive is very disturbing to them. They've come together and they're looking at the world and they're having this feeling inside like I've got to do something to help the peace come into awareness for myself and for the whole planet. And that's where it starts. That's where it starts for everyone. You have to feel a sense that you want to offer your helpfulness. You have a contribution to make. And the contribution that Jesus is saying is once you find your own peace of mind, you will radiate that peace to the entire world because the world is...