About Erik's Journey

When I first discovered Gary Renard's book "The Disappearance of the Universe" in a Maine bookstore back in 2001, I began to weep and laugh simultaneously while flipping through and reading its passages. The first thing that caught my attention was that it was saying, in no uncertain terms, that this world was nothing more than a dream of separation. When I read that, I felt my heart leap with joy, as if someone was finally confirming for me what I had always suspected deep down but had, until now, been too afraid to really accept. I had found great solace in reading other great spiritual works, such as Neale Donald Walsch's "Conversations with God" books, Eckhart Tolle's books, and more... but something felt different about what I was now reading.

For the next several months, I poured myself into its teachings, which are based on the spiritual self-study masterpiece called "A Course in Miracles". Shortly thereafter I bought myself a copy of the Course and began to do its workbooks lessons. My life has never been the same since. In my heart, it felt like the path back to God had been laid out in front of me and that all I needed to do now was follow it.

At the same time, and for several years to follow, I was working as a traveling hypnotherapist giving stop smoking and weight loss, group hypnotherapy seminars all over the country. It was an excellent career for me, allowing me to travel, help others, and make a very comfortable living. It also gave me lots of opportunities to really practice what I was learning in the Course, by understanding that true healing had nothing to do with healing "others"...but only on healing my own perception. But starting around 2006, I had begun to feel that my heart just wasn't fully aligned anymore with the business of doing seminars; I was really only doing it for fear of losing my "financial security".

Then, in April of 2009, my entire life began to go through a radical transformation. It seemingly began when I attended a three-week devotional retreat sponsored by David Hoffmeister's foundation, The Foundation for the Awakening Mind (www.awakening-mind.org), which is devoted to helping other students of A Course in Miracles to really apply its teachings in an uncompromising way. It was at this retreat that I felt my dedication to really LIVING the Truth become much stronger, and I began to take an honest look at ALL the areas of my life... and WHY I was doing what I was doing. I realized that I needed to start becoming uncompromising in my commitment to live the Course's principles 100%.

By the end of the retreat, it had become very clear to me that my hypnotherapy career was no longer in alignment with my true Purpose, since there was no authentic Joy in it anymore. Yet, I still had fear about leaving the "security" it seemed to provide without something else concrete to step on to. Fortunately, the Spirit wasn't long in rewarding my strong willingness with practical stepping stones.

I felt the Spirit speaking to me through David Hoffmeister one day near the end of the retreat when I was contemplating what to do next in my life. David and I were sitting at his kitchen table talking about my life, and when I asked him what might be next for me in my life, he told me that he was hearing the words "traveling minstrel". I didn't really know what a "minstrel" was, but he explained that it was one of those musicians back in the Renassiance times who would entertain and serve the royal courts and such. David suggested that I could just be like a "traveling minstrel for God", going wherever I was invited to serve others by playing my guitar and singing Spirit-inspired music!

My music had been a passion in my life for many years, and I'd become quite proficient at playing guitar and singing, but I'd never taken seriously the idea of devoting my whole life to it. When David suggested this idea to me, I felt a mixture of emotions at first. On the one hand, my ego felt an initial sense of disappointment, since being a "minstrel" seemed so much less "important" than what I was still secretly hoping for... which was to become a famous "Course in Miracles hypnotherapist"!  Yet at the same time, there was a very deep sense of authentic Joy and Peace within my heart around this idea, and so I sensed that this was indeed the Spirit guiding me. Also, David helped me to see that my heart's true desire was to teach forgiveness by DEMONSTRATING it (and not necessarily through FORMAL teaching or healing work), and that my music was a gift the Spirit could use to extend Love through me.

The moment I surrendered to this Guidance, I could feel such immense excitement and Joy! Finally, I knew the next step on my path! There was something so beautifully simple about the idea of just traveling wherever invited to share inspiring music, living on Divine Providence (i.e. depending solely on God for all my material needs), and devoting my life to demonstrating true forgiveness. Music and spirituality had become my primary passions in life, and so it felt so perfect that I would now be living a life which was a synthesis of the two.  I could feel a real, authentic Strength behind this plan, an inner commitment to this new path, and resolved then to clear away everything else in my life that might be an obstacle to following it fully.

As a result, I immediately began receiving very specific "prompts" from the Holy Spirit about how to resolve all the practical concerns I had at that time. For example, I had a house with a mortgage, lots of credit card debt, and student loan debt. I also had a lot of money tied up in the stock market, which was beginning to feel more and more like an imprisoning and scary roller-coaster I'd unwittingly stepped on to.

Also, I was very tightly wound into the hypnotherapy company I had been working for during the prior seven years. I was the second-in-command, a manager/director over two of our other contracted hypnotherapists, the one in charge of the website, as well as very good friends with the Executive Director who was hoping to retire soon and have me take over the company. Therefore, when the Guidance came in that it was time for me to leave the company, I was quite worried that it wouldn't be easy to break away from it all.

From April until June though, I felt like the Holy Spirit was orchestrating things in my life to make the transition phase as easy as possible. First, I was able to talk to my Executive Director friend without too much trepidation and tell him that I was going to be quitting. He was upset at first but quickly forgave me. Before quitting entirely, I worked for the company for another several weeks, helped to train one of my subordinates to take my place, and I miraculously happened to make more money during that time than I normally made in half a year! With that money, as well as with all the money I was able to pull out of the stock market, I was able to completely pay off my credit cards and student loan debt! This was a HUGE miracle to me, because even though I made really good money at my job, I had been struggling to pay off that debt for years! Just goes to show that Purpose is EVERYTHING!

Around this time, I also received the Guidance to sell my house, which I was able to do in just over a month, and at a profit! This, too, was a huge miracle because, from the economic perspective, the house market wasn't very good at that time. I also gave away or sold 99% of my possessions, keeping only my guitar, my backpack, traveling clothes and a few other necessities.

By the end of June, I was completely free of everything that had bound me to my past, and I felt a newfound sense of Freedom like none I had ever experienced before! I was totally free to follow the Spirit fully, and even ended up with several thousand dollars of extra money which I knew would last me at least a year living simply. It was as if all I'd had to do was to say "Yes" to the Guidance to become a traveling minstrel for God, and like a domino-effect, everything else was lined itself up to be resolved for me easily and effortlessly! It was a wonderful demonstration of one of my favorite passages in the Course:

"Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. He will go before you making straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way. Nothing you need will be denied you. Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that you would fulfill." (T.20.4.8:4-8)

My life since then has been very much like a surreal dream, in which I've seemingly been directed by the Spirit every step of the way. I began having inspiring songs pour through me from the Spirit, and more and more have felt like my body was nothing more than an instrument of God's peace, no different from the guitar my hands would strum. Being used in this way for God's Plan is such a glorious Joyride!

When Armelle came into my life in October with the Guidance, first for us to go on a world tour together, and secondly for us to get married in two weeks, it felt like a thrilling next step in the journey! While it was a bit scary to my commitment-phobic ego, taking the leap of faith with Armelle felt indescribably Joyful to my Heart! I was learning to, as the lyrics in one of the songs I was inspired to write says, "trust the river... it gently carries me along, to the sound of my favorite Song".

Currently, Armelle and I are back in the United States, deepening in our relationship with God and each other by using all the wonderful forgiveness lessons that inevitably arise day to day!  We are trusting fully in Divine Providence for all means of support, and just letting the Spirit guide us every step of the way so that we can shine His Light and extend His Love through our music, dance, and our simple devotion to Truth. We are deeply committed to practicing the principles of Holy Relationship with each other for the purpose of healing, and and we are eternally grateful for the exciting and gentle steps the Spirit has given us for our awakening. Thank You Holy Spirit, for Everything!!!

Thank you for reading my story, and if you wish to connect with me in any way, I warmly invite you to email me at: erikarchbold@gmail.com, or call me at 707-364-0957!  Also, if you are interested in reading some of my earlier writings about my forgiveness practice with the Course prior to 2009, you may visit my previous ACIM blog at:  www.erikarchbold.wordpress.com

Many Blessings to you,

Erik
(Dec 2009)

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Update (Jan 2013):
Here's a more recent video from this past December 2012 in which I share with a group in Belgium - with Armelle translating - about what it was like to leave my hypnotherapy career in 2009, marry Armelle, and start trusting in Spirit completely.

Enjoy...