A Course in Miracles and Awakening by David Hoffmeister

Enjoy the following excerpt from a transcribed talk given by A Course in Miracles teacher David Hoffmeister.

Like the Horatio Alger stories, "Pull yourself up from your disadvantaged past and make something of yourself." That was even an army slogan as I was growing up, "Be all that you can be." Oh great. I think I have better aspirations than going around gunning down people in other countries, but still it was the whole thing. It was no different than trying to improve your life, improve your circumstances, and all the work and all the energy that goes into striving to have a better life. All of it's for naught because still you are dreaming a dream and if you actually begin to grasp this, you will soon get over self-improvement. You will soon get over trying to make the world a better place and all the work; just think of the social services, end world hunger, what do you mean? Who invented world hunger? That's part of a dream. There's nuclear proliferation, the fight to save the whales, save the dolphins, all of the things that people try to do—eat better; go organic. What does it matter? It’s a dream. It's’ a dream! It is not going to help.

The only thing you can do with a nightmare is to forgive it. See it without judgment. See it simultaneous instead of linear and wake up from it. This is how A Course in Miracles describes awakening. And go back to your eternal nature, which is pure bliss. People say, That sounds boring! It's too boring. But it’s not boring. I am telling you, it is not boring. It is joyful. It is not boring at all.

We get words like, I am more peaceful than I was before. I will tell you. Nothing is a matter of more or less. Everything is absolute. You know, the old thing that used to come from Christianity, “It’s all or nothing. It's all or nothing.” I used to hate that. I'd say, Aw, come on. All or nothing? Black and white? Guess what? Who gets to eat crow? It really is, “All or nothing.”

And truth is not a matter of degrees, little increments, and moments. The truth is true and only the truth is true and we start to see when you finally make it back to the Beyond all Idols section in A Course in Miracles, way towards the back of the text, Jesus starts off the section, “What is an idol? Do you think you know?” He asks the question, and he answers, “An idol is for more of something. It does not matter more of what.” Even peace of mind. It does not matter more of what.

So the awakening is not in the script. The awakening is a change in the perspective on the script from linear to simultaneous. So that is what we are talking about.

A lot of times, people will ask, Well, what about Enlightened Beings? What about Jesus? That seemed to be in the script. There seemed to be a point where he started talking like he wasn't a human being anymore. “Before Abraham was, I am.” But remember, it’s the man. The man wasn't enlightened. The man is just a mask. Enlightenment isn't male or female. Enlightenment isn't masculine or feminine. Those are still dualistic concepts that are projected onto the screen and enlightenment itself has nothing to do with masculine or feminine or male or female. A Course in Miracles is your best source on this.

To learn more about the teachings of A Course in Miracles and David Hoffmeister, please visit his website at https://acourseinmiraclesnow.com/