Summaries of Awakening Mind Materials
Contents
Reversing Effect and Cause: Getting to the Bottom of Linear Time
Opening to the Experience of Real Relationship Only One Mind
The Matrix Week Intensive Awakening Mind Materials
Freedom is of the Mind, Not the Body The Script is Written
Relationship David Hoffmeister
Special and Holy Relationship Summary
David Hoffmeister and Kirsten Buxton in Venezuela
David: This morning we will talk about purpose in relationships and try to demystify them. This afternoon we’ll see the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , which shows how the same problems occur again and again. It’s a problem of the memory as used by the ego. A full nine chapters of A Course in Miracles are devoted to relationships. We will focus on the difference between special and holy relationships.
Kirsten: As an example, let me tell you about the start of my relationship with David. I had left my job as a teacher and gone to the South Island of New Zealand to meditate and try to quiet my mind. Then, about a year and a half ago, my mother introduced me to the Course. My mother invited David to come to New Zealand and called to tell me about it. A voice in my mind told me that I needed to be there, but I hesitated because of the cost of the flight to the North Island. Then I noticed that the price of the flight had gone down. As I got ready, it felt for some reason like I was getting ready to go on a date. When I saw David at the event a voice in my mind told me: “You’re watching your future partner.” I didn’t mention it to anyone, but during the event it seemed obvious to everyone that David and I were supposed to be partners. I saw a gold ring on his finger and asked my mother about it. She said there was no ring. I went to the United States in January and by February David and I had wedding rings. Our relationship is based on the present moment and on knowing each other as perfect and whole. We each come from our own sense of peace, wholeness and completion. We see the Christ in each other. And we expose our “private thoughts .” We say what’s on our mind. It is a holy relationship.
David: The basic characteristic of the special relationship is to get something from your partner. You want them to supply something you lack in yourself. This is how they all start out, with the need to be healed. But your partner doesn’t seem to fill the role you expected and the relationship becomes difficult. It is as if you had made a contract or a bargain: “I will meet your needs as long as you meet my needs.” If one partner doesn’t live up to this imaginary contract, there is a lot of hurt and conflict. Your ego mind wants to get something from a special relationship. A holy relationship, however, is based on giving and extending love.
Your relationship actually mirrors your unconscious beliefs; your partner acts out your beliefs. To find happiness you need to become aware of and change those beliefs. The beliefs always involve a sense of privacy and keeping secrets. You are only willing to share some parts of your secrets with your partner.
Kirsten: Special relationships can be family relationships such as mother-daughter or mother-son; and they can also be with co-workers and friends. A relationship is special if you are treating a person differently than you would treat everyone else. There are roles and expectations in special relationships, which always involve some guilt. You may try to avoid negative consequences for your actions and you may feel a sense of coercion. To transform the relationship you have to let go of the role. For example, I have always been friends with my mother. When I was far away I would miss her. My father would tell me on the phone, “We want you here” and I would feel guilty. I had fears of my parents getting old and dying.
After reading the Course I wanted to have a holy relationship with everyone and started with my mother. She understood it, but felt pain at the thought of letting go of her daughter, of me in the daughter role. The Holy Spirit is my guide and I handed it over to Him. I wanted to let go of all the specialness and expectations. I, too, felt sadness come up. I was letting go of the need for a mother. Now our relationship has really changed. It is based on the present moment, so there is no guilt or missing each other. If either of us has the motivation to visit, it comes from a happy, peaceful place inside. I have transferred this peaceful holy relationship quality to my relationships with all the other members of my family.
David: The movie you will see is powerful because it exposes how relationships work. As long as you have the ego at the front of your mind, you see the past in your partner; it may show up as a repeated nagging behavior. To be free of specialness, you need to meet you partner for the very first time. Relationships in this world start with mutual attraction and move to the honeymoon phase. But after that there are hurts, grievances, even repulsion, wanting to leave and wanting to change this partner for a better one. These are judgmental thoughts. You are in the relationship for love. Instead of all this judgment and upset, there is an opportunity to heal. Love is more powerful than these judgmental thoughts. Kirsten and I had a honeymoon in Argentina. She had expectations from her past about what a honeymoon should be that we not being met. She was stiff as an ironing board. Why don’t you tell it?
Kirsten: I had been holding on to a lot of judgments and frustration about David. I had become irritated by his snoring that woke me up, by the noises he made as he brushed his teeth; I didn’t like some of his clothes, and I didn’t like that he walked so slowly. I like to walk fast. I held on to my irritations for two months prior to the honeymoon. We had previously scheduled to do a series of gatherings in Argentina and had nonrefundable tickets. Then the woman organizing everything called to say she had to call it off. Her husband had just left her for another woman. David said to her, “Well, rather than cancel the events and be miserable, why not see them as your rising to a higher state of relationship, look at it as your honeymoon.” This brightened her up but did the opposite for me. Unhappy emotions came up; I was thinking of returning to New Zealand and my old boyfriend.
We did the gatherings in Argentina and then David and I went south of Buenos Aires to Miramar for our honeymoon. I felt like I was sitting on an emotional volcano about to erupt. We went to a restaurant and I finally let out all my thoughts: I feel terrible; I don’t like this at all; I spilled all my judgments. I did it so forcefully the waitresses all stepped back. When I finished I thought this was the end of the relationship. But to my surprise, David said, “This is good.” I thought he was crazy. He said that clearing all the judgments was the beginning of the relationship; that it is essential to express your private ego thoughts. They are all based on the past; they are all judgments. The thoughts must be released in order to trust. I learned to trust. I’m not just trusting David as a person. I’m trusting in God, in Love, and so is David. David never takes it personally. Expressing the ego thoughts took away the fear that I could say something wrong and the fear that I might be embarrassed if someone asked me about them.
My experiences seemed very personal at the time, but they’re really not. I’m not clearing away the private thoughts just for us, but for everyone. I even wrote out my experiences and shared them on the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AwakeningInChrist/ web site. Many readers wrote in to say they felt I spoke to them. Before this I used to hold on to my private thoughts. Now I have nothing to hide.
David: We are all connected. Your relationship is a demonstration of your purpose for the universe. When you choose the purpose of the Holy Spirit instead of the ego, it is about sharing joy and peace with everyone. Every time there is something that is not talked about it is like putting on a mask, putting up a wall between you. You can become depressed. In holy relationship you let the stuff come up, talk about it and move through it to heal.
Kirsten: As I’ve let go of special relationships with my family, with David, it feels like I have gained a huge family, I feel at home with everyone everywhere. I no longer try to save time to spend with special people sometime in the future. I am fully present in the moment and extend love with those I’m with. Where I am is where I want to be.
David: If you don’t share something with your partner you feel isolated. But if you talk about these things the tension eases. Not long ago, Kirsten came in tears to share her feelings with me after she had received a telephone call from her former partner. We experienced a joining and healing. It is important to share anything, then work it through and feel free. My love for Kirsten is unconditional, so it doesn’t matter where she goes. We work things through together. This is about love and happiness.
Kirsten: The Course tells us “to love your brother as yourself” T-18.V.5 and also “When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself.” T-8.III.4 As you trust your brother you will trust yourself. It is also a process of dismantling the ego. Relationships are like mirrors. What I see in someone else has to be coming from myself. For example, at one of our gatherings in the United States I thought people were withholding the donations I expected in the basket. I got upset and asked the Holy Spirit for help with this. He said: You think they are withholding; is there anything you are withholding? Then I remembered that I had a special account, just in case, in New Zealand. I changed my mind about it and decided to make the money available to spirit. At the end of the gathering I saw the donation basket was full.
David: If you feel trapped in a relationship, that is the ego. Kirsten listens to her intuitive voice. A few months ago she said she was not going to make a trip to Europe this year. Then I got an invitation to Sweden; so I will go to Sweden and she will rest. We don’t have to do anything or force anything. We trust that things happen for a reason. We flow along following our hearts and we both stay happy. We wish that for everyone. The Course says, “Only what you have not given can be lacking in any situation.” T-17.VII.4 It is never that the other person is letting you down. To give a relationship to the Holy Spirit is to give it to the purpose of extending love without expectation of getting something in return.
If your partner doesn’t read the Course, no problem; it is a self-study book to help you open your connection to God. The point is to clear your mind. Then the relationship can change. If you feel peacefully guided to leave a relationship because it is time to move on and that will be the best thing for both of you, that is a good motivation. But don’t leave a relationship because you feel trapped and need to escape. You are never trapped by someone; you are just trapping yourself. Open your mind to spirit. Look at your thoughts and beliefs. I spoke with a man recently who had two women in his life and didn’t know which one to marry. For ten years he had told one he would marry her tomorrow, but the next day he couldn’t do it. We talked about his fear of commitment and his thoughts and feelings about each of the women. Talking like that opens the heart to God. He looked at his motives, gained some clarity and decided to talk with them.
Kirsten: It is all in your mind. What is going on in your mind is what is reflected back in the world. When your mind is happy and peaceful, that is what will be reflected back in your life. Then you can perceive anything in the world and be peaceful. In my relationship with David he has played out some of the things that were in my mind. I had an addiction to sleep. I believed I needed eight hours of good, quality sleep. I put myself under pressure to get that sleep. When David and I got together I found myself not getting that sleep. In the morning I blamed David for snoring and moving around as he slept. David’s snoring was disturbing my peace of mind. But the truth is that nothing outside your mind can disturb your peace of mind. I asked the Holy Spirit about this; I wanted healing and was willing to be wrong about my judgment. When I gave it over to Him, the pressure and worry about it disappeared. Now I don’t know if he snores or not; the problem is gone.
David: People warned me about political instability and danger in South America, but I followed my inner guidance and had many miracles. Only ego thinking is dangerous, not the world. I told Kirsten before we left about all the miracles I’d had in South America, but she had also heard some bad stories. On the plane she was afraid; she had this image in her mind of having her head cut off.
Kirsten: So I took it to the Holy Spirit. I told the Holy Spirit I didn’t want my head cut off, that I’d rather just see it on TV. In the airport I happened to see part of a movie on a TV in a waiting area and a girl’s head was cut off. That took care of the fearful thought. Since then I’ve had nothing but a wonderful time in South America.
In the special relationship you hold on to things. You say to yourself, “That’s what he does” and hold on to your irritation. But in the holy relationship you see any irritation as an opportunity to heal. You see what is in your mind and release it. As a result you are no longer emotionally involved.
David: Everything is your own lesson. If someone will not speak with you, go back into your own mind and look at your thoughts. When I went back to my parents to share my joy about miracles, they wouldn’t listen; they changed the subject. I asked the Holy Spirit what I was doing wrong. He told me, “Let me direct how you share your joy; don’t just shoot it out there indiscriminately.” Sometimes just a smile is better than words. Listen to your inner voice. The real communication doesn’t take place between people but between your mind and God. When your attitude is peaceful and happy people approach you. You wait for them to initiate conversation. You are happy whether they come or not. Spirit never wants to force anything on anyone or try to change anyone’s mind. If you are disappointed with someone you had an expectation.
Kirsten: If I’m perceiving unhappiness, there must be unhappiness in my mind. From this perspective the whole dynamic of there being someone outside of myself is removed. I am just open to Spirit coming though me. What would You have me say or do? For example, David and I don’t care if there are empty chairs when we present something. We are here only to be truly helpful in the moment with those who are present.
David: The purpose is to waken from the nightmare of the dream of separation. Before you awaken to the peace of God, you experience the happy dream of the Holy Spirit’s perception. Do not judge things in the nightmare the dream, because judging it will keep you in it. Judging it makes it real for you. All judgments are about the future or the past. Trust in the present moment. Right now is pure stillness. Don’t struggle to plan the future. If you need to make a plan, it will be given to you by your intuition and it will come with a good, warm feeling. Kirsten and I don’t feel trapped by our plans because they are given by spirit, by intuition, for the happiness of everyone. We just take one step at a time. It has been wonderful coming here to Merida. Doors open. We were just invited to Caracas.
Because we travel a lot and meet with many different groups, we do not always use the terminology of A Course in Miracles. Instead of “miracle” we could talk about a shift in perception. I have studied many religions. If I were meeting with Buddhists I would use a parable from the life of Buddha rather than from the life of Jesus. I just stay open and let Spirit speak through me. The point is to connect with people, share love and speak about our commonalities.
Kirsten: Organized religion is not strong in New Zealand. I grew up with ideas like: listen to your heart and do what is right for you. I didn’t have any association with God or Jesus when I started the Course. Then, once when I was meditating, Jesus came to me. The more I’ve learned about his ministry and message the more it has seemed familiar to me and become part of my own personal history.
David: Let’s take a break and then we will watch The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Group discussion with David after viewing The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This movie looks at the themes of relationships, time, memory, releasing private thoughts and forgiveness. It shows how the same issues and struggles come around again and again. You seek love; you are drawn to a certain person, but once you draw close the ego begins to come forward. When judgments of each other come up the hurt is so intense you feel a great temptation to call it off. But if you start another relationship with someone else the same unhappy cycle of issues repeats. The last scene of the movie shows the desire to join, and this is what it takes to heal. You have to let the judgmental thoughts come up, symbolized in the movie by the cassette tape from the past. All of their private thoughts that were hidden during the “honeymoon” phase finally come out.
What the movie shows is that when you don’t hide these thoughts, but bring them into the open, then you have a decision to make: Are these thoughts real or is the love real? This is what forgiveness is all about. When these thoughts come up you need to learn to connect with Spirit and share these thoughts so you can see that they are not real. In truth, everyone is in love with everyone else, but the ego in your mind tries to break this love.
Question: In the movie what is the purpose of the memory deleting procedure?
The movie shows how people become hurt when private judgmental thoughts are exposed. We are touched watching it because we realize it is these private thoughts, which cannot be our real thoughts, that drive us apart. The movie shows that when these thoughts come up, they are what need to be forgiven and released. They are thoughts of envy, jealousy and possession, because in this world love is possession. This is where jealousy arises. Even though relationships involve attraction, they always turn to repulsion, flipping back and forth between love and hate. This love is of the ego, because real love could never turn to hate. The thoughts must be exposed. Opening to forgiveness is being willing to let go of all the old concepts of what love is.
Question: Why do our minds work this way?
It comes down to making associations. The memories you have of love are just scenes and images, as if the love were in the memories and so you don’t want to lose the memories. You try to hold on to them; if they disappear you grab for more. These false memories involving time and space cover over the true love that is deep in your mind. The memories were made up by the ego so you would forget your true love, which is God. God is the only One that gives you unconditional love. You look to your partner to complete you, to be a God substitute. No partner could ever do it. It is a set up. Your memories are an ego trick to keep you from going inside your mind and finding the love that God gave you in your creation.
There is a scene in the movie where all the memories are being deleted; they are on the beach and getting down to the last memory. Clementine turns to Joel and says, “What should we do?” and he says, “Enjoy it.” This is why the spiritual journey involves surrender because it feels like your life is falling apart the deeper you go into your mind. You try to grab on to familiar things from your past but they just dissolve away. They are unreal idols, ghosts.
This is why trust is so important. All of us are having our memories of time and space deleted, and it is Spirit doing the deleting so we can come back to the true love that is not tied into form. True love is in our minds. We have to surrender our old concepts of love to be born again in our divinity.
Question: What purpose do relationships serve?
The ego is the past, an insane moment that repeats over and over. The only way to break the cycle is to let the ego come up. This is the purpose of relationships. People think they are getting into relationships to find love. What they’re really doing is joining together as a way of letting the ego come into consciousness. Your partner mirrors your ego thoughts. What you have denied, kept unconscious in your own mind, gets acted out and mirrored back to you by your partner. So relationships are a great gift, a great opportunity to get in touch with what you still believe. If you believe your partner is lazy, controlling, or manipulative, guess where those concepts are? They are in your own mind. The ego is trying to get rid of them through the trick of projection, making them seem to be qualities of the other person. So you can reject that person because there are many more fish in the sea. [Laughter] And yet when you find another fish the mirroring occurs again.
The movie shows that you have to let these thoughts come up; it’s OK to let them come up because that is how you forgive them. At the end of the movie Joel and Clementine are drawn to each other; they agree to meet again to “get it right this time.” All of us have been through this loop many times. Now is your time to release the past and not be fooled by the ego into projecting the blame on your partner, but to see it as your own thought. It is never someone else’s fault; it is just an error in your own mind. So when you’re meditating and all the judgments come up, and you’re tempted to blame somebody, remember it’s not them. These are you’re your own thoughts that need to be released. [Applause]
Question: Why do we run?
In this world there is nothing more terrifying than love. Love is terrifying because when you give yourself over to it, the self that you believe you are starts to dissolve. Love is so powerful that it will wash away your false identity and show you who you really are. Love is never afraid. There are many workshops that talk about the fear of intimacy as if it’s a fear of sexual intimacy, but that is not the real fear. When you enter into a relationship and start to feel deep love your mask starts to come down and that is where the fear comes. Each of us has lowered the mask with someone whom we loved only to be attacked by them. Then you swear you will never let that happen again; you keep your defenses up in the next relationship. But you are not satisfied. You think that if your partner ever knew the thoughts that are in your mind they would never love you; so you can’t ever let them know these thoughts. But in an intimate relationship the thoughts get forced up to the surface. And then comes the real commitment—do you stand in there and forgive or do you try to escape?
Question: Can you explain your use of the words false and real?
All ego thoughts involve the past, the future and bodies. As long as you hold these thoughts as real you will have the emotions of envy, hatred and guilt. These are not your real thoughts; God did not create them; you have been tricked into believing them. God just wants you to love God and to love everyone. You have to let Spirit wash your mind of these ego thoughts. As long you think these thoughts are your thoughts you will feel guilty. This world was made to cover over love. When you sink deep into meditation you can go below these ego thoughts to a place that is so quiet and full of light that you see they are false.
There are two ways to see these thoughts are false. The first is by meditating in the morning and at night. Just relax and let all of your thoughts of the day come up. Sink beneath them as if you were sliding into a stream and all the ego thoughts were leaves floating on the surface of the stream. You lie peacefully on the bottom and let the stream carry them away. You can’t find peace of mind until you get down with your spirit underneath these thoughts.
The second way to see your false thoughts is through relationships. This movie shows that relationships are your greatest gift. When you are tempted to scream at your spouse remember this movie. Your partner is showing you your thoughts, acting them out so you can’t miss them. The next time your spouse yells at you, give them a hug of gratitude. [Laughter and applause]
In the end you are letting go of all thoughts about yourself and your partner and choosing to look at them as if for the very first time, as if there’s no past. Go home tonight and see your partner for the first time. Nothing of the past that you believed about them was true. Let spirit show this to you and you will feel love and gratitude because they are offering you this great gift for your mind to be healed. You are joined in the purpose of waking up to God.
At the end of the movie Joel and Clementine hear tape recordings of the nasty ego judgments they each made about the other. At first they take the judgments personally and are upset. But after taking a quiet moment they each decide they can handle it and start to laugh.
I got married recently and my wife had a big ego attack—she judged me with such energy that the waitresses in the restaurant stepped back. After she had let it all out I took her hand and said, “This is wonderful, the ego is coming up.” And, after a while, as in the movie, we both started to laugh. When you look at the ego with detachment it is really quite funny. When you laugh like that you know you are getting close to heaven.
Question: How does a relationship become holy?
It becomes holy as soon as you recognize the ego impostor as an impostor. Spirit starts to teach you how the ego thinks and sounds. Spirit teaches you how to reinterpret it as a call for love. So when it comes up it is as if your soul is crying, “Please don’t take the impostor’s bait! It is just love calling out.” When someone is hurting, you are to comfort them, not see them as attacking you. Every time an ego judgment comes up it is a call for love. As soon as you respond from love the ego is gone and you feel the love. It takes practice.
Question: Aren’t there some relationships that are so bad you have to leave?
There are times when you may be guided to remove yourself from the situation. But you should remember your partner is still offering a gift because the situation is always in your own mind. It is never a combination of the two. They are mirroring your mind. It is never your partner’s fault. You must forgive them and forgive yourself. Let it go from your mind and you will not blame anyone. You will love every one. [Applause]
***
Some lines from the movie
Dr. Howard Mierzwiak: “as a dream upon waking”
Joel Barish: “I assume you fucked someone. Isn’t that how you get people to like you?” “Do you really think you could take care of a kid?” “Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.”
Clementine Kruczynski: “Maybe I should end this right now.” “Too many guys see me as a concept that’s gonna save their lives.”
Final scenes after Mary has provided them with their tapes
Clem plays her tape in Joel’s car “He’s boring. He’s changed me,” and Joel makes her get out of the car.
She walks home, feels anguish; goes to his place.
Joel: “I hate what I said about you.” His tape is playing: “The only way she can get people to like her is to fuck them. She’s so desperate and insecure she’ll end up fucking everybody.”
Clem: “Bye. It was nice meeting you and all.” She exits down the hall.
Joel: Runs after her, “Wait.”
Clem: “For what?”
Joel: “I don’t know. Just wait”
They look at each other.
Clem: “OK.”
Joel: “Really?”
Clem: “I’m not a concept, Joel; I’m just a fucked up girl who’s looking for her own peace of mind. I’m not perfect”
Joel: “I can’t see anything I don’t like about you.”
Clem: “But you will. And I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me.”
Joel: Shrugs, “OK.”
Clem: “OK…OK”
Joel: “OK”
Clem and Joel are both really laughing.
Song lyrics: “Change your heart and look around you. Change your heart; it will astound you. I need your lovin like the sunshine. Everybody’s gotta learn sometime.”
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Metaphysical
The past repeats with private thoughts of unworthiness and doubt repeated over and over until a change in purpose in the mind is grasped. Memories of the past are deleted by the Holy Spirit as they are offered willingly, and nothing is deleted without this willingness. Once the process is allowed only the attempt to hide some memories in the belief that they are still valuable delays the clearing. In the end there is a surrender to the Divine Eraser of past associations and meaningless private thoughts, and only a recognition of seeing the Christ anew remains present. Staying present, all relationships reflect the Innocence and purity that transcends the lies of the ego. Freed from specialness, the holy relationship emerges as a testimony to the glory of God and True Love.
Movie Watcher’s Guide to Enlightenment
ACIM on Relationships Jim Carrey on Awakening
Top of page
Opening to the Experience of Real Relationship - summary
With the ego/private mind/personhood/body as your self-concept, the deceived mind feels an inner lack and pursues special “love” and friendship relationships in an attempt to meet needs for intimacy and completeness through close association with other persons/bodies, other illusions in form. This is a farce, a futile attempt to change the past rather that to see the lack, the conflict, where it is in the mind. Loss/lack is the belief in separation, which is symbolized by a limited body identity. An illusory fragment cannot join with another illusory fragment and become whole. This attempt is doomed to unhappiness; it must fail, if not sooner then later in “death.”
The correction in the mind comes from questioning everything believed to be true, all of time/space, and seeing the false as false. Thinking that you know is an attachment you have to let go of. You open to the Holy Spirit for a miracle that transcends the self concept. Body and mind are not reconcilable. The only Real Relationship is in God, Divine Mind, Love, this very moment.
Attempting to find completeness in special relationships distracts you from awakening to the Truth of Being with God in the present moment, to the Truth of the Oneness of Love, which is the real experience of completeness. Only minds are joined.
Reversing Effect and Cause –
Getting to the Bottom of the Belief in Linear Time - summary
God created Christ. True Cause is God. True effect is Christ. Ideas leave not their source. Christ never leaves the Mind of God. Cause and effect are together and simultaneous.
The cosmos is the effect of a false cause—the belief that I separated from God. In the unholy instant my mind believed the tiny, mad idea that it was guilty of the sin of separating from God and deserved to be punished. In terror my mind tried to hide from God. It made time and space, dreamed the entire script of the world, adopted the ego thought system, which included believing it was as a person in a body, and fell asleep.
I am left as a dream figure locked in the dream, trying to manage my unconscious guilt. My own mind keeps me imprisoned through perception. The ego, my wrong mind (cause), projects a scripted image onto the world. In a quick little time gap my mind forgets it projected the image. Then my mind perceives the image as attacking its innocence (effect appearing as cause). I defend myself. Overall, the sequenced projections make it seem as though I move through linear time, with the past creating the present.
I sustain the illusion that I am a sentient mind/body subject viewing an objective world. The world has not left my mind, but I have forgotten I dreamed it up. I think I have choices to make but alternate outcomes are not possible. The script is written, and my perception moves in lockstep behind the projections.
My deceived mind’s thinking is backwards. It believes that there is causation in the world, that the body can be sick apart from the mind, that people and events can have a lasting effect on the mind. My guilty mind calls forth people as witnesses to reinforce guilt. It insists that others are depriving it of happiness and completion so it attempts to guess their motives. It imagines how people and situations could be different and holds a grievance that it isn’t so.
My ego tries to make sense out of chaos by ordering its thoughts, by judging. In this way I write my own meaning on the world, I usurp God. I am calling back the unholy instant and attempting to replay it. Making these judgments makes me think I am responsible for the chaos and I feel guilty. All this is the wrong mind. This is hallucination, a psychotic break with reality. I am denying the present, denying reality, denying the truth that will set me free.
The answer is to exchange the purpose of the ego for the Purpose of the Holy Spirit. I watch my mind from the perspective of the right mind, so I can forgive in the present moment. Whatever seems to happen, the Holy Spirit sees the falsity of the effects of the world, because He sees they all come from a false cause. Forgiveness is seeing the false as false, that I made it up and I have been wrong about everything. A miracle is the effect of looking with the Holy Spirit back at my misperception. This collapses time and I see the falsity of the image. It is nothing; it didn’t happen. I see the world as a valueless, illusory projection.
Misperception is what locks me into the dream. I begin by correcting mistaken perceptions one at a time. Whenever I feel fear or upset, I must be in my wrong mind. I must be thinking that there is something real, something causative, to be afraid of in the world. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me see it differently so I can forgive the illusion and let it go.
With practice, I become able to prevent mistaken perceptions. I choose to start each day in my right mind, setting the goal of making all my decisions with the Holy Spirit. I accept the purpose of forgiveness, identifying and letting go of all the false images and false beliefs. I understand that cause and effect are simultaneous, the same, with no gap and no reversal. I recognize that I am the dreamer the dream. I cannot lose anything.
I desire vision. Others are innocent; I am innocent. I cease to order my own thoughts and instead listen to and follow the Voice of the Holy Spirit. Listening to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and following His Voice eliminates all conflict; it gives everything the purpose of forgiveness. I flow along in pleasant detachment, observing something that has already happened. I develop willingness and readiness for miracles, which collapse time, show the past is gone, and reveal love’s presence. “In quietness [I] see in the miracle a lesson in allowing Cause to have Its Own effects, and doing nothing that would interfere.” T-28.I.10 I recognize that I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole. I think the thoughts of God.
I continue to perfect mastery through love by watching my mind and by extending miracles until I attain a state of undivided desire for God. In one complete instant of forgiveness I accept the Correction of the Atonement for myself. All minds are healed; there is no time, space or ego. I am the one Son of God, One Mind.
ACIM Time Course in Cause and Effect
The Matrix
from the Movie Watcher’s Guide to Enlightenment, David Hoffmeister
You are the One! Free your mind from a world of control based on limitations and fear. The matrix is everywhere, for the matrix encompasses all appearances and images you seem to perceive. What if you were unaware that you were dreaming? What if you could not tell the difference between the dream and the real world?
The Matrix is your seeming digital 'self,' a projected image of a mental construct called ego. The Matrix is a construct that can seem loaded with all sorts erroneous ideas of attack and defense. One choice (ego defensiveness) leads to continued imprisonment for your mind and you seem to remain asleep and dreaming of the matrix. One choice (Holy Spirit) shows you how deep the rabbit hole goes and frees your mind to forgive illusion and recognize Its Oneness, thus accepting your own Saviorship. Follow the White Rabbit (Holy Spirit). No one can tell you what the matrix is, you have to find out for yourself and be lead inward to the experience of your True Christ Self. I can show you the door (forgiveness), but you have to walk through it. You are the Savior of the world as you let your mind be free of the ego belief system and its limits. There is nothing to fear. Your Destiny is Certain. You are the One. No one can fail who seeks to reach the Truth.
The Matrix - movie summary
A phone rings and Cypher accuses Trinity of enjoying watching “him.” Trinity counters that "Morpheus says he may be 'the One'" just as a sound of a number being selected alerts Trinity that the call they're on might be being traced. Trinity easily defeats the six policemen sent to apprehend her and escapes via a pay phone.
Neo, a hacker, is asleep at his monitor. Suddenly his screen goes blank and a set of text messages appear: "Wake up, Neo." "The Matrix has you." "Follow the White Rabbit." Then, the text says "Knock, knock, Neo..." a knock comes at the door of Neo's apartment. It's a group of ravers; Neo sees the tattoo of a white rabbit on a girl in their group and goes with them.
At a rave bar Trinity approaches him. "Hello Neo." She introduces herself and he recognizes her name; she was a famous hacker who had cracked the IRS database. She tells him that he is in great danger, that they are watching him and that she knows that he is searching for answers, particularly to the most important question of all: what is the Matrix?
At his job Neo is berated by his boss for having a problem with authority and rules, for thinking he's special. Neo receives a delivery as "Thomas Anderson." He opens the package and finds a cell phone which immediately rings. On the other end is Morpheus, who informs Neo that they're coming for him. Morpheus tells Neo, “I can guide you; but you must do exactly as I say.” He instructs Neo to go out the window, get on some scaffolding and take it to the roof. Neo starts around the ledge but looks down, feels afraid and is captured by the Agents.
Agent Smith asks Neo to help them capture Morpheus, a dangerous terrorist, in exchange for amnesty. Neo gives them the finger and asks to make a phone call. Mr. Smith asks what good is a phone call if he's unable to speak. Neo finds that his lips have fused together. He is thrown on the interrogation table by the Agents and they implant a scorpion-like probe through his belly-button.
Neo awakes with a start in his bed and assumes it was a bad dream. His phone rings and Morpheus tells him he is the One and to go to the Adam Street Bridge. There he is picked up by Trinity, Apoc and Switch in a car. Trinity tells him he has to trust her and she uses a device to remove the probe.
Before bringing Neo in to meet Morpheus, Trinity counsels him to be honest. Morpheus explains that he's been searching for Neo his entire life. He says he imagines Neo feels a bit like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole. "You are here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain, but you feel it. You felt it you entire life. There is something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It's this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I am talking about?" Neo: "The Matrix?"
Morpheus: "Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere; it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out of your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church, or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Neo: "What truth?" Morpheus: "That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." Morpheus holds two pills out. If Neo takes the blue pill he will wake up in his bed and believe whatever he wants to believe. But if he takes the red pill, then "you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. All I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.” Neo takes the red pill. “Follow me.”
As Trinity straps him into a chair Neo is told that pill he took is part of a trace program, to "disrupt his input/output carrier signal" so that they can pinpoint him. Neo looks at a shattered mirror placed next to him which miraculously reforms itself. Morpheus, “Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the Real world?" Neo touches the surface and the silver begins to creep over his skin, engulfing him as Morpheus's crew urgently attempts to locate something on the monitors. The silver takes Neo over and he blacks out.
He awakens gasping inside a purple embryonic pod. He is hairless and naked, with thick black tubes plugged into the back of his skull and the rest of his body. His pod is open and he is surrounded by towers of pods just like his. Suddenly a menacing nurse robot grabs him by the throat. The tubes detach and Neo is flushed down a drain into water. He is snagged by Morpheus's crew. Just before Neo passes out Morpheus says to him, "Welcome to the real world." Neo drifts in and out of consciousness. At one point he asks, "Am I dead?" "Far from it," replies Morpheus. When he wakes again, his body is an acupuncture pincushion, "Why do my eyes hurt?" "You've never used them before," Morpheus replies.
Neo finally awakes and Morpheus gives him a tour of his ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo is introduced to Apoc, Switch, Cypher (bald with a goatee), Tank, Dozer, and Mouse. Morpheus: "You wanted to know about the Matrix." Trinity straps him in. A long probe is inserted into the port at the back of Neo's skull.
Neo awakes in pure light. Morpheus: “This is the construct. It is our loading program. With it we can load anything. Morpheus tells Neo that what he is experiencing of himself is the "residual self image, the mental projection of your digital self." Neo: "This isn't real?" Morpheus: "What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain." "This," he says, showing an image of a modern city, "is the world that you know," a thing that exists "only as part of a neural, interactive simulation that we call the Matrix." Mankind gave birth to artificial intelligence, a "singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines." The machines decided to take over and use man as a power source. "The Matrix," says Morpheus, "is a computer generated dream world created to keep us under control.” Neo screams, “I don’t believe it; let me out!” He fights to free himself and ends up on the floor vomiting and passes out.
When Neo awakes back in his bunk Morpheus is beside him. "I can't go back, can I?" Neo asks. "No," says Morpheus, “Would you want to? When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change what he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was this man who freed the first of us. After he died the Oracle prophesized his return and envisioned an end to the war and freedom for our people. This is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix, looking for him." The return of the One would mean the destruction of the Matrix. If the Matrix exists man will continue to live in complacency inside it and the world can never be free. "I did what I did because I believe that search is over," says Morpheus. “I’m trying to free your mind.”
Neo starts his training. Tank, his operator, straps Neo back into the jack-in chair, and loads him up with combat training. Morpheus and Neo stand in a sparring program that has rules, like gravity. But some rules can be bent while others can be broken. Morpheus bids Neo to hit him, if he can. They fight with Morpheus easily parrying and subduing him. A jump program is loaded and they now stand on one of several tall buildings. Morpheus tells Neo he must free his mind of “fear, doubt and disbelief,” then leaps from one building to the next. Neo nervously tries to follow him but doesn't make it, falling to the pavement below. Neo wakes back in the Nebuchadnezzar with blood in his mouth. "I thought it wasn't real," he says. "Your mind makes it real," replies Morpheus.
Morpheus and Neo are walking down a city street and Morpheus explains that "The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. When you are inside. You look around. What do you see? Teachers, lawyers, businessmen: the very minds of the people that we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system. You have to understand most of these people are not ready to be unplugged and many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight any change." Neo asks what the Agents are. "Sentient programs," says Morpheus. No one has ever stood up to an Agent and survived. But Morpheus is certain that because the Agents live in a world of rules that they can never be as strong, never be as fast as Neo can be.
Neo startles Cypher who is working at a computer console streaming with green code. Cypher conspiratorially offers Neo a drink and says that he knows what Neo is thinking, "Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill?" Neo laughs but is unsettled. Cypher asks Neo if Morpheus has told him why he's here. Neo nods. "What a mind job," says Cypher sarcastically, "so you're here to save the world."
Cypher is now in a fancy restaurant with Agent Smith who asks if they have a deal. Cypher, pointing to a morsel of steak, replies “You know, I know this steak does not exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know what I have realized? That ignorance is bliss. I want to remember nothing" He strikes a deal to be reinserted into his body as a rich and powerful person in the Matrix. In return he'll help the Agents get Morpheus.
Morpheus announces that he's taking Neo to see the Oracle. As they walk out of a warehouse Cypher secretly throws his cell phone into a garbage can. Neo: “I have these memories from my life. None of them happened. What does that mean?” Trinity, “That the Matrix cannot tell you who you are.” The Oracle, Morpheus explains, is the one who made the Prophecy of the One and that Morpheus would be the one to find him. “Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong; she is a guide. I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it.” She can help Neo find the path, he says. Inside are other “potentials.” One child who is bending spoons gives a spoon to Neo and says, "Do not try to bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth...that there is no spoon. It is only yourself." Neo bends the spoon.
The Oracle asks Neo if he's the One. “Honestly, I don’t know.” She points to a “Know thyself” plaque. “You already know what I’m going to tell you.” “That I’m not the one.” “You have the gift but it looks like you’re waiting for something. No one can tell you; you have to know it—balls to bone.” She prophesizes that either he or Morpheus will die, and that Neo will have the power to choose which one it will be. As the crew returns they are trapped. Mouse gets riddled with bullets and on the Nebuchadnezzar the real Mouse spurts blood and dies in the chair. Meanwhile the crew is climbing down the plumbing of the wet wall. As the police approach, Cypher sneezes, giving them away. The police open fire. A fierce battle between Agent Smith and Morpheus ends with Morpheus captured.
Cypher returns to the Nebuchadnezzar and, as Tank attempts to bring the others back, Cypher blasts him and Dozer with an electronic weapon. Cypher unplugs Apoc and Switch and moves to unplug Neo. Cypher says that if Neo is the One then only a miracle can prevent him for killing him: "How can he be the One, if he's dead?" he asks. Tank, having recovered, then fries Cypher with the electrical weapon. Tank brings Trinity back..
Meanwhile Agent Smith, a tray of torture implements near him, talks to the bound Morpheus, "Have you ever stared at it? Marvel at its beauty, its genius? Billions of people living their lives. Oblivious. Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, with no suffering, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to define the perfect world. I believe that as a species, humans define their reality through misery and suffering. The "perfect" world was a dream that their primitive cerebellum tried to awake from. That is why this Matrix was redesigned to the peak of your civilization. Or should I say our civilization? Because as soon as we started thinking for you, it became our civilization."
Because Morpheus is being tortured, Tank says their only choice is to unplug him, but Neo stops him. He realizes that the Oracle was right and he now has to make the choice to save himself or to save Morpheus. He decides to head back into the Matrix. "I'm not the One, Trinity." He only knows that he can bring Morpheus out. Trinity decides to go with him. "Neo," protests Trinity, "No one has ever done anything like this." "That's why it's going to work," he replies.
Trinity and Neo enter the lobby, heavily armed. They shoot their way past the guards and soldiers and make their way into the elevator where Trinity arms a bomb. They climb through a hatch to the elevator roof. Neo says, "There is no spoon," before he severs the cable. The counterweight drops, propelling Neo and Trinity upward. The elevator falls to the lobby exploding upon impact and filling the floor with flames.
Trinity brings a helicopter outside the floor that Morpheus is on and Neo opens fire on the Agents. Morpheus breaks his bonds and begins to run to the helicopter but is hit in the leg. Neo realizes that Morpheus is not going to make the leap and throws himself out of the helicopter with a safety harness attached and catches Morpheus. Agent Smith shoots the helicopter's hydraulic line. Trinity miraculously gets it close enough to drop Morpheus and Neo on a rooftop. Neo grabs the safety line as the helicopter falls towards a building. Trinity severs the safety line connecting Neo to the helicopter and jumps on it herself as the vehicle smashes into the side of a building. On the ship Tank says, "I knew it; he's the One."
Neo hauls Trinity up to them. "Do you believe it now, Trinity?" asks Morpheus as he approaches the two. Neo tries to tell him about the Oracle but Morpheus says, "She told you exactly what you needed to hear." They call Tank who tells them of an exit in a subway near them. They find the phone booth and Morpheus exits, then Trinity. But Agent Smith’s shot shatters the phone making it impossible for Neo to exit. Instead of running, Neo turns to face Smith. Neo delivers devastating blows but Smith counters, throwing Neo onto the subway tracks. He puts Neo in a headlock and, says, “Good-bye, Mr. Anderson." "My name," he replies, "is Neo." He jumps with Smith on his back and hits the roof of the tunnel; they fall back down and Neo back flips off the tracks, leaving Agent Smith to be hit by the oncoming train. Smith appropriates another body. “Trinity, don't worry," says Morpheus, "He's going to make it." Neo reaches a room with the phone and is immediately shot point blank by Agent Smith. Neo slumps to the floor, dead.
On the ship Trinity leans over his dead body. "Neo," she says, "I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that the man I loved would be The One. So, you see, you can't be dead. You can't be because I love you. You hear me? I love you." She kisses him. In the chair Neo suddenly breathes. In the Matrix, Neo opens his eyes. "Now get up," orders Trinity.
The Agents hear Neo get up, turn and open fire. "No," Neo says calmly, raising his hands. He stops their bullets in mid-air. They drop harmlessly to the floor. "He is the One," says Morpheus. Agent Smith is furious and attacks Neo who blocks Smith's blows effortlessly and sends him flying with one kick. Neo then leaps into Smith's body and explodes Smith. The other two agents look at each other and run.
Neo has made it back. He kisses Trinity. The screen goes black. A command prompt appears: "System Failure." Over it is Neo's voice: "I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to show these people a world where anything is possible." Neo exits a phone booth, looks around, and takes flight.
