 Welcome. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, welcome to our Tabla Rasa online retreat weekend. And yeah, we have a beautiful theme this weekend, true intimacy and holy relationship. So it's going to be a beautiful weekend. Yeah, we're going to, oh, by the way, I'm Peter. I'm going to be the host this weekend. And for this session, we're going to be joined by Francis Zhu and David Hofmeister. And then we'll also have a session later on with some community members and a movie session tomorrow. So very full weekend. So yeah, I'll just, I'll pass it right over to David and Francis now. Hi, hi, everyone. So sweet. Beautiful, beautiful. What a treat. We have a beautiful weekend in store for you. And there's, hi Francis. Hi David. What a beautiful opportunity we have. This is one of those topics that everyone feels so much in their heart and it's just praying for clarity. Just praying for clarity. And you and I were talking this morning about how really this holy relationship and true intimacy are the means for spiritual awakening. Isn't it fun to have a pathway if somebody says, what is your spiritual pathway? You say holy relationship. It brings a smile to our face just to say that, you know? Cause it's a deep dive. It's definitely a deep dive. Yeah, I was just thinking this morning when we kick off this year with the topic of spiritual vision, gaining the true vision. And this is actually the means to gain spiritual vision. You know, this is the pathway of a course in miracles. You know, spiritual awakening is so much associated with isolation and meditation, but also do it yourself, individual spiritual awakening. And yet with the course, Jesus gave us a pathway of holy relationships. So yeah, this is a weekend we can really dive into this topic. And I think deep down we're all yearning for deep relationship and deep intimacy because we're yearning for that feeling of have a heart opening, keep our heart wide open. We're yearning for that feeling of let our heart be filled with love and to be able to give love and receive love and feel safe, feel transparent, not holding up some kind of mask. So that is truly what this pathway feels like. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think everybody likes to feel connected and in this world, it's even a goal. Sometimes people sell me while I wanna be connected and at least I would like to be at least connected to one person or a few people. If I could just have one good deep connection and a few other deep connected friends, then that would be plenty for me. And now we have Jesus saying, no, this is actually your means for waking up to heaven. It's for everyone. And the Holy Spirit basically, Jesus says under the Holy Spirit's teaching, every relationship is a total commitment. You almost do a double take, you have to say what, go back on that sentence again. What did he say? Every relationship is a total commitment. That's nothing we were taught when we grew up. I didn't hear that in Sunday school. That's radical. Every relationship is a total commitment. And what he's saying, that's how you reach this agape love, this unconditional love of the Christ is make no exceptions. Jesus didn't make any exceptions and he's just a way shower for all of us to not make any exceptions. Is it possible to be friendly towards everyone? Is it possible that friendliness is even a kindness? It's our states of mind that can be radiated to everything and everyone. And is it possible that we're guided so that the relationships that come to us are given? We feel like it's raindrops coming down and we just are so happy to welcome what is given every day. Show me what I need to see in my mind by bringing to me the relationships that will mirror back to me that which I have hidden from myself. All right, I was playing hide and seek in time and space. It's time to end that game. The hide and seek game is over. I want to be fully aware. So Francis and I were talking briefly this morning about how we call it given relationships. It's instead of you going out to try to search and find something or fill something that's lacking or missing, you have the prayer of your heart for healing and then the means appear as the relationships that show up. And that's one of our movie themes this week is going toward given relationships. So maybe Francis, you can just share what your experience has been about given relationships. Yeah, I think, you know, Jesus says and sometimes David always, you always say that this pathway is not more difficult. It's just very, very different. And sometimes I reflect on this summary and I have to say the one thing I feel is considered as very difficult on this path is we still think we have to make decisions for ourselves. And we want to make decisions. We think we have to make decisions with especially the parts about our lives that we cherish and value. And without knowing that the fact that every time we think we need to make decisions, we are blocking, we're blocking the decisions to be made for us by the Holy Spirit. Actually, Jesus says in the course that everything that the ego tells you you need will hurt you. Everything the ego tells you you need will hurt you. So our function is actually to decide against deciding for ourselves. I like that function very much. I thought, oh my God, my function is decide against deciding for myself in recognition that I do not know how simple is that function? You know, it's not so different from the past have to strive, have to achieve and have to reach a self-concept. You know, such certain kind of standard even in relationships a successful daughter, successful friend, successful or you meet a certain standard that the ego set up. But to decide against deciding for myself meaning that I have to allow the spirit to really decide for me especially in the areas I think I care the most especially the areas I think, oh, I know the outcome I want. I want to decide for myself because I got too much investment. And these are the areas that, you know, the ego can just take hold of it very strongly. So I think in terms of the relationship that is very, very true on this path, I can see myself and also everybody in our community. I think tonight we'll have some community members share their own experience. But underneath all these parables, one thing that I truly see that is the secret of success in this awakening journey is let it be given you, let the relationship be given you, let the curriculum be given you, and also not trying to assume that I know how to do relationships, any relationships. You know, we're not here in this, we can't learn how to do your relationships because it cannot be summarized, it cannot be learned. There is no formula. But actually we're here to learn, we're here to learn to tap into the holy instant so that the curriculum in that moment can be given for us to shine, for us to reflect back to our brothers and to ourselves. So truly this is such a humbling journey of stepping away from all expectations, all the decisions and to let it be given. And I can tell you that Eagle would tell us that if you leave it to the Holy Spirit, nothing will happen. You will have a lonely life, you will have no relationships if you don't fight for yourself. And nothing can be far from, it can be so, it would be, I can't put it in English. It can't be more far from the truth. That's it. Because the fact is, there's so many relationships that come this way, like David was saying, it's raining down. If you really trust this Holy Spirit, this is his given curriculum. And you step out of the way, the relationship will be raining down on you in your life in so many different ways. And I also realized, I always feel like, okay, I know how to do this kind of relationship but not that kind of relationship. The relationships are categorized into different categories. They have difference in significance, they have difference in value, they have difference in how I approach it, but not under the Holy Spirit's control. The Holy Spirit is saying, if you know how to really approach one relationship, you know how to approach any relationship. That is his way. He's saying, let me teach you how, every given moment. This is the curriculum. Yeah. It's interesting, a lot of us have used the book, A Course in Miracles on our spiritual journey and it's worth quoting directly from the Course when we say Holy relationship is the means. Jesus says that in the I need do nothing section. He said, a relationship is given you as a means of salvation, as a means of awakening. But if we roll it back even a little bit to something just as basic as a miracle, it's like, I mean, the title of the book is A Course in Miracles, okay? Now, when Helen Shuckman and Bill Fedford first got that, that the title of the book, they were told what the title of the book was, it was called A Course in Miracles. They didn't like it. They didn't like it. They thought they would give the author, the invisible author of some other ideas. There's better ideas to name it, but no, the author said, no, it's called A Course in Miracles. That's what the title is. They were kind of awkward about it. And then when you look at it and some people may say, why do we need a Course in Miracles? This is a thick book. Why such a thick book for A Course in Miracles? It's because one thing, miracles are involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Involuntary, involuntary. But oh my gosh, I've got a book this thick that's teaching me one thing that miracles are involuntary. That just means let go and let God. That just means I'm really gonna have to step out of the way to experience these miracles, to let them come through because they will come through. And Jesus tells us we don't even need any kind of special preparation. We just have to be willing to say yes. Yes, I let them come through my mind. That's all. It's just a yes, a willingness to say yes. Nothing more. We don't need a resume. We don't need to pass a long obstacle course and regiment. And I think the area of relationships when we think of relationships, that's the part where the ego wants a lot of control in the relationships. It wants to select the relationships. It wants to put parameters on the relationships. It wants to put boundaries on the relationships. It wants to put expectations on the relationships. And Jesus is saying, no, they are just given for you to learn to truly give as God gives, to let your light shine, to be like a flower, giving the fragrance to the wind, not telling the wind where to blow. He's not saying, here's my fragrance. Now I just want you to go to that person over there and that tree over there and that bus. It would be ridiculous to try to tell the wind where to carry the fragrance. And yet the ego believes in using relationships for its own purposes to get something. It's always trying to get something. It wants to get something from the world. It wants to get something from people. And what we're discovering is this involuntary experience is truly letting go. It's like taking your hands off of the steering wheel. It's like letting go of trying to control people. And that's the biggest temptation in relationships is trying to control the people. Jesus is saying, don't do that. Let me take over the relationship and use it for forgiveness. There's one part in the course where Jesus says, don't raise body thoughts to the level of mind. Wait a minute, what did you say? Don't raise body thoughts to the level of mind, meaning don't give causation to those body thoughts. Whether you're talking about relationships, whether you're talking about a diet, whether you're talking about exercise, whether you're talking about career, don't raise body thoughts to the level of mind. Don't think you are personally in control of that body or any of those bodies, but give them to me and I will use them to show you what forgiveness really means. So it's really simple. He's just saying the ego made up all these bodies and why don't you give them back to me now? I know what to do with them. I know what to do with these body thoughts. If you keep them and you believe you're in charge of them, you're trying to take control of something that you didn't create and really you don't have any business messing with those characters. The Holy Spirit can use those characters to help you release the addiction, to help you release the attachment, all the expectations. But we have to say, here Jesus, I'm giving all my body thoughts back to you. He's not telling us that we should somehow already be able to enter the Holy Instant and we have to prepare our minds for the Holy Instant. He's saying, no, that's the Holy Instant is the Holy Spirit will take you there. And all you have to do is desire it. You have to just want it. You have to want to go into the light and then let the Holy Spirit and Jesus, they'll handle all the rest. And that's what I mean by given relationships.