 and members of our community. We'll have a movie workshop tomorrow and lots of opportunities to share and for you to share your heart. So it's going to be beautiful. So today we'll start out with David is in Cincinnati and Francis is joining us from the studio here. So I'm going to pass it over to them now. Thank you. Thank you, Peter. Hi, Francis. Hi, David. Hi, everyone. Oh, so beautiful. So beautiful to be with you every month like this. And yeah, we're just so touched. And we're in our tabula rasa state of mind. But as Jesus says, the course is about learning the principle of the miracle and then transferring it to the specifics of your daily life. So we love to be practical. And so Francis is in the studio. I'm up here just arrived in Cincinnati. And we've just been looking at some of your questions and prayers. And so how do you feel today, Francis? Are you ready ready for tabula rasa weekend? Yeah. Yeah, I am. I feel so, you know, just also very grateful and relaxed because I always know that it seems like we're here using words to, you know, articulate something. But truly we are just here so relaxed to allow the spirit to orchestrate everything and to be able to be in this place to watch that everything is absolutely given by the spirit for healing. And that is truly the state and the position we are stepping into and how relaxing that feels like, you know, coming here this morning. I was reading all your questions with David together and just feel like, yes, spirit is pointing the directions through your prayers, your questions. It's like a tapestry that everybody is putting a stroke of color there. And then we just get to really allow ourselves to step back and watch how the spirit really used the prayer of the heart and the questions and the words to bring this light forward. So yeah, we're all here at your service waiting to see what the spirit is going to do. And Francis and I are opening it up as Peter said. And then tonight Jason and Lisa and Lisa and Eric are going to have a beautiful session. And then we have a, Jesus has picked a real good movie for us. A Christmassy kind of movie, relationship movie with humor. So we'll have a lot of healing and laughter coming up with our Saturday segment. And then we always try to work our way towards, you know, after everybody's heard and loved and expressed, and then we try to wrap things up on Sunday with a very practical question and answer session. Sometimes run a bit over time on Sunday when we're trying to answer all the written questions and all the questions that come in. But today we were, you know, the range of questions, Francis, isn't it amazing from those that are kind of taking their first steps and wanting to increase their faith and take good firm first steps. And then there are others that have taken quite a few steps seemingly and are having a little bit of doubt. Like did I miss a step or did I take the wrong step? And then there are others that really have very specific issues like forgiveness issues, grievances with people or physical symptoms or pain that they're dealing with on a daily basis. So there's like a range of issues that we will address on this Tabula Rossa retreat, because we want to be very practical with everything, not push anything away, not avoid anything. Just everybody speak what's on your heart and we'll call on the spirit as we always do to really show us the way. And that's the beautiful thing. So wow, what a way to kick it off here. Yeah. And also it's the beginning of our Tabula Rossa residential mystery school, which just started two days ago. And we have people from different parts of the world joining us in La Casa. Welcome. And this group is going to be there. A lot of them are going to be all the way for six weeks in this residential program. Yeah. And also some of you are joining us online for the very first time. So big welcome to you all to be part of this monthly coming together. Yeah. Yeah, it's very much of an international crowd. I just glanced at the participants today and I just was looking at all the different countries that are spread around from the east and the west and all the way from Australia, Japan and European countries. So it's quite an honor to come together with all of you and be able to do it digitally. And then as Francis said, we have our mystery school group there, 13 participants that have arrived from around the world as well. So we have an international in-house retreat going on. And this is very, very much of a global international retreat. And I think one question is everyone's question. One prayer is really everyone's prayer because there's really only one of us. And that's all we're being convinced of is that everything I perceive through my mind is my mind. I'm always looking at a motion picture of my mind. And I'm always feeling a state of mind that is for myself and for the entire world. And that's pretty huge because Jesus is saying, there is no world apart from what you think. He's telling us unless in 132 in the workbook and then he goes so far as to say there is no world period. So that gives you an idea of how deep the hallucination is. First of all, if I'm seeing something that's not even there, that's a predicament. And then if I'm categorizing and judging this thing that's not even there and I'm feeling all bent out of shape with all kinds of emotions, a range or rainbow of emotions about this hallucination that's not even there, then I need to start to be practical and learn to listen to guidance and be intuitive. And that's what Tabula Rasa is all about. And I think Francis and I always end up talking about guidance. It seems like every retreat no matter what we start with, no matter what the presenting problem is, no matter what it is that works coming as a theme or an issue, everybody wants it to be practical. And it has to be what is the guidance in this moment. If we try to look back into the past to try to figure out our spiritual journey, it's not going to help us. If we try to look to the future to determine what our spiritual journey or pathway would be, that's not going to help us either. We need to be present and be very, very simple and present with what is given me right now, because it's for myself and for the whole universe. So it's no small thing this present moment. And Francis, I think we were talking earlier and you were saying like that it's kind of important to even look at this idea of what my pathway is, what is given me and not even try to figure out the pathway but be more willing to trust the pathway and trust what is given me in a full way, to really embrace what is given me without trying to compare and contrast and turn the spiritual journey into some kind of an intellectual concept. Yeah, I think even when I was thinking of how the course came into being when Helen Shackman and Bill Thetford, when they came together, they had this very specific everyday issue in their mind which was the conflict in their department, interpersonal conflicts with all the colleagues. And they came together and they said there must be a better way to be in peace, in harmony with everybody. Problems are very, very specific. And when they said the prayer and joining that prayer, what came about as the answer to a prayer is a whole pathway Jesus laid out which is so far from what they would think would be the solution to the problem at the time. And I always noticed that as well, problem every day when we look at our problems is very, very specific. Very specific. We seem to know what the problems are. We seem to know where to look for solutions. We seem to be able to define it. But they never really present looking there, never really present the true solution. So Jesus is saying the solution is now where it is and I'm going to guide you to look where the real problem is and that's where you find the solution. So this pathway is laid out in front of you. And I always feel like for myself, sometimes I was asked that question, how did you start the course? I always have this feeling like I wouldn't even be able to say that I pick up the course. It feels like the course picked me. Jesus gave me that pathway. He even said in the course, your path is different. A holy relationship is a means to save time. He said over and over again, this is giving you. This is giving you. And if I'm really honest to look at the actual step that was laid out, none of the steps was chosen by my past reference, by my own design or my own framing. The whole pathway should look like this. So this should be the next step now. I should be looking at this block now. None of this is like that. It's always given from the very first one, which is, of course, in miracles. That was a pathway that was given me. The pathway is given. How do you practice the course? What is the specific context, configuration? It's given me. It's given me. It's given me. And that is where the confidence started to kick in because I realized I haven't really chosen any of the specifics. I have probably chosen to say yes at a deeper level. But when it comes down to the specifics, it was given me and it was given me and given me. And the only thing that really I feel like happened is that I didn't really look elsewhere. So David used to say that when we went to China, that we're trying to just first start opening to the spiritual awakening. And there were so many pathways, so many modalities, so many things, workshops. And we always were faced with this question, which one do you think? And David always said, pick your path and go deep. It's not about which one, but it's about pick your path and go deep. Or we should say that let the pathway pick us and commit to it and be very, very humble that if Jesus picked us for this pathway and picked our curriculum for us, then look no further. And be committed to it. And that's really the only requirement. Yeah, I think that's important when you look at issues like answering my call, because in the introduction to A Course in Miracles, Jesus says, free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. Establish the curriculum. It does mean that you can decide what you want to take at a given time. So let's look at that in terms of, we'll say forgiveness or release of illusions from the sleeping mind is the curriculum. And Jesus says that A Course in Miracles is just one form of the universal curriculum. But we cannot decide what our purpose for this world will be. It was given us by the Holy Spirit. So that's kind of interesting, even though when we look at the personality self, oh, what do I like? What are my likes? What are my dislikes? What are going to be my goals? What will I pursue? What will I avoid? What do I care about? What do I not care about? When you come to opening to know God's will for perfect happiness, you realize that you have to do that through forgiveness. Forgiveness is the gateway that leads back to the kingdom of heaven. But if you cannot establish the curriculum, that means that forgiveness was given before you seemed to come here. You came with a purpose to forgive the world and remember who you really are. You can't change that. That purpose was given. So now all you can do is accept it and say, I embrace it. Okay, great. I don't care what I did before, whatever I pursue, whatever I seem to succeed with and fail with. Oh, that's right. Forgiveness, accept the atonement for myself. Oh, that's my one responsibility. My one responsibility is to forgive the world and nothing else. In fact, that would be the major of success if you forgive the world, you have succeeded. If you don't forgive the world, you have not succeeded. Isn't that nice? No, we don't have to worry about career goals, family goals. We don't have to worry about whether we succeeded as being a good citizen in our country or anything. But what I like about the course is not only does Jesus open the course with his introduction and say, free will does not mean you can establish the curriculum, then in the manual for teachers, he goes even further and he says, you cannot even decide the form of the curriculum. Oh my gosh, you mean I can't decide the curriculum or even the form of the curriculum? That means I don't really have to get into this issue of the spiritual smorgasbord, like I'm going grocery shopping for enlightenment and I'm going down the aisle. Let's go to frozen foods. What do I like? Let's get some frozen peas here. I'd like frozen corn. Let's get some halalos, some ice cream. No, no, no, no. You don't go shopping for self-realization. You can't go down the aisle and say, well, I'm going to mix a little bit of East and West and a little bit of Yoganana, Ramana, and let me mix in a little bit of Jesus and sprinkle a little Buddha in here and maybe some Krishna. No, no, no, no. That's not how it works. You're not like a spiritual student where you can make a synthetic blend, like coffee, synthetic blend, where you blend all the spirituality so that you can end up being open-minded. I'll tell you, it goes the other way. You have to actually let it be given you day by day, moment by moment. You have to literally embrace what unfolds for you. And what's beautiful about that is Francis was mentioning the original four. If we roll the clock back, we'll say to 1958 was the birth of baby David. 1958 was the year that Bill Fedford hired Helen Shuckman. They didn't know each other. They didn't know each other. There were two professors and then Bill was in charge of faculty there at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, and he hired Helen Shuckman. When this little baby David was coming in Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bill was hiring Helen. They didn't know each other. He hired her to be a teacher, a professor on the team of psychology, research psychology. And then as the years go by, Ken came along. Ken Wobney came along. He didn't know them. They didn't know him. And then Judy Skutch Whitson came along for it was Judy Skutch back then. And she didn't know anybody. So they were like four total strangers. And if I look at our life, Francis can tell you that we have a community very much like this online retreat in the Mystery School of people from all around the world who didn't know each other. I, we had our own journeys. I met Francis down in Australia. You'll see a lot of the others on the retreat. Jason and Lisa, Eric, we all were journeying with this course in Miracles pathway. And we were absolute strangers to one another. We didn't know each other. And then if you go back to the original four, when they came together to publish the course, they were told that they would receive guidance. And the guidance that they got was make the commitment first. Like, oh, no, no, no future. I'm not going to tell you anything about what your lives will be. But you have to make the commitment first. Now think of it. All four of them are teachers. Ken was very bright, but he was in education and had his doctorate. Helen, professor, Judy was a professor. Bill was a professor. And so you have four teachers that previously didn't know each other. And now they're being asked to make their commitment, a lifelong commitment to a course in Miracles. Imagine if you rolled the clock back and you told anyone of those four, you're going to meet three other people and you're going to be asked to make a lifelong commitment to this thing that's going to draw you together and you will be asked to commit to nothing else. This is the one thing you'll be asked to commit to. And they didn't really know what they were committing to in other than it was very spiritual in nature. And they didn't really know fully what that would entail. So when somebody is opening to a spiritual calling, you have to remember that you don't get to decide the curriculum. That is forgiveness. It's already been decided for you by the Holy Spirit. And you don't even get to pick the form of the curriculum. You may think, well, wait a minute. No, I'm Jewish or I'm Hindu. Wait a minute. My family is Islamic. That's all prearranged. That was all decided before you even came here. And yet none of that ultimately matters either because forgiveness is the curriculum and that is what is required. Jesus says this is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. He's not saying that the book, the form of a Course in Miracles is required for everyone. What he is saying is forgiveness is required because your whole purpose is to know who you are and you can't know who you are until you forgive who you're not. And every concept in this world is a self-concept. It's a make-believe self-concept that God didn't create. God doesn't even know about. And that is temporary and it's only meant to be released. There is no positive goal for this world. It's just to release it. You know, I think of the teachings of Jesus and the Gospel of Thomas. Some of you are familiar with, but the shortest teachings of Jesus from the Bible could be summarized as judge not or the longer version. Judge not lest you be judged. And then in the Gospel of Thomas, he says in two words too, be passers-by. Isn't that fun? Be passers-by. That's all we have to do is be passers-by and then in the workbook of A Course in Miracles, he does tell us that the world I see holds nothing that I want and he says the only value that the world can hold for you is that you pass it by. So he's not changing his tune. He's saying it's really very simple, but you complicate it by the belief that you can decide what your purpose is in this world. And it's already been set. It's forgiveness. And you complicate it by thinking you can decide the form of the curriculum. Even those decisions, we call them everyday decisions, that seem to be part of a personality that gets to pick and choose every day how it's going to choose to spend its day. All of that is part of a prearranged plan. And really, like Francis was just saying, she said yes to the calling for God and then she let go of everything else. And Francis can tell you that's the greatest thing you can ever do is when you say yes to God and say, and now you run the show, Holy Spirit, be you in charge. You decide who I'll meet. You decide where I'll go. You decide what I'll do. Miracles are involuntary. Tabula rasa state of mind is involuntary. And what that means is that you personally aren't going to be in conscious control of anything in your worldly experience. It's all going to be given you based on your yes to say, I will listen and follow. So that's the way my life's gone. Francis, that's the way her life's gone. Later on, you'll get to hear Lisa and Jason and Eric. They'll tell you the same thing. None of us had any clue that we would be used together in the way that we've been used. We've loved it. Actually, we are grateful for that every day. It just shows that the Holy Spirit knows better than any person, place or thing. None of us could have predicted that our lives would look in appearance the way they look now. We wanted to be happy. We wanted to be joyful. We wanted to feel free. We wanted to feel lighthearted. And we wanted to feel the playfulness and spontaneity and humor of the spirit. We all wanted that. And we all had to get to a point where we would let it be given us and shown to us. So this topic is so dear to our hearts. And Francis and I were talking briefly this morning. We were just saying, isn't that really the greatest thing? Because you can't really pick the path. The path is chosen for you. It's actually part of a prearranged plan. And when you believe that you can choose your own form of the spiritual path, then you actually are believing something that's not true. It's actually quite arrogant to think that you personally can decide the pathway back to the Creator. When the Creator is pure light, and everyone that comes to form and believes they're in form has forgotten the light. So why would we think that time and space would be a context to inform us? Even in the Matrix movie, you remember when Neo goes on his ride in the Matrix and Trinity's in the car and basically, he's looking saying, oh, that's where I ate there before. That's where you get the good noodles. And basically, Trinity tells him, the Matrix cannot tell you who you are. That's right. History cannot tell you who you are. Mom and dad can't tell you who you are. Your friends can't tell you who you are. Your spiritual teachers can't tell you who you are. Nothing in the Matrix can tell you who you are. You have to discover it for yourself. That's what self-realization is all about. And in order to self-realize, you have to forgive. No exceptions to that gateway. That is the one gateway. It seems to take many forms. And there's many forms of the universal curriculum. But again, you don't get to pick and choose between those many forms. The one that you're meant to use has already been given you and it's prearranged. So when we were getting some questions today, I think one of them,