 Hi everybody. We're back. Thanks for joining us again. We're here for our all-day movie workshop with a commentary by David Hofmeister. For those who are joining you, I'm Peter. I'll be hosting today and as always I like to give a little run-through of the day. So David is going to be sharing the movie to start with giving a commentary and then afterwards we'll have a 10 minute break and that's a time where you can submit any questions or prayers that you have via the form that we have and then we'll have a session with David at the end where he can respond to any questions and prayers. So I'm going to pass it right over to you now David. Thank you Pete. Hi everyone. Welcome. I am so excited about today because I'm always excited when Jesus picks one of our classic movies. This movie is so helpful. This movie is so good that I know after we finish this movie gathering by the time we make it to Q&A it might just blow all the questions out of your mind and it's a particularly good movie for freeing the mind of grievances. If you've ever had some long-term grievances, you know let's say you've been in spirituality for years or decades and you've got a couple core grievances that are like, they're like, they feel like rocks. They feel so heavy or they feel like sequoia trees, redwood trees, these giant trees that are like grievances and you think, well I know I'll make it back to heaven when I can handle these of these sequoias that are in my mind. I know I know I'm gonna be home free when I get past them but they seem, they loom large and I have to tell a story with this movie we're gonna see today because some years ago I was invited to speak at a course in Miracles conference and there was lots of speakers and people came in and one of the speakers at the Course in Miracles conference is a good friend of mine who's been like really a long-term Course in Miracles teacher. He's taught the course all over the world and you know he's taught about, he's wrote it, he's written books and he's done countless talks and lectures and everything all over the world and during this Course in Miracles conference he said, he said could I have a one-on-one with you and I said sure. So we go into a room in the conference center and and we're sitting there talking and he's saying I've just got a nasty grievance, a very very very nasty grievance that will not go away. He said absolutely I've tried everything and I said well tell me about it and he said well it's about this other Course in Miracles teacher. He said I just, I every time I think of him I just am mad. I'm just angry and he said and this has not gone away. This has gone on for years. He said actually I don't know what to do anymore you know I just I'm praying and praying and praying that Jesus will help release this grievance in my mind because every time I think of him I just I get so angry and so I said well I'm gonna show a movie tonight and I think by the end of this movie your grievance will be gone. He's like really one movie I said oh Jesus has got a movie for you this is gonna pluck that long-standing grievance right out of your mind and it actually did. I showed this movie and after the movie was over he came to me with the biggest smile on his face and he mentioned the name of the teacher that he hated and then he went Ruby because the movie is Ruby Sparks and he mentioned the name of the character with a big smile on his face because the grievance was gone and he was so happy to be free of this grievance. So you you may wonder how did we get ourselves in this beautiful Zoom room with this most spectacular movie today which will be so helpful in changing your mind about everything about yourself about the world about your grievances about your struggles it's just it's just so so so good and the way we arrived at this point as usual is that you you wrote down you voted for your themes. Also I'd like to mention we have a couple new people joining us there's Linda from South Africa. Hi Linda welcome nice to have you on board and and Lee is from the United States. Lee is joining us today and so those we have two new people on board on the ship today and I know you won't be disappointed you you will be buzzing, buzzing in joy after this this movie it we have these themes that we vote on every week and so I just pray we I really look at the the top themes that that you vote on the the top themes and this week actually the number one theme came in so far ahead of everything else if this was a horse race this this top theme one by five or six lengths of a horse 62 votes comes in here's your main theme this is what you're asking Jesus for help with realize I do not want to try to control this world anymore that's that's your top theme you don't want to try to control this world anymore I think some of you realize deep down that yeah you can't really do it but you still try on a daily basis you try with with people that are around you or you you try if you have a cat or a dog you try with with the the world the environment you know you try to have an opinion and then of course it doesn't matter what that attempt is it doesn't really go very well we we never are really happy when we're trying to control the world even our body when we just can try to control the body maybe you try to control the weight of your body or the the shape of your body or the some the look of the appearance of your body or you try to control people you know we've seen lots of that trying to control parents and children and partners and lovers and and community members what what are you talking about I prayed on this I prayed on this you what what are you saying you know whenever we think we can control anybody we really are are right in the egos we're lined up with the ego and we're really not going to be happy because we weren't meant we weren't created to be controllers we were actually terrible controllers if if we really are honest we can see we've been it's been a mess it's been a mess trying to control even though we learn we're supposed to be in control of our body and in control of families and situations we're never really in control of the situation and when we finally realize that we forgive it and we feel so happy in an instant oh wow that's great so number one realized I do not want to try to control this world anymore 62 votes coming in second with 38 votes tied tied for second keep my lantern lit all the time keep my lantern lit all the time keep your heart happy and and lit in God all the time seeing that my inner and outer world are the same oh that's a big one my inner world and my outer world are actually the same they aren't even similar they are identical what we perceive as an external world is just a motion picture of our thoughts and without exception if there's something that we look on the screen and we say no not good I don't like that it could be anything I'm thinking of the war in Ukraine you know maybe you've seen a few images of what's going on with the war in Ukraine and then you you think of maybe you think of Russia invading Ukraine and you think of the president of Russia you know Vladimir Putin and maybe you think Vladimir you know your country signed an agreement called the Minsk agreement you signed an agreement and now you're you're invading you're breaking the agreement you're breaking your word you're bombing you're killing people this and that's I don't like the way you're behaving well those are all just thoughts those are all just thoughts you have to forgive those thoughts because only in your mind did Vladimir break the Minsk agreement only in your mind did he invade Ukraine only in your mind were there bombs and missiles and tanks and guns Jesus is telling us that there is no world apart from what you think so if you want to play the game of grievances and you want to make a case against somebody in this case Vladimir let's take Vladimir off the hook and maybe you say that's going to be a tough one because he's been on the hook really for a while this movie will help you get him off the hook you know this movie we could rename the movie forgiving Vladimir because this movie is going to really go it go at looking at your thoughts and and the thoughts you think is where the grievances are generated and you can let them go you can't really forgive in a behavioral sense because the behavior is just a reflection of the thoughts and if you don't acknowledge that they're just thoughts and let them go then the grievances continue no matter how sweet you act no matter how kind you try to be informed no matter how loving you try to behave until you release the attack thoughts in the mind you won't experience peace of mind so this is really important for us because some of us have tried to act sweet and it's not gone well we've we tried to we tried to be sweethearts and act sweet and our mind was raging inside yeah grumbling it was raging and grumbling when our we were trying to smile though your heart is aching smile even though it's breaking no come on let's get to some consistency and integrity we're not interested in smiling if we don't feel happy let's not look happy either but if we actually are happy then great we will look happy everyone will feel it too because it's authentic it's transparent okay uh next one is wholeheartedly finding the inspiration within my mind to continue with this path 36 votes wholeheartedly finding the inspiration within my mind to continue with this path beautiful and last but definitely not least break through emotional interpersonal dependency patterns who i could see it that's right all you psychologists and and therapists and psychiatrists of the world break through emotional interpersonal dependency patterns they they would be signing up for this one that would make their vocation a breeze if they could just realize the golden key to break through emotional interpersonal dependency patterns wow that's a big one that's a mouthful so we have to have a single purpose is what i would say and that's what jesus is going to help us out with today so here's our classic movie i think i show this movie years ago at lecasa de malagros so it's it's definitely in our movie watchers guide to enlightenment but i haven't showed it for years and some of you haven't seen it and and for those of you who have never seen it you are in for a major treat today you will know this movie in your heart and you will thank god for such a beautiful teaching movie some movies lend themselves to teaching better than others this movie does lend itself to teaching jesus is with us and oh he's like ooh juicy juicy juicy juicy movie for awakening this is it doesn't get any juicier than this so before i get into talking a little bit about the movie i wanted to uh i wanted to set the stage with some teachings from jesus about about our mind about perception about projection all the things that we talk about so i i grabbed a few snippets that jesus guided me to from chapter 12 chapter 21 and workbook lessons 53 and 57 so let's start off with chapter 12 you know it's great to watch a movie with jesus giving us priming our mind like he's this he's priming our mind like he's saying ooh if you can get the lesson through this movie it will save you thousands of years in time if you can just zoom into this lesson and so he's priming us he's priming us to get the lesson today here's what jesus has to say the world you perceive is a world of separation perhaps you are willing to accept even death to deny your father yet he would not have it so and so it is not so you still cannot will against him and that is why you have no control over the world you made it is not a world of will because it is governed by the desire to be unlike god and this desire is not will the world you made is therefore totally chaotic governed by arbitrary and senseless laws and without meaning of any kind where it is made out of what you do not want projected from your mind because you are afraid of it yet this world is only in the mind of its maker along with his real salvation do not believe it is outside of yourself or only by recognizing where it is will you gain control over it or you do have control over your mind since the mind is the mechanism of decision so in this one paragraph jesus is saying you have no control over the world you made we just used our precious mind energy to believe in an ego belief system in separation and then it projected out a world that was based on this separation idea and it's all the script is written it's it's all it's all in one unholy instant it's just like the workbook says one instant of separation and one instant of holy instant of of healing release so it's just we're allowing ourselves to be convinced to choose the holy instant instead of the the instant of darkness instead of the unholy instant that's all we're doing with this mind training and jesus tells us he said it's already over and gone so you might as well let it go you're just fooling yourself if you think it's still here it's done it's it's healed it's corrected it's a done deal but if you still are attracted to the unholy instant if you're still attracted to guilt or pain if you're still attracted to conflict then you will still see the images which are over and gone you know we're reviewing mentally what has already gone by and also he's telling us that that projection comes about when you try to get rid of something that you don't like or you don't want so whoosh the mind believes in the tiny mad idea of separation believes in the ego and then oh hot potato oh i don't like this i don't this is a death wish oh let's get rid of it and see it as if it's somewhere else let's see it in the world let's see death instead of a wish in the mind as as biological death as animals and people and things that die let's see the conflict instead of in the mind believing in separation let's see it as if it's fights between people and countries and and arguments and conflicts and oh let's see it as if it's external this is the big trick of the ego is trying to see the problem as external to your mind and all the mind training of the Course in Miracles is saying you made it up but it's still in your own mind and it has not left the mind of the thinker so if you can see it where it is you can face the conflict the the fear the anger the pain in your mind you can let it go forever but as long as you keep blaming others as long as you keep blaming people blaming circumstances blaming situations blaming politicians blaming the weather blaming the climate if long as you play the blame game you're not going to be willing to let this go because you believe that there's an external cause for suffering and there is no external cause of suffering the belief in the ego is the cause of suffering but it's not a real cause because God didn't create it so we have to we have to cough it up spit it up spit it out you know let's let it go you know it's it's already gone so we're just doing we're just acknowledging that it's already gone the Holy Spirit has already handled this this is not a future thing this is a a present moment release we're going for that today okay from from chapter 21 Jesus says projection makes perception the world you see is what you gave it nothing more than that but though it is no more than that it is not less therefore to you it is important it is the witness to your state of mind the outside picture of an inward condition as a man thinketh so does he perceive therefore seek not to change the world but choose to change your mind about the world perception is a result and not a cause so let's just look at that in terms of the human condition for human beings the way that they experience the world is they experience the body and when they think about their their mind and their thoughts they think of their inner thoughts they're if you talk to people and say how are you doing tell me about what's going on inside you then a human being might say you want to you want to know what's going on in my inner world are you ready for that do you really want to hear what's going on in my inner world or or do you want to hear what's going on in my outer world my friends my family my situations my circumstances the world conditions because to the human being there's a big difference between the inner world and the outer world not to Jesus Jesus knows that the inner world is the outer world the thoughts that you think you think and the world that you think you see are both the same they're not similar they're absolutely identical you see a war you believe in war you see something and you say that that is said then you believe in sadness you cannot perceive it unless you believe it you cannot perceive anything in this world unless unless you think that it's possible so if you think that conflict is possible then you will perceive conflict so this is an amazing thing because Jesus is telling us that the thoughts that you think you think part of your everyday daily thoughts and consciousness and the world that you think you perceive are absolutely identical and that means that you've become when you believe in the ego you become a magician you have magic thoughts and you magically see a world that pictures these thoughts you also become an inventor you know in this world it's kind of nice we like inventors what did they invent do they own the copyright is it patented listen there's no invention in heaven invention's not a good thing it's you know how many years have you been watching commercials and the commercial for the soap comes on or something new and improved i'm not interested in new and improved i want some reality i'm interested in the truth i want the spirit i'm not interested in new and improved cake mix new and improved recipe i'm not interested in new and improved cake mix i don't care if it's my birthday i'm not interested in new and improved and jesus has a workbook lesson where he says i have invented the world i see he's teaching us that we're inventors as long as we believe in the ego we believe we're inventors and we invent this world and it's not bad enough that we would try to invent something better than heaven but we value it that's the strange thing we we actually try to invent something that god didn't create and then we value the invention we value the invention more than being happy we value the invention more than being peaceful we value the invention more than being joyful that's that's sick that's insane to value an invention that god did not create more than joy and love and happiness and peace which is our natural condition so now you know when the mind is asleep it's insane so it's dealing with insane thoughts and insane projections and it's trying to make sense out of insanity yeah this is what philosophers have been trying to do scientists therapists you and i all of us we've tried to figure out the big riddle of this world and jesus says don't try to figure it out just forgive it for god's sake forgive it please please forgive it you know i that's what i came here to teach 2000 years ago and i'm still teaching it and i'm just saying let it go let it go let it go don't hold back anymore let it go let it go the past is in the past yes disney comes through again good old Walt Disney that always gets us where we needed the most you know we need to let it go okay let's move into the to the workbook oh workbook lesson 53 of the review my meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world from workbook 11 since the thoughts of which i am aware do not mean anything the world that pictures them can have no meaning what is producing this world is insane and so is what it produces reality is not insane and i have real thoughts as well as insane ones i can therefore see a real world if i look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing isn't that beautiful we have real thoughts in our mind we have insane thoughts and we have to release the insane thoughts and get back in touch with our real thoughts to see the real world this is so logical Jesus is just like taking it slow and easy with this and saying here i'm going to say it again it's it's actually really simple but you do have to be willing to let go of what you've believed in it's it's really very simple it's very logical but you do have to let go and finally our final warm-up for the movie i have invented the world i see i made up the prison in which i see myself all i need to do is recognize this and i am free i have diluted myself into believing it is impot it is possible to imprison the son of god i was bitterly mistaken in this belief which i no longer want the son of god must be forever free he is as god created him and not what i would make of him he is where god would have him be and not where i thought to hold him prisoner where is the son of god in heaven where are we in heaven what is heaven reality spirit eternity infinity yeah yeah that's reality that's reality is god created reality that's what reality is and where is it that i sought to imprison the son of god in a cage in my mind called ego by believing in the ego i'm believing in a cage and i'm believing i think i can put the christ in a cage and this ego cage and then once i put the christ into a cage then i believe the christ is a body and we know how that goes hmm we're never really happy with bodies even the ones we think we like it can turn to hate even the ones we think are agreeable suddenly one day they're disagreeable use it's a cage it's it's a cage that christ is not belonging christ is not really in that cage but if we think we can put the son of god in a cage of beliefs called ego that's where the problem is now today's movie is going to take us out of that cage it's it's going to take us out of that cage because the the main character of this movie is the title of the movie it's ruby sparks and there's an actress zoe kazan who actually wrote this movie and she stars in the movie wow thank you zoe wow to write this movie and then to act in it to show us and demonstrate the insanity of trying to control the world and trying to control relationships zoe has just given us a huge gift so thank you zoe kazan and basically what we have is is zoe is going to play a character ruby sparks who is invented we have we have a writer and he's a very successful writer and he is have has writer's block after having a very successful novel and being very successful at a young age he just falls into writer's block so this is a career issue for him if he's a writer and he can't seem to write he sees a therapist and the therapist is trying to encourage him to relax and finally gives him an assignment to to to write a one-page article just a one-page article on on his dog and taking his dog for a walk and having meetings a woman meeting someone who unconditionally loves the dog his dog with no criticisms whatsoever so the therapist is going to try to help him out of his writer's block by having him find gratitude allowance love and acceptance by writing a one-page article on his dog being unconditionally loved and accepted by someone that he meets on a walk what will happen is as we follow this movie we will start to see the power of our mind and the power that we give to invention when a writer writes a novel the writer makes up all the characters the writer gives words to the characters gives scenarios and scenes to the novel and to the characters and the writer basically invents the story and we're all used to stories we're all used to stories so but we think that these stories of of our personhood and the stories of of people we make a distinction between fact and fiction we say that when we go to a a movie we want to know whether it's it's it's real and true it's reality tv or a realistic movie or whether it's just made up it's make believe so for human beings there's a distinction made between things that actually happen and things that are fictitious and for most people watching movies they're they're just made from novels made from screenplays they are all a representation of something that seems to have occurred in someone's mind basically this whole world is a world of imagination we may say that our nighttime dreams are different than our daily activities but jesus is saying no your nighttime dreams are wish fulfillment and your daily experiences are wish fulfillment your nighttime dreams are fantasies and your daily activities are fantasies there is no distinction in perception between what is real and factual and what is imaginary and fictitious and fantasy the line that has been invented between real things happening and fiction and fantasy is an artificial line Jesus tells us all perception is false all perception is false even the forgiven world is false because in heaven there is nothing to forgive even the happy dream is just a still another symbol another image it's a it's a beautiful image because it's it's an image without judgment but even that is is false so perception by its very nature is not reality god did not create perception god doesn't even know about perception but the holy spirit is the mediator is the one who's able to work with perception because the holy spirit knows that it's false that's the kind of teacher you want if you want a teacher you want to tune in to a teacher that knows the world is false because every drama every conflict comes from trying to make the error real from trying to believe that something and fiction or fantasy is actually real real people real bodies real families real trees real stars you know Jesus is saying no actually the holy spirit knows that this is not so and that's the teacher you need to follow Jesus would say to us that's the teacher I followed and now I've merged with that teacher and oh it's wonderful because that is that is a in perfect alignment with god that spirit is real nothing real can be threatened nothing unreal exist herein lies the peace of god that's the whole summary of a course of miracles if you just if you just work without that you just did your whole life you just work with that one little statement you would you could go right into god with the one little statement nothing real can be threatened nothing unreal exist herein lies the peace of god it's very very simple and direct so in this movie we're going to find a writer who is not happy with his writing career his journalistic career he's not happy with his love life he has a mother and a father that hilariously are played by Annette Benning great great actress and it's it's just Antonio Banderas is his is her husband and the whole relationship with ruby is going to help us with all the key elements of a course of miracles it's going to show us the authority problem i don't know if there's a better movie that you can find that that shows you the authority problem most of the time when i talk about the authority problem they say can you talk about that again what is that it's it's so pushed out of awareness no one keeps the authority problem in in mind because that's a that's a question of who is my author and jesus says god is my author and the ego says no you're your own author you are the author of your own life what a joke even the new age buys that one you know you can create your own reality no you can't new age wrong wrong answer you cannot create your own reality because god created reality in reality is spirit and this world is a projection of unreality it's a projection of of error so in this movie we're going to see in a very very comical way how the writer starts to see the power of his thoughts and the power of his words and that's a step a step in starting to remember how powerful your mind is is to start to realize that you actually are have the power to manifest and that everything that you perceive is actually a manifestation of insane thoughts you know that's really putting it straight everything that is perceived in in the fragmented world of time and space is the projection or the manifestation of insane thoughts and that's important because if we're going to actually forgive the world and escape this madness we have to start to take a closer look at the thoughts that we think we think we can't just keep them hidden in the unconscious mind we have to we have to take the lid off of the unconscious mind or let's use a house metaphor if you've got a house and you keep a lot of your beliefs and thoughts hidden in the dark basement jesus is saying hey let's open the basement door and we'll go down there together and let's turn the light on let's let's go down and let's see if there's a bogeyman down there or maybe you made up the bogeyman too maybe maybe there's no bogeyman you know maybe all these horror movies that you're watching for entertainment are also based on on unreal thoughts and insanity but jesus is telling us it's more than the dark thoughts even your light shadows even your shadows of what you call the good things in this world are still insane because they're still even though they're light shadows they're not pure light and pure light is reality shadows are not reality we can never find eternal happiness in shadows we're we're being asked to give our thoughts over to the holy spirit let the holy spirit purify our thoughts and let only the love remain only the light remain take everything else from me and let only the love and the light remain that's our prayer so you're going to like this one it's funny and it's deep and you're going to feel really freed up by the end of the movie i guarantee it because this movie is so good at showing you the power of the mind and the power of thoughts and that you really need to keep the prayer of your heart clear that you want joy you want happiness you want peace so enjoy the movie i will pop in from time to time and we're going to have a great time today i i know it i i promise you i promise you today is the day of freedom it is a day of happiness