 Okay, well hi everyone and welcome to our all day movie workshop. I'm Peter, and I'm going to be your host today. And we have a beautiful movie lined up. This is one of my favorites I think I have to watch it at least once a year. So with that I'll just pass it straight over to you now David. Thank you. Thank you Peter welcome everyone. Glad you can be with us. Oh what a nice deep devotional dive we all have today. Yeah, this, this movie we're going to watch today is such a masterpiece. Franco Zafarelli is the filmmaker and he's just a masterful filmmaker. And it's really showing the life of St. Francis St. Francis of Assisi. The movie is called brother son sister moon. And I didn't have to pray long on this one because when I looked at our movie poll and what you all voted on the themes. It just it just jumped into my mind. It was just so obvious for all of the themes that we have for this week so so as usual we had our English poll our Spanish poll and our tribe poll tribe community poll. And then we combined them all to see what is the theme of the of the moment and coming in. In first place was trusting in divine providence but the hundred and one votes. So what is divine providence you know that that is usually a question for people like you might have read in the eastern literature they talk about the Prana energy and living off of Prana energy Jesus when he was doing a lot of teachings 2000 years ago. His apostles would get kind of concerned because sometimes he would teach for days without eating anything. And they would say, you know, Lord, Rabbi, please, you know, you have to eat. And he would say, I live on manna from heaven. So it was very much like the eastern concept of the Prana energy except he called it mana from heaven. And if we are truly a creation of God and we're a light being then as the more we recognize our true nature. It's actually the love of God that sustains us in everything not as Jesus says in the lesson number 50 is not pills money protective clothing being liked knowing the right people. Those are not what sustains us. It's actually the love of God that always sustains us whether we are aware of it or not. And then I think many people tell me that they think of divine providence. I mean, they think of St. Francis or Jesus or Mother Teresa as examples. I mean, more modern day example might be peace pilgrim who started hiking around the United States and Canada when her hair turned white with no money. No sense of organization or support just walking out on the open road and walking, you know, 10s of thousands of miles, just knowing that she was completely provided for. So trusting in divine providence is is a very good topic because the key word is trust and trust is the first characteristic of a teacher of God and of course in miracles and Jesus says all the rest of the characteristics depend on the first one on trust. So it's trusting that there is a presence providing for you even with the needs that you believe you have. And sometimes people feel well it's so rare, like maybe there's a handful of people in history that that were living in divine providence but not the trillions and trillions of others. But actually it's a principle, it's in mind and once you come close to that principle you start to realize that really everyone is living in divine providence, but they may believe otherwise. It's a divine principle that comes from from the Holy Spirit so if everyone is equally accessible to the principle it's not like there are special cases where there's a few sprinkled special ones that you can count on one hand. And then there's other masses that that don't have any access to it. It's actually, even when you have a career, you are living in divine providence, even when you have an inheritance or you hit the lottery. I would say those seem to be extraordinary compared to divine providence because, you know, well, hitting the lottery or getting inheritance or even working a job. Those things are associated with sustenance because they're associated with money. And that just shows you how thick the mesmerism of this world is the hallucination of this world where now the belief in lack, and the belief in having to do things in form to meet that lack to meet the needs and the expectations of that lack. Has become so accustomed, has become so accepted as the norm that divine providence seems to be far, far, far away. But it's people in history like St. Francis that really show us the way and show us that if you have a love of God and you have a devotion to spirit, like he had such a deep devotion to living the scriptures, to following Jesus's examples in an actual living experience, that he's happy to report the things are taken care of and we get to see that in this movie today. The second theme was tabula rasa, a clean state of mind with 70 votes. And that's the purpose behind St. Francis's life. He wants to learn how to forgive, he's going to use the Gospels and Jesus as an example, and he's going to do everything that he can to put that those teachings of Jesus into everyday practice on daily living. And he really carries it forward and shows the way he was a wayshower in many ways, just like Jesus was. But the tabula rasa clean state of mind is basically a mind that is freed of judgment through guidance and definitely St. Francis followed his inner guidance, even though he started out in the world as all human beings do with his family, with his city, his culture being raised in the Catholic culture of Italy at the time, a tiny little town called Assisi. The third one is giving all to all. That's what St. Francis was really striving for. He was trusting that the teachings of Jesus about look at the lilies of the field, they neither spin or toil, and yet they are provided for better than Solomon. King Solomon makes a reference. He's saying look at the birds of the air, how simple their lives are. So he was what we might call a nature mystic or a nature saint that he, along with the spirit and the intuition using the symbols of nature, he just really believed in his heart that life was meant to be simple. And it wasn't meant to be complicated. And of course religion, organized religion can get quite complicated. Organize anything can get complicated in this world. We need to be so tuned into spirit and so prayerful and intuitive that we can simply be in the joy of the moment and let the rest go. And St. Francis went a long way in that he, of course, was raised with a whole culture of sacrifice, which all human beings, everyone who comes to planet Earth has a belief in sacrifice. So that wasn't unusual, or it's not something that is just a Catholic thing. It's egoic, and everyone who comes to this world believes in the ego. So Francis was making a big attempt to escape. False versus true empathy. This is something that takes a lot of discernment to really grasp. Jesus says in the Course it's one of the most difficult ideas to grasp. But basically, false empathy is having any belief in an external world. If you believe the world is outside your mind, that's false empathy. It's not just commiserating with somebody. Oh, you poor baby. Oh, I'm having a bad day. Oh, that's too bad. That's just obvious examples of false empathy, but to believe that you're sustained by jobs and money and careers. That's false empathy. To believe you're sustained by friendship and partners and families. That's false empathy. To believe that you have issues at times with the government or politicians. That's false empathy. And what's true empathy then? Listening to the Holy Spirit. It's that simple. If you listen to the Holy Spirit, you're in true empathy because the Holy Spirit is in the right mind. And Jesus tells us in the Course that our whole problem is looking at the world in a wrong-minded way through the ego's filter. It's not that the world itself is a problem. It's the perception of the world through the ego's filter of fragmentation and separation. That is the problem. So we simply have a filter problem. It's almost like if you had dark glasses instead of our hearts. If you were wearing just dark glasses, sunglasses all the time. Dark sunglasses all the time. So you could barely read. You could barely drink. You could barely do anything because you had the dark glasses on. And then we have these light, soft, rosy glasses of the Holy Spirit. And when you get them on, oh, everything's so bright and clear and crystal clear. Oh, it's all, it's very rosy too. It's very beautiful. It's very wonderful. It's spectacular. And that's the true empathy where it's thinking with the Holy Spirit and Jesus, perceiving with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. And you feel the emotions of the Spirit in that perspective. And that is what true empathy is. It's staying with what's real and true. And the fragmented world is not true. It's a hallucination. It's a mesmerizing effect that has no cause because ego's not a real cause. It's projected world isn't even there. As we learn from Lesson 132 in the Course, there is no world, period. It's a hallucination of separation. It's a hallucination as if there is no God, as if there is no Spirit, as if there is no love. And the filter of the ego is brought about by the ego, this belief in separation from God. So the final one is mystical community. We get a glimpse of mystical community. We get a glimpse of St. Francis following his calling. And at first it's just him. He's just walking out of the gates of Assisi. After he takes his clothes off on a public square in front of his parents and the entire city and gives the clothes back to his father who can't even bear to look at him in the eye. And he also makes a move to follow God that he gives back his clothes. He gives back his family name. He gives everything away and talk about a symbol of no possessions. Walking out the city, city gates, naked and arms wide open. It's like in the light. Here I am, Lord. And that's not the end of St. Francis' journey. That's more toward the beginning. That's the kind of faith it takes to follow God, to say I would hold nothing before you, God. And that gives away my erroneous ideas of possession, of control, of ownership, of being right, even of superior, inferior thinking. You know, all of that, it's like, here you go, arms wide open, I give it all to you. Take it from me. And that is going to start what we could call a mystical community. Jesus showing up on on planet Earth that generated a mystical community. First among some some of his dear friends and then when the apostles were called one by one, the 12 apostles, and then there was the women's core that that was part of it, and Mary Magdala and so forth. That that was a mystical community. It was a very devoted mystical community, but we see that it's all about a state of mind. It was just the state of mind that and the state of being that Jesus was experiencing was generating almost like a little force field around him. And that was part of this huge calling to God, to know God, and, and therefore those that were drawn to him, and seemingly part of his apostles and inner circles, were just reflecting this light, this brilliant light. And that was an example of a mystical community 2000 years ago, and then, of course, around the same time there were the scenes, they were very much a mystical community kind of living cloistered apart from the world they were living in the desert around them as Jesus. And for some time after them we have the Gnostics that were coming there after Jesus and really starting to. I mean one of the Gnostics beliefs was that the world wasn't real. That if you're going to have a community and that's going to be one of your premises, that's pretty close to the teachings of Jesus that that's right there. Gnosticism is right there. Jesus was the actual demonstration of God is real and the world is not. Sometimes people say that that's a little bit drastic. God is real and the world is not. Well, there's a part in the workbook of A Course in Miracles where Jesus says, if pain is real, there is no God, and if God is real there is no pain. Well, we know where these teachings are coming from this is, this is coming from absolute oneness this is coming coming from divine light. And Jesus says in lesson 132 of the workbook this this the central teaching of this course is that there is no world. Okay. No holds bar. I remember my friend rest of one day, you know came into when I was in my peace house and she sat down I fixed her cup of tea and she was going on and on like he's done it this time. He's gone too far. I said who she said Jesus has gone too far he's crossed the line he's over the line. He's, he's out of his mind. He's, he's lost it. I said, What are you referring to, she said I'm doing lesson 132. So then we prayed together and then she went to the bathroom and the angels gave her a song called as if, which if you want to go to the site music of Christ.net. She received like I don't know 270 songs from the angels and one of them, they're all alphabetized is right near the top is it's as if, as if there is no world as if there is no world, a cosmic scheme, a made up scheme where figures dance and swirl and nothing means a thing that I, that I am mind as God designed he's calling me to live as if there is no world, because that was my answer to her when she went on for like 15 minutes about lesson 132 I finally said well, she says, How can you even practice this this is ridiculous this is, it's way too far it shouldn't even be in the book. And I said, Well, he's just saying he wants you to live as if there is no world. He wants you to live in your heart. He wants you to live in your intuition. He wants to live in, live in your joy, live in your peace, live in, in that experience that's inside of you that's real and true as if there is no world and then let the Holy Spirit give you the guidance if you still need to say something or do something the Holy Spirit will give you the words or give you the he'll do the actions through you. But it's more like let the marionette be the marionette and you stay in your heart, you stay in the heart of love. You stay in the heart of spirit of God, and then you let everything emanate from the heart of who you are. And that's how you remember who you are you you get centered in God, and you pray and listen to the Holy Spirit, and then the rest just let it be whatever it seems to be. It's not your concern to live in the light is your focus to remember yourself as the light of the world is the focus. So you can see with the the scenes the apostles, the Gnostics and then as you move along in the timeline a little. Yeah, there's the Benedictines, the Benedictine monks. They were another cloistered community in the 500s that were very very devoted to fully living the teachings and the principles, fully living the Gospels. And then throughout history, you know, St. Francis and his Franciscans. Great example, another mystical community. A little bit. You have the Cathars in the Pyrenees great example of a very deep devoted mystical communities. And then you have the St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila in the, the 1500s 1540, 42, St. Teresa is forming a group of nuns that are living a mystical cloistered life, just devoted to the Divine Union with God. And it just continues on and on and on to the present day where we're having a zoom meeting using a movie, but what's in our heart is to have union with God that it's the same thing. You know, we're no different than anybody else. The technologies have changed. The planet seems to be a little different than it was back in the days in St. Francis, but really nothing significant has changed because our heart is still yearning for eternal life. Our heart is yearning for peace, yearning for joy, yearning for harmony. And today St. Francis and this beautiful movie from Franco Zafarelli is just helping us stir our heart up, stir our prayer, stir our passion for peace and harmony. So it's, it's beautiful. That's, that was the, the last topic on there is miss mystical community. And we're going to see that unfold. First, as St. Francis goes through his transformation, and he answers the calling of his heart. And then we start to see others around him. We see young men from Assisi, a lot of them were his friends. And then we'll see St. Claire Claire is a young woman who lives in Assisi she's watching the whole thing that St. Francis is going through and then she's going to jump in. And then, then a little whole mystical community is going to jump in. They're all jumping in toward the light. They're all just answering a call in their heart and letting that inner calling direct everything they think and say and do. And that's how it works. That's how spiritual transformation works. So, what a treat. You know, I, this is the obviously the first movie that jumped into my mind when we had these themes and I think you're just going to enjoy it. You're going to see that St. Francis will have to face the different beliefs and emotions of the ego. He will have to face betrayal and rejection and abandonment. He will have to face doubt thoughts that maybe he lost his way. Maybe this isn't the way he will have to face thoughts of whether he's just going for an experience or is this something that has to do with the world has to do with the future. That's the main concern that happens when you're awakening. You always have these doubt thoughts about the people and what is to come. In this case, the Catholic Church, he will have an encounter with the Pope. Pope innocent the third played by Alec Guinness in this movie. And how beautiful that in his life of devotion that St. Francis faces a doubt thought by going to visit a Pope whose name is innocent. That's the kind of reflections we need. We need reflections of innocence. That's what we want because God is innocence. God is joy. God is happiness. God is not a God of anger. God is not a God of sin. God is not an anthropomorphic God that's more human-like than God-like. God is 100% God-like. Let's talk about the original. Even original doesn't work because original seems to be the beginning, but the I am presence is it transcends beginnings and endings. Even original doesn't work. But Pope innocence, I have to say of all the Popes, I really like this guy because he likes to emphasize original innocence. I like that original blessing. Whoa. Now that's a Pope. That's the kind of Pope that you can light up with original innocence. And that's the reflection that St. Francis is going to draw a Pope who believes more in original innocence than church organization, then tradition, then rules. He's actually got a heart and he's got sparkly eyes too. When his heart gets really triggered, his sparkly eyes come out and that's a treat too. So sit back, enjoy the ride today because this is probably one of the most extreme examples of following your heart and following the Gospels and Jesus that you're going to see. And the soundtrack, the music for this is exquisite Donovan. These are all beautiful original songs. And, you know, if I don't know if you can even buy the soundtrack it's so mystical I don't even know if it was ever put out as a movie soundtrack. But if you have a tape recorder or you can put it on record on your computer or your iPhone, you can make your own soundtrack, Donovan soundtrack, because I tell you these songs will be with you now for the next weeks to come. You will be taking a shower brushing your teeth, and you're going to have these songs. They are so beautiful. They are mystical. They stay in your mind. I know when I first saw this movie, I, I kept walking around like St. Francis and hearing this Donovan music for weeks. And I was glad to I was like, I don't know what happened there but this is really good stuff. So enjoy the movie and I'll pop in from time to time with a little bit of commentary but the movie speaks for itself. It's, it's a gem. It's a mess.