 Welcome, beloveds. Today I'd like to talk a little bit about community and the call into community. Community is just a symbol, and yet there have been amazing saints and avatars, such as Paramahansa Yogananda, that saw the value of community, saw the value of support groups, and living in purpose, and sometimes in proximity in purpose. So the goal of spiritual awakening is not community itself, but community can be a symbol that the Spirit uses, a symbol in the means of forgiving and emptying the mind of all thoughts of the past and future, all thoughts and judgments, and coming into a beautiful, pristine, clear state of mind. We might call communion with God, living in the communion of presence. So is this a helpful symbol? Is this a helpful step? You could say anything is helpful that is an alignment with Spirit that comes from presence. It's not a thing in itself or a symbol in itself that's helpful or harmful, but it is the use to which the symbols are put that tell their helpfulness or harmfulness or helpful in clearing away the blocks to the awareness of love's presence or used by the ego to delay the awareness of love's presence and to cover over that holy, beneficent gift of forgiveness. So I have found looking into investigating, exploring, visiting communities has been beautifully guided by Spirit, and I've felt so grateful that I have been shown and guided and instructed in the purposeful use of community. In the Buddhist tradition they sometimes call it mindfulness, developing mindfulness in community. And there are Buddhists and Christian monasteries the same with convents, Buddhists and Christian convents and different types of rather highly organized and all the way up to loosely organized communities. I've seen this as well with A Course in Miracles. I've seen gone to different ACIM course houses, seen communities in various locations and neighborhoods. Some of them short-lived, still maximized. Some of them more long-term, long-running Course in Miracles groups that develop into a bit of a community. I think the real question underneath the observation of community is how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? It's truly a support and a nurturing for the complete dismantling of everything that seemed to be the status quo, everything that you believed about the world and time and space. Everything gets flushed up. And if you go for the atonement for self-realization, for spiritual awakening to the oneness of spirit that you are, that everyone is, well then you might say let no stone be left unturned. There will be lots and lots of dark thoughts and beliefs that do get exposed when that is the goal. When you have peace, inner peace is your goal. Everything unlike that inner peace will rise into awareness. So you can look it in the eye with the help of the Spirit and simply see the false is false. And thus the Spirit heals the mind. Thus false perceptions are expelled, dissolved, washed away. Sometimes it can take a bit of rinsing, but Spirit is inevitable. What is, is inevitable. So now is the time to honestly ask yourself, am I willing to trust, to listen, to be open to a possibility of what I would call a fast track to awakening to heaven? It's a straight shot. It's the straight and narrow that Jesus talked about in the Bible. Because it will take willingness, but it will take determination. It will take vigilance. It will take devotion. And it does lead to a very devoted, reverent life, an experience of the presence of God. So this communication I will call a call to community. It's always struck me as I travel around the United States and Canada and then all over the world, 40 some countries. It's always struck me this idea of the human notion of privacy, private bodies, private thoughts, private houses, with private furniture, private rooms, private bank accounts, and really private purposes. It just seems that that's part of the human condition. No two people seem to see the same world. They're coming from individual perspectives. They're coming from opinions, conclusions, and judgments. And yet that does not really tap into the reality of love. All the privacy is more an expression of the fear of love, the fear of oneness and union. And it's always struck me all this energy that goes into survival, living independently as a person with a personality self. All these opinions and goals and ambitions and pursuits. All these varied points of view where common ground, something shared, seems to be the rarity and complexity and conflict and division seem to be the norm. So when I say that there is a call into community, community living, we see with the internet that there are lots of ways that people are joining. Joining in online groups and clubs and memberships, mail lists, and sometimes full-on communities, even if they be digital, where the community members sometimes meet in person, face to face. Even in gaming, there's Pokemon, there's different games that are coming along that encourage interaction. You might say it's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. There are these mechanisms that are coming along that actually encourage interaction. And that can be a very, very helpful thing in terms of forgiveness and spiritual awakening. If the purpose of the interaction is clear, if the purpose is out front, amazing miracles, many miracles happen every day. I know that there are those of you that have used these chat rooms and technologies such as PowTalk and UvU, all kinds of networking capabilities. One of the latest ones is Zoom, where you could have very high-quality video conferencing, group conferencing. These have all been helpful, and I would say in this day and age, any sense of community would certainly include all aspects of purposeful interactions. You feel these heart-to-heart connections. You enjoy the fellowship, the camaraderie. You enjoy the opportunity to express emotions. To let up unconscious emotions that have been repressed and pushed down for far, far too long, and also to express the love. There's so much love to be expressed. Those of us that have used a pathway like a course of miracles just are filled with gratitude and the clarity of removing these dark thoughts and beliefs from our mind with the Holy Spirit's help has left us in a very tranquil, peaceful, serene state of mind, filled with love, bursting with love and joy, looking for opportunities every day given by the Spirit to extend the love, to teach what we would learn, strengthen in awareness that which comes from Spirit, that which is in the core of our hearts, the altar within, undefiled, innocent, perfectly innocent. So this is no small thing. It's just beautiful as I've traveled to meet people who are feeling the synergy, the miracles, the experience of community, community living for the course, for self-realization, for, as the ancient Greeks said, know thyself, what a fun and purposeful interaction for the very purpose of knowing thyself. Know thyself as God created thyself in perfect spirit. So I'm always one for practicalities. I find that spiritual living is so high in terms of state of mind. It's just always taking the high road, living in the high road. A friend of mine one time was accused by her grown children of having her mind and living up in the clouds. Her response was, yes, I do, come and join me far, far beyond the egoic struggles and conflicts, competition. There's a beautiful state of mind that is very still and looks and waits and watches and judges not serenely unaffected by all ego thoughts. Why? Because God did not create the ego and who we are is not an ego. This seeming lifetime is an opportunity to experience the fact I am as God created me. I am Spirit. I am the Holy Son of God Himself. I am Light. That's the purpose to experience communion with God and the means and the end are together. So with a devotion to forgiveness, everything else is added unto you. Everything that you need is provided by the Spirit. Not one thing you need will be kept from you and every seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. If you serve the only purpose that you would fulfill given by the Spirit. So practicalities, you may say, well, these ideas sound very good. You may even feel this deep, deep heartfelt invitation and may have a question arise, okay, then what next? Well, one thing that I could say for sure is next is, it just begins with a feeling in the heart and then it grows into sometimes a communication, a query, a request, just making contact, making contact. And we could even say making contact in some way that draws you, attracts you or feels very sensible and doable. What does this mean? Well, I would say that if you want to make contact with a community resident, that would be a great way to start everything off. And it could be somebody that you just really trust and resonate with or it could be someone that you're aware is residing in a cement center or community near where you live. For example, in Europe, we have a lovely budding new community called Casa Mixi. It's part of Living Miracles Europe and it's located a little south of Barcelona, Spain. And right now we have three of our messengers of peace, Jenny Donner and Frances Zoo and Jason Warwick that are all residing at this Casa Mixi. And if you just Google their names or Google their names with Living Miracles, possibly even Living Miracles Australia, you'll find some of the pages of those that have been very involved in our community for a number of years. I believe there's a Living Miracles Europe Facebook page, a Living Miracles Europe NING site. And yes, writing an email, calling someone, reaching out and connecting with somebody who's been part of the community. And I give the example of Europe because if you're living in one of these countries in Europe or nearby, this is a very practical way to first make contact with someone with a community resident and link in with them, get to know them a bit, ask your questions, share your longings and your callings, your desires and share your fears and doubts, hesitations. Just open sharing is a good way to start the ball rolling. Very, very practical. Spirit is practical. Spirit and Spirit's guidance is not pie in the sky. It's extremely practical and relevant. That's what the Miracle is. It's very relevant. It's not just some utopian idea or far-off thing, but it's here and it's now. If you can feel it, if you can get in touch with it, it will set you in the right direction and amazing things will follow as you listen and feel, really tune in to the presence. And every time you follow a little prompt, the Miracle will show you the value of that little prompt and will take you step by step by step inward to the Kingdom of Heaven, inward to nirvana, pure presence, love and oneness. It's very practical. And from the example I gave, you can also see that if you are maybe in Mexico or South America and you feel to check out community, write to someone in our community down in Mexico, in Chipotle, Mexico, for example. We have a couple of messengers, Lisa Fair and Jason Press, who are down there right now. A beautiful center in Maji, Australia, which is a bit north and west of Sydney, Australia, over and beyond the Blue Mountains. Beautiful, magnificent, majestic farmland, beautiful center on a ranch right now, out in rural Australia. Jackie Simpson, Melanie Karawana are there now, Michael Karawana. Melanie's husband will be heading there shortly towards the end of September. It's an amazing group out on the beautiful flat farmlands of Australia. And in Utah, we have a group, we have a Living Miracles Monastery. Suzanne Sullivan, Michael Karawana are out there right now, and we have a Metaphysical Center here in Camus, Kirsten Buxton and Deanna Markin, and myself are residing right now as I prepare to launch off on my 2016 World Tour, starting with Europe. But yeah, there's a devoted, reverent, beloved group here right here in Utah. So the practicalities are making contact, having a chat over Skype or the phone, and if you feel a resonance, something deep in your heart, then yeah, you can go for it. You can fill out an application form at one of these centers, or fill one out, I should say, online about staying or residing at one of these centers, or maybe even moving nearby. It's a benefit of proximity and purpose. It's like a fulfillment of an inner prompt, an inner calling that calls you to awake and be glad. Right now there's political conventions and elections that are a backdrop here in America in 2016. And if you listen and you watch the red ever, you can basically hear that there's been some dissatisfaction. There's been a call for an improved way of being, an improved way of living. But I will tell you for sure that you won't find that in competition. You won't find that in taking sides. You won't find that in basics such as even economic growth, gross national products productivity. It goes much deeper. The problems are systemic in the sense that they are generated by the ego and forgiveness of the ego. Releasing ego, beliefs and thoughts is the path, the authentic path towards healing. Healing in consciousness, healing in mind, cleansing the mind of its dark thoughts and beliefs. Purifying the heart, coming back to innocence. So, again, spiritual community is a mechanism or a means that the Spirit uses as a backdrop for this purification. That's really all it is in a very straightforward sense. You look at the Bible, you say, what are God's promises if you look at the Course? What can I hope for? Peace of mind, the peace of God. You have to come deep inside, come down to your knees, come down to humbleness to a state of mind where you can say and believe with conviction. The peace of God is my one goal, the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose, my function and my life while I abide where I am not at home. I want the peace of God to say these words is nothing, to mean these words is everything. Are you sincere about awakening? Do you see the relevance and the value of what you are here to do? The function that you have, the purpose that you have, the dedication that your mind's energy and focus was meant to fulfill. Is there room for me? Of course. God's plan is incomplete without you. Your full participation is necessary. Miracles are collaborative and when we answer the call we are answering the call for everyone and everything. Everyone wants to know love and just as surely everyone must forgive in order to remember God's love. So that is the invitation. Jesus had said, I am calling you out of the world and in a very real sense this is what's happening. I am calling you out of the thinking of the world. I am calling you out of the beliefs of the world. I am calling you to empty your mind, to hold a brand new goal, a present goal, a forgiveness in mind, the willingness to take the steps, the willingness to write that first email and make that phone call, make that Skype call, the willingness to feel the witnesses to your heart's deepest calling. Is there room for me? Of course this whole venture that I've watched over all these years has been truly a collaborative venture. In the beginning I came across A Course in Miracles in the most miraculous way out in Southern California in 1986 and there were many steps and phases that would follow. Many joinings, many holy encounters, movements, travels, movements to different locations. Many many new things dropping in, expanding awareness, opening the heart. It's been so so so grateful to have been used in this way for healing in mind, for such expansiveness and such joy to keep bursting forth and bursting and bubbling over and over and over. That's the testimony to choosing to follow the Spirit of God, choosing to open up to truth, to experience the peace of God that passes the understanding of the world. So it's been such a joy. And if you've been following along all the online extensions and coming to some of the workshops, gatherings, retreats, talks around the country, around the United States, Canada, Mexico, really around all around the world if you've participated in any small way and this is resonating with your heart, please make contact. There's always room for you, beloved child of God. And if these ideas are resonating and you'd like to find out more, you can find out more about Living Miracles Worldwide Ministry at www.acim.cc. You'd like to watch some free online videos and listen to some amazing audios as well. Just go to YouTube and type in my name, David Hofmeister. You'll have lots to choose from. There's also lots of videos available on acim-online-video.net. There are many, many free audios on a number of different sites. One of them is called Teacher of Teachers, which is www.miracleshome.org. It's a very, very deep, profound, clear website that's been around for many years. It's even been turned into a book, like three books in one, called, And Wind Your Mind Back to God, Experiencing a Course in Miracles. And if you want to just tap into the support that's available and vast array of resources that are available, the nuances of spiritual community go to www.livingmiracles.org to www.awakening-mind.org And these are good sites to kind of key you in to this magnificent worldwide community and this beautiful reflection of healing, of devotion, respect, reverence, and true honesty and sincerity can be a very good way to make first contact like the Jodi Foster film name. Make first contact and the rest will surely follow. I love you so dearly. I join with you in the prayer of your heart for peace and happiness and joy and a sense of unending freedom. This is God's will for us. This is the essence of our life in God.