tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711119925923020922024-03-14T01:56:45.120-07:00amor incondicionalsimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-1168659183528570122008-04-14T02:03:00.000-07:002008-04-14T02:04:50.971-07:00nada hay q aprender,pero si recordar..No todas las cosas son de la forma que parecen.<br />Hay más posibilidades en cada momento en cada vida<br />de las que habías imaginado previamente.<br />Capítulo 21<br /> Mira, he escuchado sobre que todos vivimos muchas vidas diferentes – pero me has dicho varias veces ahora que todos nosotros estamos también viviendo la misma vida una y otra vez, algo así como la versión en la vida real de esa película El día de la marmota.<br />Esto es mucho para ti para comprender, especialmente en una sesión, así que tal vez deberíamos movernos un poco más despacio aquí.<br />Estás preguntando cuestiones profundas e importantes sobre "la vida", "la muerte", y "morirse", y para poder comprender completamente lo que tú estas llamando "muerte" y "morirse", es necesario explorar algunos temas muy esotéricos que podrían ser llamados "la cosmología de todo". Pero vamos a ir un poco más despacio.<br /> De acuerdo, yo también siento como si hubiéramos estado en una carrera, quiero decir, he estado dando más datos en los últimos diez minutos...<br />Lo sé. Así que vamos a volver un momento atrás y a coger parte de estos datos y volver a mirarlos.<br />He dicho que tú eres parte de Todo Lo Que Es. Tú eres - para volver a nuestra metáfora - un átomo de la manzana+naranja, y estás viajando a través de ella.<br /> ¡Podemos llamarlo la manzaranja!<br />Genial. Eso hará está imagen metafórica inolvidable. Usaremos tu palabra inventada para referirnos de forma coloquial al Continuo Espacio/Tiempo.<br /> De acuerdo, genial.<br />Ahora, tú puedes viajar a través de la manzaranja repetidamente, a través de cualquier ruta que tú elijas. Como dije, esta puede ser la misma ruta que has elegido antes, o puede ser otra ruta, otro “tunel”.<br />Y también puedes elegir de entre cualquier número de formas diferentes de moverte a través del Corredor del Tiempo, cambiando tus movimientos de un momento a otro, si quieres.<br /> ¿Qué quieres decir?<br />Bien, me dijiste como te verías a ti mismo moviéndote a través del Corredor del Tiempo. Vamos a decir que tú estás suspendido en el aire en este corredor. Estás, casi literalmente, “suspendido en el tiempo”. Ahora, ¿de que forma te verías a ti mismo moviéndote?<br /> Hacia delante. Me veo a mi mismo moviéndome hacia delante a través del túnel. ¿Es eso lo que me estás preguntando?<br />¿Hay alguna otra forma en la que te podrías mover?<br /> Bueno, hacia atrás, supongo. ¿Me estás diciendo que nos podemos mover hacía atrás en el tiempo?<br />Ah, aquí estás tocando algo que es muy significativo. Más significativo de lo que puedes saber ahora mismo. Esto es parte de la Pregunta Sagrada, de la que hablaré más tarde.<br /> Ah, ¿Vas a decirme ahora cual es la pregunta sagrada?<br />Todavía no, pero pronto. Tengo unos cuantos bloques más de construcción que poner en su sitio. La respuesta breve para tu otra pregunta es, sí, puedes moverte “hacia atrás en el tiempo”, no solo a otras vidas, sino dentro de cualquier vida.<br /> Fascinante.<br />Pero ¿Puedes pensar en alguna otra dirección en la que te podrías mover en ese túnel?<br /> Uh, no. Serían hacía atrás y hacía adelante. Bien, tal vez de lado a lado.<br />Correcto. Si estuvieras suspendido en el Corredor del Tiempo, también te podrías mover de izquierda a derecha. ¿Hay alguna otra forma?<br /> ¿Arriba y abajo?<br />Correcto. Te podrías mover arriba y abajo. Y así, hay tres formas en las que ves que te puedes mover – atrás y adelante, izquierda y derecha, arriba y abajo. ¿Puedes pensar en alguna otra forma en la que te puedes mover?<br /><br />¿Hola?<br /> Estoy pensando.<br /><br /> No, supongo que no.<br />La mayoría de la gente no puede.<br /> ¿Por qué no?<br />Porque ellos se experimentan a si mismos como parte de un entorno tridimensional. Pero ¿que pasaría si te dijera que hay una cuarta dimensión espacial dentro de ese túnel, una cuarta dirección en la cual te podrías mover?<br /> Estaría perplejo. No puedo adivinar cual es esa.<br />Puedes moverte circunferencialmente. Desde tu posición suspendido dentro del Corredor del Tiempo, puedes moverte en dirección según las agujas del reloj o en contra de las agujas del reloj.<br /> No había pensado en ello.<br />El túnel tiene tres distancias... la distancia desde el principio hasta el final (adelante/atrás), la distancia de lado a lado (izquierda/derecha), y la distancia del techo al suelo (arriba/abajo). También hay una cuarta distancia – la distancia alrededor de su espacio interior ( circunferencia ). Esta es la Cuarta Dimensión del Tiempo... y así hay más formas de “moverse a través del tiempo” de las que previamente habías imaginado.<br /> Tienes razón. Simplemente nunca había pensado en esta cuarta forma.<br />Realmente, en el Continuo Espacio/Tiempo hay más dimensiones espaciales que cuatro.<br /> ¿Más de cuatro? Dios mío, ¿Cuántas hay?<br />El número no importa realmente aquí. Si quieres saber más sobre esto a un nivel técnico, habla con un físico cuántico. Otra vez, esto es simplemente física de hoy en día. Todo lo que te importa para el propósito de esta discusión es saber y comprender que no todas las cosas son de la forma que parecen, que hay más posibilidades en cada momento en cada vida de las que habías imaginado previamente.<br />Aún así, tu camino es el mismo, en el sentido de que el destino es el mismo. Es tu ruta la que puede tener más posibilidades o variaciones de las que tú pensabas.<br /> ¿Qué puede determinar que elección hago, dadas todas estas opciones?<br />Tiene que ver con que quieres experimentar. Todos los caminos pueden dirigir al mismo destino, pero cada “ruta” ofrece experiencias distintas. Puesto que estás haciendo continuos viajes a través del Continuo Espacio/Tiempo, interminables en cantidad, tomando cualquier ruta que desees, no hay “riesgo” de “perder la oportunidad” de tomar una ruta en particular, así que tus opciones están completamente abiertas.<br /> ¿Y esto sigue así por siempre? ¿Nunca voy a permanecer en la vida espiritual por toda la eternidad?<br />Permaneces en ninguna parte por toda la eternidad.<br /> ¿Ni tan siquiera en el Centro, en el Núcleo de Mi Ser? Se que he preguntado esto antes, pero...<br />Adelante.<br /> ¿Permanezco en ninguna parte por toda la eternidad?<br />Debes poner un espacio en esa palabra “ninguna parte”, tal y como te he enseñado antes, para poder comprender la frase.<br />La palabra “ninguna parte” con un espacio en el medio revela: “aquí ahora”.<br />Tú permaneces Aquí Ahora por toda la eternidad.<br />“Aquí Ahora” es el única Tiempo y Espacio que hay. (1)<br /> Esto realmente expande la consciencia. Así que, cielo, “paraíso”, nirvana, reunión en comunión con Dios, ¿no es en el Núcleo?<br />Sí, lo es – pero lo es también en cualquier otro lugar. No es una cuestión de ser “aquí” y no “allí”. Es en cualquier parte.<br />Aún así, hay algo único sobre el Núcleo que no encuentras en otro lugar dentro del Continuo Espacio/Tiempo – y eso es por lo que vas allí.<br /> ¿Qué es?<br />La singularidad.<br />En el Núcleo de Tu Ser, Todo Lo Que Es y Todo Lo Que Tú Eres aparece de su Forma Singular. Es aquí donde el Conocimiento y la Experiencia se unen.<br />Esta unión puede ser creada por ti en cualquier momento y lugar dentro del Continuo Espacio/Tiempo, pero en el Núcleo de Tu Ser no hay nada más que “compita” con ello, nada más que pueda apartar tu atención de ello. Esto es todo lo que hay allí.<br /> De acuerdo, bien entonces, eso es el cielo. Allí es donde quiero permanecer.<br />No. Eso es lo que tú quieres Saber y Experimentar, pero no es allí donde quieres permanecer.<br /> ¿Por qué no? ¡Ciertamente a mi me suena genial!<br />Sí tu Supieras y Experimentaras ESO y NADA MÁS, finalmente te perderías a ti mismo en la fusión. Nunca más sabrías que estabas teniendo la fusión, porque no habría otro Conocimiento o Experiencia con lo que compararla. No sabrías incluso quien eres tú. Perderías tu habilidad para diferenciarte, para individualizarte a ti mismo.<br /> ¿Me estás diciendo realmente que “el cielo” puede llegar a ser “demasiado de una cosa buena”?<br />Te estoy diciendo que todas las cosas existen en el Continuo Espacio/Tiempo en equilibrio perfecto. La Esencia de Quien Eres Tú sabe precisa y exactamente cuando el Proceso de la Vida En si Mismo te llamo para unirte con la Unidad y para emerger de ella, para que llegar a Conocer la felicidad de la Unidad a través de la Experiencia y la gloria de su Individualización.<br />El sistema funciona perfectamente. El equilibrio es preciso. El diseño tiene la elegancia de un copo de nieve. A la Unidad retornas, y de la unidad emerges, una y otra vez, eternamente y por siempre, y por siempre jamás.<br />Y este es...<br />EL DÉCIMO RECORDATORIO<br />La vida es eterna.<br /> Sí, bueno, todas las religiones nos dicen eso. Cada tradición de fe en la tierra proclama esto. Y ahora estamos aquí una vez más, escuchándolo.<br />Es cierto que he estado mandando este mensaje hacia vosotros a través de muchos mensajeros durante muchos siglos.<br /> Rossiter W. Raymond fue un escritor, editor, orador, teólogo, profesor, novelista, ingeniero de minas, y abogado que vivió del 1840 al 1918, y su cita más conocida fue:<br />La vida es eterna; y el amor es inmortal; y la muerte es solo un horizonte; y un horizonte no es nada salvo el límite de nuestra vista.<br />Supongo que él fue uno de tus mensajeros.<br />Lo fue.<br /> Y artistas contemporáneos lo son, también, supongo. Como Carly Simon. Ella usó la cita de Raymond cuando grabó una canción escrita con Teese Gohl unos años después enviando un mensaje a una audiencia nueva y más amplia acerca de estar En Casa Con Dios. Y Alanis Morissette. Ella ha esto diciendo un montón respecto a la vida y la naturaleza de la existencia últimamente a través de su música. Y el director de cine Stephen Simon a través de sus películas, y ahora su Círculo de Cine Espiritual. Y...<br />Vamos a dejar una cosa clara aquí. Vosotros sois todos mis mensajeros. Cada uno de vosotros.<br />Todos estáis enviando un mensaje a la vida sobre la vida a través de vuestra propia vida, viviendo.<br />La cuestión no es, “¿Eres un mensajero?” La cuestión es, ¿Cuál es el mensaje que estás enviando?” <br />(1) La palabra inglesa es “nowhere”. Si se lee como “no where” significa ningún lado o ninguna parte, que es el significado de la palabra. Pero si se separa como “now here”, las dos palabras que se forman pasan a ser “aquí ahora”<br /><br />No existe algo como la verdad.<br />Capítulo 22<br /> El décimo recordatorio no me ha sorprendido ni tan siquiera un poco, tampoco me ha quitado la respiración con su originalidad.<br />Estoy seguro de que no lo hace. Pero debería quitarte la respiración con su significancia. No habrá nada más significativo en esta conversación entera.<br />Cuando sabes que la vida es eterna nunca volverás a temer “la muerte”, porque verás y comprenderás su naturaleza, su maravilla, su gloria, su perfección, y el regalo impecable que es.<br /> Tal vez algún día escribe un libro separado: La Muerte: el Regalo Impecable.<br />Sería un libro muy bueno. Un pequeño libro de bolsillo. Un pequeño “libro de instrucciones” para el moribundo y sus seres queridos. Sería una contribución extraordinaria.<br />Mientras tanto, tenemos esta conversación por completar, de modo que tú y otros que estáis explorando estos temas más profundamente podáis comprenderlos más profundamente.<br />La cuestión ahora no es si, cuando hayas terminado esta conversación, comprenderás lo que siempre has querido comprender, sino si creerás lo que habías venido a conocer.<br /> ¿Por qué no iba a creerlo?<br />Porque la humanidad siempre ha sido dura de corazón para creer las verdades más hermosas, y las verdades sobre “la muerte” son las verdades más maravillosas de todas.<br /> Estás son verdades maravillosas. Debo admitirlo. Quiero tanto creer cada una de estas palabras. Simplemente espero que sean ciertas.<br />¿Lo ves? Ya estás ahí, cuestionándolas. Oh, hombre de poca fe... ¿no te das cuenta que cuando cuestiones estas palabras, te estás cuestionando a ti mismo?<br />Si tú amas las verdades que encuentras en tu alma, no las abandones porque alguien fuera de tu alma no está de acuerdo con ellas o las ridiculiza o las cuestiona. No estás diciendo que tu verdad es LA verdad. Estás diciendo que es TU verdad.<br />No existe algo como LA verdad. Ya hemos hablado de esto. Ya es suficiente que estés en contacto con TU verdad.<br /> Esta es mi verdad. Lo que voy a comprender a través de mis conversaciones contigo es mi verdad.<br />Esto es suficiente. Esto es bastante. De hecho, es más que bastante. Es muy poderoso. ¿Sabes lo poderoso que es haber entrado en contacto con tu propia verdad – respecto a cualquier tema?<br />Otros entrarán en contacto con su verdad como un resultado de esta conversación también. Porque, “en verdad”, está no es solo nuestra conversación, es la suya también. Todo el mundo que está leyendo estás palabras ha creado esta conversación. ¿Sabías esto? ¿Sabías que, según estás leyendo estas palabras, estás creando lo que viene a continuación?<br /> Este concepto realmente expande la consciencia. Es difícil cogerlo en mi cabeza, porque el final de este libro ya está escrito. Podemos hojear hasta el final del libro ahora mismo y ver que está diciendo. Así que si todos nuestros lectores están creándolo como nosotros lo estamos haciendo, ¿Cómo es posible que el final ya exista?<br />El libro en la estantería de la rica biblioteca señalada antes ya existe, también, pero no existe en tu realidad hasta que tú ves que está ahí. TODO lo que has creado ya está ahí. Todo. El hecho de que ya esté ahí no significa que tú no lo hayas creado. Simplemente significa que no eres consciente de que lo creaste, porque desde donde tú estás ahora en el Continuo Espacio/Tiempo no puedes ver eso.<br /> ¿Tienes idea de lo alucinante que es realmente todo este material?<br />Creo que tengo bastante buena idea.<br /> Me siento tan feliz ahora. Me siento como si se me estuviera dando la información detrás de la cosmología del universo. Este es el mecanismo de la vida y de la muerte. Así que supongo que ahora puede seguir adelante y morir...<br />Elegirás “morir” cuando tu vida en la tierra esté completa. Tu vida en la tierra estará completa cuando hayas experimentado todo lo que has venido aquí a experimentar.<br /> O cuando me de cuenta de que no lo he experimentado todo y que no hay otra forma de experimentarlo todo por el camino que he tomado.<br />No. Enfáticamente, no. Eso no puede ocurrir. Nadie muere habiendo fracasado en experimentar todo lo que vino al mundo físico a experimentar.<br /> ¿Qué?<br />Dije que nadie muere habiendo fracasado en experimentar todo lo que vino al mundo físico a experimentar.<br />No existe tal cosa como ser “incompleto”.<br />Esto es lo que se quiere decir con...<br />EL ONCEAVO RECORDATORIO<br />El momento y las circunstancias elegidos para morir son siempre perfectos.<br /> Lo creo. Pero ¿Cómo pueden los padres de un niño que has sido violado, mutilado y asesinado llamar a las circunstancias de esa muerte “perfectas”? ¿Cómo la gente que vio a sus seres queridos morir en el 11 de septiembre aceptar esa muerte como “perfecta”? Me estás pidiendo muchísimo aquí. Esto está estirando la credulidad de la mayoría de la gente hasta el límite absoluto.<br />Ya he dicho que la elegancia del diseño de la vida es como la de un copo de nieve. Se ve prácticamente demasiado perfecto para ser cierto, demasiado bueno para ser cierto. Sin embargo te digo esto:<br />El consuelo de los afligidos se encontrará en el seguro conocimiento de la perfección certera de Dios.<br />Dios es perfecto, siempre y eternamente. Ahora solo te queda una cosa por comprender: quien y que es “Dios”.<br />Te he dicho una y otra y otra vez en nuestras conversaciones, y te lo diré aquí y ahora, una vez más, y de modo definitivo:<br />DIOS y LA VIDA son uno y lo mismo.<br />Por lo tanto cuando digo que “Dios es perfecto”, estoy diciendo que La vida es perfecta. Y lo es. El “sistema” permanece en perfecto equilibrio consigo mismo.<br />Todas las cosas ocurren en su momento perfecto y de manera perfecta. No siempre es posible ver esto, percibir esto, desde la extremadamente estrecha perspectiva de la experiencia humana. Esta es la limitación del mundo físico. Esta limitación puede, sin embargo, ser superada.<br />Muchos “profetas” y “sabios” han superado esta limitación de perfección eligiendo una perspectiva diferente, mirando a la vida de una manera nueva. Desgraciadamente, sus mensajes son a menudo ignorados. Sus percepciones son frecuentemente despreciadas. A menudo, ellos mismos son condenados. Y así el ciego sigue dirigiendo al ciego, porque vosotros no escuchareis a aquellos que pueden ver.<br />Por lo tanto, el que tenga oídos para oír, que oiga:<br />La imperfección es imposible en el Reino de Dios.<br /> Sí, ¿pero que pasa aquí en la tierra?<br />“Aquí en la tierra” ES el Reino de Dios. No hay un lugar que existe y que no sea parte de ese reino.<br /> Ves, tenemos todo este “apartado” aquí en la tierra. Hemos entendido que la vida en la tierra es la prueba y la tribulación que nos permitirá llegar DENTRO del Reino de Dios. Y es nuestra idea que la muerte es el camino para llegar allí.<br />No hay forma de entrar en el Reino de Dios. No hay un lugar en el que puedes entrar o salir. Es un lugar donde siempre ESTÁS. Es el único lugar en el que puedes estar.<br /> Estoy seguro que no se ve de esa forma algunas veces.<br />Eso es porque no recuerdas quien eres tú, y tú no tratas a otros como quienes son ellos. Si lo hicieras, experimentarías el cielo en la tierra. Estarías En Casa Con Dios en cualquier lugar. Y siempre.<br /> ¿Hay alguna forma de que la gente logre, pueda alguna vez, “llegar” ahí?<br />Conversaciones como esta son una forma. No mantengas esta conversación para ti mismo. Asegúrate de que llega a tantas manos como sea posible. Compártela con el mundo.<br />Pero primero, introduce el significado de este mensaje profundamente en tu propia vida. Ve a Dios en todo el mundo y en todas las cosas, y ve todas las cosas como perfectas.<br /> Mencionaste esto antes, cuando hablamos de gente sintiéndose victimizada. Sugeriste que cambiemos nuestra perspectiva y veamos todo como perfecto incluso cuando, en términos humanos, obviamente no lo es.<br />Tal vez especialmente cuando no lo es. Tal consciencia traerá paz en mitad de la tempestad, descanso en el espacio del cansancio, perdón en el momento en el que el resentimiento y la rabia pueden aparecer, y un mayor amor por la vida del que nunca antes habías experimentado.<br />Busca la perfección en cada momento. Búscala. Diligentemente. Con fe. Sabes que está ahí, y que la encontrarás si simplemente mirarás profundamente.<br />Ahora, ¿recuerdas cuando dije, hace poco en esta conversación, que tendríamos otra oportunidad de explorar esta idea de “perfección”, y de que te iba a pedir A TI que ME dieras un ejemplo de eso? Bien, ahora voy a pedirte que cuentes la historia de Billy, de tu grupo de trabajo.<br /> Lo sabía. Sabía que esto era lo que ibas a traer. Fue la primera cosa que pensé cuando comenzaste a hablar de esto.<br />Bien. Así que cuenta la historia.<br /> Bien.<br />“Helen” fue una de las noventa y seis participantes de uno de mis retiros ReCrearte a ti Mismo, mantenido durante la semana entre Navidades y Año Nuevo cada año durante los últimos diez años. En la noche final del retiro antes del ritual de propósitos de Noche Vieja, Helen levantó su mano y preguntó por el micrófono.<br />“He oído un montón esta semana sobre como Dios es nuestro mejor amigo, como Dios es maravilloso y amoroso, y como nosotros debemos todos tener una conversación con Dios todos los días,” comenzó ella. “Bien, si yo tengo una conversación con Dios, le diría a Él que estoy profundamente cabreada con Él.”<br />“Eso está bien,” dije, “Dios puede soportarlo. Pero ¿tú estás bien?”<br />“No”, dijo, y su voz era temblorosa ahora.<br />“Bien, simplemente ¿Qué es lo que te hace estar tan enfadada con Dios?”<br />Helen hizo una respiración profunda. “Hace prácticamente veintiún años adopté un bebe. Habíamos intentado concebir durante cinco años, sin éxito. Parecía como si nunca fuéramos a ser padres. Mi reloj biológico estaba agotándose. Así que adoptamos a Billy.<br />Tres semanas después, descubrí que estaba embarazada. Tuve el hijo, otro chico, y les crié a los dos como propios, aunque le dijimos a nuestro primer hijo cuando el creció un poco mayor que era adoptado. Queríamos ser sinceros con él. Le dijimos que le amábamos exactamente de la misma manera que a su hermano, y sabíamos que nuestros actos se lo demostraban.<br />Billy tenía ocho años. Él debió haber compartido inocentemente esta información con algo otro chico en la escuela, porque un día él vino de la escuela muy enfadado. Le habían estado tomando el pelo en el patio del colegio sobre no tener ninguna madre. Ya sabes como son los niños. Ellos pueden ser muy crueles algunas veces. Le estaban diciendo cosas así. ‘Billy es tan feo que incluso su mamá no le quería’. Sea como sea, vino a casa tan herido y tan furioso, esperando saber porque su mamá porque le dio en adopción – y demandando saber quien era ella y verla ahora mismo.<br />Me sentí fatal, por supuesto. Primero, por la angustia y el daño que podía ver que Billy estaba pasando, y segundo por mi misma que estaba llena de tristeza porque, por supuesto, yo sentía que era la mamá de Billy. Me quedé allí recordando las noches de cambiar pañales y de curarle cuando estaba enfermo y todas las cosas que las mamás hacen, y mi corazón se rompía al ver que Billy no me veía como “Mamá” nunca más, no pensaba en mi de esa forma.<br />Pero comprendí – tuve que comprender – y le prometí que cuando el fue mayor, si el sentía que lo quería, el podría encontrar a su mamá. Haría cualquier cosa por encontrarla y arreglarlo.<br />Esto parecía bien para Billy, pero él nunca superó su rabia. Él simplemente tuvo su rabia por el resto de su infancia y la adolescencia, los cuales fueron muy difíciles para nosotros. Todos pasamos por ello, pero no fue sencillo para ninguno de nosotros en la familia, y por supuesto no para mí.<br />Cuando Billy se hizo mayor, hablamos otra vez de ver a su madre, e hicimos un acuerdo de que cuando él cumpliera dieciocho comenzaría a buscarla si él seguía queriendo que yo lo hiciera. A través del resto de sus años de adolescente el me recordó está promesa.<br />Finalmente, el día del cumpleaños de los dieciocho años de Billy llegó. Ese día él fue muerto en un accidente de motocicleta.”<br />Hubo un silencio colectivo entre los participantes al retiro. Abruptamente, la energía de Helen se convirtió en rabia.<br />“Ahora quiero que tú me digas a mi”, dijo secamente, “como cualquier tipo de Dios amoroso puede haber dejado que esto pasara, justo cuando Billy estaba a punto de encontrar a su madre, justo cuando su padre y yo estábamos para reconciliar la tensión que su añoranza había instalado en nuestra relación. Quiero que me digas, ¿Por qué Dios haría esto?<br />La habitación calló a plomo en un silencio atronador. Me quedé congelado. Me quedé mirando fijamente a Helen por un momento, entonces cerré mis y ojos y fui hacia dentro. Escuché mis pensamientos. “De acuerdo, Dios, aquí estamos. No sé que decir aquí. Vas a tener que ayudarme para salir.”<br />Repentinamente, mis ojos se abrieron de golpe, mi mente desbordada. Hablé las palabras que escuchaba en mi cabeza antes de que tuviera una oportunidad de juzgarlas o de cambiarlas.<br />“Billy murió ese día porque ese fue el día en el cual él se había prometido que él encontraría a su madre – y lo hizo. En ese día su madre no estaba en esta tierra.”<br />La habitación se quedó con la voz entrecortada nuevamente. Alguien susurró un enfático “Sí”. Alguien más rompió a llorar.<br />Yo seguí.<br />“No existe tal cosa como un accidente, y nada ocurre por casualidad o coincidencia. Se te dio un hijo biológico, incluso pensando que no serías capaz de concebir y parecía como si nunca fueras a ser capaz de hacerlo, porque había un plan – un plan mayor – teniendo lugar. Se te dio este regalo de tu hijo biológico a cambio de tu capacidad de tomar a Billy, darle un hogar, amarlo y criarlo como tu propio hijo, y cuidar de él hasta que él estuvo listo para encontrarse con su madre y ella estuvo lista para encontrarse con él.<br />“El día de la muerte de Billy fue el día más feliz de su vida. Su gratitud hacia ti por llevarle hasta ese momento es eterna. Rodea tu corazón incluso ahora, y crea contigo un lazo eterno.<br />Hay perfección en el diseño de la Vida. En cada circunstancia y experiencia humana. En cada condición. Nuestra oportunidad es darnos cuenta de esto. Es también nuestra liberación. Nuestra salvación. El fin de nuestro sufrimiento y nuestro dolor.”<br />La cara de Helen cambió inmediatamente. Llena de rabia justo unos momentos antes, ahora estaba resplandeciente. Su cuerpo entero parecía ausente de toda tensión. Parecía relajada por primera vez en mucho tiempo. Las lágrimas corrían por sus mejillas incluso mientras sonreía con un resplandor que llenaba la habitación.<br />He contado esta historia porque quiero que todo el mundo sepa lo que Helen y el resto de participantes en ese retiro saben ahora. Hay una “fórmula mágica” que nos ha sido dada por los cielos. Es una fórmula con la que toda tristeza, toda rabia, toda negatividad alrededor de cualquier experiencia humana es disuelta. Es una fórmula que nos permite re-crearnos a nosotros mismos de nuevo. Es una fórmula fácil de recordar, y se contiene en tres palabras:<br />VE LA PERFECCIÓN.<br />Ah, pero ¿funciona? ¿Realmente funciona?<br />En la tarde de Año Nuevo, Helen me pasó una nota que había escrito cuando volvió a su habitación tras un paseo bajo el claro y fresco cielo de Colorado la noche anterior. Como Robert Frost y Lisel Mueller, ella también se volvió hacia la poesía para contar la belleza de su conocimiento.<br />Vine aquí con el corazón cargado,<br />Un corazón temeroso de llorar.<br />Ya son casi tres años desde que Billy se fue<br />Y no puede decir adios.<br />Permanezco, sola, al lado de su tumba<br />Y no puedo ni llorar.<br />Teníamos un trato, le dije<br />Me dejaste abandonada.<br />Ya son casi tres años desde que Billy se fue<br />Dios no ha visto apropiado intentar<br />Aliviar este dolor, curar este corazón,<br />Darme lágrimas para llorar.<br />Y entonces Dios habló, Él señaló<br />Que incluso aunque Él lo intentara,<br />Mi corazón estaba cerrado y no podía oir<br />Su dulce y eterno suspiro.<br />Y aunque solo fue la voz de Neale<br />Trajo el mensaje de lo alto,<br />Mi espíritu oyó las palabras de Dios esta noche,<br />Y ahora mis ojos pueden llorar.<br />Di un paseo esta noche estrellada.<br />Es por fin momento para llorar<br />Encontrar la alegría de liberar a mi hijo.<br />Es tiempo de decir adiós.<br />Y cuando lo hice, una estrella fugaz...<br />Bailó a través del cielo.<br /><br />Ninguna muerte es desaprovechada, y toda muerte<br />trae un mensaje para aquellos que dejan la tierra<br />y para aquellos que permanecen en ella.<br />Capítulo 23<br />Es una historia maravillosa. Ilustra perfectamente como cada viaje a través del Continuo Espacio/Tiempo es diseñado para traer a cada alma una experiencia especial, y como el momento y la circunstancia de cada “muerte” es siempre perfecta.<br />Por supuesto que veo como fue “perfecto” que este hombre joven dejara su cuerpo cuando lo hizo, porque él dijo que quería encontrarse y conocer a su madre biológica, y se le concedió su deseo a través del mecanismo de su muerte.<br />Lo que no veo es que fuera “perfecto” que todo tuviera que ocurrir de esa forma – y desde luego no veo como este hombre joven tuvo la “experiencia especial” que él vino aquí a experimentar.<br />¿Billy vino aquí a experimentar estar frustrado toda su vida y entonces, teniendo que morir en un accidente de moto, solo para finalmente encontrar a su madre? ¡Vamos!<br />No supongas que puedes conocer, o que puedes conjeturar de los “hechos”, cual es el camino del alma. No puedes conocer el delicado entretejimiento cocreado por todos los seres benditos involucrados en la experiencia de la vida que acabas de relatar. Billy vino aquí a servir a TODAS las agendas.<br />¿Todas las agendas?<br />Hubo muchas almas interactuando y co-creando aquí, al igual que las hay en todos los momentos de la vida, en todos lados. En este caso esas almas incluían al hombre joven de la motocicleta, su madre biológica, su madre adoptiva, su padre adoptivo, y su hermano – y también el alma de la persona que conducía el vehículo que le golpeó y le mató.<br />Y esto por no decir nada de las otras almas, algunas de ellas más reparadas, tales como el padre biológico del hombre joven, los amigos y familiares de toda esta gente, y - ¿estás listo para esto? – TÚ, y la gente en tu grupo de trabajo.<br />Cada uno tiene una agenda que está siendo atendida.<br />Y así, con esta comprensión, llegamos a ...<br />EL DOCEAVO RECORDATORIO<br />La muerte de cada persona siempre sirve a la agenda de cualquier otra persona que sea consciente de ella. Esto es por lo que son consciente de ella. Por lo tanto, ninguna muerte ( y ninguna vida ) es jamás “derrochada”. Nadie jamás muere “en vano”.<br />Esto sitúa las tragedias personales y los desastres nacionales y los números de víctimas masivos y la muerte de cada individuo en un contexto completamente diferente. De repente, todo desde la muerte en la cuna de un bebé hasta la aniquilación de miles puedes de comprendida en una forma completamente nueva.<br />Sí.<br />Cuando entiendes el interminable y milagroso entretejido de la vida, cada muerte es transformada en un evento de una significancia celestial enorme.<br />Las muertes del 11 de septiembre y las muertes del tsunami de 2004 y los huracanes de 2005 y las muertes del genocidio en Darfur y las muertes del Holocausto todas son elevadas a un lugar de honor.<br />Las muertes de abuelitas que yacen en lechos enfermas durante años y las muertes de niños lanzándose hacia el tráfico inesperadamente y las muertes de enfermos de SIDA y las muertes de pilotos de pruebas y las muertes de gente que muere en paz y quienes mueren violentamente, muertes heroicas y muertes que pasan desapercibidas – todas las muertes son elevadas hasta el nivel de extraordinariamente significativas, ya que cada vida toca a miles, y cada muerte los rescata.<br />Toda muerte es redentora porque toda muerte devuelve cada alma a la verdad de él mismo, a la verdad de la vida, a la verdad de Dios – y cada persona que es tocada por cualquier muerte se abre a esta muerte, y así, puede experimentarla también.<br />Yo te digo, ninguna muerte es desaprovechada, y toda muerte trae un mensaje para aquellos que dejan la tierra y para aquellos que permanecen en ella. Es para ti el buscar este mensaje y encontrarlo, oírlo, y tenerlo en cuenta.<br />¿Cuál es el mensaje del Holocausto? ¿Cuál es el mensaje del 11 de septiembre? ¿Cuál es el mensaje del tsunami y de la muerte en la cuna y del paciente de SIDA y del abuelo amoroso que se marcha silenciosamente en medio de la noche?<br />En realidad, ¿Cuál es el mensaje y el propósito de toda muerte y de toda vida?<br />¿Nos lo dirás? ¿Nos lo puedes decir aquí?<br />El mensaje es lo que tú comuniques con ello. El propósito es lo que manifiestas con ello. Tú haces el comunicado y la manifestación a través de vivir tu propia vida.<br />Tú eres ambas cosas el mensaje y el mensajero. Tú eres ambas cosas el creador y lo creado. Tú estás en el proceso de producir el mensaje incluso cuando tú lo estás entregando. En realidad, el proceso de entregarlo ES el proceso de producirlo. Ellos son una cosa y la misma cosa.<br />Piensa en esto. Piensa en esto profundamente.<br />Todo esto te puede decir: La vida en si misma es una gloria y una maravilla mucho mayor que cualquier cosa que hayas imaginado previamente – y tú, tú mismo, eres la gloria y la maravilla mucho mayor que cualquier cosa que hayas experimentado previamente.<br />Esta vida, la cual vives – esta vida, la cual eres – es perpetua y eterna. Nunca termina, jamás.<br />Todas las almas están interactuando y co-creando en cada momento. Todas las almas. Hay un entretejimiento en marcha. Un entretejimiento que produce el imponente tapiz de la vida. Cada hilo toma su camino, pero asumir que cada hilo está en consecuencia “a su aire” sería entender enormemente mal como la Gran Imagen es creada.<br />Dios mío...<br />Tu Dios, efectivamente.<br />Así que la vida no es una experiencia singular.<br />En realidad, lo ES.<br />Es la experiencia de la Singularidad, conociéndose a Si Misma como Si Misma a través de las experiencias de sus Individulizaciones. No hay sino una Única Agenda, y es atendida a través de las claramente diferentes pero remarcablemente co-unidas experiencias de cada uno de vosotros.<br />Esta Agenda Única es para la Divinidad para ser expresada y experimentada en todo su esplendor, y para recrear y definirse a Si Misma de nuevo en cada uno de los momentos dorados del Ahora. COMO se expresa a si misma, COMO se experimenta a si misma, COMO se define a si misma, depende de ti. Esta es la decisión que estás haciendo cada día. Esta es la elección que estás demostrando a cada momento. Tú estás haciendo esto individualmente y colectivamente. Cada acto es un acto de auto-definición.<br />De esta verdad, y de muchas otras, serás recordado cuando tú te unas con el Núcleo de Tu Ser. Es aquí que tú serás rejuvenecido, reunido, y reintegrado, habrás olvidado la agenda original, habrás perdido tu memoria y tu sentido de Quien Eres Tú Realmente. Y si no lo has hecho, si no, tienes una consciencia completa de todo esto y una experiencia completa de esto, es en el Núcleo de Tú Ser donde serás repuesto.<br />El gran malentendido de todos aquellos que han olvidado la Verdad Última, la gran ilusión de todos aquellos que viven en amnesia temporal, es que hay algún sitio al que ellos tienen que “ir”, algún sitio al que ellos tienen que viajar, para poder “llegar al cielo”, o “unirse con Dios”, y experimentar felicidad eterna.<br />No hay ningún sitio al que tengas que ir, nada que tengas que hacer, y nada que tengas que ser excepto exactamente lo que tú estas siendo ahora mismo, para poder experimentar la felicidad de lo Divino.<br />Tú ERES la felicidad de lo Divino, y simplemente no lo sabes.<br />Entonces ¿Porque molestarse en tomar estos viajes sin fin a través de la Manzaranja? ¿Por qué estoy continuamente viajando a través del Continuo Espacio/Tiempo? ¿Por qué tengo que emprender esta interminable búsqueda de Dios?<br />Tu viaje no es una interminable BÚSQUEDA de Dios, es una interminable EXPERIENCIA de Dios.<br />Comprendido de esta manera, la razón para los continuos viajes se hace manifiesta. El viaje es un proceso. Es la forma que tú conoces a Dios – en realidad, que tu te conoces a ti mismo COMO lo que es Divino. Este viaje es por lo tanto mayor alegría.<br />De acuerdo, así que yo estoy tomando estos “viajes” a través del tiempo y el espacio para poder experimentar a Dios. Pero ¿Cuándo realmente encuentro a Dios? Anteriormente dijiste que Dios será la primera experiencia que tendré después de mi muerte.<br />Si tu crees que lo será, entonces lo será. Pero tú no tienes que esperar hasta entonces. De hecho, has estado encontrándote con Dios todo el rato. Esto es lo que te he estado diciendo.<br />Este es el error principal de la mayoría de las teologías humanas: piensas que un día te vas a encontrar con Dios – Tú imaginas que un día vas a volver a Casa. Tú no vas a volver a Casa.<br />Nunca abandonas la Casa.<br /><br />El universo entero está compuesto de una cosa, actuando de diferentes formas...<br />tú te estás experimentando a ti mismo como la innumerable Individualidad.<br />Capítulo 24<br />Bien, dijiste que ibas a estar yendo en círculos volviendo sobre los puntos principales varias veces, y lo has hecho. Y lo que estás poniendo aquí para nosotros es una nueva espiritualidad completa. Es una nueva forma de mirar las cosas.<br />Solía pensar que estaba fuera de la manzana, deseando y esperanzado de coger el sabor de ella. Esto es lo que la vieja espiritualidad me enseñó. Pero tú estás diciendo que yo no estoy fuera de la manzana, sino que soy una parte de la manzana, moviéndome a través de la manzana, y la manzana completa es Dios. Dios no está solo en el núcleo, en el centro de todas las cosas, dios ES todas las cosas.<br />Eso es correcto.<br />Ahora estás usando la metáfora para ver más allá de la metáfora.<br />Has estado imaginando que te encuentras fuera de Dios, pero tú no te encuentras fuera de Dios. Tú no PUEDES. Dios es Todo Lo Que Es. Es imposible para cualquier cosa existir fuera de Todo Lo Que Es.<br />Y en consecuencia, yo lo estoy – <br />- eso es correcto. Tal y como tú has expuesto ya, eres una parte de la Manzaranja moviéndose a través de la Manzaranja. Eres una parte de Dios, probando el sabor de Dios.<br />Y exactamente ¿Como lo estoy haciendo? Quiero decir, ¿como es mi movimiento sin fin, cíclico, a través de los Corredores del Tiempo dándome un “sorbo de Dios”?<br />Dándote la experiencia sin fin de ti mismo como el creador. Dios es el Creador, y cuando tú te experimentas a ti mismo como el creador, te experimentas a ti mismo como Divino.<br />Anteriormente te dije que el universo entero está compuesto de una cosa, actuando de diferentes formas. Vuestros científicos estás ahora llamando a esta cosa única la energía básica de la vida, manifestándose como minúsculas “supercadenas” vibrando a diferentes velocidades. Las variaciones en estas vibraciones producen las variaciones en la materia física que forma todas las cosas en el universo.<br />También dije que tú estabas compuesto de la misma cosa. Ahora una vez que sabes estos, y una vez sabes que la “materia” se muestra diferentemente dependiendo de las diferentes vibraciones de las supercadenas, todo lo que te queda por imaginar para poder crear la realidad física que tú deseas es como hacer las supercadenas vibrar de la forma que tú eliges.<br />Es la velocidad y el patrón de la vibración de las cadenas que crea unas manifestaciones físicas particulares.<br />De acuerdo, así que ¿Qué hace que su vibración aumente o disminuya? ¿Qué hace su frecuencia más alta o más baja?<br />Lo haces tú.<br />¿Lo hago yo?<br />Sí. Todos vosotros lo hacéis. Con vuestros pensamientos, vuestras palabras, y vuestros actos.<br />Las cosas que piensas, las cosas que dices, y las cosas que haces, envían una “vibración” desde el centro de tu ser. Los Pensamientos no son más que vibraciones. Pueden ser medidos, como sabes. Las palabras son vibraciones de tus cuerdas vocales. Las acciones son todo tu cuerpo físico vibrando de una forma o de otra.<br />Estas vibraciones forman patrones determinados y obtienen frecuencias determinadas, y estas fluctuaciones producen tipos de alteraciones determinadas en el patrón de energía que es la Vida en Si Misma. Tales alteraciones no son más que esquemas y movimientos cambiantes de las supercadenas invisibles, y son estas diversas vibraciones que producen diversas materias físicas.<br />¡Esta es la alquimia de la vida!<br />Sí. Tú puedes alterar “la frecuencia de la vida” a través de lo que tú estás pensando, diciendo, o haciendo, de este modo produces cambios en el patrón energético que eres “tú”, y en la energía que “tú” emites y mandas al mundo.<br />Los cambios en el campo energético dentro tuyo y a tu alrededor producen nuevas fluctuaciones localizadas en el mayor Continuo Espacio/Tiempo dentro del cual existes, y esto es lo que causa los nuevos efectos físicos en tu vida.<br />¿Qué tipo de pensamientos, palabras y acciones producen las frecuencias más beneficiosas? Creo que sé la respuesta, pero dímelo de todas formas.<br />Bien, por supuesto que conoces la respuesta. Pensamientos, palabras y acciones positivas producen las frecuencias más beneficiosas y las vibraciones de las supercadenas, o en los patrones de energía, de la vida.<br />Meditación u oración son una forma elevada de alteración de la energía. Visualizar lo que deseas es una forma elevada de manipulación de la energía. Decir tus palabras es una forma elevada de ajuste energético. Tales actividades alteran la vibración de las supercadenas que te forman a ti y todo lo que hay a tu alrededor.<br />El tiempo en si mismo es también experimentado diferentemente dependiendo de los movimientos vibracionales que ocurren con los cambios en el estado de tu consciencia. Si estás en un estado alterado de la conciencia, el tiempo puede parecer que se detiene, o que se acelera dramáticamente.<br />Mucha es la gente que ha estado meditando profundamente por lo que les ha parecido una eternidad – solo para descubrir que apenas unos pocos momentos han pasado en la Realidad Externa. A la inversa, no es inusual que una persona que está rezando o en una contemplación estática por lo que le parece un breve momento, entonces miran el reloj y descubre que una hora o más ha pasado.<br />La gente experimenta esto y entonces dice que el tiempo se puede sentir encogiéndose o estirándose. Lo que en realidad está pasando es que tú te estás moviendo más despacio o más rápido a través del Corredor Del Tiempo, lo cual no es un encogimiento o estiramiento en absoluto.<br />Este es un extraordinario curso breve en metafísica. Tal vez deberíamos llamarlo cosmología metafísica. Cosmología metafísica metafórica a esto. Pero no deberíamos realmente etiquetar esto como “ciencia”, porque tendremos a un montón de gente desprestigiando esto en los círculos científicos. Y con razón lo harían, porque basándonos en lo que la ciencia conoce ahora, mucho de esto no tiene ningún sentido.<br />Estarías sorprendido de cuanto de esto tiene sentido perfectamente.<br />Habiendo dicho esto, ¿Cuánto de este curso breve es necesario, tú piensas, para poder entender la vida y la muerte? Quiero decir, hemos tocado tantas cosas aquí...<br />Puede ser de mucha ayuda saber, a un nivel teórico, que está ocurriendo en el proceso de la vida y de la muerte, además de cómo, y por qué.<br />De acuerdo, entonces, vamos a explorar más allá esta idea de que hay muchas “rutas” a través del Espacio/Tiempo – <br />- un número sin fin.<br />- y que yo puedo tomar cualquier ruta que yo desee.<br />Puedes. Incluso, como ya hemos observado antes, una que ya hayas tomado antes. De hecho, haces esto bastante a menudo.<br />Y cuando lo hago, ¿experimentaré las mismas cosas que experimenté anteriormente, o puede que no, dependiendo de que elija? ¿ cierto ?<br />Eso es correcto.<br />Pero, ¿Cómo funciona el proceso? ¿Cómo hago esta elección?<br />Según a lo que tú miras, según a lo que tú das tu atención. A lo que tú mires es lo que experimentarás.<br />Sí, me has dicho eso. Todavía necesito solo un poco más de ayuda aquí. Creo que estoy comenzando a comprender esto, pero necesito un poco más de ayuda.<br />¿Recuerdas cuando te pedí que imaginaras marcas en el túnel? ¿Recuerdas las marcas en el Corredor del Tiempo?<br />Sí. Dijiste que eran realmente imágenes.<br />Exacto. Tienes muy buena memoria. Bien, ahora en tu imaginación vamos a hacer un mural. Un mural sin fin. Cubre los dos lados del túnel, el techo y el suelo. El mural está todo a tu alrededor. ¿Puedes imaginar esto?<br />Sí.<br />De acuerdo, bien. Vamos a decir ahora que en tu primer viaje a través del “túnel del tiempo” tu atención es capturada por un punto particular de una porción de este mural. El mural tiene muchas partes y están todas alrededor tuyo, pero tú te has movido y estás mirando una parte y eso es en lo que estás centrado. Entonces te sigues moviendo, pero tú recuerdas que en ese lugar del túnel tú experimentaste una parte de esta imagen. Ahora llamas a esto tu “pasado”. ¿Estás siguiendo esta línea de la metáfora?<br />Eso creo. Sigue adelante.<br />En el siguiente viaje que haces a través de este particular túnel del “tiempo”, en el mismo punto por el cual tú pasaste antes, tal vez te has movido y has mirado a un punto diferente en el mural. Ves algo completamente diferente. Te centras en otra parte de la imagen. Puedes hacer esto en el mismo “momento” moviéndote de la izquierda a la derecha, arriba y abajo, hacia delante y hacia atrás, o circunferencialmente en el Corredor del Tiempo.<br />Recuerda, hay imágenes todo a tu alrededor en cada “momento” del “tiempo”. Si tú solo te mueves hacia delante y hacia atrás, arriba y abajo, izquierda y derecha, a través del corredor, limitas tus opciones respecto a que otras imágenes puedes moverte y mirarlas. Pero si te mueves circunferencialmente, puedes explorar todas las imágenes que existen en un único momento, moviéndote alrededor del “anillo del tiempo” que representa ese nanosegundo particular. Es como moverse alrededor de cada borde en un copo de nieve. Recuerda que te he dicho, como Momento es como un copo de nieve. No hay dos iguales en toda la Eternidad.<br />Y si cambio solo una cosa en cualquiera de estos anillos, cambio todas las “imágenes” que van a continuación.<br />Exactamente. De este modo es como puedes tomar el mismo camino, pero ver diferentes cosas.<br />¡Cielos! ¡Yo soy realmente el Señor de los Anillos!<br />Lo eres, efectivamente.<br />El anillo, o círculo, ha sido siempre un símbolo sagrado significando eternidad, plenitud, amor sin fin, y el camino sin fin.<br />Pero si estoy en este camino sin fin, ¿no reconocería – quiero decir, el mural está a todo nuestro alrededor – no reconocería nada?<br />Oh, sí. Cuando viajas en una espiral a través del Corredor del Tiempo, muy a menudo tus ojos se iluminarán sobre una porción del “mural” que viste anteriormente, y dirás, “¡He estado aquí antes! Todo es exactamente como estaba entonces.”<br />¡Déjà vu!<br />Precisamente.<br />Ahora algunas veces mientras viajas alrededor de un “túnel del tiempo”, te experimentarás a ti mismo recibiendo un “mensaje” o obteniendo “instrucciones”. Puede ser un aviso... “No te muevas en esa dirección. No te fijes en esa parte del mural”. O puede ser una invitación... “Mira a esta parte del mural. Mira esta imagen, aquí.”<br />¡Sí! ¡He tenido esa experiencia! ¿Quién me está diciendo eso? ¿Tú?<br />Tú. TÚ te estas diciendo eso. Es la Individualización de la Singularidad que te está enviando esas “instrucciones” que llegan a ti en la forma de lo que llamas “pistas” o “corazonadas” o “intuición femenina” o un “golpe psíquico”.<br />Estoy hablando conmigo mismo.<br />Lo estás.<br />Mi “yo futuro” está hablando a mi “yo presente”.<br />Puedes ponerlo de esa manera. Y si te escuchas con cuidado a ti mismo, puedes experimentar cualquier punto en el “tiempo”, o tu viaje completo a través del túnel, de una manera completamente nueva.<br />Así que... déjame ver si lo he pillado bien... yo estoy continuamente moviéndome a través del Tiempo y el Espacio, y una de dos, o estoy tomando nuevas rutas por completo –<br />- lo que podrías llamar “vivir vidas diferentes” –<br />- o tomando la misma ruta que antes.<br />Lo que podrías llamar “vivir la misma vida otra vez”, durante la cual puedes experimentar deja vu – el sentimiento de haber “estado aquí antes”.<br />Pero si todo esto está ocurriendo en el mismo momento...<br />Lo está. Recuerda, solo hay una Manzaranja. El Continuo Espacio/Tiempo es la Singularidad. No hay nada más EXCEPTO la Singularidad.<br />... entonces yo debo existir dentro de la Singularidad en varios puntos distintos simultáneamente. Ya tocamos esto un poco antes, cuando explorábamos la idea de las realidades alternativas. ¿Estás diciendo que puede estar en dos sitios a la vez?<br />Puedes estar en muchos sitios a la vez, no solo en dos. Y lo estás.<br />¡Yo soy la Individualización de la Singularidad experimentando vida secuencialmente simultáneamente!<br />Y ahora lo entiendes por completo.<br />El “tú” que es Tú – el Todo que es la Individualidad – se ha expresado a si mismo innumerablemente.<br />¡Siempre supe que tenía múltiples personalidades!<br />En términos metafísicos, tú te estás experimentando a ti mismo como la innumerable Individualidad.<br />Dios mío, no me extraña que tengas que dar vueltas sobre este tema. Todo esto tiene incontables capas. Parece como si yo fuera la innumerable individualización de la singularidad, experimentando vida secuencialmente simultáneamente.<br />¿Ves lo difícil que es poner todo esto en palabras? Tienes que inventarte palabras y frases que no existen para poder tan siquiera acercarte.<br />¡Pero sé lo que estás diciendo! Estás diciendo que he vivido muchas vidas, y que he vivido ESTA vida muchas veces.<br />Esto es correcto. Excepto que lo entenderás incluso mejor – estarás exponiéndolo con más precisión – si no utilizaras los verbos en pasado.<br />Estoy viviendo muchas vidas, y estoy viviendo ESTA vida muchas veces.<br />Ahora lo tienes exactamente. Casi.<br />¿Casi?<br />Hay un pequeño detalle más...<br />¿Cuál es?<br />Tú has pintado el mural.<br />¿Qué?<br />Y puedes alterar el dibujo en cualquier momento.<br />¿QUÉ?<br />Puedes añadirle, limpiar cualquier parte de él, dar color encima o cambiar el color de cualquier porción de él cada vez que pasas por cualquier punto en el “tiempo”. Puedes alterar la pintura de cualquier forma que quieras, cada vez que quieras.<br />¡Oh, Dios mío, las supercadenas son mis pinceles!<br />¡Buen trabajo! Magnifica analogía.<br />¡Así que nada JAMÁS tiene que ser de la forma que lo fue antes!<br />Eso es cierto.<br />Esto significa que las posibilidades son sin fin.<br />Correcto.<br />Entonces... entonces... esto puede seguir adelante por siempre.<br />Lo hace, mi maravilloso Ser. Lo hace.<br /><br />La muerte es el corredor entre el mundo físico<br />y la realidad espiritual ... y de vuelta.<br />Capítulo 25<br />Así que yo estoy “pintando el mural” en el Corredor del Tiempo cambiando la vibración de la energía de la vida que se arremolina en mi y al mi alrededor.<br />Sí.<br />Con tus pensamientos.<br />Estás “pintando” delante de ti con tus pensamientos.<br />Y con tus palabras.<br />Cada cosa que dices pinta una imagen de quien crees que eres, y como te imaginas que es la vida.<br />Y con tus acciones.<br />Cada cosa que haces expresa algo sobre ti. Tú estás poniendo las imágenes de cada posibilidad en el mural. Cada cosa que llegaste a pensar que era posible – cada esperanza, cada sueño, cada preocupación, cada pesadilla – está todo en el mural.<br />Has mezclado tu metáfora con la mecánica quántica, que dice que todas las posibilidades existen.<br />Exactamente.<br />Y yo experimento las posibilidades a las cuales miro.<br />Eso es. Esa es la metáfora Y la mecánica quántica, todo enrollado en uno. Recuerda, es la física quántica la que dice que todo lo que es observado se ve afectado por el observador. La metáfora dice, “La parte del mural a la que prestas atención es lo que tú experimentas.”<br />Física y metafísica están diciendo la misma cosa. ¡ Simplemente usan diferente lenguaje!<br />Ahora lo estás poniendo todo junto. Estás comprendiendo más y más cada minuto.<br />El punto aquí es que tú tienes cantidad de pensamientos, pero no tienes que prestar atención a todos ellos. De hecho, no podrías aunque quisieras. Te volverías loco.<br />Sin embargo están aquellos quienes ven más del mural de una sola vez que la mayoría de nosotros. A menudo son etiquetados como teniendo el “Desorden deficitario de la atención”.*<br />De hecho, no es un déficit de atención, si no un exceso de atención. Tales individuos tienen una capacidad de atención más amplia que la mayoría de la gente. Ellos ven a través de un espectro más amplio de la Realidad Última. Ellos “asimilan” mucho más. Después de que has entendido esto, comienzas a tratar a tales niños y adultos diferentemente, llamándoles a muchos de ellos “dotado”, o “psíquico”, o “índigo”.<br />¡Caramba! esta explicando todo aquí.<br />No, no todo. Nos llevaría muchas otras conversaciones a través de la eternidad del tiempo el explicar “todo”. Pero es bueno que estemos teniendo esta conversación, limitada como debe ser. Para cuando tan solo comiences a comprender realmente como funciona la vida, y de que va la muerte, entonces puedes al menos sentirte en Casa con Dios.<br />Has suspirado por esta experiencia desde hace tanto. Es el momento ahora. Es tu momento de evolucionar al siguiente nivel, de crecer en tu comprensión. Es por esto por lo que tu alma te trajo hasta aquí. Es por esto por lo que estás creando esta experiencia. Es por esto por lo que estás produciendo este diálogo.<br />Me estoy enseñando a mi mismo aquí como hacer que la vida funcione.<br />Sí. Te has estado enseñado a ti mismo desde el principio. Ahora simplemente estás cogiendo velocidad. Te estás dando a ti mismo la base teórica para la vida, usando un poco de metáfora, un poco de ciencia, un poco de metafísica, y un montón de espiritualidad.<br />Lo pillo. Lo veo. Así que ahora lo que quiero saber es que puedo hacer con, como puedo trabajar con, las imágenes que yo, yo mismo, estoy pintando en el Mural de Posibilidades a lo largo del Corredor del Tiempo.<br />Cuando veas una imagen en el ojo de tu mente de algo que tú no quieras elegir como parte de tu realidad, no le des un segundo vistazo. Pinta otra cosa.<br />Esto es cierto para todo en la vida, ¿No?<br />Sí. Y también es cierto para la “muerte”.<br />Lo cual es una cosa asombrosa. Quiero decir, ya es bastante asombroso pensar que nosotros estamos creando nuestra propia realidad durante nuestra vida. Altera absolutamente nuestra mente pensar que nosotros estamos creando nuestra propia realidad después de “morir”.<br />No es tan asombroso cuando te das cuenta de que no HAY muerte.<br />Sí. Ahora entiendo el Séptimo Recordatorio. “La muerte no existe”, en un nivel mucho más profundo. Lo que quieres significar con esto es exactamente lo que dijiste anteriormente: La muerte no existe tal y como nosotros la hemos imaginado.<br />Sigue adelante con eso.<br />Te oigo mejor ahora cuando dices que hay esta experiencia que nosotros llamamos “muerte”, pero no es un “final” a nuestras vidas – o realmente, un final de algo. La “muerte” esta realmente en el centro de todo. Es “el núcleo de la manzana”.<br />Sí. Es la experiencia central de tu vida. Es lo que te dirige hacia el Centro de Tu Ser. Es donde las semillas de nueva vida se encuentran. Las semillas de nueva vida están siempre en el Núcleo.<br />“La muerte” es algo a través de lo que pasas para poder llegar al “otro lado”. Es el corredor entre el mundo físico y la realidad espiritual y de vuelta.<br />Creo que está es la mayor revelación de esta metáfora. Incluso cuando un alma vive en la realidad espiritual, llega un día, llega un momento, cuando ella “muere”.<br />Llega un momento en el que “nace de nuevo”. Es el momento cuando el alma se vuelve física una vez más.<br />Y esto ocurre cuando pasa a través del Núcleo y resurge de vuelta en el mundo físico.<br />Sí.<br />Lo estás viendo todo perfectamente a través de esta metáfora de la Manzaranja.<br />Pero eso querría decir que, para el alma...<br />Esto es precisamente lo que significa. Te acabas de golpear con...<br />EL TRECEAVO RECORDATORIO<br />Nacimiento y muerte son la misma cosa.<br />¿La experiencia de la muerte y la experiencia del nacimiento son idénticas?<br />En el Centro del Núcleo de Tu Ser, sí. Para tu alma, sí. Las dos son sencillamente atenuaciones de energía, actuando no muy diferente de los transformadores de potencia, facilitando transiciones de un mundo al siguiente.<br />Las palabras muerte y nacimiento bien podrían ser eliminadas de todos vuestros idiomas. La palabra creación podría ser fácilmente ser su sustituta en ambos casos.<br />Nacimiento y muerte son momentos de creación. Son los Momentos Primordiales.<br />Así que en lugar de decir que fulano “nació” hoy, podríamos decir que fulano “se creó” hoy. Y en lugar de decir que fulano “murió” hoy, podríamos decir que fulano “se creó de nuevo” hoy.<br />Sí, ¡eso sería maravilloso! ¡Sería mucho más preciso!<br />Muy poca gente comprende la “muerte”, y así, muchos la han pintado como la experiencia más triste. Recuerda que dije que puedes pintar el mural de cualquier manera que desees... y la imagen que crees es la imagen que experimentarás.<br />Pero eso es terrible. ¡No es mi culpa si me fueron contadas cosas horribles por gente en la que confiaba!<br />¿Has dejado que otras personas pinten tus imágenes por ti?<br />Todos lo hemos hecho. A la mayoría de la gente se le habló de juicios y condenación por sus religiones, ministros, rabinos, ulemas, y otros a quien ellos confiaban profundamente para saber y contar la verdad.<br />Sí. Eso es lo que hace la religión, y lo que la religión dice a sus seguidores, tan critico.<br />Pero si no hay “infierno” o “juicio” o “condenación” en la Realidad Última, ¿Por qué una persona tiene que experimentar eso?<br />Como ya hemos declarado repetidamente ahora, una persona no tiene que experimentar eso. Una persona puede elegir experimentar eso. No tienes que seguir los dictados de cualquier sistema de creencias, no tienes que aceptar y abrazar las enseñanzas de cualquier persona. Tú puedes hacer una decisión consciente para buscar tu propia verdad. En realidad, para crearla.<br />Sigues diciendo que puedo crear mi propia verdad.<br />Lo haces cada día, de acuerdo con lo que tú crees.<br />Pero sí, como me dijiste antes, una persona es constantemente creando en tres niveles diferentes – el subconsciente, el consciente, y el superconsciente - ¿Por qué en el mundo no elegiría el superconsciente, la parte más alta de nosotros, algo distinto a la condenación? ¿Por qué no crearía algo distinto?<br />Has estado escuchando cada una de las palabras que he dicho, ¿no?<br />Estamos hablando ahora sobre la vida y la muerte en la forma más detallada e importante jamás hecha. Por supuesto que lo he hecho.<br />Bien. Porque yo he escuchado cada una de las palabras que TÚ has dicho.<br />¿Qué se supone que significa eso?<br />Ya lo verás. <br />* ADD en inglés: "attention deficit disorder"<br /><br />RECORDATORIOS<br />El primer recordatorio: Morirte es algo que tú haces por ti<br />El segundo recordatorio: Tú eres el motivo de tu propia muerte. Esto es siempre cierto, no importa donde, o como, tú mueras.<br />El tercer recordatorio: No puedes morir en contra de tu voluntad.<br />El cuarto recordatorio: Ningún camino de vuelta a Casa es mejor que otro.<br />El quinto recordatorio: La muerte nunca es una tragedia. Es siempre un regalo.<br />El sexto recordatorio: Tú y Dios sois uno. No hay separación entre vosotros.<br />El séptimo recordatorio: La muerte no existe.<br />El octavo recordatorio: No puedes cambiar la Realidad Última, pero puedes cambiar tu experiencia de ella.<br />El noveno recordatorio: Es el deseo de Todo Lo Que Es el Conocerse a Si Mismo en Su Propia Experiencia. Esta es la razón para toda la vida.<br />El décimo recordatorio: La vida es eterna.<br />El onceavo recordatorio: El momento y las circunstancias elegidos para morir son siempre perfectos.<br />El doceavo recordatorio: La muerte de cada persona siempre sirve a la agenda de cualquier otra persona que sea consciente de ella. Esto es por lo que son consciente de ella. Por lo tanto, ninguna muerte ( y ninguna vida ) es jamás “derrochada”. Nadie jamás muere “en vano”.<br />El treceavo recordatorio: Nacimiento y muerte son la misma cosa.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-83560370762400586312008-04-04T03:38:00.001-07:002008-04-04T03:38:54.419-07:00estoy en..<a href="http://www.simultanea.spaces.live.com/">www.simultanea.spaces.live.com</a><br />...simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-66709826473022461392007-08-16T08:43:00.000-07:002007-08-16T08:45:03.157-07:00wordlessnessWORDLESSNESSExistence is nameless. As long as no name is given,everything is One. With words there is no way to escapeduality. Words are a contrivance for those who understandonly the language of words; they can create a terrible blockto awareness because when we name something, we nolonger see it for what it really is, we only see the symbolor label we have placed on it. We separate it from the restand make it an object. When we speak, we bring in duality;it is impossible not to. Obviously, when we wish to conveysomething to another person, we usually make use ofwords, but there is no need to use words simply for one'sself. If we constantly listen to the inner "babbler," so manywords pile up within us that we completely lose sight of ourinner mystery. Only when these superficial layers of wordsare removed can we become acquainted with that center.Pluck a guitar string and listen to how the resonance ofthe note begins to fade. Can you hear where the resonancegradually lost itself in non-resonance? In much the sameway, words slowly merge into silence. The full and emptydefine each other.It is in the silent spaces that we find definition, just as itis the intervals in music that allow us to hear the melody,and the relationship of light and dark that enable us to see.In the same way that sound is a vibration of sound andsilence, the entire universe-all of existence-is a vibrationof solids and spaces. When we move our attention from theconscious thinking level that uses words (the solids) throughhigher levels of consciousness, the mind arrives at the"spaces" of pure awareness.When we have refocused our attention past the noise andconfusion of the "babbler" in our minds, we become awareof the quiet of "no-mind." It is in the silence of "no-mind"that we transcend the limitations of ordinary perception andhear the melody of the soul. We are able to experienceperiods of wordlessness in which we are able to see thingsclearly. Buddha said, "Whatever I say is not to tell you ofThat Which Is, rather it is to lead you there."Obviously, I have a thing about words. For instance,people in my seminars ask why I don't talk more about love.I respond by saying that everything I talk about concernslove, but they wanted to hear the word itself. They don'tunderstand that the word conjures up all the concepts andbeliefs they hold about love.Another example of a concept-laden word is "God."When people hear the word "God," it triggers their beliefsystems and they no longer are capable of thinking clearly.Their beliefs enable them to set aside the reality in favor ofthe concept. You believe a certain thing about a person orgroup of people, such as Asians, homosexuals, fundamentalists,or women, and it enables you to dismiss them. It'sa prejudice, which is also a loaded word.Most people deny their prejudice because the word hasdeveloped such negative connotations, usually relating toracial issues, when all the word "prejudice" means is "apreconceived judgment or opinion."Here's a thought I'd like to spring on you-all beliefsare prejudices. Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?_______________________________________________RELEASE OF ENERGYCan you imagine the tremendous energy that is at yourdisposal when you release your prejudices? Beliefs andillusions aren't maintenance-free; because they are conflictsand cause suppression, they use tremendous amounts ofenergy. On the other hand, no energy is required to releasethem. Once released, that energy then becomes availablefor use in other areas of your life.Fletcher was a young man who came to me complainingof a lack of aliveness in his life. After we talked about whatwas happening (or not happening) in his life, I told him tolet go of his ideas about his parents. He had a lot ofchildhood issues relating to his parents and had nurturednegative ideas about them for years. Now he wondered whyhe felt so tired and uninvolved in life. He finally understoodthat these ideas arising out of old programming were usingup all his energy. I would estimate eighty percent of hisattitude toward his parents was negative, only twentypercent positive. Rather than telling him to concentrate onthe twenty percent positive feelings, I told him to releaseall the feelings, positive and negative. The complete disappearanceof resistance, for and against, would free onehundred percent of his energy and allow him to move intoa completely new state._______________________________________________ENTERING INTO FREEDOMIt's so simple. It doesn't start a month from now whenyou're prepared or six weeks from now or a year from now.It starts right now, while you are reading this book. It's liketelling someone not to think about a pink elephant. Oncethe idea of transcending beliefs is planted, you immediatelybegin to observe your process. It's irrepressible.People think that freedom is something that they aregoing to attain at the end of some process. Not true. Itdoesn't come at the end, it comes at the beginning. Youhave to become free first, then that liberation allows you tosee everything in your life more clearly. Discovery isimpossible without freedom. There can't be any compromise.Freedom is freedom. If you're going to be free,you're either free of everything or you're not free at all.You can't be a little bit free.7THE NEXT STEP:SET YOURSELF FREE"Man is just a bridge betweentwo eternities, the eternity ofnature and the eternity of God."_____________FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHEHuman consciousness is a most mysterious reality toexperience. Many think that it is something that happens toyou, that it cannot be sought. This impression is inaccurate;a fully developed consciousness is both an active and aproductive state of mind.More than ever before, it is time to be as present aspossible. We must see and accept what is here and now ifwe are ever to unveil the illusions which surround us andreveal the profound mystery of existence within ourselves.It is not far away in some past or future life. It will not berevealed through some master being. Leave these things.Leave all you think you know. Enter into existence now,this very moment.Existence has never been far away. It is not a place thatis to be reached. It is closer than near. It is simple, ordinaryand exists in the profoundly mundane. Unless we let go ofthe far away, the conceptual and the burdensome knowledgethat has enslaved us and come back to the here andnow, we are doomed to continue in this perpetual dreamstate from which all life's misery flows. The sooner youbecome aware and drop out of the philosophy trap, thebetter, because life will not wait for you and your theories.You are the adventure: discover and live this truth now.It happens right here, right now-in fact, that's the onlyway it happens ... if you will only allow it._______________________________________________LIVING HONESTLYMy car came to a stop at a crowded intersection. It waslate afternoon, hot and noisy. I was tired and anxious to gethome. Glancing out the window, I saw a homeless mansitting on the curb. He wore a sign with the word "Hungry"on it. Next to him stood an enthusiastic young man holdingout plastic bags of fruit-grapes in one bag, oranges inanother. He also had a sign. It read "Fresh fruit, $1 a bag."The scene was so bizarre I wished I'd had a camera. I couldhave sold it to Life magazine.Life is a wild thing, full of irony and inconsistency; it'sunpredictable and uncompromising. The incredible beautyand adventure of life lies in its ability to always be asurprise, and you can't be surprised if you have specificbeliefs about it. You can only be disappointed. Experiencethe joy and richness of life by allowing yourself to be bothearthly and unearthly. Since it's possible to be both, whymiss out on anything? Use every opportunity to grow andto be. Life is a force, a power, an energy. Life soars. Meetlife on its terms and you will soar with it. Let the roots ofyour earthly experiences grow deep and varied, and youwill reach higher than you've ever dreamed possible becauseyou will be more complete.Don't let anyone impose on you his beliefs about whatis wrong with you. The ego may need to be transformed,it's true, but not because it's wrong or bad or evil. It simplyhas to be observed; what is meaningless will start fadingaway of its own accord, while what is meaningful will beginto materialize and grow. The beauty in being watchful isnot that we have to work to bring about its transformationbut that life itself-the Whole-transforms it.All existence is beautiful. There is nowhere to hide fromit. Just remember that if you live totally, honestly, truthfully,things may begin to go deeper. When things aredeepening, they begin to change. Accept the feeling ofinsecurity this may bring, and trust your energy. Don'tcompromise; there's no need to-insecurity will disappearwithout compromise on your part.Be careful not to destroy today by being afraid of tomorrow,because if today has been destroyed, where will tomorrowcome from? If you don't worry about what tomorrow willbring, and if you accept tomorrow's insecurity, you willlive today so courageously that a beautiful tomorrow willarise out of that totality. So while you are alive, be alive!Don't concern yourself with how long it lasts._______________________________________________THE NEXT STEPThe next step surpasses all the steps of ordinary consciousness.Transformation is instantaneous, not gradual.Reality is what makes the present so vital. The real is alwayswith you. You don't have to wait for what you are.The ordinary, common mind that is part of the humancondition has a built-in need to have its beliefs verified byothers who believe similarly. The common mind automaticallyseeks out and finds this confirmation for its owncomfort and security. To surround itself with others whohave the same wants and needs, who will support andperpetuate one another's dreaming, so that it will staycomfortably incarcerated within the framework of its delusions,is the common and habitual thing to do. This is nota criticism; it is to be expected while dwelling in ordinaryconsciousness (herd mentality) because that is exactly whatwe are supposed to do, or more accurately "must do," whilein that generic state.There is also the uncommon mind-the God or spiritualmind. If you have reached a point where you have thecapacity (if not always the willingness) to enter into a verydifferent state of consciousness-a place that has nothingto do with ordinary consciousness you are, in a sense,alone. You will find there are few books you can read andeven fewer places you can go that will support you or offerany confirmation of this extraordinary state. You begin torealize how completely mechanical you have been and howpredictable this world and everyone in it is. At this point,you will find it increasingly difficult to express yourexperience of this state and virtually impossible to followthe herd just for the comfort it provides. Because, incontrast to this extraordinary state, herd consciousness isalways mundane, unremarkable, unoriginal and dulling.In this step there is a different quality of hearing andseeing that is truly significant and very uncommon. It is, infact, extremely rare, although at first glance it will appearnot to be. It will, at first hearing, sound ordinary. That'sbecause you are listening with your ordinary consciousness.This vital step is the ability to hear what you need to hear,not what you want to hear._______________________________________________RESISTANCE TO CHANGEIf you're not able to hear what you need to hear, you willcontinually seek out places in which to encounter what youalready know. You will hold onto what you want to be trueabout yourself, God, love, life and the world. You won'tgo anywhere or listen for very long to anyone who maydisturb that illusion. You will, once again, need to bedisillusioned. It's the only way to incite your consciousnessto move within a system that is so ponderous and mechanicallyrepetitive.This pattern must be broken because it affects everysingle area of your life and is the major obstacle to goingbeyond ordinary consciousness. You must see that this isindeed what you do and then face up to the possibility thatthings may not be what you want them to be. Would yoube willing to hear that? Could you hear it?The next step is tricky because the dominant part of youwill assert that, "I am open to hearing what I need to hear! "That is definitely not true. You will deny this; you willbecome defensive and argue that you are open and available.(You're probably doing so right now.) Ask yourselfif you are prepared to hear something new, somethingwhich you may not like, or, are you prepared to hear onlythat which you already know and/or that which you wantto believe?When hearing something new, this dominant part ofyourself will say, "Even if what you say is true, I don't likeit!" If you don't like something, you'll never see it. Youwon't believe it, you won't trust it you will simply rejectit. However, your opinion has no bearing on the fact thatordinary consciousness simply does not want to hear anythingnew. It wants to hear what it wants to hear; when itcatches a glimpse of what it needs to hear, ordinaryconsciousness blocks this information because it doesn'treally want to hear it.If you have the capacity to look at this, here is what youneed to consider now. Don't think that your consciousnessis extraordinary because you regard yourself as a "spiritual"person, accumulate volumes of metaphysical, occult andancient knowledge, have met extraterrestrials, can read thestars or speak with the dead. That's all a diversion and ofno consequence as far as awakening is concerned.When you have gone to the extreme polarity of what yourordinary consciousness calls "spiritual," this prominentpart becomes especially deceptive. Its allure is its ability tomake the mundane appear to be "new," unusual, interestingand fun. This is actually a ruse to keep you involved andunder its mechanical influence so you will feel as thoughyou have transcended it.Resistance to change is inherent on the level of themechanical structure of your ordinary consciousness. Youwant to hear what you want to hear from what ordinaryconsciousness sees as a new and exciting source. But it'simportant to see that what you are capable of hearing at theordinary level is what you have already heard, what reinforcesthe beliefs of your conventional consciousness. The"exotic" is not telling you anything new. It's keeping youwhere you are ... in the grip of the ordinary._______________________________________________THE BRIDGEAt the beginning of this chapter is a quote fromNietzsche. It bears repeating: "Man is just a bridge betweentwo eternities, the eternity of nature and the eternity ofGod. " Keep in mind that eternity is not a duration of time.Eternity exists in the here and now, this present moment.Nature exists in eternity, as does God, functioning appropriatelyfrom moment to moment. As I write this, myhouse is swaying back and forth from one of the thousandsof aftershocks Los Angeles is experiencing after a majorearthquake. I know that at this moment, people throughoutthe city are experiencing fear as they feel the tremor. Butthe earth is doing what it has done for millennia. It doesn'thave a problem with that-it is alive and ever transformingitself.Man, however, lives in time. He takes natural occurrencespersonally and gives them human attributes, such asa "vicious" storm, an "angry" earthquake. He calls anunknowable God "loving" or "wrathful," depending onwhat suits his purpose. This is because man is in themiddle-he is half-nature and half-God, and doesn't knowwhat to make of it. He is confused and ever striving to becertain, but you can only be certain if you don't know much.The more you know, the more confused you become. Youcan never be certain if you know a lot, and there is no clarityin one who knows little and is therefore certain, becausethey are simply unaware of contradictory facts which couldconfuse them. Only the ignorant can be certain. When aperson becomes more aware, more present, the minddiminishes, and all uncertainty and certainty diminish alongwith it.Problems result from the way man looks at the world.Because man has a divided consciousness, it distorts hisperception. He sees "two" where there is only "one. "Whenever there are "two," there is conflict.Some people lean more toward the common part of theirmind, others toward their "God" side. The differencebetween a mind that is spiritual and one that is common isthat a common mind thinks, "There is nothing wrong withme-everything else is wrong." Common-minded peopletake no responsibility; blame is always placed elsewhere."Things will be just fine if they go the way I think theyshould go." So they constantly try to change the worldaround them. But is there any more happiness in the worldas the result of these efforts?_______________________________________________DOING VERSUS BEINGAs you move through the phases of becoming moreaware, it may sometimes appear as if nothing is happening.You are so accustomed to effort that just being is veryunsettling. You desire outer activity because you are notused to taking the time to look at the reality of what ishappening to you. In allowing yourself to simply be, youmay feel insufficient as you are, so you become unsettled.See that you are feeling unsettled and be with that feeling.Settle into being unsettled. Remember: Nothing is lackingand there is no excess. Everything is balanced. You are theproblem, not the world around you.When you observe a flower, do you think nothing ishappening? Just because you are not sensitive to the flowerdoesn't mean nothing is happening. If you are completelypresent with the flower, you will sense that it is a livinghappening-alive, sensitive to the sun and wind, pulsatingwith life. How silly to expect it to do something, as if simplyexisting were not enough. Can you see how silly thedemands you place on yourself are?When you think nothing is going on with you, it isbecause you lack sensitivity. Sensitivity requires availability,vulnerability and observation. It may take time for youto adjust to this pace because you are used to running sofast.Non-doing is difficult. The mind wants something topractice, but practice is not necessary. Enlightenment canhappen in an instant. It is not a question of how to bring itabout but how to allow it. You know something so profoundis taking place deep within yourself that it cannot beanalyzed or explained; words are inadequate.When the inessential has been released, the essential isrevealed. A magnificent simplicity of being is born. Youbecome ordinary; to be ordinary is the most extraordinarything in the world. Others are striving to be extraordinary,which makes their pursuit the most ordinary of all.I'll address some common questions, then offer you sometechniques that will help you in the process of awareness.· Is there a technique I can use to know the truth?Don't try to know the truth, just know what is not true.That's enough to free you from the false. What I'm aboutto tell you is not a technique just be available to the senseof it.Non-investigation is the main cause of bondage. Whenyou don't know, you are free to investigate. If you arelistening to me and something awakens within you, you willhave an insight-something will be sensed, perceived. I'mnot trying to convince you. I'm just conveying a fact to you.The only preparation for it, in a sense, is that you must notbe identified with your knowledge, your beliefs. I meanprepared in the sense that you understand the meaninglessnessof everything you have ever known.It is your awareness of the thinking process, an awarenessthat can move you into a place where a realization ofwhat is can occur. It's called an awakening, a realization,or an insight. I sometimes refer to it as "the happening."· How do we go beyond our belief systems?Investigate. A thing recognized is a thing transcended.Observation effortlessly produces its own change. Whateverneeds to remain will; the rest will fall away.What's difficult is that we've enmeshed ourselves in somuch fantasy that separating the real from fantasy can bevery challenging. But it is possible and worth the effort, orI would not have written this book..· Why is it so difficult to let go?People don't want to let go of anything because they'reafraid they'll be left with nothing. They think that to let gomeans to get rid of something. Letting go is more like goingto sleep. You don't give up your bed when you fall asleep;you just forget it. Not understanding this, they are afraidand consequently, seek to substitute one belief for another,one form of conditioning for another and they call thatfreedom. They don't know that the finite is the price of theinfinite, just as death is the price of immortality.· Is it possible for me to observe everything around me inmy daily life without the shadow of images or beliefs?In time, yes. Not at first perhaps, but you must beginnow, right where you are, this very minute, and you mustfind out for yourself. Don't take my word for it. Don'tbelieve me. Awareness or perception implies a state ofseeing in which there is no image. There is the experienceof just being.· What is the witnessing that you encourage?Inside the body there appears to be an observer andoutside--a world under observation. The witnessing Iencourage is in itself a meditation, a living process of beingavailable and non-resistant to what comes uninvited. Witnessingis the last remnant of illusion, the first touch of thereal. Beyond it all, there is the unknown, some call it God.This crossover I call the Gap.· How is the Gap created?It already exists. There is no need to create it by believingin it. The Gap (void, silence, space, God) created by yourmind will not be real, it will just be your own creation. Inorder to enter the void, (the Oneness), belief and thoughtmust cease.· What about certain diets or behavior?Outer circumstances can either help or hinder innercircumstances, but cannot change them. A situation can becreated by outer circumstances so that the inner can eruptmore easily, but outer transformation is not inner transformation.The efforts you make on the outside must not become asubstitute for inner transformation. The outer you willnever feel ready to transform because it has decided oncertain qualifications and preconceived specifications thatmust be fulfilled before it will be ready. But it will neverbe ready. Obsessions with the kind of food you eat, theclothes you wear, or certain behavior can be hindrances.I'm not saying to neglect them, because they can be helpful,but be aware that the inner you is not touched by them. Theouter is the extremity while the inner is the central part ofyourself. Don't use activity on the outside to escape whatis needed inside.· Am I responsible for everything that happens?Shifting responsibility is a uniquely human game. You'reresponsible only for what you can change, and you can onlychange yourself. Realizing this is the first step.At one level, you must clearly see and take full responsibilityin order to affect any transformation in your distortedway of seeing. Then, and only then, can you transcendresponsibility.You will see the belief that a particular thing can causean event is incorrect. For anything to happen, the entireuniverse must consent. Every cause is universal. Your bodywould not exist without the entire universe contributing toits creation and survival. To affect the course of events,you must bring a new element into the world and thatelement can only be you, the power of love and understandingfocused on yourself._______________________________________________TECHNIQUESI will offer some techniques you may find helpful in thebeginning, but be aware that they too must be transcended.Use them and be willing to release them or they will becomean addiction. Addictions medicate pain. Unless the pain isseen, the addiction remains. Consciousness is a flow frompast to future-awareness happens only in the present.LOVE EXERCISEDo this exercise everywhere. Be aware of the energyradiating from your body but don't direct it. Try to senseit. When I say "sense" it, [don't mean emotionally. Sensingsomething is not the same as feeling something. Allow theenergy to be absorbed by whomever or whatever needs it.Don't interfere, just let it radiate from you, without focusingon a a particular object.In love, all fear disappears. There is no tomorrow, thereis no past. This moment is enough. Love just is you can'tdo anything about it. If you do, it becomes artificial.THE 'I DON'T KNOW"EXERCISEAll day, be aware of everything you say. Whenever youfind yourself coming to conclusions about anything, askyourself "What do I really know about it?"In this exercise, you must stay especially alert to hearyour own opinions. Actually, it's kind of fun to catchyourself in the act. Remember not to change anything, justbe aware. You may be surprised at how many conclusionsyou reach.MOTIVE EXERCISEThe One Power is responsive to our intentions andexpectations. Our expectations cause the energy we channelthrough us to affect other energies. Spend a day concentratingon "why. " Know why you do what you do and be honestabout it. Don't discuss your reasons with anyone, just beaware of your real motives.NO EXPLANATION EXERCISESpend the day not explaining any of your actions. Evenif you are asked, just say, "I have my reasons." It takes acertain amount of courage to do this because we usuallyfeel that we are expected to explain everything we do-especiallyif we say no to someone. Can you not explainyourself for one day?THANKFULNESS EXERCISEThankfulness is loaded with energy. Begin to appreciateeverything. Realize that you don't know what currentexperiences will mean to you in the future. Be thankful allday for everything that happens or doesn't happen.THE STOP EXERCISEThe name of this exercise tells you what it's all about.It's quite simple-all you have to do is just stop. Stop.Observe what you're feeling, what you're doing, whatyou're thinking. Take a moment and just be aware, bepresent.THE AUTOMOBILE EXERCISEYou can modify the Stop Exercise for use in the car.Now, obviously, you don't want to completely stop the carunless you're parking. I call this modified version theAutomobile Exercise. Just before you get in the car, takea deep breath. Stop yourself and be aware of what you'redoing. Get in your car and set off on your trip, but insteadof driving on autopilot, thinking about what you're goingto do later, slow down and take a good look at yoursurroundings. If you're going 90 miles an hour, it's notvery easy to observe because you're too busy handling thecar. The slower you go, the more you see. Be aware ofeverything you're passing. If you're traveling a familiarroute, be aware that it's not the same. Things are different.Flowers have grown, trees have changed, different peopleand cars are on the sidewalks and roads. It's like akaleidoscope-every day, different colors, shapes and patterns.We take this for granted because we're lost in ourthoughts. Slow down.You can also apply the Automobile Exercise to walking.While walking, pause now and then. Slow down and beaware of the physical feeling of walking. Be aware of yourmuscles stretching, the air flowing past your face, the sightsand sounds around you. Don't try and change anything orimprove on anything. Look. See. Be totally there.OBSERVATION AND AWARENESSAcceptance is not a state of inaction or passivity. It is thefirst step to successful action. You relax, you let go, youare patient and peaceful. In this state you merely are. Inthis state there are no expectations. There is no unnecessarydoing. When you are calm, detached and in completeacceptance, you see the truth of a thing. Then truth acts.This action is different in that it is much more effective thanif you try to do something based on your beliefs about whatshould be done.This exercise has to do with being quiet. Sit down in acomfortable position and take a deep breath, which slowsthe body's system and helps you observe more aboutyourself. Begin observing your body. The body is theeasiest thing to observe, and the easiest to feel separatefrom. Be aware of the sensations your body is feeling. Ifyou feel uncomfortable, see if you can be with that feeling.If you must move, be aware that you're moving. If youjudge the fact that you can't sit in one position, go aheadand judge. Be aware that you're judging the fact that you'rejudging. Being constantly aware allows your body to bewhatever it is.When you've done this for a while and feel ready to moveon to another area, explore listening. Listen, really listento all the sounds around you and see how many you canpick up. You'll hear things you may not have noticedbefore-a dog barking in the distance, the hum of traffic,birds or the wind. Listen to all the sounds you normallydon't hear because you're so preoccupied.When you've exhausted that area, move to your feelings.Be aware of what feelings are happening. Don't worryabout judgment right now. Judgment is of the mind; justobserve that. So, be aware of all your feelings withoutjudgment. If you do find yourself judging them as good orbad feelings, then be aware that it is your mind judging.That's what minds do-they judge. If you're having a sador unhappy feeling, see if you can leave it alone and be withit. Try not to push it away or exchange it for any otherfeeling. Take time and be aware of every feeling that you'rehaving at the moment. Don't conjure anything, just experiencewhat you are experiencing.Move on to your thoughts. Watch them as they come andgo. Be like the sky and let the thoughts be like clouds,coming and going of their own accord. Observe all this.This exercise leads to your becoming more aware inevery aspect of your life. You will be aware of the timesyou restrict yourself, when you want to say or do somethingand don't, when you shut down. You'll become more awareof your expansive moments when you are in tune witheverything around you. Be aware, don't judge, let thesethings just occur naturally. Be aware of every moment. Seeif you can spend a period of time not improving yourself.Just watch. Soon, you'll get to a point where you'll findyourself automatically observing yourself, the world, andeverything in it. This is the habit of awareness. It's a littledifferent from complete awareness. Eventually, you dropeven the habit of awareness and just live in pure awareness.You will be aware and not have the need to express it,explain it, or be understood. You won't need any of thesethings. You will no longer need to be right. You will nolonger need to be agreed with. All these things will fall bythe wayside. You'll simply be aware.I would like to stress that when you are observing thebody, anything you observe is not you. If you can observethe body, then you are not the body. If you can observefeelings, then you are not the feelings. If you can observethe mind, you are not the mind. Then what's watching allof this?'WHAT IS PERMANENT IN YOU" EXERCISENo matter what you have experienced in your life, thereis something about you that has never changed or beenaffected in any way. What is that something? Do not nameit-don't call it your "higher self," or "God," or the "soul"because that will separate you from it. Don't call it anything.Don't believe in it, just sense it. The sense of it willcome and go; let it you cannot hold onto that either. Youcan only discover this for yourself. How?Watch! Watch everything. Observe it all as it happens,then ask yourself, "Who is watching this pain, this fear,this body, these emotions?" Anything you can watch andobserve is not you! This, unfortunately, cannot be fullyexplained, which is frustrating for me at times. It's not inthe words. Just try to get the sense of what I am saying.Watch.THE SKY TECHNIQUEIn order for this technique to be clear, you must first tryto understand the structure of the mind. You cannot makethe mind clear. It cannot be whipped into submission, as somany techniques and groups attempt to do. The mind canbe left behind, dropped, but it will never be clear-that isimpossible. It is the mind's nature to be full of concepts andbelief-"stuff." Mind is a continuous process of thoughtsgathered from everywhere, like a storeroom full of thingsyou think you may need someday. Of course, for the mostpart, you never will, which is why these things were storedin the first place. So they go on collecting dust. Allconfusion is stored in the mind. Drop the mind and confusionis dropped, but first it must be understood.Think of it this way. Your awareness is like a clear bluesky while your mind is like a cluster of clouds. The sky isnot affected by the clouds, which come and go as they will.The sky remains clear.When flying in an airplane, there is always turbulence attakeoff, especially as you pass through a cloud layer. Onceyou break through, however, you level off and everythingis smooth and peaceful. The clouds are below you now andyou may think, "Ah, the sun has come out." But the sunwas always shining. You don't need to change the cloudsto enter the clarity of the sky; just see the clouds as cloudsand go past them. That's where peace is, higher in consciousness.So here is the exercise: On the next clear day, preferablyearly or late in the day when the sun is not too bright,meditate on the empty sky. No clouds, no birds, no planes.Stare at the sky without blinking. Meditate on this pristinesky and enter into its clarity. Become one with it.You will begin to feel the mind disappearing. There willbe gaps as the mind begins to drop away, and you will beginto be aware that the clear sky has entered into you. Therewill be only moments of clarity at first, but these intervalswill begin to lengthen as the clouds within you begin todissipate. Your thoughts will get out of the way, and theouter clarity will become one with the inner. They arealready one; it has only been the constant thoughts (cloudcover) which made a barrier. The sky doesn't begin at somepoint above the earth; it is the same sky one foot above theground as at thirty thousand feet above.The sky has no boundaries. This helps your boundariesdisappear because this open sky will be reflected withinyou. Stare into that emptiness and feel that you have becomeone with it. If you can do this, even for a moment, you willexperience realization because in that moment there is nomind. You are not thinking, and that is the only timerealization can happen. There is no fear; there is only thepresent, because the past and the future belong to the mind.Existence is the present.Remember these things: 1) Don't blink; just stare, evenif it is uncomfortable. If you blink, your thoughts willcontinue. Let your eyes tear up and let them unload the tears.2) Don't think about the sky. Do not think about it.Simply enter it, be one with it, or you will create anotherbarrier. If you move into the sky, it will immediately moveinto you. Take your time or it's not effective, but don'tthink of time. Just let yourself be lost in the sky. Then,when you really feel that you have become one with thesky, you can close your eyes and you will see it within also.3) After you feel that you and the sky have become one,enter that clarity. Don't say anything, just feel it. You willknow when. Just be aware of the clarity all around andwithin you. You are not to imagine any of this. It's notnecessary; the clarity is already there.4) Remember to be vulnerable. Nothing can enter youwithout your allowing yourself to be vulnerable to it. Don'tproject it; allow it to happen. Don't force it.YES EXERCISESpend a day saying yes to everything. "Yes" is open andavailable and lets your energy flow freely. "No" stops yourenergy, and usually comes out of fear and mistrust. Thereis a strong tendency to stop the flow and remain in controlby saying no, thereby resisting life so nothing can happen.Growth becomes sluggish. Embrace the life force that flowsfrom everything and that life embraces you. Trust that allwill work out. Just say "yes."BELIEF ANALYSIS EXERCISETo begin to really understand what you believe and why,write down your beliefs. The physical act of writing isimportant because there is a certain clarity that occurs as aresult. Get a nice big notebook with lots of pages in itbecause you are going to discover that you have many morebeliefs than you realize.· #1: What do I believe (or disbelieve) in? (Disbelief isalso a belief).Begin with "What do I believe?" Remember to includethe beliefs you have when you watch television or read thenewspapers. Write down as many as you can, and leaveplenty of room for the beliefs you'll become aware of later on.· #2: Where did I acquire this belief?What is the source of this belief? Did it come from myparents, teachers, a friend; my church or religious teaching;a book, newspaper or tabloid, television or movies? Putsome thought into this one and you may be surprised at whatyou come up with.· #3: What do I really know about it?The key to this step is not what you believe you know,but what the facts are that support the belief. If it's a belief,you may not know too many facts about it, but see whatyou come up with, then question those as well. Keep inmind that if you believe in a book, let's use the Bible foran example, then you must realize that your belief that theBible is the word of God forms the basis for other beliefsyou hold.· #4: Why do I believe this?Why do you believe it? This is extremely important. Isit because it fits in with the way you want, or hope thingsare, or will be? Is it because you feel empowered or specialby having this belief? Is it because your ego is enhanced asa result of believing this? Are you afraid not to?It is of utmost importance that you are honest withyourself. If you cannot be truthful with yourself, you'llnever be truthful with anyone else.Here is an excerpt of a conversation I had with anaudience member during a talk I gave several years ago.This is basically the conversation you need to have withyourself while you are doing the Belief Analysis Exercise."Usually speakers talk a lot about love, but I'venoticed that you don't mention love or God very often.Why is that?""I don't use the words `love' and `God' very oftenbecause they cause the mind to project too much of whatone wants them to be. This leaves no room for experiencingwhat is. All this incessant talk of love! If we really loved,we wouldn't have to talk about it so much.""I worship and love God.""Why?""What do you mean?""Why do you worship God?""Because I love him.""Why do you love `him'?""Because I do!" (An uncomfortable laugh, followed bya long pause.) "I don't know ... because I love him. Isn'tthat reason enough?""Reason enough for a person who never took the time toexplore, or reason enough for one who has been told heshould? What do you think would happen if you didn't loveGod?""I don't know. Probably something bad. I'd getstruck by lightning or something.""You don't love God; you're afraid of him. Your heartis full of fear, not love, and this is what is important foryou to see. Churches, temples and sacred things are not ofGod; they are the creations of our vanity and fear. Only theunhappy and frightened worship God. If you put aside thesethings and understand why you are unhappy instead ofenveloping yourself in the refuge of your belief about God,you'll experience the truth of God.""I guess that frightens me.""One of the greatest fears is of releasing one's conceptof God. Your `god' has to conform to your distorted ideaof him because if he doesn't, you won't detect him at all.You insist on your idea of particulars. Goddesses are thecurrent trap. Don't let your fear of God prevent you fromexploring the truth. Don't use God to escape. Watch thesepretensions and drop them. If you really want to be anauthentic person, be true to yourself.""How do I do that?""If you haven't loved, face the fact and know it. Dropall the illusions and remain true to your being, whatever itmay be. Since it is not possible to know yourself throughanother, no matter how great he may be, you must knowyourself directly. Then many things become possible.""What would there be left to believe in, then?""Why believe at all? Isn't nature enough? It's so muchmore rewarding and creative. Is it because you don't trustnature or the universe? You are nature itself and theuniverse, but you don't trust your own life energy. If youcan't trust your own life energy, you'll never trust another's.This is obvious when you look at the state of theworld."If we look through our own little belief system, we can'tsee what's really happening in our world. Seeing is understanding,and we cannot understand through the mind,which is only a fragment. Understanding happens when themind is quiet.""What do you mean by `quiet'?""By quiet, I mean no images.""What about unconditional love?""Start by seeing yourself clearly, that is to say, unconditionally.This act of seeing is an act of love because it isunconditional, untainted. Only love makes the mind sensitive.This seeing, observing and listening are the greatestacts. If you want to be free and unconditional, start byexploring your beliefs and releasing all that is binding you.You cannot love unconditionally with beliefs that, by theirvery nature, have boundaries."_______________________________________________MEDITATIONReports of transcendental experiences throughout historyshow a striking similarity that cuts across cultural, socialand intellectual distinctions. Researchers have found fundamental,universally available conditions that are presentin these experiences.Hundreds of studies of meditators show that "repeatedexperience of pure consciousness during meditation producessignificantly greater reductions in trait anxiety, depression,hostility and other symptoms of mental stress than[experienced during] simple or stylized forms of relaxation."This research is very careful to separate the practiceof meditation from the experiences of pure consciousness.Although the practice is helpful, it is the experience oftranscendence itself that is of the greatest benefit.Listen to the language of a scientist discussing quantumphysics-it sounds remarkably like the language of thesoul; one becomes aware that physics and metaphysics canbe thought of as two sides of the same coin. The metaphorsof metaphysics are simply attempts to describe what we areas yet unable to perceive with any stability. Those who havefully experienced the state of transcendence are termed"mystics" who "understand our logic." We cannot fathomthe more unified, yet seemingly paradoxical, nature of theircognitions until we too become transcendent. You can't getaway from the fact. You've got to be there to understandit.MEDITATION TECHNIQUESMeditation is many things to many people, depending onculture, religious traditions, psychological orientation, theindividual's purpose, etc. Whatever, it is not the definitionbut the experience that matters.Meditation opens the doors of perception, integrating themind and body, the aim being to refocus attention past thenoise and confusion of the "babbler" in our minds. Whenthis happens, we become aware of the quiet of "no-mind,"a state of pure consciousness with no content.There is also a body of scientific research showing thatmeditation is more effective in the alleviation of anxietythan therapy. Meditators have been shown in a recent,large-scale "meta-analysis" (a statistical technique designedto compare research across a variety of studies) to besignificantly more self-actualized than psychotherapy patients.In addition, surprising things like prison recidivismare significantly lower for prisoners who meditate than forthose who go into therapy.Traditionally associated with Eastern religions, meditationhas been practiced in one form or another in allreligions and in most societies. Meditation researcher MichaelWest notes that:American Indians practice a form of meditationremarkably similar to zazen [Zen meditation]. InAfrica, in the Kalahari Desert, the people of the!Kung Zhu/twasi practice a form of ritual dancing(like Islamic Sufi dancing) which activates a postulatedenergy source and produces an `ecstasy' experience.Many tribal groups practice such ritualdancing coupled with chanting to produce alteredstates of consciousness. ... The Eskimo would sitfacing a large soft stone and using a small, hardhand-stone, would carve a circle in the large stonecontinuously to produce trance. Meditation has longbeen used within the Christian religion and many ofthe Christian techniques are identical to those usedin other religions, cultures, and times.Basically, there are two forms of meditation: active andsilent. Historically, active forms have used chanting, drums,dancing and music to produce altered states of consciousness.Silent forms of meditation use four techniques toaccess pure consciousness: concentration, contemplation,mental repetition of a sound, and detached observation.Since the subject matter covers a large body of work, I'llgive a very brief overview. You may obtain books at yourlocal library or bookstore that will go into more detail.· Concentration of a steadily visualized image orsymbol, such as a mystical rose, a thousand-petalledlotus, a crescent moon, or Star of David; focus onthe breath; concentrate on no thought, consideredto be the most difficult, especially for beginners.· Contemplation of an object, such as a candle flame,a flower, statue, picture, or a mandala, a symbolrepresenting unity.· Mental repetition of a sound, which may be a singlesyllable, such as OM; a mantra, usually a Sanskritphrase; or a koan, which is an apparently insolubleriddle, such as "What is the sound of a single handclapping?"· Detached observation of what is happening withoutbeing caught up in or identifying with any reactionto it. The focus is centered on the present moment,and the mind observes itself observing life as itunfolds.Whatever form of silent meditation is used, it requiresnothing more complicated than to sit quietly and enterdeeply into one-mindedness. If the mind wanders, themeditator is instructed to bring it gently back to the focusand not allow it to be distracted. In "The Meditative Mind,"Daniel Goleman writes that the "key attributes of this stateare always the same: loss of sense awareness, one-pointedattention to one object to the exclusion of all other thoughts,and sublimely rapturous feelings. "Okay, I've described different kinds of meditation, butwhat exactly is it and how does it work? Scientists havecome up with several different models that attempt toanswer these questions. One model views meditation as amechanism to reduce stress and anxiety. Another viewsmeditation as nothing more than light sleep, a controlledversion of the trance state most people experience as theyfall asleep. Another model suggests that meditation is aform of self-hypnosis, although there are others who saythat the mind deals with information at different levels inhypnosis than while in a meditative state. For our purposes,the end result is what matters, not the method.Psychologist Arthur Deikman says, "Although the powerof meditation to affect physiological and psychologicalfunctions has been substantiated in many different laboratories,we have paid little attention to what the originatorshave said about its intended purpose and the requirementsfor its appropriate use. Focusing primarily on the experiencesand bodily effects of meditation is like collectingoyster shells and discarding the pearls. Such `spiritualmaterialism' inevitably interferes with the real potential ofmeditation."Meditation is a procedure, a technology. As such, itfacilitates outcomes such as stress reduction and consciousnessduring sleep. Although these outcomes are a naturalpart of the biology of the human system and can surfacespontaneously without meditation, it clearly increases thelikelihood of attaining these outcomes.What the originators say is that consciousness is theprimary reality from which matter and life arose. Throughmeditation, an individual can more fully experience thepure consciousness that lies at the center of being.As we enter into these states of consciousness, we areable to move past the stuck spot in our lives, the place wherewe have remained frozen in our beliefs. We are able tochange our beliefs and behaviors in response to one another.This process requires us to extend ourselves, which resultsin growth.OTHER INTERNAL TECHNIQUESThe whole process of the evolution of human consciousnessrests in the ability to identify oneself as separate fromwhile participating in an ever-expanding involvement withthe world. Higher states of consciousness are a naturalprogression when they are awakened in an individual whohas thoroughly completed the development of the basic egostructure. Yet, achieving the merger of self with Selfpresents a challenge to the ego. Always on guard, the egorules out the experience of oneness and makes the experienceof connectedness difficult.There is a wide range of inner-oriented techniques otherthan meditation that focus attention inward toward thesource of being, such as lucid dreaming and other dreamwork, waking imagery and creative visualization, journalkeeping, and self-hypnosis. I'll briefly discuss each one;you can obtain other books that go more thoroughly intoeach subject than I have the space to do here.Almost one hundred years since the publication of Freud'sclassic "Interpretation of Dreams," dream work is receivingwidespread recognition as a valuable technique forlearning more about the self rather than being dismissed asmerely phantasms of the sleeping brain. For example, thereare professional dream organizations; movies with dreamthemes are raking in millions; bookstore shelves are filledwith dream books, and magazine articles on working withdreams have become almost monthly fare.During the passionate embrace of altered-state-of-consciousnesswork in the 1960s, one study paid a young mana full-time salary to record his dreams over the span of ayear. He settled into a small mobile home and set out torecord his nightly encounters. With some practice, he wasrecording up to one hundred pages of material a day. Whatbecame incredibly clear was that the source of his nightlyexcursions was the experience of awareness.A particular form of dreaming, lucid dreaming, offersus a direct link to the experience of pure consciousness.The ultimate self-awareness experience in sleep is knowingyou are dreaming while you are dreaming, yet this is butanother bridge to even higher levels of consciousness.Although dreams are the psyche's deepest imagery generatingsystem, we can also benefit through the consciousapplication of imagery experienced in creative visualization.Jeanne Achterberg, president of the Association forTranspersonal Psychology, draws a line from the image tothe immune system to support a neurological relationshipbetween the image and the body's maintenance of health.Pointing to the central role of emotions in both imagery anddisease, she states, "Verbal messages must undergo translationby the imagery system before they can be understoodby the involuntary or autonomic nervous system and relatedcomponents. "EXTERNAL TECHNIQUESThere are external techniques that help intensify awarenessas well. Among these techniques are yoga, sports,games, martial arts, active forms of meditation using chanting,dancing and music, and other physical activities thatproduce what is popularly referred to as "flow." In everycase, the important thing is not the activity itself but theexperience of pure consciousness it facilitates. Even mundaneactivities can access this consciousness, as this storyillustrates:Ram Dass, a.k.a. Richard Alpert, tells of a time he waslecturing to a group of young people about meditation andhigher states of consciousness. Both he and the audiencewere attired in long, flowing robes and requisite beatificsmiles. In the midst of this sea of robes and smiles was anelderly woman wearing a brightly flowered housedress,matching hat and sensible shoes. She too often nodded witha knowing smile during his lecture on the beauty of higherstates of consciousness. The teacher wondered how it wasshe apparently identified with what he was saying. She didnot appear to "belong" to the audience to whom he wasspeaking. Afterward, he asked her how she "knew." Theelderly lady in the flowered hat leaned over in a conspiratorialfashion and whispered, "I crochet! "Repetitive activity entrains the brain. A contemporaryform of this can be seen in the popularity of Nintendo.While parents grumble about the apparently addictive qualityof the game, new research has shown that Nintendotrains hyperactive children to be attentive, which is themajor problem in hyperactivity. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly,Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, hasresearched the experience of pure consciousness in dailyactivities; he calls this "flow", and summarizes his work inhis book titled "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."Some of the activities that produced flow includedgames, gambling, television viewing, and sex.In the sports arena, the "runner's high" has been well knownfor years; lesser known are the effects on consciousnessof other sports. Hans Joachim Stein says of Kyudo,the art of zen archery, that "like any serious practice whoseaim is to penetrate beyond appearances to the essence ofthings and the meaning of life, the Way of the Bow can onlybe considered to have reached an end with the transmutationof the archer's earthly existence." Even a "non-sport" suchas golf, which has been praised by writer John Updike as"the one [sport] wherein the walls between us and thesupernatural are rubbed the thinnest," can produce beneficialchanges that lead to pure consciousness.The increasing popularity of martial arts, evidenced bymovies such as The Karate Kid and even the ubiquitousTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, emphasizes that the importanceof the external form lies in the interior experience.Psychologist Charles Tart tells the story of MoreheiUyeshiba, master of the Japanese martial art, Aikido, whohad witnessed village thugs beating his father:I felt that the universe suddenly quaked and thata golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiledmy body and changed it into gold. At the same timemy mind and body became light, I was able tounderstand the whispering of the birds, and wasclearly aware of the mind of God, the Creator ofthis universe. At that moment, I was enlightened:the source of budo is God's love-the spirit ofloving protection for all beings. Tears of joystreamed down my cheeks. I understood: Budo isnot felling the opponent by force, nor is it a tool tolead the world into destruction. True budo is toaccept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace ofthe world; to take God's love, which correctlyproduces, protects and cultivates all beings in Nature,and assimilate and utilize it in our own mindand body.In a world seemingly full of hate and violence, this manwas able to deal with disharmony in a spirit of love._______________________________________________CONCLUSIONDi-no-saur (n.): Any of various prehistoric, extinct, oftengigantic reptiles; a person with obsolete ideas, beliefs,attitudes.We pause on the threshold, hands outstretched to embracethe long-sought missing thing. When the light floodsthrough the open door of our awakened perceptions, whatwe experience is the shock of recognition. The seeker andthe sought after are one.Standing near a 600-year-old oak tree, I reflected on howit was already old when I was born and will probably behere long after I am gone. Our current lives are not long.Long enough to learn what is required of us, what we needto learn, but not long enough to change much of anythingbut ourselves.Many of you are bound by what you feel is a past younever wanted and a future that cannot be. Therein liefrustration, confusion and fear. Dissolution and changefrighten you. You want the security of knowing where youare going, how you're going to get there, and what's goingto happen to you when you do get there. But you'll neverknow for certain because life has many possibilities, a fewprobabilities, and even fewer absolutes. Life is like that.Failure to adapt to these variables in the changing circumstancesof life is what leads to extinction.Negative experiences exact a price from us, as dopositive ones. One price of fame and recognition, forexample, is the burden of others' expectations. Goodfortune will always require more of us than failure everdoes. We're living a momentous adventure, the end of anage, and this adventure has its price also. There is alwaysa price for balance to be maintained, which is why everyincrease, whether personal or worldwide, is met by adecrease somewhere. This adventure is where we earn thecurrency required to enter the "New Era" predicted by somany. That currency is awareness, and it is acquired at avery high cost. That cost is the release of the old, which isalways the price of the new. Few are willing to pay thishigh price, but the fact that a price must be paid may be theproof that it is worth it.This New Era will undoubtedly be very different fromwhat is expected. Be willing not to know, not to be sure,and you won't be disappointed or postpone what is to be.Instead of spending valuable energy on theories and fantasiesof what the New Era will be, evolve by focusing yourattention on the work at hand. Life reveals many secrets tothose who wait, watch, and listen. Time always fulfillsitself. Stop expecting others to do for you what you needto do for yourself. Look beyond everything you see, thenlook higher still.Nothing in nature is clumsy. We are all creatures of ourtime, the "good guys" and the "bad guys." Each body iscreated for a life particular to its own unique purpose. Dowhat you were born to do, be what you were born to be.Accept it. Don't be a dinosaur. Drink deeply of life on itsterms and you won't become obsolete.Be willing to release all past beliefs; all gods andgoddesses; avatars and saviors. What worked then won'twork now. What worked for them won't work for you.Their time is over. This is our time. It is meant for us, foryou and for me. Let's move gracefully and lovingly intothis brave New Era, unspoiled and free of the past-ALLof it!And after all the journeying, all the pain andjoy, we may discover that the Transformationwas difficult to grasp, not because it was so faraway but because it was so very near. To findthe immense world of delight is, in the end, tocome home again, where it always was.-George Leonard, "The Transformation"simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-84815992197764788302007-08-16T08:13:00.000-07:002007-08-16T08:16:46.550-07:00nadaHOW TO BELIEVE IN NOTHING<br />& SET YOURSELF FREE<br />MICHAEL MISITA<br />CONTENTS<br />Chapter One<br />How To Believe in Nothing<br />Chapter Two<br />What Are Beliefs?<br />Chapter Three<br />Why We Believe<br />Chapter Four<br />My Quest for Freedom<br />Chapter Five<br />The Benefits of Freedom<br />Chapter Six<br />The Gateway to Transformation<br />Chapter Seven<br />The Next Step-Set Yourself Free<br />1<br />HOW TO BELIEVE<br />IN NOTHING<br />“I believe in everything ...<br />and I believe in nothing."<br />"Beliefs are part of our struggle not to be free. I<br />believe in everything and I believe in nothing." When<br />people hear me say that in my lectures, I usually get a few<br />puzzled looks until I explain there is no contradiction in that<br />statement. There is room for the total spectrum of possibilities<br />in the universe. To believe in something is always<br />limiting; believing in nothing is non-specific. There is<br />freedom from limitation because there are no particulars.<br />At this point, someone says, "But, everybody has to<br />believe in something. I believe in this ideology (or that<br />person, place or thing) and it freed me." Maybe it did ...<br />temporarily.<br />The possibility of living without the need to believe is<br />very threatening to many people. In a world of uncertainty,<br />the loss of something to hold on to can be frightening. I<br />understand that. I am not saying that you must believe in<br />nothing-if your beliefs work for you, that's fine. There is<br />absolutely nothing wrong with believing in anything. The<br />desire to believe is built into the human mind, which is<br />constructed to make judgments and form opinions. Without<br />this ability to be critical and discerning, the human race<br />would not have survived very long. It is when these<br />judgments and opinions become dogmatic that they are no<br />longer life-enhancing but limiting. If your beliefs don't<br />work for you, you need to take another look at them. Your<br />beliefs may be blocking you from being as happy or as<br />fulfilled as you would like to be.<br />To suggest that people consider dropping even one of<br />their beliefs, especially beliefs about God, makes them<br />extremely uncomfortable. I merely encourage people to see<br />and understand the accumulations and boundaries they have<br />and how they are creating and sustaining them. I'm suggesting<br />that those who wish to be more aware, more<br />awake-those who want to be free-begin by investigating<br />their beliefs, especially the belief that you need your beliefs.<br />I have worked with many people who experience limitation<br />in their lives because they believe in limitation, and<br />I've helped them to expand their consciousness by encouraging<br />them to believe in prosperity. Others say they don't<br />believe in themselves, but it's not belief they lack, it's<br />self-confidence. There are a lot of books and other materials<br />available to help people reprogram their mind with new<br />beliefs. Replacing negative mental programming with positive<br />programming can help them live happier, more satisfying<br />lives. There's nothing wrong with that.<br />In my own life, I have studied the internal workings of<br />my mind and experienced the power of thought by encountering<br />my illusions first-hand. As all that I persisted in<br />believing manifested itself in my world, I became increasingly<br />aware of the power of belief and its potent effect. I<br />began to observe what I believed to be true about myself<br />and the world around me. When I discovered that much of<br />my reality was shaped by my beliefs about what was real<br />rather than by reality itself, I began to question not only<br />what I believed, but why I needed those beliefs. Suddenly,<br />I felt stripped of all my ideas about reality-those giving<br />me pleasure as well as those I thought gave my life stability.<br />I began to understand the extent of and the reason for my<br />psychological bondage.<br />How do we handle the confusion we feel when we move<br />to the level of consciousness where we cease exchanging<br />one belief in favor of another and begin to question belief<br />itself? What is the nature of our existence when we begin<br />to see that our illusions are illusions? This is what this book<br />is about-the transcendence of belief to the fullness of<br />being.<br />You won't find a new set of beliefs to replace your old<br />ones; instead, you'll discover a new way of looking at<br />everything you encounter. I'll share my experiences and<br />those of others who have learned to transcend their beliefs<br />and set themselves free, as well as techniques you can use<br />to do the same. Instead of reacting with preconceived ideas<br />and conditioned responses, you'll move into a new state of<br />consciousness that will be infinitely more insightful, freeing<br />and rewarding than anything you've known before.<br />On a personal level, I have found this to be true. In<br />sharing what I've experienced, I do my part in helping<br />people to know themselves a little better, to begin to know<br />themselves as the source of their own misery. Also, my<br />conscious awareness deepens within me as a by-product of<br />sharing. I don't do what I do for a reason. These are just<br />observations of what happens as a result of sharing. To the<br />common mind, this may appear to be a motive, but being<br />oneself is completely beyond all motivation. You can't have<br />a reason for being yourself. You are yourself, and no reason<br />is needed. Whether or not anyone actually acts on what I'm<br />sharing is irrelevant to me. I can only share from where I<br />am right now and only with those who show an interest.<br />Without understanding that we carry the seeds of our<br />potential, there is no possibility for transformation; but if<br />we are fortunate enough to have a glimpse of those possibilities,<br />we will summon the courage to make the necessary<br />effort to bring about our own transformation, whatever the<br />cost. In doing so, we will discover that it has been well<br />worth it.<br />This book is not for people who need to believe in<br />something, it is for people who are at the level where they<br />are ready to stop conditioning altogether. They are becoming<br />more and more present. They are ready for the next<br />step, which is to question not just their various belief<br />systems but why they believe at all. This will propel them<br />into a space beyond the ordinary herd mentality. It's a jump<br />... a leap ... into the unknown.<br />Until you take this leap, all beliefs will create a burden.<br />They will not liberate you. If you can be open enough to<br />realize whatever you believe in is limited and that realitythe<br />truth-is limitless, you'll discover something of which<br />ninety-nine percent of the world is unaware ... freedom<br />from belief.<br />2<br />WHAT ARE BELIEFS?<br />"Your experiences in life are<br />conditioned by your beliefs, so<br />they are never totally accurate.<br />You must take this into account,<br />but you must also begin<br />somewhere. "<br />What are beliefs, then? Belief can be described as any<br />interpretation or framework for viewing reality that is held<br />beyond questioning. The word "belief" comes from the Old<br />English word geliefan, which comes from the Indo-European<br />base leubh, which is related to the Latin word libido,<br />meaning "what is desired, or loved."<br />From the very roots of the word, we see what beliefs<br />truly are-that which we desire to be so. Because beliefs<br />are a construct of the mind, freedom from them allows the<br />individual to begin to experience the aliveness of his total<br />being.<br />Beliefs are ideas that we have either made up or that have<br />been passed on to us. They are concepts that we have not<br />acquired through our own experience. Belief conditions<br />experience and experience then strengthens belief. What<br />you believe, you experience. The mind is a result of its<br />experience; it can recognize only that which is familiar.<br />Experience is not necessarily reality. Desire conditions the<br />mind, and belief is another cloak of desire. You want what<br />you want to be true. Knowledge, belief, conviction, and<br />conclusion are hindrances to truth. Belief in a Master<br />creates the Master. Belief in a dogma or a specific design<br />of action does produce what is longed for, but for a price.<br />If a person has the potential, belief can become a weapon<br />more dangerous than any gun. For most of us, belief has<br />more significance than actuality. To understand what is,<br />you don't need belief; on the contrary, beliefs prejudice<br />one's understanding. But beliefs warm and comfort us.<br />Belief produces a feeling of power and can be subtly<br />seductive.<br />If you know something to be true, it is no longer a belief,<br />it is a fact. Beliefs are not facts. There is a vast difference<br />between a fact and the idea of a fact. A belief is an idea of<br />what we hope to be a fact, but it is an idea that is based on<br />possibility, not actuality. We may fervently desire it to be<br />the truth, but it is not the truth. Understanding a fact does<br />not necessarily bring joy. Understanding a fact may cause<br />a disturbance in you, and what you want is comfort. Beliefs<br />are often used to gain status. The ego is strengthened as a<br />result of feeling its particular beliefs to be the truth.<br />Individuals and groups hope to gain an advantage by<br />wielding power over other individuals and groups. "I (we)<br />know the truth and you don't. Therefore, I am right and<br />you are wrong." This must be seen for what it is: the ego's<br />game. But truth gives no power over others. Truth cannot<br />be harnessed by the ego for a purpose of any kind. It must<br />be wanted for its own sake.<br />Rigid mental frameworks make it difficult to entertain<br />any new idea, let alone accept it. In fact, most people will<br />accept a new point of view only if it conforms in some way<br />to their current beliefs and does not take them beyond the<br />limited view of their own horizons.<br />So, beliefs are a way of limiting ourselves. They are the<br />mental limits we place on ourselves ... and those limits can<br />be stronger than any chains ever made. People accumulate<br />beliefs throughout their lives. Some we grew up with,<br />others are added by the people we associate with. They're<br />comfortable. The last thing most people would ever want<br />is to question their beliefs. Instead, they look for others to<br />reinforce their beliefs because they think the more people<br />who believe in something, the truer that thing becomes.<br />Needing verification of their beliefs, people are attracted<br />to other people and groups who think as they do. The search<br />is to find this verification, not to find anything new which<br />may disturb them. The search for truth is usually the search<br />for proof of what is already believed to be true, not what<br />is true.<br />This is particularly evident with religious and spiritually<br />minded people and ideas. Take Galileo, for example. The<br />majority of the world's population believed the earth was<br />flat, and became enraged when he offered scientific proofs<br />that it was round. The Catholic Church persecuted him for<br />not believing the earth was flat. It was only a few years ago<br />that the Church officially agreed Galileo was right.<br />But if a person is free of those beliefs, they can go<br />anywhere-to any church, any group-and be perfectly<br />happy and content because nothing need upset them. It is<br />incredibly freeing when you can go anywhere, be with any<br />type of person and feel complete in yourself. You don't<br />need to have anyone verify your beliefs, and you become<br />a more interesting person, more alive, free to come and go<br />as you will. You're open to new ideas and are able to act<br />appropriately in any situation-you know what to do, what<br />to say, how to act. You act purely without the need for<br />motive.<br />Why? Because you're free of restricting ideas and beliefs<br />about the situation. You don't have preconceived ideas, or<br />at least you're able to see that they are preconceived ideas.<br />You can say to somebody, "Well I believe this or that," and<br />know that it's actually a belief that you have. You don't have<br />to fight for your belief or debate whether it's true or not.<br />_______________________________________________<br />IDEAS AND PERCEPTIONS<br />In his essay, "Summa Theologica," Thomas Aquinas<br />discusses the process by which ideas are formed: "We<br />remember past events or happenings but we are never aware<br />of the memories by which we remember them. We can be<br />aware of imagined or imaginary objects but never the<br />images by which we imagine them. We apprehend objects<br />of thought but never the concepts by which we think of<br />them."<br />Human beings are complex, not simple. For example,<br />they think but they also feel. The relationship of thinking<br />and feeling is interactional and cyclical. The way we<br />structure our world makes us feel about it in certain ways.<br />The way we feel affects what we pay attention to and how<br />we make sense of it.<br />When we look at the world through these impressions,<br />we are enclosed and biased by those images. Because all<br />that we see and hear must be filtered through the concepts<br />that we hold of ourselves and the world around us, we never<br />really see anything around us with an objective eye. For<br />instance, each person is different at every moment and so<br />are we, but the mind is in the habit of looking with the<br />perceptions it has previously formed and those perceptions<br />may have nothing whatever to do with who or what that<br />person or thing is right now. I'm sure everyone has had the<br />experience of meeting an old friend not seen for years and<br />being disappointed that the person is not the person he knew<br />before.<br />People usually reach a conclusion based on a single<br />observation- a fragment of the picture-and then magnify<br />that grain of truth until it is completely out of proportion.<br />A waiter treats you poorly and you hate waiters. A man<br />treats you badly and you hate all men. You don't like<br />Saddam Hussein, so you mistrust all Iraqis. There is a great<br />tendency to embrace myths and fantasies because we want<br />to, although life is not nearly as complicated as we make it<br />out to be.<br />My observation is that we don't know what we are doing<br />or why, or even why we are here. The mind only makes<br />up ideas to pacify us, and we fall for them. When your mind<br />hears a statement like "You can be free of your beliefs,"<br />the mind will start calling everything a belief because it<br />wants to continue to assert its influence. Your mind doesn't<br />want you to know there is a knowing beyond beliefs where<br />the mind's influence ceases.<br />Most people lead a life of lies and false conclusions,<br />clinging desperately to their beliefs. Frequently, when<br />people realize that what they believe may not be true, they<br />will do a flip-flop and embrace the reverse of what they had<br />previously believed. A group I was asked to facilitate<br />illustrates this observation very well.<br />The intense anger generated by the circle of people was<br />almost overwhelming. I resisted the urge to flee as I surveyed<br />the group comprised of people recently disenchanted with<br />religious and spiritual organizations they had believed in<br />for years. Hostility and disappointment were evident on<br />every face. Some had signed over homes and property to<br />these groups; others had given their time, money, and<br />services, and now felt victimized. They felt they had been<br />betrayed, so they gathered with other people-who believed<br />as they did-to form a group whose purpose, it<br />seemed to me, was revenge.<br />One of the angriest people in the group was a middleaged<br />man who once had been a devout believer in his<br />church's doctrines for more than fourteen years. Now he<br />said he was an atheist. What he had done was to replace<br />one set of beliefs with another set, going from one extreme<br />to the other. This was the only way he could redirect the<br />energy that was freed when he released his old beliefs. The<br />all-encompassing, energy-consuming belief system left a<br />void that he replaced with something equally encompassing<br />and energy-consuming-rage, resentment and indignation.<br />His ego, acting on his belief that he had been taken<br />advantage of, projected any responsibility for his own<br />actions onto his former church, which he then completely<br />discredited.<br />I suggested that he could learn from the experience, if<br />he would look at the more positive side. I asked him what<br />he had learned, pointing out that he had obviously gained<br />from the experience, having had some wonderful times<br />belonging to the church as long as he had. I also told him<br />there is always a degree of truth to be found in every group,<br />but no matter how I tried to help him see the situation<br />clearly, he as fervently espoused atheism as he had his<br />former belief system. He could not see that he essentially<br />hadn't changed a thing. Instead of acknowledging his hurt<br />and the loss of his beliefs and allowing that energy to move<br />him into a period of not knowing, his mind quickly replaced<br />one false sense of knowing with another. He still wasn't free.<br />This is only counterbalancing within a limited dimension.<br />The addiction to the idea of duality needs to be<br />released. To transcend to a higher dimension, the negative<br />or positive nature of any belief is irrelevant.<br />Why would you want to hang on to something that isn't<br />true? Because you don't know or don't want to know what<br />is true. So you replace the insecure feeling of not knowing<br />with an idea that gives you the satisfying feeling that you<br />do know. However, truth is never a conclusion; it is always<br />a realization, a revelation.<br />Sometimes you will hold onto a belief that causes you<br />pain, even though you know your belief is unreasonable.<br />The pain may be all you have to cling to, and it is not readily<br />relinquished even though you may say that you want to<br />release it.<br />A friend named Clara was experiencing severe distress<br />over her mother's death, even though the woman had died<br />many years before. She was unable to face her feelings of<br />guilt over not being with her mother while she was ill, so<br />she blamed the nurses, the hospital, her brother and his<br />wife, the doctors, and God-in short, she concluded that<br />everyone and everything else was to blame for not taking<br />care of her mother properly. If she let go of the blame she<br />directed at others, she would be forced to deal with her<br />unvoiced belief that she was to blame. No amount of<br />reasoning or understanding would convince her to accept<br />other than what she wanted to believe, even though she<br />claimed she wanted to stop her grief and loneliness. Seeing<br />that she needed to hold onto those beliefs, I let her go.<br />Six months later, Clara showed up at my door, a completely<br />changed person. She radiated happiness and contentment.<br />I asked her what had happened to relieve her<br />distress and she told me that what I had said to her about<br />observing herself had finally penetrated her mind. In her<br />loneliness and despair, she had finally hit bottom and turned<br />to the only person left who would pay attention to herself.<br />She had taken an honest, clear look at herself and<br />her situation from a detached perspective and was able to<br />accept responsibility for her role in creating the situation.<br />She let go of the need to blame either herself or anyone<br />else. This released enough energy to bring about change<br />and allowed her the freedom to get on with her own life.<br />When we begin to observe, we start becoming aware of<br />our conclusions. If we have already decided something is<br />wrong or right, we cannot watch. The mind is a very subtle<br />thing. Whatever you see, you see through the mind; whatever<br />you listen to, you listen to through the mind-and the<br />mind is quick at imposing interpretations.<br />_______________________________________________<br />WHAT CAN WE REALLY KNOW<br />ABOUT ANYTHING?<br />You may think that your beliefs define who you are;<br />that's not true. Who you really are has nothing to do with<br />what you believe. Your beliefs only define the limitations<br />your mind places on your character and personality. It's<br />like being an actor. The actor is not the character he<br />portrays on the stage, no matter how convincing the performance.<br />Sir Laurence Olivier was not Hamlet or King<br />Lear; he merely portrayed these personalities. In real life,<br />Sylvester Stallone is neither Rocky nor Rambo.<br />In the same way, beliefs are the patterns through which<br />we play out our parts in the world. When you begin to see<br />through the belief systems you've been using to define the<br />character you're playing in this world, that character begins<br />to dissolve and the actor himself begins to show up.<br />To release belief, it is necessary to become fully aware<br />of the psychological interplay between belief (in the part<br />you're playing) and the self (the real actor). Then you are<br />able to see the falsehood behind belief.<br />When you begin to see this within yourself, you will<br />become aware that those around you-family, friends,<br />lovers, neighbors, co-workers, etc. -are also actors playing<br />roles of limitation. The difference is that they aren't<br />aware they're playing roles. You begin to understand, and<br />in understanding, there is no need to stay angry, to condemn<br />or criticize ... or to forgive. Understand yourself first, and<br />you will understand the world around you.<br />Through the years I've worked with hundreds of people<br />who have problems with their parents. They complain that<br />their parents don't accept them for who or what they are.<br />"You can't expect a turtle to run like a deer," I tell them.<br />I point out that they want unconditional acceptance from<br />their parents but are unwilling to unconditionally accept<br />their parents. The problem lies within themselves; their<br />parents are simply the scapegoats. A person who wants to<br />be truly free must refuse to place limits on others as well<br />as refusing to accept limitations from others.<br />Freeing yourself is not about hindsight. It's about being<br />aware of what you are doing, saying and feeling as it<br />occurs. Let's say you've gotten angry about something, and<br />you decide to talk it over with your therapist at the next<br />session. By then it will be too late. The anger experience<br />is over and you'll have had many other experiences in the<br />meantime. Just talking won't help much you've got to be<br />aware of it at the very moment it occurs. Once the moment<br />is over, it's too late. Conjuring up the experience won't<br />help much either, because it was yesterday's anger, yesterday's<br />energy, and it is lost forever. It's easy to be reasonable<br />after the fact. "Oh, I'll never do that again!" Yes, you<br />will, and you'll continue doing so until you catch yourself<br />in the act. I'm not saying it does no good to let out your<br />emotions and have catharsis, but these techniques are<br />limited. They help somewhat, but they don't free you<br />because they only deal with the past, not the present. You<br />must be alert when similar energy arises in you again and<br />experience the energy as it is happening, with full awareness.<br />To release belief, it is necessary to become fully aware<br />of the psychological interplay between belief and self; when<br />you are able to see the falsehood behind belief, the habit<br />will vanish.<br />At this point, you attain the intuitive insight that comes<br />from recognizing and acknowledging the limitations of the<br />mind. You shed the false protection of belief and allow<br />yourself to operate within what I call "the security of<br />insecurity. " You begin to see beliefs as merely conditioned<br />ways of knowing and applying knowledge that is relative,<br />not absolute.<br />Since I've been using acting as an example, I'll use it<br />again to further explain what I mean. I was a professional<br />actor most of my life. Actors are very insecure people.<br />Every actor knows that acting is not the field a person who<br />wants stability or financial security should be in, yet we<br />find ourselves drawn to that lifestyle. The Screen Actors<br />Guild, a union for actors, estimates that only about five<br />percent of the thousands of actors in the union actually make<br />their living by acting. If you've ever been around actors,<br />the most common topic of discussion is how miserable they<br />are that they are not working and how uncertain they always<br />feel. Years ago, I realized that, as an actor, sometimes I<br />would work, and most of the time I probably would not<br />work. I accepted the inherent instability of this profession,<br />and in doing so, I found stability. I never tried to be secure<br />in the field, nor did I permit acting to dictate whether or<br />not I was happy. This was the security of insecurity.<br />Acceptance is the kei here. The world is like this. Accept<br />it as it is, and you are free of it. Accept your parents for<br />who they are and you are free of them. What makes you<br />miserable is your desire to have things and people be other<br />than what they are. You want a turtle to run like a deer and<br />you want a lion to be like a sheep. Look deeply, and you<br />will see that the only time you aro angry and unhappy is<br />when things are not as you want them to be. When you<br />believe in particulars, you cause your own pain. Let go of<br />the particulars, and you will flow freely.<br />What can we expect of life when we are emancipated<br />from our belief systems? In that liberation lies the pathless<br />domain of freedom-the beginning of discovery. By realizing<br />and accepting that we live in a world of insecurity,<br />we are then moved into a place of peace that does not rely<br />on external conditions.<br />3<br />WHY WE BELIEVE<br />"If the thing believed is<br />incredible, it is also incredible<br />that the incredible should<br />have been so believed."<br />_____________<br />SAINT AUGUSTINE<br />Beliefs are part of your struggle not to be free. You<jr>cling to the nalse because you do not know the true. Your<br />mind doesn't want you to know there is a knowing beyond<br />beliefs where the mind's influence ceases.<br />If you think your beliefs give you peace of mind, be<br />aware that beliefs are lazy things-they replace what is real.<br />Don't make the mistake of thinking a lazy mind is a peaceful<br />mind. A lazy mind can't be bothered to find out the truth<br />of a situation or thing because it requires too much effort.<br />Preconceived ideas produce a lazy mind. You've already<br />decided the way a person is or how a situation will be. There<br />is no room to explore, which limits yowr experiences. Yt<br />requires alertness to keep the mind clear and maturity to<rr>live life in the full awareness of every moment as it happens,<br />no matter what the cost. The fear is that the ego may be<br />shattered and only a spiritually mature person has the<br />courage to allow that to happen. But if a person wishes to<br />grow, living life in the present, which may at times seem<br />painful and tragic, is the most important thing because the<br />present is the only door to reality. Once through it, you will<br />then begin to see the lack of value in what you have been<br />holding onto.<br />Why is it so difficult to remain in the present? You get<br />frightened and you get bored. You're looking for something<br />to turn you on, to get you moving, but at the same time<br />you're afraid to end your boredom. You want the real to<br />be what you want it to be ... not what it is. It's an awful<br />block. I often refer to it as the "Great Barrier." But it is<br />possible to be free if you'll allow yourself to see clearly and<br />you can only see clearly if you see beyond the images, the<br />beliefs that are blocking the view.<br />People protest that their beliefs are true, but people are<br />hungry to have experiences, especially spiritual experiences.<br />They don't realize that it is relatively easy to conjure<br />an experience out of their belief system, but that experience<br />is more fantasy than real. Real "mystical" experiences must<br />come unaided. The less you are involved in producing<br />them, the more genuine they are. Then they must be<br />released immediately or they will self-create more of the<br />same. Mystical experiences are intoxicating and there lies<br />the danger in them for those who wish to become more<br />aware.<br />All beliefs contain an element of truth that gives the<br />whole belief the feeling of being true. Your beliefs wouldn't<br />exist without your believing in them. Are you more interested<br />in your truth, in being right, or in truth itself? Truth<br />stands alone; it doesn't need your belief to give it reality.<br />Truth is one, it cannot be divided. It has no ownership<br />and does not need to be defended. Are you more interested<br />in what you think is real or in discovering what is real? A<br />belief may be ninety-nine percent false and only one percent<br />true. It's ridiculous to base one's whole life on that ratio<br />without ever examining it.<br />Beliefs frequently masquerade as fact. Though they<br />sometimes have a useful function in making sense of our<br />experience of the physical world, when they discourage<br />scrutiny instead of challenging us to further thought, we<br />need to examine the belief until we see the false percentage<br />in it. When you let that false percentage go, what's left will<br />be one hundred percent true, and you won't need to<br />maintain the belief any more.<br />_______________________________________________<br />ADDICTIVE STATES<br />Belief is a habit-a habit with intellectual content. It is<br />also an addiction. You may not have thought of yourself as<br />a belief junkie, but your beliefs shackle you as much as any<br />heroin addict's needle. Addiction can be defined as an<br />individual's adjustment to his environment, an habitual<br />style of coping that has compulsive qualities.<br />Eddie couldn't drink just one cup of coffee; he had to<br />drink twenty. He was also a recovering alcoholic. He<br />approached belief systems in the same way. Eric Hoffer<br />coined the phrase "true believer" to describe such a person.<br />When Eddie first came to the gathering, he was afraid of<br />his feelings and avoided them by being very intellectual.<br />He wanted everything to be clearly and sharply defined.<br />He also wanted to be in control of any situation he encountered,<br />but from the moment he arrived, he was dealing with<br />the unexpected. I continued to keep him off-balance.<br />I felt he would be helped by the realization that he might<br />not know as much as he thought he did. After he would<br />make a statement in the group, I would remind him that<br />what he had just said was probably a belief or theory, and<br />he really didn't know for sure the validity of what he was<br />saying. I used this tactic to open up a mind rigidly set on<br />having all the answers. He became able to say "I really<br />know nothing," and mean it. This freed him and enabled<br />him to consider other possibilities. He was also able to<br />explore his feelings and be less guarded.<br />My tactic had worked, almost too well. When it was time<br />for him to release the idea that he didn't know anything,<br />his addictive personality was unable to let go. He would<br />say, "I don't know" all the time to the point where it not<br />only was annoying to have a conversation with him, but it<br />became a block to his further growth. On numerous occasions,<br />I told him he had now made an addiction out of this<br />statement, that it had become a habit, thereby losing its<br />value for him. It took a while--he had to be weaned off the<br />statement the same way he had weaned himself off coffee<br />and alcohol, but he eventually moved past it.<br />Be aware of statements like this that have become habitual<br />detriments to your growth.<br />Look at the beliefs people have about their relationships.<br />I work with many people who have problems with relationships.<br />In fact, every problem is a relationship problem how<br />you relate to money, success, happiness, sex, the<br />universe, and so on.<br />When Freda came to me, she had just been divorced and<br />was about to marry her seventh husband. As we talked<br />about her relationship issues, she told me how rotten her<br />previous husbands had been, how they had mistreated her<br />and how screwed up they were. Then she said something<br />really interesting. "Now I'm on to another one."<br />I tried to show her how her belief system about marriage<br />kept her in a cycle, attracting the same kind of person over<br />and over again, but she denied it. She wouldn't see that she<br />was in any way responsible. She continued to complain<br />about her bad relationships with men until I was so exasperated,<br />I said, "You know, I'm trying to get you to focus<br />on the positive side of it, but you just keep telling me the<br />same stories over and over again. "<br />Freda hesitated for a second, then said, "I know, but I<br />just love talking about it."<br />I told her, "Your next husband isn't going to be any<br />different. You'll have the same problems with him because<br />you believe all men are the same-rotten, miserable wife<br />abusers, and you can't trust them. You'll produce the same<br />situation again because that's what you believe in, only each<br />time it will become more intolerable until you `get it.'<br />You're addicted to that belief. "<br />Everything possible to believe has this potential to become<br />addictive. We either cling to a particular belief, even<br />though it may have outgrown its temporary usefulness, or<br />replace it with another. We replace the idea of lack with<br />the idea of prosperity, the idea of hatred with the idea of<br />love, and so on. The habituation of our beliefs is a good<br />indication that we have probably stopped learning. If we<br />believe that we already know, we will not be able to observe<br />and experience the freshness of life. Recognizing that we<br />actually don't know moves us into the present moment.<br />Then, suddenly, things begin to happen. A crossover occurs<br />and we move into the unexpected, into the aliveness of life.<br />We become available to the new.<br />_______________________________________________<br />DESIRE<br />Ever transient and insatiable, desire is the pursuit of<br />illusion; its purpose is to give the mind a sense of security.<br />We find the reality of who we believe ourselves to be<br />unsatisfying. Out of this constant, disturbing dissatisfaction<br />arises fear, which we identify as either physically or<br />psychologically painful. Consequently, we want to become<br />other than what we are. Quick-fix fads and bandaid solutions<br />such as those featured in supermarket tabloids and<br />popular magazines appeal to these desires, promising the<br />moon but delivering only its reflection. We will go to any<br />length to avoid seeing what is; as a result, our decisions are<br />motivated by the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain.<br />We don't understand what we are now so we avoid facing<br />it by creating something else. We lull ourselves to sleep<br />with our beliefs, our rituals, our food, drink, sex and<br />ideals-all diversions to avoid being disturbed. Disturbance<br />is not a bad thing-it's necessary for anyone who<br />wishes to grow because only then do we question. Without<br />disturbance, there is stagnation. Observe the ebb and flow<br />of water in the ocean or a river or stream-the disturbance<br />keeps the water fresh and alive. Look along the edges where<br />the water isn't in motion-the vitality has left, causing the<br />water to stagnate.<br />As we look deeper, we see that desire pushes us forward<br />and our old companion, fear, holds us back. We understand<br />the language of fear, the origin of which we have forgotten<br />until we begin to observe ourselves, for when fear speaks<br />to us, we obey.<br />We want meaningful relationships but panic at even the<br />hint of a commitment; we desire success but are anxious<br />about it; we want to be happy but feel undeserving; we<br />hunger for recognition but worry that we are incapable of<br />living up to our religious or social ideals. It's one great big<br />tug-of-war.<br />What makes us afraid is that we reject what we innately<br />know to be the actual while clinging to the illusion. We are<br />terrified of being insecure, both physically and psychologically,<br />and of not achieving our desires, either for ourselves<br />or another. Our real motive is to be safe and protected.<br />However, in an insecure world, the fulfillment of pleasure<br />is dubious at best.<br />Can we look at our world as it is, without trying to escape<br />from the truth? Can we face our aloneness, our fears, our<br />relationships, our insecurities about the world, without<br />resorting to distractions? Can we observe ourselves without<br />comparisons, judgments, condemnations?<br />The real issue is, can you not recondition yourself?<br />That's the question. Can you not go from one side to the<br />other, but transcend both sides and go beyond both sides?<br />In other words, go beyond all conditioning. You see, it's<br />not just a matter of questioning your beliefs, although that's<br />how it starts. Once you start investigating what you believe<br />in, eventually the real question is not why do I believe in<br />these things, but why do I believe at all? You begin to<br />question belief itself. Why do we believe? What is the<br />necessity behind belief? Why do I need to believe?<br />Consciousness is not pure awareness but rather awareness<br />as it is embodied in the psychological structure of the<br />mind or the brain. Awareness exists independently of the<br />brain structure. At the point when you start questioning<br />belief, you will begin to move into a different state of<br />consciousness, then transcend consciousness to awareness.<br />You will move beyond all this talk of love and hate, of being<br />this or that. The content of consciousness will cease to be<br />the yardstick by which you measure your life because it is<br />based on a limited sense of identity. Awareness will become<br />more and more important. The very act of seeing the<br />complexity of the web you've woven around yourself is all<br />that's required for the whole structure to collapse all at<br />once, and you'll be in a state of freedom which you've never<br />experienced before. That is the nature of observing.<br />Judgment separates and divides by deciding in what class<br />or category an act belongs. It compares, distributes, estimates<br />but creates nothing. It cannot originate ideas because<br />it is of the past. Transformation requires the deep acceptance<br />of our being as we are now, without judgment.<br />_______________________________________________<br />THE HEART OF THE MATTER<br />Why are we so ambitious? Why do we continually seek<br />to make the "I" amount to something? "I have to be good,<br />I have to be right, I have to be loving, successful, heroic,<br />modest, spiritual, etc." Why are we so concerned with the<br />future and the past?<br />Honesty is a rarity where motives are concerned because<br />it takes enormous energy and courage to look at ourselves.<br />We may find it too disturbing to see the genuine motives<br />behind our actions, so we cleverly conceal them behind a<br />multitude of masks: humility, generosity, virtue, respectability,<br />to name a few. Revealing the truth behind these<br />masks, we fear, might thwart the gratification of our<br />ambitions. We want to be successful to glorify our beliefs,<br />our ideals, or ourselves; this only serves to widen the gap<br />separating us from each other.<br />First we have a motive, out of which arise our inclinations,<br />which may be considered good or bad, ethical or<br />unethical, moral or immoral. If we each look deeply within<br />ourselves to find out where our pleasures lie, our inclinations<br />are revealed to us. We can then discern whether these<br />inclinations come from our inherited (genetic) mechanism<br />or from our acquired concepts (which come from our<br />environment and are also mechanical) or both. A closer<br />look at the reason for our choices reveals the heart of the<br />matter, which is that our beliefs are produced in our world<br />according to our motives.<br />Giving and getting are not based on what we think we<br />do but on the motive behind our actions. That motive is<br />always based on achieving pleasure and avoiding pain. Dr.<br />J. C. Arthur, in his book entitled The Sagacity and Morality<br />of Plants, says: "I have tried to show that all organisms,<br />even to the very simplest, whether plant or animal, from<br />the very nature of life and the struggle for its maintenance,<br />must be endowed with conscious feeling-pleasure and<br />pain being its simplest expression."<br />Years ago, when I first started speaking, I began receiving<br />gifts from people attending the groups I held. At first I<br />was flattered. I thought of the gifts as being given freely,<br />with no strings attached, but after a while I realized some<br />of them were bribes, not gifts. What is the difference<br />between a gift and a bribe? The dictionary defines a gift as<br />"given or bestowed without charge. The action, right, or<br />power of giving." Bribery is defined as "something to<br />induce a certain course of action, especially a wrong course<br />by the gift or offer of something valued." Most of what we<br />do in life is motivated by our desire to "get." Rarely, if<br />ever, do we give freely to another or ourselves. Bribery is<br />very subtle and cunning, and often disguises itself as good<br />intent.<br />I remember going with a friend to see a famous teacher<br />from India one evening. I was asked to bring a piece of fruit<br />as an offering to the guru as it was considered a symbolic<br />gesture of giving in return for the wisdom we were about<br />to receive. When we got there, the room was filled with<br />over a thousand devotees. After the talk and meditation, a<br />long line formed as we waited patiently to present our small<br />tokens of gratitude. In front of me was a man whose arms<br />were full of dolls, posters, a basket of fruit and other things.<br />The single apple I held suddenly seemed inadequate.<br />When the man's turn came, several attendants came<br />forward to help him lay his gifts on the floor before the<br />teacher. The crowd murmured its appreciation of this<br />impressive offering while waiting to see the guru's response.<br />The teacher took one look at the items presented to<br />him and waved the man away, refusing his gifts with a flick<br />of the hand. The man protested that the presents were for<br />him but again the guru waved the man away and told his<br />attendants to return the presents to the man. The attendants<br />escorted the man from the hall.<br />As we milled around afterward, I overheard some of the<br />people in the crowd criticizing the guru, saying that his<br />actions were not very loving. I realized that it was the man's<br />motives that were in question here. The teacher would not<br />accept these gifts because he recognized them as a bribe for<br />attention that would enhance the man's ego, therefore the<br />teacher immediately refused the presents and dismissed the<br />man.<br />When a person wants something in life, whether it be an<br />object, a relationship, success, money, or awareness, he<br />must question his real motive for wanting these things. He<br />must be as honest with himself as possible. If he finds he<br />wants these things for questionable reasons, then he must<br />face this honestly if he is to ever grow in awareness.<br />_______________________________________________<br />IMAGINATION AND CHOICE<br />Paul was a difficult person to speak with. He had been<br />raised in the kind of insecurity only a broken home could<br />produce, and had a mind-set that was rigidly unyielding.<br />He had recently attended several large metaphysical seminars<br />where he was told "You are unlimited. You can do<br />anything." He believed that his life had changed for the<br />better as a result of these affirmations. His first taste of<br />personal power completely seduced him.<br />Many metaphysically inclined people have the idea that<br />thought as expressed in imagination or creative visualization<br />is the ultimate expression of self, yet this idea shackles<br />them because thought, as expressed in the human form, is<br />limited by experience of the senses. Individuals who find<br />positive thinking and affirmations attractive are frequently<br />people who have never felt powerful enough. At this level<br />of development, they are exploring a sense of power. It is<br />important to move into the stage where you begin to<br />consciously direct the One Power. It is essential to growth<br />if one is to understand power and its limits. Unfortunately,<br />it has been bypassed by some groups in favor of letting go<br />and letting God.<br />· Should we stop imagining?<br />It is not necessary to stop imagining. We work in concert<br />with the One Power. There is a time to let go and a time<br />to act. Everything we do, every thought we think, wields<br />the power. Not to realize this fact is a result of spiritual<br />ignorance. How is one to learn and grow unless one<br />experiments and explores? Once you experience the miraculous<br />powers of your mind and release the idea that you<br />are separate from everyone and everything, you can then<br />leave your imagination alone to do the work it does best,<br />free to create in the present rather than in the future.<br />_______________________________________________<br />CONSCIOUS CHOICES<br />In my book, The Lover in You, The Art of Imagining, I<br />dealt with the issue of how to make conscious choices in<br />life. Making choices is an appropriate and important step<br />for people who are past- or future-oriented. They need to<br />have a starting point. Choice becomes very important for<br />people who are afraid. They need to know they can make<br />new choices that will improve the quality of their lives,<br />especially if they feel the choices they made in the past were<br />wrong. The experience of making a conscious choice and<br />acting on it is a means of seeing things for what they are in<br />order to be free of them. This opens the door for the real<br />to be revealed.<br />· How do we choose which beliefs or images to keep and<br />which to discard?<br />Why choose at all? Have you ever investigated why we<br />choose? We only choose when we're confused. If we aren't<br />clear about something, then we need to make a choice. Do<br />you need to choose when you see something clearly? We<br />make such a big deal of making choices. I'm not talking<br />about choosing which clothes you're going to wear or what<br />flavor of ice cream you're going to eat. I'm speaking about<br />the kind of choices that come from mistrust and uncertainty.<br />A mind that has no clarity must always choose. A clear<br />mind has no choice and responds appropriately.<br />The real choice is not whether you can do something,<br />but whether you should do something.<br />_______________________________________________<br />FREEDOM FROM BELIEF<br />The small assembly seemed receptive, and I felt very<br />relaxed as I walked on stage. Scanning the audience, I<br />noticed her. Self-confident and attractive, she was the only<br />person dressed completely in black. As I spoke, she nodded<br />her head in agreement, a wide smile on her face. At the end<br />of my speech, she was the first to come up and tell me how<br />much she had enjoyed the evening. She told me she agreed<br />with everything I had said, and that she, too, believed in<br />nothing. Appropriately, she was from Missouri, the<br />"Show-Me" State. During the casual conversation, to demonstrate<br />her lack of belief systems, she told me she didn't<br />even believe the sun would rise the next morning until she<br />saw it herself. "After all," she said, "it might not rise for<br />me." I laughed and told her that wasn't freedom from<br />beliefs, it was simply pessimism. In an instant, the smile<br />was gone and I realized that she felt exposed. As she<br />defended her position, I said nothing. She prided herself on<br />being free from beliefs according to her idea of what that<br />meant, and this belief formed what she felt was the very<br />core of her identity. When the false identity was exposed,<br />she became defensive. If she could have observed her<br />reaction at that moment, she would have seen a truth about<br />herself. Instead, by holding fervently to her position, she<br />missed an opportunity to experience freedom in a way she<br />had never experienced before.<br />We believe so many things on hearsay-in the faraway,<br />in heavens and hells, gods and goddesses-because we've<br />been told to believe in these things. We believe what we're<br />told about ourselves, never bothering to verify this information.<br />Freedom means letting go. Believing means holding<br />on. Because beliefs give you the illusion of freedom,<br />your most fundamental beliefs need to be questioned if you<br />are ever to experience the letting go that real freedom<br />brings. Once experienced, even briefly, you will be better<br />able to distinguish between real freedom and the illusion of<br />freedom.<br />The most limiting of all beliefs is that we are our body.<br />From the belief in the body comes our perception of the<br />world, and along with that, our perception of God, who is<br />supposed to have created the world. Then fear begins,<br />creating all kinds of systems to support and protect frightened<br />children who, hiding in their little belief-system<br />closets, are scared out of their wits by monsters of their<br />own making. So they pray and begin to worship, which<br />begets organized religion, which in turn demands sacrifice<br />in one form or another.<br />One beautiful spring day, several friends invited me to<br />attend Mass with them "just for the fun of it." When the<br />time for communion came, I decided to take part. My<br />friends were horrified. "You can't, you're not even Catholic,"<br />they said. They seemed to think the hand of God was<br />going to strike me down. I wasn't taking communion to<br />offend them. Since I was there, I wanted to participate fully<br />in the service. It's not necessary to believe in a particular<br />doctrine to enjoy the rituals. I thoroughly enjoyed taking<br />part in the rites while they were too disturbed by my actions<br />to take pleasure in the service.<br />There is a vast difference between being spiritual and<br />being religious. Spirituality does not require a belief in a<br />God or a system. It is the sense of the wholeness of things,<br />a trust in life. Religion is a set of teachings, rules and<br />conducts founded around a divine teacher, although religion<br />can enhance spirituality if it is used constructively.<br />A friend of mine who is gay used to have a problem<br />reconciling his sexual orientation with his religion. When<br />he went to confession and told the priest what the problem<br />was, the priest said, "The only sin is to deny what you are,<br />what God made you. " This young man was fortunate<br />enough to have a very wise and understanding priest who<br />helped him to accept himself. If he had gone to a priest who<br />believed otherwise, those beliefs would have been imposed<br />on him and he most likely would have continued to feel<br />guilt and remorse for who he was. Any teaching that causes<br />you to feel ashamed of yourself, your body, or your feelings<br />is aggressive and abusive. It is insulting to your very being.<br />You cannot be a whole person if you are constantly<br />burdened with judgments about your actions or with bombastic<br />commandments demanding adherence at the price of<br />your integrity. You can "get" religion-many do and<br />become religious gluttons-but you cannot "get" spirituality.<br />You cannot follow its rules because it has none.<br />All religions and "special" groups hold out the promise<br />of giving the individual a sense of being connected to<br />something, of being a part of something greater than<br />himself. The need to belong is a great motivator. Once a<br />person is aware of being part of everything, it is unnecessary<br />to go anywhere to feel a sense of belonging because<br />you are already a part of wherever you may happen to be.<br />· Aren't some New Age beliefs pathways to higher<br />consciousness?<br />The last couple of decades have seen a profound change<br />in attitudes toward expanded states of consciousness, enlightenment<br />and spirituality. The failure of our society to<br />provide a fertile ground for the cultivation of one's self-its<br />emphasis on materialism as opposed to community, of<br />isolation rather than integration, of man as inherently "evil"<br />rather than as intrinsically whole-has led to a mass turning<br />toward Eastern and Native systems of philosophy and<br />tradition as a means of salvation.<br />In typically Western fashion, the fascination with personal<br />transformation has become virtually a national obsession,<br />with gurus and recipes for enlightenment being<br />hawked like cotton candy at a carnival.<br />In our enthusiasm we overlook the fundamental aspects<br />of the teachings we embrace, with its seeming Catch-22<br />that requires us to be aware in order to be free. Without a<br />firm sense of self, the unawakened consciousness senses<br />the separation between the technique and the practitioner;<br />it's unable to see that the effectiveness of any technique<br />resides in one's self.<br />A self which is not conscious cannot be known. Consciousness<br />creates itself from the position of its own existence;<br />as it does, it moves slowly up to the stages of<br />awareness. The way we view ourselves goes through<br />developmental stages. Without complete movement<br />through these stages, blending and balancing the parts into<br />a whole, we're left with a sense of emptiness.<br />New Age and other current spiritual teachings, groups,<br />courses, etc., offer one-sided formulas or recipes for living.<br />The student replaces one set of beliefs for another, rather<br />than inquiring into the nature of being. They give people<br />beliefs to replace beliefs, doctrines to replace doctrines. It<br />may be argued that there are "higher beliefs." While there<br />may be some truth to this, the wise know that these beliefs,<br />too, must be released. The bottom line is, beliefs are<br />beliefs, period, and they keep people in a perpetual dream<br />state.<br />You want your beliefs, what you refer to as your truth,<br />confirmed by what your ordinary consciousness perceives<br />as new and exciting sources. But it's important to see that<br />all that you are capable of hearing at that ordinary level is<br />that which you have already heard, that which reinforces<br />the beliefs of your conventional consciousness. The "exotic"<br />is not telling you anything new.<br />Psychologist Francis Vaughan points out, "the failure of<br />orthodox religious practices to provide genuine experiences<br />of transcendence have created a climate of spiritual deprivation<br />and an intensified search for transcendental answers."<br />If there were such a thing as a "wrong" choice, the down<br />side of it would be the psychological consequences of<br />joining a group purportedly offering "spiritual" self-realization.<br />According to a prominent transpersonal psychologist,<br />large numbers of people are being led "to surrender<br />self-determination willingly in order to gain a sense of<br />purpose in a world perceived to be meaningless." We see<br />individual quests for personal growth and spiritual fulfillment<br />detouring through the shadow world of human potential,<br />the noble desire for self-realization turned into a simple<br />obsession with self-indulgence and immediate physical<br />sensation; such excesses have led to a nationwide concern<br />over cultism. Dr. Lowell Strieker addresses these issues by<br />saying, "The cult controversy illumines not only conflicts<br />of generation and values but shifts in perception about the<br />way the world is, the way it will be, and what ought to be<br />done about both."<br />People are hungry for any experience of what they think<br />to be God, Kundalini or UFOs and are eager to believe just<br />about everything they read or hear, if it fits in with what<br />they want to be true. If the simple beliefs you have about<br />yourself may be false, what makes you think these more<br />encompassing beliefs might be true?<br />Kurt is a gifted sculptor whose artwork is admired by<br />many, but he has difficulty making a comfortable, steady<br />living. His personal earthly efforts are diffused by his<br />otherworldly interests. His vivid imagination is a wonderful<br />asset to his work, but it doesn't help him much in everyday<br />life. He believes in flying saucers and claims it is the sign<br />of an enlightened mind not to rule out the possibility of<br />extraterrestrials. But for him, flying saucers are reality, not<br />merely the acknowledgement of possibility.<br />So much in his life is unfulfilling that the fantastic and<br />far-away holds greater appeal than his reality. He can't say<br />that he has actually met an alien or been beamed aboard a<br />spacecraft, but he likes the idea and wants it to be true. It<br />helps to make him special. If he were content with his life,<br />he might see things differently, but he's not content. He is<br />always getting involved with one scheme or another requiring<br />a hefty cash outlay, promising big returns that never<br />materialize. Because he always looks on the bright side, he<br />justifies these adventures as lessons. But he never does learn<br />from them and continues to be sucked into one get-rich-quick<br />scheme after another. In many ways, he is a very<br />aware person, more so than many, yet he never seems to<br />slow down long enough to see what he is doing.<br />In reading this example, you might think I am against<br />these possibilities. I am not against them. I neither believe<br />nor disbelieve them, which frees me for all possibilities<br />without binding my energy to the belief process.<br />Many metaphysical people love words like "sacred<br />places," "brotherhoods," the "light," and are conned by<br />endless promises made in this workshop or group that they<br />will meet their greater self, communicate with or see UFOs.<br />This is all advertising. They promise that you will find out<br />who you are, for a price. The price is not the money, but<br />the energy wasted in useless pursuits. You want your old<br />religions wrapped up in a New Age package but everything<br />remains the same. You're still pursuing the same things,<br />merely changing the facade. Now it's extraterrestrials, light<br />brotherhoods, sacred places and conspiracies. I find it<br />humorous when I look at our world and see the difficulty<br />people have in tolerating anything that is new or anyone<br />who is different, and yet there are so many who are eager<br />to meet beings who might be very different indeed. Not only<br />are most people unable to sustain a relationship with a<br />member of the opposite or even same sex, they can barely<br />tolerate their neighbor who happens to be of a different<br />sexual, political, religious, ethnic or economic background.<br />It's important to see the commonness of it all. It's<br />important to see how common you are just one of the<br />herd. And when you do find out that you've been taken for<br />a ride, you justify it by saying you have learned from the<br />experience. But you haven't. You were taken in by the same<br />old thing--empty promises. And it's even more important<br />to see that you will do it again. You're in love with anything<br />that keeps you away from what is happening now, anything<br />that prevents you from being who you are right now.<br />The power is not in the cards, the crystals, or in anything<br />or anyone outside yourself. All power resides in the I AM<br />of yourself. Within the I AM is the substantial, fundamental<br />truth. Now I wouldn't necessarily take away someone's<br />comfort but I am compelled to tell you that as long as you<br />view the world through your belief systems, the outside is<br />all illusion. It is not the reality that you take it for; it is a<br />shadow of the reality-temporary, a pale copy. Only the<br />essence is real. Start working with that as a basis and you<br />will build upon a stable foundation. Understand, we are not<br />here to change the world but to change our perception of<br />the world; out of this comes our reality.<br />· So you're saying that these beliefs are false?<br />No. It's not for me to be your authority on the truth of<br />what you may believe or disbelieve. You must be your own<br />authority. Your beliefs may be true, or only partially so.<br />I'm saying that if you want to be more conscious, aware<br />and awakened (something which every one of you reading<br />this book apparently wants or you wouldn't have read this<br />far), then you must examine all you have ever taken to be<br />true in order to find out for yourself what is true and what<br />is not.<br />You think your beliefs serve you, but in what way? Have<br />you investigated? Beliefs don't serve you; you serve them<br />and you pay dearly for it. They are an investment in<br />blindness. Believing yourself to be what you are not keeps<br />you from being all that you are. Remember the woman from<br />Missouri and her belief in her unbelief? Beliefs require an<br />enormous amount of energy to sustain them, energy that<br />you need if you want to go farther. It's a heavy price to<br />pay. If you wish to become more aware, you can't afford<br />it. That energy must be released. At a certain point, a<br />person who wants to be more aware cannot continue to<br />carry the burden of false beliefs. In order to climb to the<br />top of the mountain where truth resides, he must first unload<br />all the unnecessary baggage.<br />· I feel I would fight and even die for what I believe in!<br />Fight? Obviously. Die? I doubt it. Not intentionally,<br />anyway. Willingness to die for something doesn't make it<br />truer. What is true is that you're afraid to even consider the<br />possibility that your beliefs may not be true and that's the<br />truth you need to see. I admire your earnestness but your<br />statement is foolish. If you must die, die for what is real.<br />The fact that you refer to it as your truth suggests it is not<br />the Truth. Your statement can't be verified, which makes<br />it safe for you to say. It's like someone saying that they<br />love humanity while not being able to be in a relationship<br />with one other person. It's so easy to love the distant and<br />the obscure. Love one other person and you will love many.<br />Love yourself and you love everyone. I know you feel<br />you'd die for what you believe in, but the next time you're<br />placed in front of a firing squad for your beliefs, let us know<br />what happens. It will hold more weight then.<br />The more emotional or sentimental you are, the less<br />likely you are to examine your beliefs. This is detrimental<br />to many New Agers and churchgoers. The example of a<br />member of a group meeting at my house demonstrates this.<br />It had rained all day, and the moisture brought with it an<br />uncomfortable chill. It wasn't a gentle rain, but a heavy<br />downpour, the kind Southern California doesn't handle<br />well. The group members were soaked by the time they<br />entered the house, contributing to the uncharacteristically<br />sober discussion at hand.<br />Pamela's expression betrayed the disturbance she felt as<br />she sat cross-legged in a far corner of the room. She wanted<br />to be perfect. She worked hard at it and didn't hesitate to<br />correct you when your ideas and beliefs didn't coincide with<br />her own. She belonged to a well-known group with a nasty<br />reputation for aggressive persuasion and intimidation, yet<br />for her it was the most superior of teachings.<br />"I'm twenty-three and I am a very spiritually advanced<br />person. I am involved in a very spiritual organization and<br />it bothers me that most of the people sharing here are<br />coming from their heads. They're not coming from their<br />hearts. Feelings are what is important if you want to be<br />spiritual. I always come from my heart because that is the<br />only way we can get in touch with our inner self. We should<br />be sharing what we are feeling, not what we're thinking."<br />Her attempt at piousness couldn't disguise her patronizing<br />tone.<br />"Can you share from your feelings and let the others<br />share intellectually, or must everyone come from the space<br />you come from?" I asked. "You consider yourself to be<br />spiritually advanced and yet admonish anyone who doesn't<br />conform to your standard of behavior." This aggression<br />within us, even if it is believed to be spiritually motivated,<br />is why the world is as it is. Sentimental and emotional<br />feelings (which we often refer to as coming from our hearts)<br />are required to project what we believe in. The mind<br />produces these feelings (energy) in order to anchor the<br />illusion.<br />_______________________________________________<br />THE FUTILITY OF KNOWLEDGE<br />Unless you know from your own experience, all knowledge<br />is futile. Knowledge has its uses, but it has been my<br />experience that if I am going inward, it becomes more and<br />more useless; the deeper I go, the more useless it is. The<br />farther I go outward, the more useful it is. Knowledge is<br />all the past. The future is conjecture. Now can only be<br />experienced. I find that what we generally think of as<br />knowledge is really information. Knowledge is borrowed,<br />wisdom is my own, and only wisdom can transform you.<br />People love to brag about their knowledge, but if our<br />intelligence cannot show us the false phenomenon of the<br />ego, then we're not very intelligent at all.<br />Wisdom comes when knowledge has been put aside. Call<br />it knowledge or call it mind. Mind is knowledge. When you<br />have put aside all knowledge, you are in a state of not-knowing.<br />The state of not-knowing is difficult at first because<br />we are so used to thinking we know. But it eventually<br />becomes a beautiful experience because it is innocence.<br />You will be full of wonder and awe. Giving up is the first<br />step. But the real giving up is in realizing that there is<br />nothing to give up. There's nothing to give up because<br />nothing was ever ours in the first place.<br />4<br />MY QUEST FOR FREEDOM<br />"To know the truth, you must<br />pass through your own<br />experience in full awareness."<br />As human beings, we have an innate desire for freedom.<br />We want to be free from burdens, worries, lack, and the<br />unsettling feeling of insecurity. Although we cling to the<br />transient, we are conscious of the limited, tenuous and<br />illusory character of our physical existence. We may envision<br />the pleasures of this world to be real and satisfying,<br />but pain and despair continually remind us otherwise. We<br />try to believe that we will enjoy complete satisfaction once<br />we've attained worldly things, but inwardly there is an<br />unrelenting rebellion against this false belief. We intuitively<br />know that we can only find satisfaction and complete peace<br />by living in the present. Fueled by our desire for freedom,<br />we have accomplished much in making the world a better<br />place to live; however, there have always been limits to our<br />freedom.<br />The cause of internal and external conflict in our lives is<br />our assumption of and/or our quest for permanence. We<br />would like to hold on to something predictable. Our mind<br />would like to modify the world for reasons of convenience.<br />When it can't make the external conditions more predictable<br />and encounters the difference between what is and what<br />the mind believes should be, we experience pain.<br />We search for freedom with a mind fragmented by beliefs<br />which produces a world of duality where no peace, freedom<br />or satisfaction can be found because only conflict arises<br />from duality.<br />As long as we feel we are separate from each other,<br />freedom will appear to be the ability to control and manipulate<br />others. It doesn't take much of an expanded awareness<br />to see that we usually associate freedom with money and/or<br />success, which seems to lead to power, prestige and respect<br />in the eyes of the world. But true internal freedom comes<br />with the truth of what is. Only when we either willingly<br />look at or are forced to face what is, are we liberated from<br />these beliefs.<br />_______________________________________________<br />MY EXPERIENCE<br />I'd like to share my experience of how I came upon the<br />potential of being free from beliefs, so I'll give a little<br />history about how it all started.<br />I was born a lucid dreamer. A lucid dreamer is someone<br />who is able to enter into dream states, particularly at night,<br />and become conscious or awake in those dreams. These are<br />not the dreams of the common mind, although sometimes<br />that world is entered into or briefly touched by someone<br />during sleep and will be remembered by them as being a<br />very vivid dream. I didn't realize it was anything special<br />until years later; I just enjoyed my dreams every night.<br />I was also an avid reader. As I grew older, I soon<br />discovered books on magic and the occult. For years I read<br />anything on metaphysics that I could get my hands on. Even<br />when I worked as a dancer/actor on Broadway in New York<br />City, I always carried a book to read during intermission.<br />I knew there was something important in those books, if I<br />could only grasp it, that would give me the answers to all<br />life's questions, such as who am I? What's life all about?-<br />the usual questions.<br />When I moved to California, I stepped up my pursuit of<br />the answers to these burning questions with even greater<br />zeal. I became involved with many different groups and<br />religions, but because I've always had the ability to really<br />listen to what is being said and not get caught up in the<br />personality of the individual conveying these messages, I<br />was able to extract the gold and leave the rest. I saw other<br />people getting caught up in the personalities rather than the<br />message. I didn't have that problem -I didn't care who I<br />listened to or what their personality or lifestyle was as long<br />as I was learning something from them.<br />I became involved with a little-known organization that<br />presented ideas-different beliefs, myths and ideas, religious<br />and otherwise-to me, but they also gave me alternatives.<br />They never told me what to believe in. They were<br />very big on facts. They would say, "Now we don't know<br />what this is, but the facts are ..." and they would present<br />those facts. When it was a theory, they would say, "Now<br />this is just a theory," then explain what the theory was and<br />where it came from. They would present an idea or concept<br />with all the information available on the subject, then<br />stimulate the desire to experience it personally, rather than<br />merely accepting it without investigation. After I left the<br />group, I realized that what they were doing was training<br />me to be open to seeing the oneness of life.<br />Eventually, however, I got to a point where I felt I knew<br />too much. It was like an anchor around my neck, weighing<br />me down. I was full of knowledge on a mental level, but<br />unable to translate it to my life. I looked around and saw<br />the same thing with the others involved in groups-as far<br />as I could see, no one was really living what they were<br />teaching. And I wondered what good all that knowledge<br />was if it didn't lead to wisdom. I decided to just live my<br />regular everyday life as best I could, so I proceeded to set<br />aside all the books and information I had accumulated and<br />to live the principles I'd learned.<br />These principles included the idea of responsibility,<br />creative visualization, and positive thinking, as well as the<br />more esoteric concepts of Zen and Buddhism. I wanted to<br />experience these principles personally rather than merely<br />read or talk about them. I felt a great urge to communicate<br />these ideas to others, and I didn't want them discounting<br />the ideas because I wasn't personally living them myself. I<br />had already heard in other groups I was in: "Well, no, I<br />can't really do it myself, but I can teach it to you. " I wanted<br />to live it myself so I could share from personal experience.<br />So, after discarding all the books, I spent about four or<br />five years putting these beliefs into practice. I didn't<br />particularly care if anyone else lived these principles or not.<br />I wanted to do it -I wanted to live it, to experience it. If<br />belief truly did create and produce in life, then I wanted to<br />take my beliefs and prove it to my own satisfaction.<br />During this period, a dear friend named Alzada, an<br />eighty-year-old woman, taught me a great deal. I remember<br />asking her a question once that I thought very profound,<br />very deep-something about the oneness of the Universe.<br />And she just turned to me and said, "Is your rent paid?" I<br />didn't know what she was talking about, so I asked the<br />question again. Again, she turned to me and said, "Is your<br />rent paid?"<br />I later realized the point behind her question: if your<br />immediate, present world is not in order, there is no sense<br />pursuing otherworldly interests. But we're in love with<br />other dimensions of reality; we don't want to have to deal<br />with what's here and now.<br />I had been told by a teacher whose name was Neville that<br />"what is profoundly spiritual is also very practical," so I<br />decided to put my beliefs into practical application, so that<br />when I imagined something in my mind, it would produce<br />itself in the world. I put images up on a bulletin board of<br />all the things I wanted. I told myself if I truly believed these<br />things about myself, my life, and the world and held true<br />to those beliefs, keeping them constantly in mind, then I<br />would produce them in my life. I was reconditioning myself<br />to thinking positively, to thinking I can have anything I can<br />visualize: a new car, a new life, a wonderful relationship,<br />anything I want if I only believe it. And I did-I produced<br />all of it.<br />I even started visualizing certain statements I wanted<br />other people to say about me. For example, I was working<br />out a lot, going to a gym and building myself up physically.<br />Having always been thin and very self-conscious about it,<br />I wanted to hear someone say, "God, you look great!<br />You've really built yourself up. " The next day, a total<br />stranger walked up to me, hesitated, then turned to me and<br />said, word for word, what I wanted to hear. When I realized<br />how much my thoughts influenced the world, it frightened<br />me for a while, but I continued visualizing over and over<br />again.<br />I learned so much from doing this. I realized that every<br />time we believe anything, we produce it in the world. Now<br />it's not necessarily produced exactly the way we imagine,<br />the basic belief is produced relative to the motive behind<br />it. We bring our experiences into our life by believing them<br />into existence.<br />Let me give you an example. People in life will often say<br />they are waiting for another Jesus Christ, Buddha, or other<br />master teacher to come into the world. But what they really<br />want is a savior-someone to do for them what they cannot<br />or will not do for themselves. They want to believe that<br />someone is going to come and save them from all their sins,<br />the horrors of the world, or whatever else they think they're<br />bound by. That's a very natural thing for people to do, and<br />when people want a savior, that's what they're going to get.<br />For example, Hitler was a savior to the German people in<br />the 1930s because they believed they needed someone to<br />save them. They believed it and they produced it. Their<br />savior came-they got Hitler. This may seem like an<br />extreme example, but it can and does happen. It takes<br />millions of people to believe a man like this into existence.<br />We believe in something and we produce it, but by acting<br />on the basis of our beliefs, which are backed by questionable<br />motives, we live illusions which then create unfortunate<br />consequences.<br />Another example: There came a point where I wanted to<br />experience psychic phenomena-to travel to other worlds<br />and have out-of-body experiences and all sorts of things<br />like that-so I did. For several years I had incredible<br />mystical experiences that were a definite step in my growth<br />process. The more mystical experiences I had, the more I<br />believed in them. And the more I believed in them, the<br />more my mind produced them.<br />Then I started to grow again, and I moved from there<br />into giving seminars on imagination and teaching people<br />how to train their minds so that they would think constructively<br />and produce a different life for themselves.<br />This may seem to contradict what I've been saying about<br />beliefs, so let me explain further. In one sense, it is true<br />that, when identified through feelings, our beliefs can be<br />manifested. But one of the problems with having beliefs<br />and one of the benefits of being free of them is that beliefs<br />have boundaries. The very nature of a boundary means that<br />there is something beyond it. If we only cling to the<br />boundary, then we'll never go farther. Plato tells a story<br />about people dwelling in a cave who only saw the outside<br />world as the shadows cast upon the walls of the cave. One<br />day a man left the cave, went outside and experienced the<br />real world. Upon his return, the others didn't believe his<br />report of things outside their knowledge and experience.<br />But he was free from their belief that the cave was the only<br />real world because he had experienced a wider reality and<br />knew differently.<br />The way you view the world is not unlike being in a room<br />of a large house that is situated on a hilltop. Let's say you<br />are seated in the living room and there are four windows<br />in that room. One window looks onto a small courtyard,<br />one looks out at a neighbor's house, one faces north to a<br />mountain range, and the main picture window has a view<br />of the sky and the city below. Four people are looking<br />through four different windows. They are in the same<br />room, viewing the same world-in different ways. When<br />asked to describe reality, the person looking at the courtyard<br />might say, "The world is made up of flowers and a<br />fountain and sunshine. It is rather small but very beautiful."<br />The person looking out of another window will describe the<br />world differently: "Oh, no. There is the wall of another<br />house. There's a big tree shading the house and not much<br />sunlight in this world. It's also unkempt, for the grass is<br />overgrown and there are trash cans full of garbage sitting<br />around. It's not a very pretty sight." Another sees a<br />mountain range to the north. "There is a lot of potential in<br />my world. I see mountain tops that I could climb." The<br />fourth might say, "My world is really big. There's lots to<br />see-a vast sky, an ocean, a big city with lots of people.<br />There's a lot of diversity in my world."<br />While one view may be more expansive than another, all<br />are valid and have some truth but none of them is the<br />complete truth. You may encourage a person to look<br />through a different window, but he is still in only one room<br />of the house. I could tell you about other rooms in the house,<br />and you may or may not believe me. The young girl who<br />says she is very spiritual may be looking out of a bigger<br />window; this may give her the feeling of spiritual superiority,<br />but she's still confined to the living room.<br />Our teachings and organizations are like many rooms and<br />windows in the same house. Each room is different, and<br />each has windows with various views, but they are still in<br />the house. When you recondition or reprogram yourself,<br />you are exchanging the view from one window for another,<br />or even moving to a different room, but you are still in the<br />house. You have changed your belief and expanded yourself,<br />but you are still limited. You will always be limited<br />within the confines of the house. I am encouraging you to<br />leave the house altogether and move outside; to be under<br />the sky, not a roof; to be out in the fresh air, not in a stale<br />room. Beliefs are the walls surrounding a confined space.<br />No matter how big the room, all belief has a boundary,<br />which makes it limited. Have no walls. Neither believe nor<br />disbelieve. Be open and available. Be alive.<br />Here's another example to help you further understand<br />states of consciousness. Let's imagine a map of the United<br />States. You are on the East Coast and you want to reach<br />the West Coast because you've heard about the Pacific<br />Ocean and you want to experience it. The Pacific Ocean<br />represents the vastness of freedom and full awareness. So<br />you begin your journey, one state at a time. Each state is a<br />little different from the previous one because the people of<br />each state think differently and the laws of each state are<br />different as well. A law that might apply in New York may<br />not apply in Ohio. What is true in Ohio is not necessarily<br />true in Colorado, but they are similar because they are all<br />part of a greater country called America.<br />So, off you go. Obviously, in order to enter a state, you<br />must be willing to leave the previous state. Sometimes it is<br />difficult because each state (idea, belief, religion) has a .<br />certain allure. But your inner longing is to reach the West<br />Coast, no matter how sidetracked you may become at times.<br />While traveling through the different states, you take with<br />you all the accumulated knowledge you have gained. These<br />souvenirs take up room and weigh your luggage down; it<br />becomes heavier and heavier. After some time, you reach<br />Nevada and enter Las Vegas with all its glittering lights and<br />delights. This is the psychic world-the world of channeling,<br />fortune tellers, astrologers, and extraterrestrials. It's<br />unlike any other state you've visited.<br />You feel this must be what you've really been looking<br />for. You feel power like you've never felt before. It's fun<br />and exciting. You think you've arrived. That's the biggest<br />danger to those who are journeying to the West Coast. The<br />allure of Vegas is the most difficult to move beyond. It all<br />seems so real. Most people stay in this state a very long<br />time. A few eventually see the illusion, and realize that<br />although the experience is valid while you are in Las Vegas,<br />it is not the reality you originally sought. So, with much<br />effort and determination, you leave Nevada and continue<br />to the Coast. It is not gaining these powers that is the benefit<br />of the experience-it is the ability to release that power<br />after you have attained it.<br />Finally, you get a glimpse of the mighty Pacific. How<br />do you explain that glimpse to people who are landlocked?<br />How do you explain vastness and freedom to people surrounded<br />by the boundaries of walls? You finally reach the<br />shore and the ocean is before you. It's unlike anything you<br />could imagine, so different from the stories you'd heard.<br />But how do you travel in it? You can't take a car or a bus<br />or a train. None of those apply here. No belief system<br />applies. There are no landmarks, no paths just vastness.<br />This is water, not land. How do you leave the country itself<br />behind?<br />This story illustrates the journey we as individuals must<br />take. So you set out, going through many states of consciousness<br />on the way. Now I define a state of consciousness<br />as everything we believe, accept, and most<br />importantly, consent to as being true. Because it seems to<br />be true, we think it ceases to be a belief. For us, it becomes<br />a fact, even though it's a belief and not a fact.<br />Now, the fact may be true, it may be partially true or it<br />may be a complete superstition or fantasy. The human mind<br />is filled with so many of these beliefs, it's a wonder anyone<br />could move past the boundaries. Yet it is possible. There<br />are those who have done it. I've done it to a certain degree,<br />which is why I encourage people to move beyond the<br />boundaries and free themselves from beliefs. I don't mean<br />just the little beliefs about moving from lack to prosperity,<br />from hate to love, from one belief to another. I'm talking<br />about not reprogramming yourself. This is the basis of this<br />book: not reprogramming or reconditioning yourself. Can<br />a person neither believe nor disbelieve and, letting go of<br />where he is, not add a different belief? Is it possible? I say<br />it is.<br />Most people are afraid to let go of their beliefs because,<br />for a while, they feel as if they are not rooted to anything.<br />But that's what freedom is. People say they want freedom,<br />but what they really want is just a little freedom. The<br />boundaries of their beliefs may be pretty large, and they<br />may seem to be free, but sooner or later, they'll run up<br />against the limits of their belief. Why not sooner rather than<br />later? Why not today-why not now?<br />I started this book by saying, "I believe in everything and<br />I believe in nothing." Now that really confuses people.<br />They say, "Now wait a minute, you're being contradictory.<br />" What they don't understand is, it's not contradictory.<br />If their eyes were open and aware, they would begin to see<br />the world is both one vast contradiction and no contradiction<br />at the same time. Believing in nothing frees you to<br />believe in everything. In a sense, they cancel each other<br />out.<br />So, going back to my story, I taught these seminars for<br />a while, then I began writing for several metaphysical<br />magazines. This was during the time New Age ideas<br />became popular throughout the country and not just at<br />esoteric gatherings. I became reasonably well-known and<br />received invitations to speak at seminars, conferences and<br />the large metaphysical Expos, as well as on television. I<br />considered myself fortunate that I was able to speak to so<br />many different groups of people because, in their own<br />special way, they all related to what I was sharing. They<br />always thought of me as being a member of their own<br />particular organization, whether it be Catholic, Science of<br />Mind, Alcoholics Anonymous, or esoteric metaphysics.<br />While I was writing for a certain magazine, I became<br />friends with the editor, a man from India. One night, he<br />called me to question a statement I had made in my article.<br />"You don't really believe that, do you?" he asked.<br />"Believe what?" I said.<br />"That statement-you don't really believe that?" He<br />sounded so incredulous that I found myself reacting.<br />I said, "Well, I don't believe it. It's a fact."<br />He began to laugh, and said, "What makes you think this<br />is a fact?"<br />We debated for over three hours. It had been so long<br />since anyone had questioned what I said that it pushed a<br />button in me. I remember getting angry and upset because<br />he didn't accept what I was saying as the truth. As we were<br />arguing, I realized he was telling me this was a belief.<br />As I hung up the phone, my life changed immediately.<br />It was a transcendent experience, an illumination, and I<br />discovered that transformation is something that takes place<br />in an instant. It's not something occurring over a period of<br />time. The actual transformation happens instantly. It was<br />like I became illuminated as soon as I hung up that phone.<br />I sat there and I thought, "Oh my God, if that's a belief and<br />I took it as a fact, what about everything else I think factual?<br />How many of them are really beliefs?" I became confused<br />and sat up the whole night wondering whether the things I<br />had been teaching as fact were, in actuality, beliefs.<br />I had made a quantum leap from one level to an entirely<br />different level, questioning literally everything I had ever<br />thought I knew. I began to feel that I knew nothing. It was<br />as though my whole life had been spent as a safely anchored<br />ship, and now I was set adrift. I went through that period<br />for several weeks.<br />One morning, I woke up and realized that there are so<br />many different levels that what's true on one level is not<br />necessarily true on another level. (Ultimately, there are no<br />levels. Everything is "one," but for the purpose of explanation,<br />the concept of levels is sometimes used.) I felt<br />completely refreshed and free of everything. I walked<br />outside and was overwhelmed by the simplicity of life. It<br />dawned on me that there is no purpose to life other than<br />what we give it. I looked at a flower and saw the interconnectedness,<br />the oneness of life. I thought, there's no<br />purpose, no reason for anything and it just is what it is. Life<br />doesn't need a reason to exist.<br />The feeling of freedom that came over me was like<br />nothing I had ever experienced. My mind was free-it<br />didn't have to come up with explanations or ideas or beliefs.<br />I felt so fresh and so new. There was no need to look to<br />anything or look forward to anything. It was as though I<br />had seen life for the first time. I felt connected to every<br />aspect of life, but without the sense of urgency or need for<br />accomplishment I had always known. My mind wasn't<br />there. It was a sense, it wasn't a thinking process. It was a<br />sense, a feeling, a fragrance of life. It was what psychologists<br />describe as a "felt" experience, something that can't<br />really be explained verbally. How do you explain the<br />fragrance of a rose to someone who has never smelled one?<br />What words do you use?<br />I felt myself becoming progressively lighter. Waves of<br />raw emotion rose and fell within me, liquid feelings flowing<br />through my being that filled me up and carried my heart<br />away. I felt as though I were safely resting in gentle hands.<br />I knew at once that I was safe, that we are all safe and<br />always have been. It's an astonishing realization that has<br />nothing to do with wanting or needing to be secure. You<br />just know that you are secure; there is no question about it.<br />The experience left me a humbler and wiser man. I found<br />it difficult to share because there were no words to describe<br />what I had seen and felt, yet I was changed in many ways.<br />I began to allow this sense of deepening freedom within my<br />being to penetrate me profoundly. I became willing to let<br />myself be shaken in my familiar and secure beliefs, to allow<br />myself to be troubled enough to renew my inquiry into<br />myself and what I lived for.<br />I'd read about this process and understood it on an<br />intellectual level, but had never experienced it. Indeed, I<br />really wasn't aware that I had never experienced it-I'd<br />always thought I was completely aware and in touch with<br />reality. Until I was free, I didn't realize how unfree I had<br />been. That's when I really began to examine where I was.<br />· How can any of what you say be proven?<br />If I could give you the proof you want-which I can't - your<br />belief would be based on my proof, not your own.<br />You would end up back where you started. My experience<br />is my proof and is valid only for me. I can only share that<br />experience with you as best I can through the limited<br />medium of words. You can't have my experience-who<br />can have another's experience? Instead of spending valuable<br />energy looking for proof of the truth, which you do<br />not know, see the reason why you need external proof.<br />· But how can I know that what you say is true?<br />You're still looking for outside proof. To know the truth,<br />you must pass through your own experience in full awareness.<br />You can know what is not. What is, you can only be.<br />Investigate the proofs you have of what you believe you<br />know. You'll find you know nothing for sure. You just<br />believe what you've been told.<br />5<br />THE BENEFITS<br />OF FREEDOM<br />"We are such strange beings.<br />We don't understand the<br />common things of life,<br />the simple struggles and joys,<br />and yet we try to grasp<br />the mysterious and hidden."<br />The transformation that occurs when an individual<br />makes a quantum leap to a higher energy level produces a<br />radical shift in understanding that may be followed by major<br />changes in the individual, such as increased awareness,<br />leading to physical and psychological healing. This new<br />level of energy and awareness generates new relationships<br />with all aspects of our lives. The transformation I am talking<br />about begins with scrutinizing our life, our beliefs, ourselves.<br />Physicists tell us: "You cannot observe anything without<br />changing the object and even yourself." Most of us are quite<br />willing to scrutinize someone else's life and judge it by our<br />highly self-esteemed opinion. But can we observe our own<br />lives?<br />On more than one occasion, we have experienced how<br />observation generates self-transformation and transcends<br />habit patterns. When there is full awareness, we create<br />room for spontaneity. It is in this space that insights occur<br />to give us the freedom to drop our habits instantly. Unless<br />habits cease, there is no possibility of change.<br />This ability to observe ourselves has been shared with us<br />by many illumined men and women. What could be simpler<br />than to look at something and see it for what it is? I have<br />not yet found anyone-not even a Buddha, a Christ, or any<br />kind of revered master-who was not required to undergo<br />the fires of thought purification before developing the<br />ability to see. To truly see, we must first clear our inner<br />vision of the beliefs that cloud our perception of ourselves<br />and our world.<br />Life is a monologue, a soliloquy played out through our<br />relationships with ourselves, our world and with others; the<br />world and the seeming other is us. When we realize this,<br />we either become remorseful and (consequently) vindictive<br />and skeptical, or we take responsibility for our world by<br />way of the ideas we entertain-self-pity dissolves and in its<br />wake we find confidence and self-esteem.<br />If we can remain alert long enough to see the faults,<br />hypocrisy and the errors in our particular belief system see<br />it totally as it is and rise above it by not judging it-then<br />our lives will no longer be guided by the forces of dualitysuch<br />as attraction/repulsion, friendship/enmity, pleasure/<br />pain-but by the simple urge to give ourselves to the<br />moment, free from purely selfish desires.<br />_______________________________________________<br />RESISTANCE TO ACTION<br />Belief inhibits action. When you analyze and question an<br />action, you put an end to it. When you're aware, your<br />actions become very intense because you're giving it your<br />total self. Your being moves appropriately with that action.<br />It's almost as if there were no choice, which is a good thing<br />because choice is only for people who have belief systems.<br />You become free of having to make choices because you<br />move appropriately with life. You never do anything that's<br />inconsistent with the reality of who you are.<br />Because we can't see clearly all the time, we go other<br />places or turn to other things or other people.<br />A woman I counseled wanted everyone to do everything<br />for her. She felt incapable of any action on her own. I told<br />her repeatedly that only she could make her own changes,<br />no one else could do it for her. She thought if she could<br />only find the right place, read the right book or meet the<br />right person who would wave a magic wand over her, things<br />could change and transformation would occur. She'd been<br />to countless psychologists, doctors, groups, read numerous<br />books, and was still looking for a secret key. I told her the<br />only magic route to transformation lies through direct<br />action, but my words fell on deaf ears-it wasn't what she<br />wanted to hear.<br />Another man was addicted to Biblical and New Age<br />quotes. He said he believed in the truth of these sayings and<br />he could quote endless phrases, but he couldn't live them.<br />Why do people think this information holds more weight<br />if it is channeled or comes from some hidden manuscript<br />or lost scroll? It's so simple that the mind dismisses it. The<br />mind cannot comprehend simplicity. It wants everything to<br />be extremely complicated. Freedom from believing requires<br />that you live in a totally unknown universe.<br />People need to see the obvious: only they can live their<br />lives; no one else can live their lives for them. Until they<br />can overcome their mental and spiritual laziness, they will<br />remain stuck..<br />They are not alone. Lots of people, lacking a sense of<br />self-direction and self-responsibility, want someone or<br />something else to do for them what they need to do for<br />themselves. Let Jesus or Buddha save me. Give me a<br />miracle. Let the Universe do it.<br />_______________________________________________<br />THE ABILITY TO SEE<br />There are steps in the ordinary flow of consciousness that<br />we instinctively feel compelled to take. Many of us feel a<br />sense of loss when we realize that our beliefs no longer<br />define us. Some of us give up, content to be discontent,<br />dismally experiencing what is as what it's not.<br />Others, sensing that this is the train's last stop before<br />pulling into Sunset Village, join the gym, change their<br />hairstyles, even their lifestyles. They sell their big-city<br />house and move to the country to commune with nature.<br />They quit the corporate rat-race and stay home to write the<br />great American novel. Their children almost grown or out<br />of the nest, they trade in a familiar, sometimes uncomfortable<br />relationship with their spouse for the allure of a<br />mysterious stranger. Such external changes may boost<br />flagging self-esteem and even fulfill some vital needs, but<br />the ring they grasp is made of brass, not gold, as they<br />discover upon closer examination.<br />Others still hear the internal voice whispering its profound<br />longing. Dr. M. Scott Peck, in "The Road Less<br />Traveled," says this voice utters "the call to grace. . . . a<br />call out of spiritual childhood into adulthood."<br />Some people will start making what will appear to be<br />conscious choices and act on those choices; others will<br />become more choiceless as they begin to slow down and<br />stop rushing through life. There are people who are ready<br />to explore and release the beliefs that no longer serve them;<br />others will need to have something to believe in. Some will<br />move into a silent period while others will open up and<br />share more.<br />There are those who will need to stop disciplining<br />themselves, to stop trying to be so consistent and experience<br />a period of permitting themselves to "happen. " While some<br />need to enter into their feelings more, others will have to<br />begin having some control over their emotions, because at<br />a certain point, human emotion has to be brought under a<br />degree of control. And still others, must start to "think"-to<br />learn to use their minds-not more intellectually, but more<br />intelligently.<br />_______________________________________________<br />FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION<br />A child at play, full of laughter and tears, running and<br />jumping, yelling and singing, is marvelous to watch. And<br />watching her was about all I had the energy to do. A local<br />television news station had proclaimed the day as "the<br />hottest in years," as if I needed his verification. Resting in<br />the shade, barely able to move, afforded me the opportunity<br />to observe her silently as she played, expressing herself<br />fearlessly moment to moment, completely uninhibited and<br />seemingly unaffected by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds.<br />Expressing one's self can be frightening for most people.<br />I remember an acting class I attended many years ago in<br />New York City. The two actors on stage were doing one<br />of the most boring scenes I had ever witnessed. It wasn't<br />the fault of the material they were performing; it was them.<br />"What do you think you're doing up there?" the teacher<br />asked them.<br />After a long pause, one of the actors shyly suggested,<br />"Acting?"<br />We all laughed.<br />"We're trying to be real," added the other actor. "I don't<br />want to over-act."<br />"What do you people think real is?" the teacher inquired.<br />"Certainly not the behavior most people display in their<br />everyday lives. Out there, everyone is repressed, and you<br />think that is an example of real life? As actors, it is our<br />responsibility to express ourselves in a way that everyday<br />people do not because they are too self-conscious. You're<br />not here to be self-conscious. A little over-acting would do<br />you a world of good and hold your audience's attention a<br />whole lot more. They don't pay to come to the theater or<br />go to a movie to see what they can see in their everyday<br />lives. They come to the theater to feel something. They<br />come to see someone express themselves in a way they feel<br />they cannot. Everyone wants to express himself but almost<br />everyone is deathly afraid to do it."<br />There was momentary silence in the room, then the<br />teacher said, "Now, start the scene again, and for God's<br />sake, give it some life. Take some chances, show some<br />passion, stop playing it safe. Express yourselves!"<br />One of the biggest freedoms we experience upon releasing<br />belief is the freedom of expression. If you're free to<br />express, you're free to discover all sorts of new things about<br />yourself, other people, the world around you. You<br />exude it and it's catching. Other people like to be around<br />you because they can sense that energy and it allows them<br />to express themselves more completely.<br />For years, I produced hundreds of conscious images as<br />I practiced the principles I had learned about how the One<br />Power operates through the brain. I was really into imaging<br />a better life for myself, both physically and psychologically.<br />I worked hard, concentrating on what I wanted,<br />thinking positively. After years of controlling my emotions<br />and thoughts, I was tired of the constant discipline. I was<br />sure there must be some way to encompass all the individual<br />images and desires into one basic image. Finally, I realized<br />that all my wants and desires could be summed up in a very<br />simple and direct way. I wanted to be able to express<br />myself.<br />This was a great revelation to me. I had been trying to<br />discover what would make me happy-what people, places<br />and things-and how that happiness would ultimately be<br />attained. At that point, I entered into the state of expressing<br />myself 100 percent in everything I did.<br />What it all comes down to is that people want to express<br />themselves, whether through a relationship, wealth, success<br />or spirituality. Music, painting, dance, poetry and<br />prose are the soul's expression of the muse. Whether you<br />find your expression in the creation of such art or in its<br />enjoyment, you want the ability to express that self. If<br />people are able to express themselves totally-in their<br />feelings, in their talents, in their being-they are happy.<br />Yet as long as they are bound by their belief systems, they<br />are not able to express themselves fully because they have<br />no idea who they really are.<br />_______________________________________________<br />FREEDOM TO LOVE<br />Shortly after I had gone through the experience of<br />transcending beliefs, one of my oldest friends was in the<br />hospital, desperately ill. He had been attending a well known<br />metaphysical group and was an avid student of the<br />particular course they followed. I was with him when he<br />experienced a crisis and the doctors and nurses were trying<br />to help him. In his fear, he stubbornly refused their help.<br />He yelled that the Universe would take care of him. I think<br />he thought that help was just going to drop out of the sky<br />or something. Frustrated and angry, I said, "Who do you<br />think the Universe is? It's this doctor and this nurse and<br />me-all of us who are trying to help you. We are the<br />Universe."<br />His belief had separated him from reality, which was that<br />the Universe he revered so much worked through people.<br />Anyway, I stayed with him all night long. About three<br />o'clock in the morning, I suddenly had the sensation that<br />he was surrounded by a group of beings. Very clearly, I<br />heard a voice in my head saying, "It's a gathering of<br />angels."<br />Those who know me know that I am very grounded and<br />try to help other people be grounded. It's not that I do or<br />do not believe in the possibility of angels, it's simply that<br />I prefer to allow my experience to be genuine and not the<br />product of a vivid imagination or a particular belief system.<br />One of the wonderful things that results from being free of<br />belief systems is that you simply experience the moment<br />without getting caught up in it. So I was able simply to be<br />there and have the experience without having to cart around<br />a belief in angels or beings from another world. It happened,<br />I accepted it. I was open.<br />I couldn't get the voice out of my head for weeks. It kept<br />saying, over and over, "a gathering of angels. " It never said<br />what a gathering of angels was, but an idea was instilled in<br />me. Shortly before my friend's illness, I had come to the<br />realization that I didn't know what I believed and what I<br />didn't, so I decided to start a group. I wanted to invite<br />people who wished to experience greater personal and<br />spiritual freedom in their lives, so I had started to design<br />an announcement when I realized I didn't know what to call<br />the group. Now, a few short weeks later, I had a name.<br />So I put the announcement in my newsletter. The idea<br />was to gather a group of people who were on the path of<br />growth and share our thoughts, ideas, feelings-in short,<br />ourselves-and just be present in the moment. No leaders,<br />no followers, just people exploring the path of enlightenment<br />or just sharing our experiences and feelings with each<br />other. I knew what I needed was not to teach but to find out<br />what belief systems I had retained unknowingly.<br />Eight people attended the first meeting. Most, if not all,<br />had attended a metaphysical event called the Harmonic<br />Convergence, which was intended to bring about world<br />peace. In other words, they considered themselves extremely<br />spiritual and advanced. I introduced a subject and<br />let the discussion start rolling on its own.<br />As people spoke, they used what I call metaphysical<br />buzzwords: love, peace, harmony, consciousness, and so<br />on. As they grew more comfortable in the setting, I saw<br />these spiritual, peaceful beings grow more heated in their<br />attempts to outdo each other with the quality of their<br />metaphysical knowledge. It virtually became a free-for-all.<br />Finally, I could stand it no longer and said, "Look at the<br />eight of us. We're supposed to be so spiritually advanced<br />that we presume to teach others how to live more harmoniously,<br />yet we cannot gather in one room and keep peace<br />amongst ourselves. It's ridiculous." I was laughing because<br />the situation reminded me of certain wildlife specials I had<br />seen on television not the ones about cute little bunnies,<br />but the wild and woolly dangerous ones-and I thought,<br />instead of calling the meeting "A Gathering of Angels," I<br />should call it "A Gathering of Potentially Dangerous Animals."<br />I had attempted to provide a safe place where people<br />could discuss their ideas and concepts in peaceful nonaggression<br />and instead I found these spiritual barracudas<br />going for each other's throats.<br />In the course of that evening and the years of gatherings<br />that followed, I learned an awful lot from this group about<br />love, whether they were aware of it or not. It was part of<br />the freedom I had gained. When you have those moments<br />of freedom, you experience this thing called love, and with<br />it comes compassion and understanding. You don't condone<br />anything. You simply understand it. You protect<br />yourself if necessary, but you understand. And this understanding<br />only comes with freedom from belief systems.<br />Although I had no belief system to follow, no structure<br />I was trying to teach, nor was I desirous of learning or<br />inventing a new one, I continued having the group each<br />week. It was an education in people's motivations, desires<br />and beliefs. I saw, despite their self-proclaimed spirituality<br />(or maybe because of it), the very strongest barriers against<br />freedom from belief exist in people who consider themselves<br />spiritual. They bandy a lot of words about but don't<br />really understand their meaning.<br />The daughter of a well-known actress and metaphysical<br />speaker and author, Colleen had come to the gathering one<br />evening at the insistence of a friend. Settling into the sofa,<br />she glanced around the room, defying those present to tell<br />her something she didn't already know. After all, she was<br />her mother's daughter, and had absorbed her mother's<br />teachings, and that was more than enough. Besides, did we<br />know who she was?<br />Throughout the evening she constantly talked about<br />love-loving people, loving humanity, and how we just<br />have to love, love, love. Her aggressiveness and insensitivity<br />to those around her told me this woman knew nothing<br />about love, but she used the word and believed she understood<br />love. Intellectually, she did. She had been to lots of<br />seminars and had read many books, so she was filled with<br />knowledge and mistook that knowledge for understanding.<br />When I asked, "Can you tell me what you mean by love,"<br />she stumblingly said, "Well, you know, Love." I could hear<br />the capital letter as she reverently said the word, as if it<br />explained something.<br />Many metaphysical people talk a great deal about love.<br />It's easy to claim belief in something and think that means<br />you are living it, but words are not substitutes for action.<br />People talk a great deal about right action, but unless the<br />mind is free of ideas and beliefs, it cannot act rightly. The<br />highest form of sensitivity, love is vulnerable and receptive.<br />It can only be lived. If you are talking a great deal about<br />it, you probably aren't living it. This book is about love.<br />You cannot love through your beliefs, because beliefs<br />separate us. So, if you observe yourself talking a lot about<br />love, it’s probably time to start doing.<br />_______________________________________________<br />FREEDOM FROM EGO<br />We want our beliefs to be true because they define us,<br />make us special. Look how special I am. If you believe the<br />way I do, you're okay, otherwise you're an outsider. Only<br />my belief is the Truth. It is this belief in the specialness our<br />beliefs confer on us that brings us to the Ego.<br />A self-styled "spiritually advanced" man attended the<br />gathering once. Eric arrived late, which enabled him to<br />make a grand entrance. He didn't come to learn; he came<br />because he felt he had "arrived" and was there to share his<br />presence and knowledge with others. He had no interest in<br />listening or observing the truth about himself. He only<br />wished to monopolize the discussion with his ideas and<br />opinions. We had been talking about the roles we play in<br />life, and everyone shared but him. After a moment, I turned<br />to him and asked, "Why the image of the holy man when<br />it's hard enough just being anyone?" He said nothing, but<br />his face turned bright red. It was evident that he suddenly<br />saw himself clearly and realized he was fooling no one but<br />himself.<br />The Ego has to be right. Believing has a great deal to do<br />with being right. It reinforces our opinion of ourselves as<br />being right, therefore being good or special or elite. When<br />people become free of beliefs, they have reached the point<br />where their Ego doesn't need the outside reinforcement and<br />verification of another's definition of who they are. They<br />have their own insights and become their own authorities<br />about what they do, think and believe. They have what I<br />call freedom from the need to win, which allows them to<br />release deeply rooted ideas and free their egos from the<br />need to be right. Because they no longer need to be right,<br />they are free to share openly and allow others to share freely<br />as well. Their ego no longer gets in the way. There's no<br />longer any need for elitism.<br />I'm reclining in my swimming pool while working on<br />this book. The sky is clear and it's a beautiful day. The<br />temperature is about 80 degrees. The water feels great. I'm<br />looking at the fruit on the tree in my backyard. What more<br />could I desire? Why do I need to believe in anything? What<br />need do I have to convince myself that I believe in life after<br />death, or any other belief? I'm here. I'm alive and in the<br />present-what could be more wonderful?<br />I don't have to believe in this swimming pool. Complex<br />and sophisticated theories emerging in contemporary cognitive<br />psychology view all of our waking experience of<br />"reality" as only an approximation of the sensory world.<br />Maybe, on some deep level, the swimming pool is an<br />illusion and I believe in that illusion. But it doesn't matter.<br />The pool is here and I don't have to keep saying, "I believe<br />in a swimming pool and I believe I'm in the pool." It's not<br />necessary. Awake and aware of every moment and everything<br />that is happening, I'm content simply with being here<br />and now.<br />This business of what is real and what is illusion can be<br />confusing. Think of it this way: Stand in front of a mirror.<br />You are real and so is the mirror, but your image reflected<br />in the mirror isn't real. The ego is unreal but the thought<br />process, brain cells and memories are real. It's when<br />consciousness becomes identified with the brain cells (the<br />mirror) that the ego (the reflection) is formed. The more<br />aware you become, the less you are affected by this false<br />ego that interferes with everything. It's no longer threatening<br />to realize that you are powerless about certain things or<br />that you have limitations. The false ego wants to think it<br />has no limits, but it does. As your awareness grows, there<br />will be no false ego to make judgments about the past. You<br />will see the past clearly and be free of it.<br />_____________________________________________<br />FREEDOM TO BE REAL<br />"When you are Real you don't mind being<br />hurt. ... It doesn't happen all at once, " said the<br />Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time.<br />That's why it doesn't often happen to people who<br />break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have<br />to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you<br />are Real, most of your hair has been loved off,<br />and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the<br />joints and very shabby. But these things don't<br />matter at all, because once you are Real you<br />can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.<br />"<br />-"The Velveteen Rabbit"<br />Like the Skin Horse told the Rabbit, becoming real "takes<br />a long time. " Just about the time most of our hair has<br />vanished and we get "loose in the joints," we realize there<br />is something still missing. Outwardly, we appear to be<br />mature individuals, yet inside we feel a sense of incompleteness,<br />a yearning for something as yet unknown. "Are<br />we real yet?" we wonder.<br />Our time until now has been spent making our mark on<br />the world. Now we become aware of a frozen void within<br />us; we feel hollow and unfulfilled. There must be something<br />more, we think. We once more question the meaning of our<br />existence.<br />This is in part brought on by the realization that we are<br />no longer young. We are not yet old, but the first blush of<br />youth is no longer upon us: our physical reactions are not<br />as quick as they once were and our thinking processes seem<br />to take longer than before. We become more aware of our<br />own mortality and begin to lose the youthful certainty that<br />old age and death are part of someone else's life, not our<br />own. We begin to see, as author Gail Sheehy puts it, "the<br />dark at the end of the tunnel." Growing older is like<br />watching the sun going down. As it nears the horizon, it<br />seems to descend faster. The proximity to death seems<br />closer as we age, so life seems to go faster.<br />Part of becoming free from beliefs includes coming to<br />terms with our inner self. In doing so, we begin to be whole<br />and wholly alive, moving from our limited consciousness<br />of belief to an awakened consciousness. In the struggle to<br />reconcile ourselves with ourselves, we must connect with<br />the powerful forces of destructiveness and creativity coexisting<br />in the human soul, and integrate them in new ways.<br />This can only be accomplished when we are no longer<br />blinded by belief.<br />In our search, we experience a crisis that leads to<br />personal transformation of spiritual awakening, and ultimately<br />to the wisdom of our inner-connectedness with the<br />community of life. The purpose of this crisis is to educate<br />the soul in becoming real.<br />The Chinese word for "crisis" is comprised of two<br />symbols, one meaning "danger," the other "opportunity,"<br />a reminder that crisis has a positive as well as a negative<br />aspect.<br />On higher levels of consciousness, AIDS might be considered<br />a necessary experience, but to the people who are<br />experiencing it and those who are close to them, it is very<br />traumatic. I'm no stranger to the subject, having facilitated<br />several HIV groups through the years. I've also been<br />personally affected by it through loved ones who have died<br />or are currently experiencing it.<br />Many metaphysical people, in an attempt to be helpful,<br />say things like "You created this," or, "It's only an illusion."<br />Others impose their own beliefs (especially about<br />wrath and punishment) that only confuse or anger a person<br />experiencing a life-threatening illness. When someone is in<br />pain or discomfort physically, emotionally or mentally, that<br />pain demands all their attention. Words don't help. Frequently,<br />the words of solace we speak are more to comfort<br />ourselves than the one who is suffering, because their pain<br />reminds us of our own mortality. Those who say "Illness<br />is an illusion" will find that statement isn't much help when<br />they are actually living with constant pain. It's easy to say<br />"I'm not afraid of death" when it is another's experience<br />you are talking about. Such bold statements go right out the<br />window during any real experience of one's mortality.<br />Steven was in his mid-twenties but looked much older.<br />He had just completed college and was out on his own for<br />the first time. He was open and receptive, devoid of any<br />pretense. He was real. He had AIDS.<br />"Do you feel you did anything wrong to bring this about,<br />such as making the wrong choices?" I asked.<br />"Perhaps, but I don't think so," he said thoughtfully.<br />"I hope that you are able to realize, at least in theory,<br />that this probably was not a conscious choice in the way<br />some people would have us believe," I told him.<br />"I just don't want to fight any more," he replied, sadness<br />and spent anger in his voice.<br />It is the nature of some people to fight. They are born<br />warriors, fighting for everything in life. When they get a<br />life-threatening disease, they will fight to the end. It's the<br />nature of others to be passive. When experiencing a crisis,<br />they surrender to it more easily. One way is not right or<br />more admirable than the other; it is simply the way that<br />particular person handles life. My observation is that AIDS<br />may be a disease having more to do with living than with<br />dying. Dying is easy; living is difficult we don't really<br />know what will happen next. We like to think we do, but<br />we don't. AIDS helps to reveal the personality that was<br />always there. From the standpoint of higher consciousness,<br />it may actually be a fortunate experience because it compels<br />a person to see, appreciate and respond to life in a way they<br />may not have experienced before. It makes a person real.<br />When a person experiences pain and discomfort from<br />moment to moment without trying to escape it, something<br />changes inside him. It's like a long-distance runner who,<br />exhausted and in pain, reaches a point where endorphins<br />are released. Even though his body is struggling, he moves<br />into a place of peace. The pain is still there, but he becomes<br />separated from it and continues to run. This is not really an<br />escape; it's a higher state of being.<br />_______________________________________________<br />FREEDOM FROM FEAR<br />Your beliefs chain you to the past. The minute you say<br />you believe something, it's already the past. You're basing<br />your belief on something you heard or saw a minute ago,<br />a year ago, ten years ago. It's always the past. You can<br />only be free in the present. You can't be free in the past,<br />you can't be free in the future. You can only be free right<br />now. Right this moment. You can only be liberated right<br />now.<br />I said earlier that our beliefs are based on fear. We<br />believe because we're actually afraid. That'd the bottom<br />line. Fear is something that can only exist relative to<br />something. Yet, many times when I ask what someone is<br />afraid of, they'll say what they're really afraid of is the<br />unknown. I tell them that's impossible. You can't be afraid<br />of the unknown. You can only be afraid of what you know<br />or of losing what you know. Fear is always in relation to<br />the known, not the unknown.<br />This fear of what we know is based on our past experiences.<br />For example, we remember a time when we were<br />hurt or abandoned or something unpleasant happened. Then<br />we're afraid of the future, because we're afraid that's going<br />to happen again. Our continual projection of these ideas and<br />beliefs into the future ensures that what we're expecting<br />will come to pass.<br />The fear of losing what we know occurs when you lose<br />the association you have with the familiar. An example of<br />this is fear of death. People think they are afraid of death<br />because it is unknown. I suggest that the real fear is of losing<br />what you know.<br />One evening, after the gathering had dispersed, Gerri<br />remained. She was emotionally vulnerable, longing for love<br />but afraid to love because she was afraid to lose. She kept<br />saying, "No one loves me. " As I took her hand, I could feel<br />her stiffen. I put my hand on her shoulder and she recoiled.<br />I asked her, "How can anyone love you? Love is not<br />permitted to enter into you-you've already said no. Love<br />is all around you. If you're sensitive, you can feel it<br />everywhere, but you can't feel it because you are so<br />closed."<br />"How can anyone love me? I'm so fat; all I do is eat.<br />I've never gotten over my father's death. Every man I meet<br />eventually leaves. Even friends don't seem to stay long. So<br />I get depressed, and when I'm depressed, I eat. The<br />problem is that I always feel depressed, so I'm always<br />eating."<br />"Obsession with food is a love need," I said as we walked<br />outside. "If you are loved and can love in return, you will<br />eat less. Love fills you up so much, you won't feel empty."<br />Lots of people have a "fear of abandonment" issue,<br />which leads to problems in relationships. They're afraid to<br />get close to other people, because they're afraid they are<br />going to be abandoned. I told her perhaps she should get a<br />nice cuddly dog or cat to keep her company. It would love<br />her unconditionally and help ease her fears of abandonment.<br />She loved animals, but she didn't want to get a pet<br />because she said eventually the animal would die and leave<br />her. She was afraid of that. She said there was no point in<br />loving something for years, only to have it die.<br />Well, she's already dead. She's so afraid of being hurt<br />that she can't enjoy something while it's here because, in<br />her mind, she wants it to last forever.<br />This issue of things lasting forever surfaced the other day<br />with a friend of mine. Bill was talking about how the turmoil<br />in his life had vanished and now everything was smooth<br />sailing. He thinks life will stay nice and calm, no more<br />turmoil. I suggested that everything moves in cycles, from<br />high to low and back again. "Life is like a wild river, Bill.<br />It's wild sometimes, it's calm at times and then it goes into<br />the rapids again."<br />He didn't like that; he thought that I was being negative.<br />It's not negativity to look at life as it is, and to see that life<br />is always changing. He wanted it to get to a certain point<br />and stay there.<br />This desire for constancy is a major problem for many<br />people. It is one of the reasons people hang onto their<br />beliefs. They want to believe in permanence, in things<br />always being good. If things aren't, then something must<br />be wrong. But there's no freedom in that. How can you be<br />free when your mind is so filled with all these conditions<br />based on fear?<br />Fear dulls the heart. It also dulls the mind. When you're<br />afraid, you don't really think about what's happening, you<br />simply react. There's no intelligence involved. It's impossible<br />to rise above fear through suppression or discipline or<br />any kind of will power. It can only be transcended when<br />you discover your beliefs, release them and understand the<br />cause of your fear, then face the fear<br />I'm not talking about rational physical fears, such as the<br />fear of fire. It's not the fire you fear, which can bring<br />warmth and comfort by heating our homes and cooking our<br />food. Instead, we fear the power fire has to injure and<br />destroy. These are rational fears. What I am talking about<br />is psychological fear, which is always related to the past<br />and the future, never the present.<br />When people transcend their beliefs, they move into a<br />timeless state where they are very much in the present and<br />at peace with themselves and the world around them. Once<br />we accept that fear exists, we can then move beyond it and<br />experience that indescribable stretching of being, the alchemy<br />that transforms chronos (measurable time) to kairos<br />(the timeless, infinite moment).<br />_______________________________________________<br />A FEW MORE BENEFITS<br />It requires courage to move beyond the boundaries of<br />your beliefs, but there are many benefits. In addition to all<br />the freedoms mentioned in this chapter, you'll also experience<br />a sense of increased self-worth because you will begin<br />trusting your own perceptions more; you will have less need<br />for others to agree with you. You will have fewer feelings<br />of anger, anxiety and depression because you will be<br />disclosing your real self in more spontaneous ways. Your<br />relationships with others will be better-more effective and<br />more satisfying-because you will neither need to approve<br />of their beliefs nor receive their approval. You will have<br />achieved a profound philosophical change and a radically<br />new outlook on life instead of a "positive thinking" attitude<br />that will only help you cope temporarily with life.<br />All these benefits can be stated in one word: Freedom.<br />6<br />THE GATEWAY TO<br />TRANSFORMATION<br />"Live and love dangerously.<br />Even if you only manage<br />a single real moment, it will<br />give you a taste of eternity."<br />_____________________<br />B H A G W A N S H R E E R A J N E E S H<br />I had always remembered my dad smoking, whatever the<br />occasion. Everyone's dad smoked back then. I don't remember<br />him not smoking. He had smoked three packs of<br />cigarettes a day for years and had tried unsuccessfully to<br />quit smoking many times. Before bedtime one night, in the<br />middle of winter, he was so fed up with his smoking that<br />he took his pack of cigarettes into the backyard and buried<br />it in the snow with a decisive "That's it, I'll never smoke<br />again." My mother, sister and I congratulated him on his<br />wise decision and went to bed happy in the knowledge that<br />this time he seemed determined.<br />Sometime after three o'clock in the morning, we heard<br />the wind slam the door shut. Awakened by the noise, we<br />went into the living room. Mother opened the drapes and<br />turned on the outside yard light. There was my father, on<br />his hands and knees, digging in the snow for that pack of<br />cigarettes. He was just about to light one when the light<br />switched on and startled him. He turned and looked at our<br />disappointed faces for what seemed like a long time, but<br />must have only been seconds. Then he looked at the<br />cigarette in his hand. He put it down and walked back into<br />the house. None of us said a word. We went back to bed.<br />My father never touched a cigarette again.<br />A transformation is a radical change in being. Our<br />transformation is brought about by causes within ourselves;<br />external causes are secondary. When we enlarge our ideas<br />of what we can be, we create an opportunity to grow beyond<br />our present limits.<br />People often ask me if this is something that takes a long<br />time to do. In one sense, it seems to be, but in another sense,<br />it happens instantly, immediately. When we see something<br />clearly, we change and are liberated.<br />In one instant of clarity, my father saw what he was<br />doing, and it changed him completely, forever. He saw the<br />truth of his addiction to cigarettes, and in an instant he was<br />liberated.<br />That's the way it happens. In an instant, we're liberated.<br />But one must be willing to see the truth which liberates,<br />and that's a problem for many people-they're not willing<br />to see the truth.<br />Deep down inside we know things aren't as we think they<br />are. And we don't like that, so we don't want to see it; we<br />just keep covering up with beliefs. We have to see that the<br />mind thinks it is very clear, though it never is. It may be<br />foolish and cunning, but it is never quite as clever as it<br />thinks it is.<br />People talk about wisdom, but wisdom is something that<br />can only happen when dreaming leaves. If a person has<br />belief systems, he is dreaming. We have to start associating<br />beliefs with dreaming. Beliefs are dreams, they're illusions,<br />not the truth. So wisdom can really only happen when<br />dreaming stops and observation starts.<br />_______________________________________________<br />OBSERVING OURSELVES<br />"The observer is the forerunner of the Master. "<br />-Gurdjieff<br />We begin by observing ourselves, not some great, profound<br />truth that's out there "somewhere," but what's within<br />ourselves. We look at what we do, objectively. By doing<br />so, we're eventually able to clearly see what we are doing<br />without covering it up with excuses and rationales.<br />We can learn more from the people who are in our lives<br />right now than we will ever learn from some savior, avatar<br />or old manuscript. I've observed that the simple act of dying<br />can put a bright shine on very tarnished metal. That is less<br />likely to happen with the living. With the living, we are<br />faced directly with all their faults and inconsistencies.<br />We are revealed in the process of relationship. Compelled<br />to seek the missing parts of ourselves, we surround<br />ourselves with friends and mates. Separately, each of us is<br />a fragment; life is the whole. The fragment will never be<br />all that you want it to be. How can it be when it is only a<br />fragment? Only when a relationship is not confined to a<br />pattern will it give you the opportunity for self-revelation.<br />There must be awareness without choosing one interest<br />against another, which is the major cause of all conflict.<br />Ever notice that the only time there is anger is when life is<br />not going the way we want it to go, or when people are not<br />being the way we want them to be? In other words, we only<br />become angry when we don't get our own way.<br />We have to see the raw truth of who, what and where<br />we are. That's the only way out-to go within and observe<br />ourselves. If we continually analyze our moods, passions<br />and fears, we are trapped within them until we can develop<br />the ability to simply observe them, without judgment,<br />without opinion. Only then will we be able to see clearly.<br />When we can do that, we're liberated. I know this because<br />it's happened to me, and I've seen it happening in the lives<br />of others.<br />We are afraid of losing our beliefs because they pacify<br />us with the illusion of security. But they are an obstacle to<br />the true security of self-awareness because they create an<br />image, and images are what prevent us from seeing a thing<br />as it actually is. If we cannot see what is real, our experience<br />is fragmented.<br />We are faced with a world that is constantly changing.<br />Would it not be more serene to embrace the flow of life<br />instead of struggling against it? Can we allow ourselves the<br />strength to connect with the sense of stability and vitality<br />within us and trust our own life energy? The mere observation<br />of the river of life transforms us from the dull,<br />uninventive, repetitive creatures that we tend to be, into the<br />alive creative beings that we long to become.<br />If you don't delude yourself with knowledge acquired by<br />others, you can search within yourself and knowing becomes<br />possible. We know that we are existence itself and<br />that we are someone-who-knows-consciousness itself.<br />(Don't handle this intellectually, just hear me out.) One part<br />of knowing is experiencing the ecstasy, the joy of one's<br />existence. When that is known, you will know yourself<br />completely, even if it's only a glimpse at first.<br />Forget endless discussion and blame, and go deeper into<br />an understanding of what you are now. Stop acting like a<br />machine. Live undefined. Don't place new conditions on<br />yourself and you will go beyond all conditioning. Spiritual<br />maturity lies in the readiness to let everything go, realizing<br />that there's nothing to give up because nothing is your own.<br />Transformation requires that we see the truth of a thing<br />in its totality. Truth itself can only be experienced in its<br />profound and eloquent totality; it requires awareness. We<br />must be at the point where we desire this awareness so fully<br />that we become willing to permit our being to go to any<br />length to attain it.<br />_______________________________________________<br />APPROACHING THE GATEWAY<br />When the hunger for the full realization of who we can<br />be leads us to enter into self-observation, we experience an<br />expansion of the boundaries of belief that lead toward unity<br />with the self. Developmental psychologist Pascual Leone<br />calls what emerges from such deeply felt internal interactions<br />the "ultraself." Transpersonal psychologist Ken Wilber<br />describes this as the "vision-logic stage" where we<br />become aware of "networks of relationships," or what I call<br />the interconnectedness of life. At this stage, the beliefs of<br />others and their different viewpoints are no longer threatening.<br />We are able to experience true intimacy for the first<br />time.<br />Developmental psychologist Charles Alexander points<br />out that this is "the hallmark of mature adult development"<br />where "one is said to recognize the limitations of `closed<br />system' formal operational reasoning that excludes sources<br />of information that do not fit one's current worldview. " He<br />goes on to explain that such detached reflection on life "is<br />often referred to as wisdom."<br />Yet many developmental psychologists agree this goal is<br />rarely achieved. Psychologist Jane Loevinger estimates that<br />less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the population reaches this state<br />of wisdom. She suggests that, "theorists themselves are<br />attempting to describe a level of which they may have some<br />experience but lack the necessary perspective to objectively<br />describe."<br />Why is it that so few reach the point where they are ready<br />for the spontaneous leap into the unknown? Part of the<br />answer lies in high-stress lifestyles that dilute the experience<br />of pure consciousness and discourage detached self observation.<br />Alexander notes that, "until these deep<br />stresses are fully eliminated, emotion cannot be completely<br />life-supporting and fully integrated with cognition, nor can<br />intuition be consistently valid." And still another part of the<br />answer lies in the individual's willingness to grow. There<br />is pain and effort involved in the growing process; many<br />of us are willing to accept the fruits but not willing to do<br />the labor. Thus progress toward the point of detached<br />self-awareness tends to be drawn out, fragmented and<br />incomplete.<br />Wilber's conclusion resonates with ancient philosophies<br />and great spiritual traditions: "Until the unbounded value<br />of the self, at the basis of the ego, is realized, the individual<br />will always remain, to some extent, unfulfilled. "<br />So we move past beliefs' boundaries into the spaciousness<br />of freedom where we begin to know who we are but<br />have yet to learn who we might become. We tremble on<br />the edge of the communion that will connect the realms of<br />essence and existence, and complete our reality. As<br />Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, "I don't think we're in<br />Kansas anymore, Toto."<br />_______________________________________________<br />PASSING THROUGH DISILLUSIONMENT<br />To begin the process, we must be willing to remove the<br />blinders of beliefs at all costs. It's not an easy path. When<br />we question these illusions and tenets, we pass through the<br />distress of disillusionment.<br />Disillusionment can prepare us for the next step. When<br />we become completely disillusioned with the person we<br />have been and the life we have been leading, we've<br />completed almost half the journey. I think disillusionment<br />is one of the greatest things that can ever happen to a person.<br />When people stop being complacent and self-satisfied with<br />who they are, they are able to see themselves clearlymaybe<br />for the very first time. Disillusionment opens many<br />doors because when people doubt, they begin to question<br />their values, traditions, ideals, illusions ... their beliefs.<br />And at this point, they are able to move beyond the illusions<br />that get in the way of their becoming all that they can be.<br />True understanding requires that you begin to doubt the<br />firm beliefs you hold, especially those pertaining to religion,<br />God, and the true meaning of life. Many people believe<br />it's not good to doubt or be disillusioned, but in order to<br />reach the point of true understanding and awareness, it is<br />necessary. When you really desire to become consciously<br />aware, you are no longer able to blindly accept things the<br />way you once did. You begin to release the security of the<br />familiar fantasy for the knowledge of reality. So people who<br />want to live more fully need to doubt the belief they most<br />love, even the very thing you are pursuing. You can't<br />blindly accept anything. When you're doubting, that means<br />that you are trying to discover something. In order to do<br />that you have to let go of the things that you hold so close<br />to you.<br />You can't hold on to something and examine it at the<br />same time. You have to release it so you can see it<br />completely. That's what doubt and disillusionment accomplishthe<br />ability to finally relinquish the tight hold we've<br />had on our beliefs and take a good, hard look at them. And<br />that's what observation is. It's the ability to really be in a<br />sense detached. Even just for a little while from something,<br />so that you can see.<br />· What about faith?<br />After all this talk of doubt and disillusionment, I can hear<br />some of you asking, "But what about faith?" Blind belief is<br />what you must question. Faith is not blind. Faith alone,<br />however, is not enough but must be expressed in action: it<br />is the willingness to try. To be alert and watchful is to have<br />faith in yourself. Faith is a quality whereas belief is a<br />concept. Those who are afraid cling to their beliefs and try<br />to convince, coerce or force others into agreeing with them<br />to achieve validation. It's that old idea that if a lot of people<br />agree on something, it must be true. I say that's absurd.<br />Truth is truth, no matter how many people agree or disagree<br />with it. Quality is important, not quantity. Faith has its place<br />and serves us, but we're talking about knowing. If you don't<br />know a thing, having faith in it will only give you the<br />experience you hoped for and not the real. It's far more<br />valuable to see clearly that you don't know. Beliefs are<br />beliefs, period, and will keep us in a perpetual dream state<br />unless they are utilized only when needed and then relinquished<br />as soon as possible.<br />_______________________________________________<br />LETTING GO<br />The awesome experience of opening to reality will give<br />you everything while simultaneously taking everything<br />away-no more hiding in the illusion of your beliefs. In a<br />sense, it resembles death, which is why it is frequently<br />referred to as "dying to self." It's a complete release of<br />everything. In this process we're dying every day to what<br />we know. And to die to everything-all your knowledge<br />and beliefs-is the beginning of wisdom.<br />While transformation happens in an instant, awakening<br />is not a single experience-it is a process that unfolds in its<br />own timing on many levels. It is a never-ending process,<br />something that you do from moment to moment. It's never<br />finished.<br />What happens is you're constantly refreshed. Your body,<br />mind and spirit are continually renewed because every day<br />is something different. You're no longer living with preconceived<br />notions and beliefs. You're open and available<br />to all life has to offer. What a tremendous reward! The<br />wonderful thing is that all you need do is release, you don't<br />have to add anything. People think that if they let something<br />go, they have to add something else because the emptiness<br />makes them nervous. That's the reconditioning reflex.<br />When I am inside the void, I can feel the One Power.<br />There is nothing but me and the power-thought and<br />emotion remain outside. I used to take it a little at a time,<br />but all the beauty and life and wonderment comes at once<br />now. I surrender to it, and by surrendering, I can direct it,<br />if appropriate.<br />This emptiness is really the highest form of love, as far<br />as I'm concerned, because there's no reactive memory, no<br />conclusions that distort perception and blind us to what is.<br />The joy that people seek comes at the moment of emptiness.<br />When your mind isn't cluttered with things, it has a chance<br />to be silent. It becomes clear and pristine. The mind moves<br />beyond pleasure to joyousness, independent of external<br />factors.<br />_______________________________________________<br />WORDLESSNESS<br />Existence is nameless. As long as no name is given,<br />everything is One. With words there is no way to escape<br />duality. Words are a contrivance for those who understand<br />only the language of words; they can create a terrible block<br />to awareness because when we name something, we no<br />longer see it for what it really is, we only see the symbol<br />or label we have placed on it. We separate it from the rest<br />and make it an object. When we speak, we bring in duality;<br />it is impossible not to. Obviously, when we wish to convey<br />something to another person, we usually make use of<br />words, but there is no need to use words simply for one's<br />self. If we constantly listen to the inner "babbler," so many<br />words pile up within us that we completely lose sight of our<br />inner mystery. Only when these superficial layers of words<br />are removed can we become acquainted with that center.<br />Pluck a guitar string and listen to how the resonance of<br />the note begins to fade. Can you hear where the resonance<br />gradually lost itself in non-resonance? In much the same<br />way, words slowly merge into silence. The full and empty<br />define each other.<br />It is in the silent spaces that we find definition, just as it<br />is the intervals in music that allow us to hear the melody,<br />and the relationship of light and dark that enable us to see.<br />In the same way that sound is a vibration of sound and<br />silence, the entire universe-all of existence-is a vibration<br />of solids and spaces. When we move our attention from the<br />conscious thinking level that uses words (the solids) through<br />higher levels of consciousness, the mind arrives at the<br />"spaces" of pure awareness.<br />When we have refocused our attention past the noise and<br />confusion of the "babbler" in our minds, we become aware<br />of the quiet of "no-mind." It is in the silence of "no-mind"<br />that we transcend the limitations of ordinary perception and<br />hear the melody of the soul. We are able to experience<br />periods of wordlessness in which we are able to see things<br />clearly. Buddha said, "Whatever I say is not to tell you of<br />That Which Is, rather it is to lead you there."<br />Obviously, I have a thing about words. For instance,<br />people in my seminars ask why I don't talk more about love.<br />I respond by saying that everything I talk about concerns<br />love, but they wanted to hear the word itself. They don't<br />understand that the word conjures up all the concepts and<br />beliefs they hold about love.<br />Another example of a concept-laden word is "God."<br />When people hear the word "God," it triggers their belief<br />systems and they no longer are capable of thinking clearly.<br />Their beliefs enable them to set aside the reality in favor of<br />the concept. You believe a certain thing about a person or<br />group of people, such as Asians, homosexuals, fundamentalists,<br />or women, and it enables you to dismiss them. It's<br />a prejudice, which is also a loaded word.<br />Most people deny their prejudice because the word has<br />developed such negative connotations, usually relating to<br />racial issues, when all the word "prejudice" means is "a<br />preconceived judgment or opinion."<br />Here's a thought I'd like to spring on you-all beliefs<br />are prejudices. Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?<br />_______________________________________________<br />RELEASE OF ENERGY<br />Can you imagine the tremendous energy that is at your<br />disposal when you release your prejudices? Beliefs and<br />illusions aren't maintenance-free; because they are conflicts<br />and cause suppression, they use tremendous amounts of<br />energy. On the other hand, no energy is required to release<br />them. Once released, that energy then becomes available<br />for use in other areas of your life.<br />Fletcher was a young man who came to me complaining<br />of a lack of aliveness in his life. After we talked about what<br />was happening (or not happening) in his life, I told him to<br />let go of his ideas about his parents. He had a lot of<br />childhood issues relating to his parents and had nurtured<br />negative ideas about them for years. Now he wondered why<br />he felt so tired and uninvolved in life. He finally understood<br />that these ideas arising out of old programming were using<br />up all his energy. I would estimate eighty percent of his<br />attitude toward his parents was negative, only twenty<br />percent positive. Rather than telling him to concentrate on<br />the twenty percent positive feelings, I told him to release<br />all the feelings, positive and negative. The complete disappearance<br />of resistance, for and against, would free one<br />hundred percent of his energy and allow him to move into<br />a completely new state.<br />_______________________________________________<br />ENTERING INTO FREEDOM<br />It's so simple. It doesn't start a month from now when<br />you're prepared or six weeks from now or a year from now.<br />It starts right now, while you are reading this book. It's like<br />telling someone not to think about a pink elephant. Once<br />the idea of transcending beliefs is planted, you immediately<br />begin to observe your process. It's irrepressible.<br />People think that freedom is something that they are<br />going to attain at the end of some process. Not true. It<br />doesn't come at the end, it comes at the beginning. You<br />have to become free first, then that liberation allows you to<br />see everything in your life more clearly. Discovery is<br />impossible without freedom. There can't be any compromise.<br />Freedom is freedom. If you're going to be free,<br />you're either free of everything or you're not free at all.<br />You can't be a little bit free.<br />7<br />THE NEXT STEP:<br />SET YOURSELF FREE<br />"Man is just a bridge between<br />two eternities, the eternity of<br />nature and the eternity of God."<br />_____________<br />FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE<br />Human consciousness is a most mysterious reality to<br />experience. Many think that it is something that happens to<br />you, that it cannot be sought. This impression is inaccurate;<br />a fully developed consciousness is both an active and a<br />productive state of mind.<br />More than ever before, it is time to be as present as<br />possible. We must see and accept what is here and now if<br />we are ever to unveil the illusions which surround us and<br />reveal the profound mystery of existence within ourselves.<br />It is not far away in some past or future life. It will not be<br />revealed through some master being. Leave these things.<br />Leave all you think you know. Enter into existence now,<br />this very moment.<br />Existence has never been far away. It is not a place that<br />is to be reached. It is closer than near. It is simple, ordinary<br />and exists in the profoundly mundane. Unless we let go of<br />the far away, the conceptual and the burdensome knowledge<br />that has enslaved us and come back to the here and<br />now, we are doomed to continue in this perpetual dream<br />state from which all life's misery flows. The sooner you<br />become aware and drop out of the philosophy trap, the<br />better, because life will not wait for you and your theories.<br />You are the adventure: discover and live this truth now.<br />It happens right here, right now-in fact, that's the only<br />way it happens ... if you will only allow it.<br />_______________________________________________<br />LIVING HONESTLY<br />My car came to a stop at a crowded intersection. It was<br />late afternoon, hot and noisy. I was tired and anxious to get<br />home. Glancing out the window, I saw a homeless man<br />sitting on the curb. He wore a sign with the word "Hungry"<br />on it. Next to him stood an enthusiastic young man holding<br />out plastic bags of fruit-grapes in one bag, oranges in<br />another. He also had a sign. It read "Fresh fruit, $1 a bag."<br />The scene was so bizarre I wished I'd had a camera. I could<br />have sold it to Life magazine.<br />Life is a wild thing, full of irony and inconsistency; it's<br />unpredictable and uncompromising. The incredible beauty<br />and adventure of life lies in its ability to always be a<br />surprise, and you can't be surprised if you have specific<br />beliefs about it. You can only be disappointed. Experience<br />the joy and richness of life by allowing yourself to be both<br />earthly and unearthly. Since it's possible to be both, why<br />miss out on anything? Use every opportunity to grow and<br />to be. Life is a force, a power, an energy. Life soars. Meet<br />life on its terms and you will soar with it. Let the roots of<br />your earthly experiences grow deep and varied, and you<br />will reach higher than you've ever dreamed possible because<br />you will be more complete.<br />Don't let anyone impose on you his beliefs about what<br />is wrong with you. The ego may need to be transformed,<br />it's true, but not because it's wrong or bad or evil. It simply<br />has to be observed; what is meaningless will start fading<br />away of its own accord, while what is meaningful will begin<br />to materialize and grow. The beauty in being watchful is<br />not that we have to work to bring about its transformation<br />but that life itself-the Whole-transforms it.<br />All existence is beautiful. There is nowhere to hide from<br />it. Just remember that if you live totally, honestly, truthfully,<br />things may begin to go deeper. When things are<br />deepening, they begin to change. Accept the feeling of<br />insecurity this may bring, and trust your energy. Don't<br />compromise; there's no need to-insecurity will disappear<br />without compromise on your part.<br />Be careful not to destroy today by being afraid of tomorrow,<br />because if today has been destroyed, where will tomorrow<br />come from? If you don't worry about what tomorrow will<br />bring, and if you accept tomorrow's insecurity, you will<br />live today so courageously that a beautiful tomorrow will<br />arise out of that totality. So while you are alive, be alive!<br />Don't concern yourself with how long it lasts.<br />_______________________________________________<br />THE NEXT STEP<br />The next step surpasses all the steps of ordinary consciousness.<br />Transformation is instantaneous, not gradual.<br />Reality is what makes the present so vital. The real is always<br />with you. You don't have to wait for what you are.<br />The ordinary, common mind that is part of the human<br />condition has a built-in need to have its beliefs verified by<br />others who believe similarly. The common mind automatically<br />seeks out and finds this confirmation for its own<br />comfort and security. To surround itself with others who<br />have the same wants and needs, who will support and<br />perpetuate one another's dreaming, so that it will stay<br />comfortably incarcerated within the framework of its delusions,<br />is the common and habitual thing to do. This is not<br />a criticism; it is to be expected while dwelling in ordinary<br />consciousness (herd mentality) because that is exactly what<br />we are supposed to do, or more accurately "must do," while<br />in that generic state.<br />There is also the uncommon mind-the God or spiritual<br />mind. If you have reached a point where you have the<br />capacity (if not always the willingness) to enter into a very<br />different state of consciousness-a place that has nothing<br />to do with ordinary consciousness you are, in a sense,<br />alone. You will find there are few books you can read and<br />even fewer places you can go that will support you or offer<br />any confirmation of this extraordinary state. You begin to<br />realize how completely mechanical you have been and how<br />predictable this world and everyone in it is. At this point,<br />you will find it increasingly difficult to express your<br />experience of this state and virtually impossible to follow<br />the herd just for the comfort it provides. Because, in<br />contrast to this extraordinary state, herd consciousness is<br />always mundane, unremarkable, unoriginal and dulling.<br />In this step there is a different quality of hearing and<br />seeing that is truly significant and very uncommon. It is, in<br />fact, extremely rare, although at first glance it will appear<br />not to be. It will, at first hearing, sound ordinary. That's<br />because you are listening with your ordinary consciousness.<br />This vital step is the ability to hear what you need to hear,<br />not what you want to hear.<br />_______________________________________________<br />RESISTANCE TO CHANGE<br />If you're not able to hear what you need to hear, you will<br />continually seek out places in which to encounter what you<br />already know. You will hold onto what you want to be true<br />about yourself, God, love, life and the world. You won't<br />go anywhere or listen for very long to anyone who may<br />disturb that illusion. You will, once again, need to be<br />disillusioned. It's the only way to incite your consciousness<br />to move within a system that is so ponderous and mechanically<br />repetitive.<br />This pattern must be broken because it affects every<br />single area of your life and is the major obstacle to going<br />beyond ordinary consciousness. You must see that this is<br />indeed what you do and then face up to the possibility that<br />things may not be what you want them to be. Would you<br />be willing to hear that? Could you hear it?<br />The next step is tricky because the dominant part of you<br />will assert that, "I am open to hearing what I need to hear! "<br />That is definitely not true. You will deny this; you will<br />become defensive and argue that you are open and available.<br />(You're probably doing so right now.) Ask yourself<br />if you are prepared to hear something new, something<br />which you may not like, or, are you prepared to hear only<br />that which you already know and/or that which you want<br />to believe?<br />When hearing something new, this dominant part of<br />yourself will say, "Even if what you say is true, I don't like<br />it!" If you don't like something, you'll never see it. You<br />won't believe it, you won't trust it you will simply reject<br />it. However, your opinion has no bearing on the fact that<br />ordinary consciousness simply does not want to hear anything<br />new. It wants to hear what it wants to hear; when it<br />catches a glimpse of what it needs to hear, ordinary<br />consciousness blocks this information because it doesn't<br />really want to hear it.<br />If you have the capacity to look at this, here is what you<br />need to consider now. Don't think that your consciousness<br />is extraordinary because you regard yourself as a "spiritual"<br />person, accumulate volumes of metaphysical, occult and<br />ancient knowledge, have met extraterrestrials, can read the<br />stars or speak with the dead. That's all a diversion and of<br />no consequence as far as awakening is concerned.<br />When you have gone to the extreme polarity of what your<br />ordinary consciousness calls "spiritual," this prominent<br />part becomes especially deceptive. Its allure is its ability to<br />make the mundane appear to be "new," unusual, interesting<br />and fun. This is actually a ruse to keep you involved and<br />under its mechanical influence so you will feel as though<br />you have transcended it.<br />Resistance to change is inherent on the level of the<br />mechanical structure of your ordinary consciousness. You<br />want to hear what you want to hear from what ordinary<br />consciousness sees as a new and exciting source. But it's<br />important to see that what you are capable of hearing at the<br />ordinary level is what you have already heard, what reinforces<br />the beliefs of your conventional consciousness. The<br />"exotic" is not telling you anything new. It's keeping you<br />where you are ... in the grip of the ordinary.<br />_______________________________________________<br />THE BRIDGE<br />At the beginning of this chapter is a quote from<br />Nietzsche. It bears repeating: "Man is just a bridge between<br />two eternities, the eternity of nature and the eternity of<br />God. " Keep in mind that eternity is not a duration of time.<br />Eternity exists in the here and now, this present moment.<br />Nature exists in eternity, as does God, functioning appropriately<br />from moment to moment. As I write this, my<br />house is swaying back and forth from one of the thousands<br />of aftershocks Los Angeles is experiencing after a major<br />earthquake. I know that at this moment, people throughout<br />the city are experiencing fear as they feel the tremor. But<br />the earth is doing what it has done for millennia. It doesn't<br />have a problem with that-it is alive and ever transforming<br />itself.<br />Man, however, lives in time. He takes natural occurrences<br />personally and gives them human attributes, such as<br />a "vicious" storm, an "angry" earthquake. He calls an<br />unknowable God "loving" or "wrathful," depending on<br />what suits his purpose. This is because man is in the<br />middle-he is half-nature and half-God, and doesn't know<br />what to make of it. He is confused and ever striving to be<br />certain, but you can only be certain if you don't know much.<br />The more you know, the more confused you become. You<br />can never be certain if you know a lot, and there is no clarity<br />in one who knows little and is therefore certain, because<br />they are simply unaware of contradictory facts which could<br />confuse them. Only the ignorant can be certain. When a<br />person becomes more aware, more present, the mind<br />diminishes, and all uncertainty and certainty diminish along<br />with it.<br />Problems result from the way man looks at the world.<br />Because man has a divided consciousness, it distorts his<br />perception. He sees "two" where there is only "one. "<br />Whenever there are "two," there is conflict.<br />Some people lean more toward the common part of their<br />mind, others toward their "God" side. The difference<br />between a mind that is spiritual and one that is common is<br />that a common mind thinks, "There is nothing wrong with<br />me-everything else is wrong." Common-minded people<br />take no responsibility; blame is always placed elsewhere.<br />"Things will be just fine if they go the way I think they<br />should go." So they constantly try to change the world<br />around them. But is there any more happiness in the world<br />as the result of these efforts?<br />_______________________________________________<br />DOING VERSUS BEING<br />As you move through the phases of becoming more<br />aware, it may sometimes appear as if nothing is happening.<br />You are so accustomed to effort that just being is very<br />unsettling. You desire outer activity because you are not<br />used to taking the time to look at the reality of what is<br />happening to you. In allowing yourself to simply be, you<br />may feel insufficient as you are, so you become unsettled.<br />See that you are feeling unsettled and be with that feeling.<br />Settle into being unsettled. Remember: Nothing is lacking<br />and there is no excess. Everything is balanced. You are the<br />problem, not the world around you.<br />When you observe a flower, do you think nothing is<br />happening? Just because you are not sensitive to the flower<br />doesn't mean nothing is happening. If you are completely<br />present with the flower, you will sense that it is a living<br />happening-alive, sensitive to the sun and wind, pulsating<br />with life. How silly to expect it to do something, as if simply<br />existing were not enough. Can you see how silly the<br />demands you place on yourself are?<br />When you think nothing is going on with you, it is<br />because you lack sensitivity. Sensitivity requires availability,<br />vulnerability and observation. It may take time for you<br />to adjust to this pace because you are used to running so<br />fast.<br />Non-doing is difficult. The mind wants something to<br />practice, but practice is not necessary. Enlightenment can<br />happen in an instant. It is not a question of how to bring it<br />about but how to allow it. You know something so profound<br />is taking place deep within yourself that it cannot be<br />analyzed or explained; words are inadequate.<br />When the inessential has been released, the essential is<br />revealed. A magnificent simplicity of being is born. You<br />become ordinary; to be ordinary is the most extraordinary<br />thing in the world. Others are striving to be extraordinary,<br />which makes their pursuit the most ordinary of all.<br />I'll address some common questions, then offer you some<br />techniques that will help you in the process of awareness.<br />· Is there a technique I can use to know the truth?<br />Don't try to know the truth, just know what is not true.<br />That's enough to free you from the false. What I'm about<br />to tell you is not a technique just be available to the sense<br />of it.<br />Non-investigation is the main cause of bondage. When<br />you don't know, you are free to investigate. If you are<br />listening to me and something awakens within you, you will<br />have an insight-something will be sensed, perceived. I'm<br />not trying to convince you. I'm just conveying a fact to you.<br />The only preparation for it, in a sense, is that you must not<br />be identified with your knowledge, your beliefs. I mean<br />prepared in the sense that you understand the meaninglessness<br />of everything you have ever known.<br />It is your awareness of the thinking process, an awareness<br />that can move you into a place where a realization of<br />what is can occur. It's called an awakening, a realization,<br />or an insight. I sometimes refer to it as "the happening."<br />· How do we go beyond our belief systems?<br />Investigate. A thing recognized is a thing transcended.<br />Observation effortlessly produces its own change. Whatever<br />needs to remain will; the rest will fall away.<br />What's difficult is that we've enmeshed ourselves in so<br />much fantasy that separating the real from fantasy can be<br />very challenging. But it is possible and worth the effort, or<br />I would not have written this book..<br />· Why is it so difficult to let go?<br />People don't want to let go of anything because they're<br />afraid they'll be left with nothing. They think that to let go<br />means to get rid of something. Letting go is more like going<br />to sleep. You don't give up your bed when you fall asleep;<br />you just forget it. Not understanding this, they are afraid<br />and consequently, seek to substitute one belief for another,<br />one form of conditioning for another and they call that<br />freedom. They don't know that the finite is the price of the<br />infinite, just as death is the price of immortality.<br />· Is it possible for me to observe everything around me in<br />my daily life without the shadow of images or beliefs?<br />In time, yes. Not at first perhaps, but you must begin<br />now, right where you are, this very minute, and you must<br />find out for yourself. Don't take my word for it. Don't<br />believe me. Awareness or perception implies a state of<br />seeing in which there is no image. There is the experience<br />of just being.<br />· What is the witnessing that you encourage?<br />Inside the body there appears to be an observer and<br />outside--a world under observation. The witnessing I<br />encourage is in itself a meditation, a living process of being<br />available and non-resistant to what comes uninvited. Witnessing<br />is the last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the<br />real. Beyond it all, there is the unknown, some call it God.<br />This crossover I call the Gap.<br />· How is the Gap created?<br />It already exists. There is no need to create it by believing<br />in it. The Gap (void, silence, space, God) created by your<br />mind will not be real, it will just be your own creation. In<br />order to enter the void, (the Oneness), belief and thought<br />must cease.<br />· What about certain diets or behavior?<br />Outer circumstances can either help or hinder inner<br />circumstances, but cannot change them. A situation can be<br />created by outer circumstances so that the inner can erupt<br />more easily, but outer transformation is not inner transformation.<br />The efforts you make on the outside must not become a<br />substitute for inner transformation. The outer you will<br />never feel ready to transform because it has decided on<br />certain qualifications and preconceived specifications that<br />must be fulfilled before it will be ready. But it will never<br />be ready. Obsessions with the kind of food you eat, the<br />clothes you wear, or certain behavior can be hindrances.<br />I'm not saying to neglect them, because they can be helpful,<br />but be aware that the inner you is not touched by them. The<br />outer is the extremity while the inner is the central part of<br />yourself. Don't use activity on the outside to escape what<br />is needed inside.<br />· Am I responsible for everything that happens?<br />Shifting responsibility is a uniquely human game. You're<br />responsible only for what you can change, and you can only<br />change yourself. Realizing this is the first step.<br />At one level, you must clearly see and take full responsibility<br />in order to affect any transformation in your distorted<br />way of seeing. Then, and only then, can you transcend<br />responsibility.<br />You will see the belief that a particular thing can cause<br />an event is incorrect. For anything to happen, the entire<br />universe must consent. Every cause is universal. Your body<br />would not exist without the entire universe contributing to<br />its creation and survival. To affect the course of events,<br />you must bring a new element into the world and that<br />element can only be you, the power of love and understanding<br />focused on yourself.<br />_______________________________________________<br />TECHNIQUES<br />I will offer some techniques you may find helpful in the<br />beginning, but be aware that they too must be transcended.<br />Use them and be willing to release them or they will become<br />an addiction. Addictions medicate pain. Unless the pain is<br />seen, the addiction remains. Consciousness is a flow from<br />past to future-awareness happens only in the present.<br />LOVE EXERCISE<br />Do this exercise everywhere. Be aware of the energy<br />radiating from your body but don't direct it. Try to sense<br />it. When I say "sense" it, [don't mean emotionally. Sensing<br />something is not the same as feeling something. Allow the<br />energy to be absorbed by whomever or whatever needs it.<br />Don't interfere, just let it radiate from you, without focusing<br />on a a particular object.<br />In love, all fear disappears. There is no tomorrow, there<br />is no past. This moment is enough. Love just is you can't<br />do anything about it. If you do, it becomes artificial.<br />THE 'I DON'T KNOW"EXERCISE<br />All day, be aware of everything you say. Whenever you<br />find yourself coming to conclusions about anything, ask<br />yourself "What do I really know about it?"<br />In this exercise, you must stay especially alert to hear<br />your own opinions. Actually, it's kind of fun to catch<br />yourself in the act. Remember not to change anything, just<br />be aware. You may be surprised at how many conclusions<br />you reach.<br />MOTIVE EXERCISE<br />The One Power is responsive to our intentions and<br />expectations. Our expectations cause the energy we channel<br />through us to affect other energies. Spend a day concentrating<br />on "why. " Know why you do what you do and be honest<br />about it. Don't discuss your reasons with anyone, just be<br />aware of your real motives.<br />NO EXPLANATION EXERCISE<br />Spend the day not explaining any of your actions. Even<br />if you are asked, just say, "I have my reasons." It takes a<br />certain amount of courage to do this because we usually<br />feel that we are expected to explain everything we do-especially<br />if we say no to someone. Can you not explain<br />yourself for one day?<br />THANKFULNESS EXERCISE<br />Thankfulness is loaded with energy. Begin to appreciate<br />everything. Realize that you don't know what current<br />experiences will mean to you in the future. Be thankful all<br />day for everything that happens or doesn't happen.<br />THE STOP EXERCISE<br />The name of this exercise tells you what it's all about.<br />It's quite simple-all you have to do is just stop. Stop.<br />Observe what you're feeling, what you're doing, what<br />you're thinking. Take a moment and just be aware, be<br />present.<br />THE AUTOMOBILE EXERCISE<br />You can modify the Stop Exercise for use in the car.<br />Now, obviously, you don't want to completely stop the car<br />unless you're parking. I call this modified version the<br />Automobile Exercise. Just before you get in the car, take<br />a deep breath. Stop yourself and be aware of what you're<br />doing. Get in your car and set off on your trip, but instead<br />of driving on autopilot, thinking about what you're going<br />to do later, slow down and take a good look at your<br />surroundings. If you're going 90 miles an hour, it's not<br />very easy to observe because you're too busy handling the<br />car. The slower you go, the more you see. Be aware of<br />everything you're passing. If you're traveling a familiar<br />route, be aware that it's not the same. Things are different.<br />Flowers have grown, trees have changed, different people<br />and cars are on the sidewalks and roads. It's like a<br />kaleidoscope-every day, different colors, shapes and patterns.<br />We take this for granted because we're lost in our<br />thoughts. Slow down.<br />You can also apply the Automobile Exercise to walking.<br />While walking, pause now and then. Slow down and be<br />aware of the physical feeling of walking. Be aware of your<br />muscles stretching, the air flowing past your face, the sights<br />and sounds around you. Don't try and change anything or<br />improve on anything. Look. See. Be totally there.<br />OBSERVATION AND AWARENESS<br />Acceptance is not a state of inaction or passivity. It is the<br />first step to successful action. You relax, you let go, you<br />are patient and peaceful. In this state you merely are. In<br />this state there are no expectations. There is no unnecessary<br />doing. When you are calm, detached and in complete<br />acceptance, you see the truth of a thing. Then truth acts.<br />This action is different in that it is much more effective than<br />if you try to do something based on your beliefs about what<br />should be done.<br />This exercise has to do with being quiet. Sit down in a<br />comfortable position and take a deep breath, which slows<br />the body's system and helps you observe more about<br />yourself. Begin observing your body. The body is the<br />easiest thing to observe, and the easiest to feel separate<br />from. Be aware of the sensations your body is feeling. If<br />you feel uncomfortable, see if you can be with that feeling.<br />If you must move, be aware that you're moving. If you<br />judge the fact that you can't sit in one position, go ahead<br />and judge. Be aware that you're judging the fact that you're<br />judging. Being constantly aware allows your body to be<br />whatever it is.<br />When you've done this for a while and feel ready to move<br />on to another area, explore listening. Listen, really listen<br />to all the sounds around you and see how many you can<br />pick up. You'll hear things you may not have noticed<br />before-a dog barking in the distance, the hum of traffic,<br />birds or the wind. Listen to all the sounds you normally<br />don't hear because you're so preoccupied.<br />When you've exhausted that area, move to your feelings.<br />Be aware of what feelings are happening. Don't worry<br />about judgment right now. Judgment is of the mind; just<br />observe that. So, be aware of all your feelings without<br />judgment. If you do find yourself judging them as good or<br />bad feelings, then be aware that it is your mind judging.<br />That's what minds do-they judge. If you're having a sad<br />or unhappy feeling, see if you can leave it alone and be with<br />it. Try not to push it away or exchange it for any other<br />feeling. Take time and be aware of every feeling that you're<br />having at the moment. Don't conjure anything, just experience<br />what you are experiencing.<br />Move on to your thoughts. Watch them as they come and<br />go. Be like the sky and let the thoughts be like clouds,<br />coming and going of their own accord. Observe all this.<br />This exercise leads to your becoming more aware in<br />every aspect of your life. You will be aware of the times<br />you restrict yourself, when you want to say or do something<br />and don't, when you shut down. You'll become more aware<br />of your expansive moments when you are in tune with<br />everything around you. Be aware, don't judge, let these<br />things just occur naturally. Be aware of every moment. See<br />if you can spend a period of time not improving yourself.<br />Just watch. Soon, you'll get to a point where you'll find<br />yourself automatically observing yourself, the world, and<br />everything in it. This is the habit of awareness. It's a little<br />different from complete awareness. Eventually, you drop<br />even the habit of awareness and just live in pure awareness.<br />You will be aware and not have the need to express it,<br />explain it, or be understood. You won't need any of these<br />things. You will no longer need to be right. You will no<br />longer need to be agreed with. All these things will fall by<br />the wayside. You'll simply be aware.<br />I would like to stress that when you are observing the<br />body, anything you observe is not you. If you can observe<br />the body, then you are not the body. If you can observe<br />feelings, then you are not the feelings. If you can observe<br />the mind, you are not the mind. Then what's watching all<br />of this?<br />'WHAT IS PERMANENT IN YOU" EXERCISE<br />No matter what you have experienced in your life, there<br />is something about you that has never changed or been<br />affected in any way. What is that something? Do not name<br />it-don't call it your "higher self," or "God," or the "soul"<br />because that will separate you from it. Don't call it anything.<br />Don't believe in it, just sense it. The sense of it will<br />come and go; let it you cannot hold onto that either. You<br />can only discover this for yourself. How?<br />Watch! Watch everything. Observe it all as it happens,<br />then ask yourself, "Who is watching this pain, this fear,<br />this body, these emotions?" Anything you can watch and<br />observe is not you! This, unfortunately, cannot be fully<br />explained, which is frustrating for me at times. It's not in<br />the words. Just try to get the sense of what I am saying.<br />Watch.<br />THE SKY TECHNIQUE<br />In order for this technique to be clear, you must first try<br />to understand the structure of the mind. You cannot make<br />the mind clear. It cannot be whipped into submission, as so<br />many techniques and groups attempt to do. The mind can<br />be left behind, dropped, but it will never be clear-that is<br />impossible. It is the mind's nature to be full of concepts and<br />belief-"stuff." Mind is a continuous process of thoughts<br />gathered from everywhere, like a storeroom full of things<br />you think you may need someday. Of course, for the most<br />part, you never will, which is why these things were stored<br />in the first place. So they go on collecting dust. All<br />confusion is stored in the mind. Drop the mind and confusion<br />is dropped, but first it must be understood.<br />Think of it this way. Your awareness is like a clear blue<br />sky while your mind is like a cluster of clouds. The sky is<br />not affected by the clouds, which come and go as they will.<br />The sky remains clear.<br />When flying in an airplane, there is always turbulence at<br />takeoff, especially as you pass through a cloud layer. Once<br />you break through, however, you level off and everything<br />is smooth and peaceful. The clouds are below you now and<br />you may think, "Ah, the sun has come out." But the sun<br />was always shining. You don't need to change the clouds<br />to enter the clarity of the sky; just see the clouds as clouds<br />and go past them. That's where peace is, higher in consciousness.<br />So here is the exercise: On the next clear day, preferably<br />early or late in the day when the sun is not too bright,<br />meditate on the empty sky. No clouds, no birds, no planes.<br />Stare at the sky without blinking. Meditate on this pristine<br />sky and enter into its clarity. Become one with it.<br />You will begin to feel the mind disappearing. There will<br />be gaps as the mind begins to drop away, and you will begin<br />to be aware that the clear sky has entered into you. There<br />will be only moments of clarity at first, but these intervals<br />will begin to lengthen as the clouds within you begin to<br />dissipate. Your thoughts will get out of the way, and the<br />outer clarity will become one with the inner. They are<br />already one; it has only been the constant thoughts (cloud<br />cover) which made a barrier. The sky doesn't begin at some<br />point above the earth; it is the same sky one foot above the<br />ground as at thirty thousand feet above.<br />The sky has no boundaries. This helps your boundaries<br />disappear because this open sky will be reflected within<br />you. Stare into that emptiness and feel that you have become<br />one with it. If you can do this, even for a moment, you will<br />experience realization because in that moment there is no<br />mind. You are not thinking, and that is the only time<br />realization can happen. There is no fear; there is only the<br />present, because the past and the future belong to the mind.<br />Existence is the present.<br />Remember these things: 1) Don't blink; just stare, even<br />if it is uncomfortable. If you blink, your thoughts will<br />continue. Let your eyes tear up and let them unload the tears.<br />2) Don't think about the sky. Do not think about it.<br />Simply enter it, be one with it, or you will create another<br />barrier. If you move into the sky, it will immediately move<br />into you. Take your time or it's not effective, but don't<br />think of time. Just let yourself be lost in the sky. Then,<br />when you really feel that you have become one with the<br />sky, you can close your eyes and you will see it within also.<br />3) After you feel that you and the sky have become one,<br />enter that clarity. Don't say anything, just feel it. You will<br />know when. Just be aware of the clarity all around and<br />within you. You are not to imagine any of this. It's not<br />necessary; the clarity is already there.<br />4) Remember to be vulnerable. Nothing can enter you<br />without your allowing yourself to be vulnerable to it. Don't<br />project it; allow it to happen. Don't force it.<br />YES EXERCISE<br />Spend a day saying yes to everything. "Yes" is open and<br />available and lets your energy flow freely. "No" stops your<br />energy, and usually comes out of fear and mistrust. There<br />is a strong tendency to stop the flow and remain in control<br />by saying no, thereby resisting life so nothing can happen.<br />Growth becomes sluggish. Embrace the life force that flows<br />from everything and that life embraces you. Trust that all<br />will work out. Just say "yes."<br />BELIEF ANALYSIS EXERCISE<br />To begin to really understand what you believe and why,<br />write down your beliefs. The physical act of writing is<br />important because there is a certain clarity that occurs as a<br />result. Get a nice big notebook with lots of pages in it<br />because you are going to discover that you have many more<br />beliefs than you realize.<br />· #1: What do I believe (or disbelieve) in? (Disbelief is<br />also a belief).<br />Begin with "What do I believe?" Remember to include<br />the beliefs you have when you watch television or read the<br />newspapers. Write down as many as you can, and leave<br />plenty of room for the beliefs you'll become aware of later on.<br />· #2: Where did I acquire this belief?<br />What is the source of this belief? Did it come from my<br />parents, teachers, a friend; my church or religious teaching;<br />a book, newspaper or tabloid, television or movies? Put<br />some thought into this one and you may be surprised at what<br />you come up with.<br />· #3: What do I really know about it?<br />The key to this step is not what you believe you know,<br />but what the facts are that support the belief. If it's a belief,<br />you may not know too many facts about it, but see what<br />you come up with, then question those as well. Keep in<br />mind that if you believe in a book, let's use the Bible for<br />an example, then you must realize that your belief that the<br />Bible is the word of God forms the basis for other beliefs<br />you hold.<br />· #4: Why do I believe this?<br />Why do you believe it? This is extremely important. Is<br />it because it fits in with the way you want, or hope things<br />are, or will be? Is it because you feel empowered or special<br />by having this belief? Is it because your ego is enhanced as<br />a result of believing this? Are you afraid not to?<br />It is of utmost importance that you are honest with<br />yourself. If you cannot be truthful with yourself, you'll<br />never be truthful with anyone else.<br />Here is an excerpt of a conversation I had with an<br />audience member during a talk I gave several years ago.<br />This is basically the conversation you need to have with<br />yourself while you are doing the Belief Analysis Exercise.<br />"Usually speakers talk a lot about love, but I've<br />noticed that you don't mention love or God very often.<br />Why is that?"<br />"I don't use the words `love' and `God' very often<br />because they cause the mind to project too much of what<br />one wants them to be. This leaves no room for experiencing<br />what is. All this incessant talk of love! If we really loved,<br />we wouldn't have to talk about it so much."<br />"I worship and love God."<br />"Why?"<br />"What do you mean?"<br />"Why do you worship God?"<br />"Because I love him."<br />"Why do you love `him'?"<br />"Because I do!" (An uncomfortable laugh, followed by<br />a long pause.) "I don't know ... because I love him. Isn't<br />that reason enough?"<br />"Reason enough for a person who never took the time to<br />explore, or reason enough for one who has been told he<br />should? What do you think would happen if you didn't love<br />God?"<br />"I don't know. Probably something bad. I'd get<br />struck by lightning or something."<br />"You don't love God; you're afraid of him. Your heart<br />is full of fear, not love, and this is what is important for<br />you to see. Churches, temples and sacred things are not of<br />God; they are the creations of our vanity and fear. Only the<br />unhappy and frightened worship God. If you put aside these<br />things and understand why you are unhappy instead of<br />enveloping yourself in the refuge of your belief about God,<br />you'll experience the truth of God."<br />"I guess that frightens me."<br />"One of the greatest fears is of releasing one's concept<br />of God. Your `god' has to conform to your distorted idea<br />of him because if he doesn't, you won't detect him at all.<br />You insist on your idea of particulars. Goddesses are the<br />current trap. Don't let your fear of God prevent you from<br />exploring the truth. Don't use God to escape. Watch these<br />pretensions and drop them. If you really want to be an<br />authentic person, be true to yourself."<br />"How do I do that?"<br />"If you haven't loved, face the fact and know it. Drop<br />all the illusions and remain true to your being, whatever it<br />may be. Since it is not possible to know yourself through<br />another, no matter how great he may be, you must know<br />yourself directly. Then many things become possible."<br />"What would there be left to believe in, then?"<br />"Why believe at all? Isn't nature enough? It's so much<br />more rewarding and creative. Is it because you don't trust<br />nature or the universe? You are nature itself and the<br />universe, but you don't trust your own life energy. If you<br />can't trust your own life energy, you'll never trust another's.<br />This is obvious when you look at the state of the<br />world.<br />"If we look through our own little belief system, we can't<br />see what's really happening in our world. Seeing is understanding,<br />and we cannot understand through the mind,<br />which is only a fragment. Understanding happens when the<br />mind is quiet."<br />"What do you mean by `quiet'?"<br />"By quiet, I mean no images."<br />"What about unconditional love?"<br />"Start by seeing yourself clearly, that is to say, unconditionally.<br />This act of seeing is an act of love because it is<br />unconditional, untainted. Only love makes the mind sensitive.<br />This seeing, observing and listening are the greatest<br />acts. If you want to be free and unconditional, start by<br />exploring your beliefs and releasing all that is binding you.<br />You cannot love unconditionally with beliefs that, by their<br />very nature, have boundaries."<br />_______________________________________________<br />MEDITATION<br />Reports of transcendental experiences throughout history<br />show a striking similarity that cuts across cultural, social<br />and intellectual distinctions. Researchers have found fundamental,<br />universally available conditions that are present<br />in these experiences.<br />Hundreds of studies of meditators show that "repeated<br />experience of pure consciousness during meditation produces<br />significantly greater reductions in trait anxiety, depression,<br />hostility and other symptoms of mental stress than<br />[experienced during] simple or stylized forms of relaxation."<br />This research is very careful to separate the practice<br />of meditation from the experiences of pure consciousness.<br />Although the practice is helpful, it is the experience of<br />transcendence itself that is of the greatest benefit.<br />Listen to the language of a scientist discussing quantum<br />physics-it sounds remarkably like the language of the<br />soul; one becomes aware that physics and metaphysics can<br />be thought of as two sides of the same coin. The metaphors<br />of metaphysics are simply attempts to describe what we are<br />as yet unable to perceive with any stability. Those who have<br />fully experienced the state of transcendence are termed<br />"mystics" who "understand our logic." We cannot fathom<br />the more unified, yet seemingly paradoxical, nature of their<br />cognitions until we too become transcendent. You can't get<br />away from the fact. You've got to be there to understand<br />it.<br />MEDITATION TECHNIQUES<br />Meditation is many things to many people, depending on<br />culture, religious traditions, psychological orientation, the<br />individual's purpose, etc. Whatever, it is not the definition<br />but the experience that matters.<br />Meditation opens the doors of perception, integrating the<br />mind and body, the aim being to refocus attention past the<br />noise and confusion of the "babbler" in our minds. When<br />this happens, we become aware of the quiet of "no-mind,"<br />a state of pure consciousness with no content.<br />There is also a body of scientific research showing that<br />meditation is more effective in the alleviation of anxiety<br />than therapy. Meditators have been shown in a recent,<br />large-scale "meta-analysis" (a statistical technique designed<br />to compare research across a variety of studies) to be<br />significantly more self-actualized than psychotherapy patients.<br />In addition, surprising things like prison recidivism<br />are significantly lower for prisoners who meditate than for<br />those who go into therapy.<br />Traditionally associated with Eastern religions, meditation<br />has been practiced in one form or another in all<br />religions and in most societies. Meditation researcher Michael<br />West notes that:<br />American Indians practice a form of meditation<br />remarkably similar to zazen [Zen meditation]. In<br />Africa, in the Kalahari Desert, the people of the<br />!Kung Zhu/twasi practice a form of ritual dancing<br />(like Islamic Sufi dancing) which activates a postulated<br />energy source and produces an `ecstasy' experience.<br />Many tribal groups practice such ritual<br />dancing coupled with chanting to produce altered<br />states of consciousness. ... The Eskimo would sit<br />facing a large soft stone and using a small, hard<br />hand-stone, would carve a circle in the large stone<br />continuously to produce trance. Meditation has long<br />been used within the Christian religion and many of<br />the Christian techniques are identical to those used<br />in other religions, cultures, and times.<br />Basically, there are two forms of meditation: active and<br />silent. Historically, active forms have used chanting, drums,<br />dancing and music to produce altered states of consciousness.<br />Silent forms of meditation use four techniques to<br />access pure consciousness: concentration, contemplation,<br />mental repetition of a sound, and detached observation.<br />Since the subject matter covers a large body of work, I'll<br />give a very brief overview. You may obtain books at your<br />local library or bookstore that will go into more detail.<br />· Concentration of a steadily visualized image or<br />symbol, such as a mystical rose, a thousand-petalled<br />lotus, a crescent moon, or Star of David; focus on<br />the breath; concentrate on no thought, considered<br />to be the most difficult, especially for beginners.<br />· Contemplation of an object, such as a candle flame,<br />a flower, statue, picture, or a mandala, a symbol<br />representing unity.<br />· Mental repetition of a sound, which may be a single<br />syllable, such as OM; a mantra, usually a Sanskrit<br />phrase; or a koan, which is an apparently insoluble<br />riddle, such as "What is the sound of a single hand<br />clapping?"<br />· Detached observation of what is happening without<br />being caught up in or identifying with any reaction<br />to it. The focus is centered on the present moment,<br />and the mind observes itself observing life as it<br />unfolds.<br />Whatever form of silent meditation is used, it requires<br />nothing more complicated than to sit quietly and enter<br />deeply into one-mindedness. If the mind wanders, the<br />meditator is instructed to bring it gently back to the focus<br />and not allow it to be distracted. In "The Meditative Mind,"<br />Daniel Goleman writes that the "key attributes of this state<br />are always the same: loss of sense awareness, one-pointed<br />attention to one object to the exclusion of all other thoughts,<br />and sublimely rapturous feelings. "<br />Okay, I've described different kinds of meditation, but<br />what exactly is it and how does it work? Scientists have<br />come up with several different models that attempt to<br />answer these questions. One model views meditation as a<br />mechanism to reduce stress and anxiety. Another views<br />meditation as nothing more than light sleep, a controlled<br />version of the trance state most people experience as they<br />fall asleep. Another model suggests that meditation is a<br />form of self-hypnosis, although there are others who say<br />that the mind deals with information at different levels in<br />hypnosis than while in a meditative state. For our purposes,<br />the end result is what matters, not the method.<br />Psychologist Arthur Deikman says, "Although the power<br />of meditation to affect physiological and psychological<br />functions has been substantiated in many different laboratories,<br />we have paid little attention to what the originators<br />have said about its intended purpose and the requirements<br />for its appropriate use. Focusing primarily on the experiences<br />and bodily effects of meditation is like collecting<br />oyster shells and discarding the pearls. Such `spiritual<br />materialism' inevitably interferes with the real potential of<br />meditation."<br />Meditation is a procedure, a technology. As such, it<br />facilitates outcomes such as stress reduction and consciousness<br />during sleep. Although these outcomes are a natural<br />part of the biology of the human system and can surface<br />spontaneously without meditation, it clearly increases the<br />likelihood of attaining these outcomes.<br />What the originators say is that consciousness is the<br />primary reality from which matter and life arose. Through<br />meditation, an individual can more fully experience the<br />pure consciousness that lies at the center of being.<br />As we enter into these states of consciousness, we are<br />able to move past the stuck spot in our lives, the place where<br />we have remained frozen in our beliefs. We are able to<br />change our beliefs and behaviors in response to one another.<br />This process requires us to extend ourselves, which results<br />in growth.<br />OTHER INTERNAL TECHNIQUES<br />The whole process of the evolution of human consciousness<br />rests in the ability to identify oneself as separate from<br />while participating in an ever-expanding involvement with<br />the world. Higher states of consciousness are a natural<br />progression when they are awakened in an individual who<br />has thoroughly completed the development of the basic ego<br />structure. Yet, achieving the merger of self with Self<br />presents a challenge to the ego. Always on guard, the ego<br />rules out the experience of oneness and makes the experience<br />of connectedness difficult.<br />There is a wide range of inner-oriented techniques other<br />than meditation that focus attention inward toward the<br />source of being, such as lucid dreaming and other dream<br />work, waking imagery and creative visualization, journal<br />keeping, and self-hypnosis. I'll briefly discuss each one;<br />you can obtain other books that go more thoroughly into<br />each subject than I have the space to do here.<br />Almost one hundred years since the publication of Freud's<br />classic "Interpretation of Dreams," dream work is receiving<br />widespread recognition as a valuable technique for<br />learning more about the self rather than being dismissed as<br />merely phantasms of the sleeping brain. For example, there<br />are professional dream organizations; movies with dream<br />themes are raking in millions; bookstore shelves are filled<br />with dream books, and magazine articles on working with<br />dreams have become almost monthly fare.<br />During the passionate embrace of altered-state-of-consciousness<br />work in the 1960s, one study paid a young man<br />a full-time salary to record his dreams over the span of a<br />year. He settled into a small mobile home and set out to<br />record his nightly encounters. With some practice, he was<br />recording up to one hundred pages of material a day. What<br />became incredibly clear was that the source of his nightly<br />excursions was the experience of awareness.<br />A particular form of dreaming, lucid dreaming, offers<br />us a direct link to the experience of pure consciousness.<br />The ultimate self-awareness experience in sleep is knowing<br />you are dreaming while you are dreaming, yet this is but<br />another bridge to even higher levels of consciousness.<br />Although dreams are the psyche's deepest imagery generating<br />system, we can also benefit through the conscious<br />application of imagery experienced in creative visualization.<br />Jeanne Achterberg, president of the Association for<br />Transpersonal Psychology, draws a line from the image to<br />the immune system to support a neurological relationship<br />between the image and the body's maintenance of health.<br />Pointing to the central role of emotions in both imagery and<br />disease, she states, "Verbal messages must undergo translation<br />by the imagery system before they can be understood<br />by the involuntary or autonomic nervous system and related<br />components. "<br />EXTERNAL TECHNIQUES<br />There are external techniques that help intensify awareness<br />as well. Among these techniques are yoga, sports,<br />games, martial arts, active forms of meditation using chanting,<br />dancing and music, and other physical activities that<br />produce what is popularly referred to as "flow." In every<br />case, the important thing is not the activity itself but the<br />experience of pure consciousness it facilitates. Even mundane<br />activities can access this consciousness, as this story<br />illustrates:<br />Ram Dass, a.k.a. Richard Alpert, tells of a time he was<br />lecturing to a group of young people about meditation and<br />higher states of consciousness. Both he and the audience<br />were attired in long, flowing robes and requisite beatific<br />smiles. In the midst of this sea of robes and smiles was an<br />elderly woman wearing a brightly flowered housedress,<br />matching hat and sensible shoes. She too often nodded with<br />a knowing smile during his lecture on the beauty of higher<br />states of consciousness. The teacher wondered how it was<br />she apparently identified with what he was saying. She did<br />not appear to "belong" to the audience to whom he was<br />speaking. Afterward, he asked her how she "knew." The<br />elderly lady in the flowered hat leaned over in a conspiratorial<br />fashion and whispered, "I crochet! "<br />Repetitive activity entrains the brain. A contemporary<br />form of this can be seen in the popularity of Nintendo.<br />While parents grumble about the apparently addictive quality<br />of the game, new research has shown that Nintendo<br />trains hyperactive children to be attentive, which is the<br />major problem in hyperactivity. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly,<br />Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, has<br />researched the experience of pure consciousness in daily<br />activities; he calls this "flow", and summarizes his work in<br />his book titled "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."<br />Some of the activities that produced flow included<br />games, gambling, television viewing, and sex.<br />In the sports arena, the "runner's high" has been well known<br />for years; lesser known are the effects on consciousness<br />of other sports. Hans Joachim Stein says of Kyudo,<br />the art of zen archery, that "like any serious practice whose<br />aim is to penetrate beyond appearances to the essence of<br />things and the meaning of life, the Way of the Bow can only<br />be considered to have reached an end with the transmutation<br />of the archer's earthly existence." Even a "non-sport" such<br />as golf, which has been praised by writer John Updike as<br />"the one [sport] wherein the walls between us and the<br />supernatural are rubbed the thinnest," can produce beneficial<br />changes that lead to pure consciousness.<br />The increasing popularity of martial arts, evidenced by<br />movies such as The Karate Kid and even the ubiquitous<br />Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, emphasizes that the importance<br />of the external form lies in the interior experience.<br />Psychologist Charles Tart tells the story of Morehei<br />Uyeshiba, master of the Japanese martial art, Aikido, who<br />had witnessed village thugs beating his father:<br />I felt that the universe suddenly quaked and that<br />a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled<br />my body and changed it into gold. At the same time<br />my mind and body became light, I was able to<br />understand the whispering of the birds, and was<br />clearly aware of the mind of God, the Creator of<br />this universe. At that moment, I was enlightened:<br />the source of budo is God's love-the spirit of<br />loving protection for all beings. Tears of joy<br />streamed down my cheeks. I understood: Budo is<br />not felling the opponent by force, nor is it a tool to<br />lead the world into destruction. True budo is to<br />accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of<br />the world; to take God's love, which correctly<br />produces, protects and cultivates all beings in Nature,<br />and assimilate and utilize it in our own mind<br />and body.<br />In a world seemingly full of hate and violence, this man<br />was able to deal with disharmony in a spirit of love.<br />_______________________________________________<br />CONCLUSION<br />Di-no-saur (n.): Any of various prehistoric, extinct, often<br />gigantic reptiles; a person with obsolete ideas, beliefs,<br />attitudes.<br />We pause on the threshold, hands outstretched to embrace<br />the long-sought missing thing. When the light floods<br />through the open door of our awakened perceptions, what<br />we experience is the shock of recognition. The seeker and<br />the sought after are one.<br />Standing near a 600-year-old oak tree, I reflected on how<br />it was already old when I was born and will probably be<br />here long after I am gone. Our current lives are not long.<br />Long enough to learn what is required of us, what we need<br />to learn, but not long enough to change much of anything<br />but ourselves.<br />Many of you are bound by what you feel is a past you<br />never wanted and a future that cannot be. Therein lie<br />frustration, confusion and fear. Dissolution and change<br />frighten you. You want the security of knowing where you<br />are going, how you're going to get there, and what's going<br />to happen to you when you do get there. But you'll never<br />know for certain because life has many possibilities, a few<br />probabilities, and even fewer absolutes. Life is like that.<br />Failure to adapt to these variables in the changing circumstances<br />of life is what leads to extinction.<br />Negative experiences exact a price from us, as do<br />positive ones. One price of fame and recognition, for<br />example, is the burden of others' expectations. Good<br />fortune will always require more of us than failure ever<br />does. We're living a momentous adventure, the end of an<br />age, and this adventure has its price also. There is always<br />a price for balance to be maintained, which is why every<br />increase, whether personal or worldwide, is met by a<br />decrease somewhere. This adventure is where we earn the<br />currency required to enter the "New Era" predicted by so<br />many. That currency is awareness, and it is acquired at a<br />very high cost. That cost is the release of the old, which is<br />always the price of the new. Few are willing to pay this<br />high price, but the fact that a price must be paid may be the<br />proof that it is worth it.<br />This New Era will undoubtedly be very different from<br />what is expected. Be willing not to know, not to be sure,<br />and you won't be disappointed or postpone what is to be.<br />Instead of spending valuable energy on theories and fantasies<br />of what the New Era will be, evolve by focusing your<br />attention on the work at hand. Life reveals many secrets to<br />those who wait, watch, and listen. Time always fulfills<br />itself. Stop expecting others to do for you what you need<br />to do for yourself. Look beyond everything you see, then<br />look higher still.<br />Nothing in nature is clumsy. We are all creatures of our<br />time, the "good guys" and the "bad guys." Each body is<br />created for a life particular to its own unique purpose. Do<br />what you were born to do, be what you were born to be.<br />Accept it. Don't be a dinosaur. Drink deeply of life on its<br />terms and you won't become obsolete.<br />Be willing to release all past beliefs; all gods and<br />goddesses; avatars and saviors. What worked then won't<br />work now. What worked for them won't work for you.<br />Their time is over. This is our time. It is meant for us, for<br />you and for me. Let's move gracefully and lovingly into<br />this brave New Era, unspoiled and free of the past-ALL<br />of it!<br />And after all the journeying, all the pain and<br />joy, we may discover that the Transformation<br />was difficult to grasp, not because it was so far<br />away but because it was so very near. To find<br />the immense world of delight is, in the end, to<br />come home again, where it always was.<br />-George Leonard, "The Transformation"simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-63909355919119468662007-08-16T08:09:00.000-07:002007-08-16T08:12:45.974-07:00misitammsimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-72310397614719280332007-08-16T06:47:00.001-07:002007-08-16T06:47:48.337-07:00heartThe Heart Sutra<br />Namo Our Teacher Sakyamuni Buddha (Recite 3 times)<br />The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, while moving in the deep course of wisdom’s perfection, shed light on the five skandas and found them essentially empty. Through this realization, he overcame all suffering.<br />Listen, Sariputra, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness. Emptiness is not other than form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, concoctions, and consciousness.<br />Hear Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They are neither produced nor destroyed, neither defiled nor immaculate, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore in emptiness there is neither form, nor feelings, nor perceptions, nor concoctions, nor consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no mind-object; no realms of elements (from eyes to mind consciousness); no dependent co-origins and no cessation of them (from ignorance to death and decay); no suffering, no origin of suffering, no end of suffering, and no path; no understanding and no attainment. Because there is no attainment, the bodhisattvas, grounded in the perfection of wisdom, find no obstacles for their minds. Having no obstacles, they overcome fear, liberating themselves forever from illusion, and realizing perfect Nirvana. All Buddhas in the past, present, and future, thanks to this perfection of wisdom, arrive at full, right, and universal awakening.<br />Therefore, one should know that perfect understanding is the highest mantra, the unequaled mantra, the destroyer of suffering, the incorruptible truth. A mantra of praj—aparamita (perfection of wisdom) should therefore be proclaimed. This is the mantra:<br />Gate gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-34738593823017242802007-08-16T06:18:00.000-07:002007-08-16T06:19:45.603-07:00dialogues.<br /> CONTENTS<br />Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11<br />1. Sit Thou Upon the Throne. . . . . . . . . . . . 13<br />My Word Thy Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13<br />2. Psalm of Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15<br />Living Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />3. The Spirit of Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18<br />The Inheritance of the Saints. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19<br />4. We Look to Thee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21<br />One Ambition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22<br />5. This Is the Glory Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24<br />Forgive My Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25<br />6. Seek the Fresh Anointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26<br />Reciprocal Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28<br />7. Praise of the Infinite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30<br />The Essence of the Infinite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30<br />8. Remember Thy Covenant. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32<br />I Will Build Up the Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33<br />9. Turn Not Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36<br />There Is No Second Prize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37<br />10. Who Can Stand Before Thee? . . . . . . . . . 39<br />My Love Is Coexistent with My Power. . . . . 39<br />11. Happy Art Thou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41<br />Glorious Prospect! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42<br />12. Kindle Anew My Zeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43<br />Rock of Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44<br />13. Vivid Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45<br />Magnificent Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47<br />14. I Will Not Keep Silent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50<br />By Silence Ye Rob Me of My Glory . . . . . . . . 51<br />15. Thy Grace Hath Overflowed . . . . . . . . . . 53<br />The Spirit of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54<br />16. The Fountainhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57<br />That He May Heal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57<br />17. Unfinished Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60<br />Give Me the Firstfruits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60<br />18. Lion of Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62<br />The Broadening View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62<br />19. As a Dove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64<br />There Need Be No Cross-Purposes . . . . . . . . . 65<br />20. Out of the Depths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67<br />The Glory of My Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68<br />21. Reign Supreme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69<br />A World Within a World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71<br />22. Be Thou My Door of Hope . . . . . . . . . . . 73<br />My Energizing Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73<br />23. Rest Thy Case in My Hands . . . . . . . . . . 76<br />My Help Is in Thee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77<br />24. Thy God Forever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78<br />The Ultimate Fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79<br />25. A World of Bliss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80<br />My Name Upon Thy Lips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80<br />26. A Teachable Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81<br />Purify My Desires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82<br />27. My Presence Shall Go with Thee . . . . . . . 83<br />Guide and Guard Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83<br />28. The Shepherd Speaks Gently . . . . . . . . . . 85<br />Prayer Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86<br />29. The Spirit Requireth Not Language . . . . . 87<br />Spiritual Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87<br />30. Divine Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89<br />Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90<br />31. The Lord Is at the Door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91<br />Prayer Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92<br />13<br />SIT THOU UPON the THRONE<br />Lord God of Hosts, Thou who dwellest between the cherubim,<br />Thou who hast taken up Thine abode within my heart;<br />give ear to my cry, yea, turn not away when I call upon Thee. O<br />Holy Father, righteous in all Thy ways and just in all Thy dealings,<br />forgive my sins and pardon mine iniquities and cleanse<br />Thou my heart from secret faults.<br />For Thou art mindful of the needs of Thy children, and<br />Thou art gracious and tenderhearted. Thou art ready to forgive.<br />Thou dost move to make reconciliation before we call. Thou art<br />watching for the return of the backslider ere he set foot on the<br />road home.<br />Blessed be Thy Name! Marvelous is Thy compassion, and<br />Thy thoughts toward me have been thoughts of pity and kindness.<br />Praise shall be my meat and drink.<br />Sit Thou upon the throne of my heart and rule my affections;<br />for to do Thy will is my supreme desire and in keeping<br />Thy commandments my soul delights.<br />My Word Thy Strength<br />Make straight paths for thy feet lest in time of weakness ye<br />be turned aside, lest in a place of decision ye be led in the wrong<br />14<br />direction. But if ye walk circumspectly and in the light of My<br />Word, ye shall know plainly, and if ye look to Me I will guide<br />thee with Mine eye. Yea, I will watch over thee in love. I will<br />bless thee with My bounty.<br />My presence shall go with thee, keeping thee in peace, and<br />goodness and mercy shall follow thee. My song shalt thou hear in<br />the night, and My Word shall be thy strength. I will deliver thee<br />from the evil one and I will undergird thee with My faithfulness.<br />Thou shalt walk upon high places because of the Lord thy<br />God, for in Him is might and power and He will perfect that<br />which concerneth thee. Yea, He will keep thee in all thy ways.<br />15<br />PSALM of PRAISE<br />O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of<br />God. How unsearchable are His mercies and His ways past<br />finding out.<br />For He found me in a waste-howling wilderness;<br />He led me by His hand; He brought me out; yea,<br />He hath brought me into a large place.<br />He set His love upon me and<br />caused His face to shine upon me.<br />He showered upon me the dews of heaven and made my way as<br />a path of light.<br />He made His angels ministers of mercy.<br />He put His words in my mouth,<br />and His speech has been upon me.<br />Yea, He hath come as a flood.<br />With torrents of blessing He caused my heart to overflow.<br />Surely, in the daytime<br />He hath been as an encompassing cloud,<br />and in the nighttime<br />His Spirit hath illuminated the darkness as a fiery pillar.<br />Yea, in Thy presence darkness fleeth away,<br />faith is swallowed up in sight,<br />and doubt is dispelled as hoarfrost before sunlight.<br />16<br />Heaven is Thy throne, and earth is Thy footstool,<br />yet hast Thou deigned to make Thine abode within<br />tabernacles of clay!<br />This thought is too great for me, and how can my heart<br />receive it?<br />That Thou art preparing heavenly mansions for my habitation,<br />this my mind can understand.<br />But that Thou, the Almighty God<br />who filleth and ordereth the vast universe of earth<br />and of heaven,<br />should stoop to fill my frail cup with Thy divine effulgence—<br />this delights my soul,<br />but my thoughts cannot grasp it.<br />Living Stones<br />Lo, I have set Eternity in thine heart.<br />Yea, I have made thee to be a LIVING STONE.<br />For the Almighty delighteth not to dwell in temples made with<br />hands. Lo, saith the Lord,<br />I will build Me an house and fashion it with lively stones.<br />Yea, I will build My Church and found it upon the Rock;<br />and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it,<br />17<br />neither shall one stone be removed out of its place.<br />For I will dwell in the midst of My people<br />and I will be glorified in them.<br />18<br />THE SPIRIT of WISDOM<br />As the Holy Spirit giveth thee utterance, so shall ye speak.<br />For ye shall not speak anything of thyself, but ye shall speak as it<br />is given unto thee. And thou shalt know that it is from the hand<br />of God that ye have received the message. For who has known<br />His mind, and who has understood His thoughts? They are<br />higher than the heavens are above the earth.Who can understand?<br />Even as Jesus Himself said: There are some things that<br />only the Father knoweth.<br />But He has given the Spirit of wisdom and understanding<br />in the knowledge of Him, to the end that ye may come to know<br />Him. Therefore He saith: Lean not unto thine own understanding,<br />for the wisdom of the wise is but to perish, but the knowledge<br />of God is of eternal proportion.<br />Therefore, come unto Me in humbleness of mind, and with<br />meekness receive ye the ingrafted Word which is able to make<br />thee wise unto thine eternal salvation.<br />By My Word is thy sanctification accomplished; for it is<br />written: Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. This is both<br />present and future—both in this present world and in that<br />which is to come. And if thine eye be single and thy heart pure,<br />thy whole being will be radiant with divine revelation.<br />So shall thine understanding be deepened and thy vision<br />broadened.<br />19<br />The Inheritance of the Saints<br />O Lord, My God, I have heard of Thee by the hearing of<br />the ear, but I long to see Thee. Yea, I desire to behold Thee<br />DAILY in the light of fresh revelation, yea, by the illumination of<br />the Spirit who dwelleth within. I need the daily inward<br />strengthening of the new man in the power of Thy might, that I<br />may be enabled to walk in obedience to Thy divine commands.<br />For if we WALK according to Thy divine revelation, we shall<br />enjoy Thy fellowship and presence; but if the light that is in us<br />becomes darkness by our disobedience, how great is our darkness!<br />How helpless our plight!<br />For we know to do good—we are aware of our obligation—<br />but we continually battle the tendencies of our human natures to<br />do otherwise. For the flesh resisteth the progress of the Spirit<br />(Romans 7:15–25). But as Paul, we make our confession: Thanks<br />be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!<br />Make me to WILL to do Thy will, and show me plainly the<br />path of Thy choosing. Let me walk in harmony with Thee—<br />neither run ahead nor question. For I know Thee, that all Thy<br />ways are righteousness, and all Thy paths are peace. Thy song is<br />a song of joy. Thy steps are sure, and Thy way is a way of victory.<br />Thou hast triumphed over all Thy foes. Thou shalt overthrow<br />the thrones of the mighty, but Thou crownest the righteous with<br />glory. Thy kingdom shall be forever and ever, an everlasting<br />20<br />kingdom that shall never be cut off. This is the inheritance of<br />the saints and the promise to them that serve Thee.<br />And we know that the present conflict shall be counted trivial<br />in the light of the mighty triumph that is to come. For they<br />shall stand before Thee—all the dead both small and great, to be<br />judged by those things which are written in the books: But he<br />that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life and shall not come<br />into condemnation but is passed already from death into life<br />( John 5:24). These who believe shall reign with Thee, yea, they<br />shall judge both men and angels.<br />Small wonder the writer of the letter to the Hebrews called<br />this “so great salvation”! For the more we ponder its magnitude,<br />the more it passeth human comprehension, and to express it<br />exhausteth the powers of speech.<br />Let me hearken to Thy words in John 15 and simply abide<br />in Thee as the branch in the vine. Make this present moment<br />one of victory in Thee, and let me live moment by moment, lost<br />in Thy love.<br />21<br />WE LOOK to THEE<br />O blessed Saviour,<br />to Thee we pour out our praise—<br />at Thy feet we fall to worship.<br />Thy Name shall be upon our lips<br />and Thy song in our mouths.<br />We look not upon things seen, but upon that which faith<br />produces,<br />for that which we see is perishing<br />but that which is of faith is eternal.<br />We look to Thee for victories in the Spirit.<br />We look to Thee for grace to bear the yoke with willing hearts.<br />Yea, we look to Thee to be our fountain of rejoicing;<br />for whatever betide, Thou changest not,<br />nor canst Thou ever fail.<br />Thy presence fills our cup with joy.<br />Thy peace stills every storm.<br />In Thy Name is the balm of Gilead. Thy love knoweth no bounds.<br />Let us be lost in Thy fulness.<br />22<br />One Ambition<br />O My child,<br />There is a place of quiet rest,<br />Near to the heart of God.<br />A place where sin cannot molest,<br />Near to the heart of God.<br />—MC A F E E<br />Come. Come often.<br />Come seeking. Come needing.<br />Wait not until ye may bring Me a gift.<br />Come because ye love Me.<br />Come knowing that I have loved thee first,<br />even while ye were yet in trespasses and sins.<br />Come asking no questions.<br />Come speaking no words.<br />Come because I love you.<br />Come because I desire thy fellowship<br />more than thou canst know.<br />Ye seek to serve Me<br />and fret because of thy limited service.<br />No. . .no. . .no.<br />Can ye never learn the lesson I sought to teach Martha?<br />Can ye never be content to sit as Mary?<br />23<br />Better thy feet were cut off<br />than that they carry thee outside the circle of communion.<br />Ye consider the usefulness of thy life.<br />Thou shouldst have but one ambition—<br />to love Me and to be near Me.<br />Let Me take care of all the rest.<br />Let Me arrange the pattern of thy life.<br />Let Me direct thy service,<br />and it shall be not a service of dead works and self-effort,<br />but an overflow of divine love.<br />This is My Father’s work.<br />I do not require and have not requested thy work.<br />Nay, but ye become a hindrance<br />when ye set about to work for Me thus.<br />Set thy heart to be near Me. Live close to My heart.<br />Look upon My face.<br />I will satisfy thee completely.<br />I will keep thee from anxiety.<br />I will heal all thy diseases.<br />I will cause My face to shine upon thee,<br />and thou shalt be glad.<br />24<br />THIS IS the GLORY LIFE<br />Behold, I say unto thee, This is the way, walk ye in it,<br />neither turn to the right hand nor to the left.<br />For I shall make the path for thy feet a plain path,<br />and light shall be there,<br />and there shall be the shining of My glory.<br />It shall not be the glory of man. It shall be the glory of God.<br />For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways<br />My ways,<br />saith the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).<br />Therefore, lean upon Me for wisdom, yea, lean wholly upon Me,<br />for thou knowest not the direction of thyself, but it shall be<br />revealed unto thee by My Spirit, saith the Lord.<br />Day by day and step by step, thou shalt walk by faith,<br />not by thine own cunningly devised plans.<br />I desire to do a new thing. How canst thou discover it?<br />If thou couldst, thou wouldst spoil the thrill of it,<br />as a child finding his gift before the time.<br />Question Me not, nor ask Me why,<br />neither put confidence in the wisdom of thine own thoughts.<br />Thou grievest My Spirit.<br />Thou hinderest My plans for thee.<br />Thou delayest My purpose.<br />25<br />Thou art causing suffering to thyself and others.<br />What human wisdom could have anticipated Calvary?<br />Indeed, who could have anticipated the details of Bethlehem?<br />This is the meaning of My command that thou shouldst delight<br />in MY ways.<br />This is the glory life.<br />This is the new, fresh, vibrant, thrilling wonder of God<br />living within man.<br />All thou doest otherwise, thou controllest thyself;<br />but learn in this to be fully controlled by My Spirit.<br />I will never fail thee nor lead thee astray.<br />I will accomplish that which I purpose.<br />Forgive My Questions<br />O Blessed Jesus, this is not the way of the flesh<br />but the way of the Spirit.<br />Remove every hindering thing.<br />I ask Thee not to answer my questions but to forgive them.<br />I ask Thee not so much for strength as for a pure heart.<br />For when I acknowledge my weakness, then I experience Thy<br />strength, but when I would walk in my own wisdom,<br />I am not only weak, but sinful through disobedience.<br />It is written, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”<br />O God, give me strength to obey!<br />26<br />SEEK the FRESH ANOINTING<br />Open thine heart to Me<br />and I will pour in fragrant oil.<br />Lift to Me thy cup<br />and I will fill it to overflowing with the waters of life.<br />Bring to Me all thy need<br />and I will supply abundantly out of My fulness.<br />I am not a man that I should be limited,<br />but I long to give and to give again and again.<br />This is not a matter of My granting to thee one great supply<br />to be stored and used little by little as needed,<br />but I give to you a fresh outpouring as each need arises—<br />yea, and BEFORE the need arises<br />that ye may be prepared in advance<br />and that in each emergency ye may have no lack.<br />I give to thee in order that ye may serve Me<br />as a channel of blessing to others.<br />I know those who shall come,<br />and I know the specific need of each individual case,<br />and thus I give you exactly what will be suitable for each one.<br />So be diligent to come,<br />for why should I send anyone unto thee if ye are not<br />prepared?<br />27<br />And if ye be prepared, I will not fail to send to thee the very ones<br />for whom I have made the provision.<br />Ye need not seek them out.<br />How, verily, canst thou know?<br />But I Myself shall send whom I choose<br />and thou shalt marvel.<br />Thus shall ye surely know that this is My work—<br />yea, the work of God the Father.<br />This is not “serving Jesus” in the popular approach<br />to so-called “Christian work.”<br />This is the doing of the will of God.<br />As it is written,<br />He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 John 2:17).<br />Service to Me by the will of the flesh is temporal,<br />but the doing of the will of God is eternal.<br />And this is the will of God, that ye be about the Father’s<br />business—<br />that ye work the works of Him that hath called thee<br />and now sends thee, even as did Jesus when He walked<br />among men.<br />Leave all else to Me.<br />Seek the fresh anointing<br />and I will do the rest.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-10638777926124839892007-08-16T05:56:00.000-07:002007-08-16T05:57:47.386-07:00make haste my belovedCONTENTS<br />Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9<br />The Secret of the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11<br />The Prophet’s Tongue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />Inner Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15<br />Passport to Delight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />Heaven Is Your Portion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18<br />Come First to Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19<br />The Hour of Destiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20<br />The Abiding Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23<br />Endurance and Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24<br />The Heavenly Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25<br />Point of Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26<br />Patience Waits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28<br />Nothing Shall Separate Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29<br />The Kingdom of Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30<br />The Golden Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31<br />Make a New Commitment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32<br />Mercy and Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34<br />The Searcher and the Finder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36<br />Move in Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37<br />Holy Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38<br />Obedience, the Fabric of Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39<br />Relate to Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40<br />Life of Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42<br />Prepare! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43<br />Resurrection Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44<br />A Rain of Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45<br />To Feel Need Is to Receive Grace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48<br />I Will Share with You My Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49<br />Light of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50<br />Called to Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51<br />The Glory of Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52<br />Penitence Restores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54<br />The Single Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55<br />Deliver Us from Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56<br />Kingdom Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57<br />Heritage of the Godly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60<br />The Labor That Wearies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61<br />The Spirit’s Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62<br />Christ Requires Obedience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63<br />Finding the Constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64<br />The Ultimate Cure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65<br />Journey in the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66<br />Reflect My Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68<br />Cultivate Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69<br />The Robe of Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70<br />Quietness of Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72<br />Patience Is Born of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73<br />Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75<br />I Require Faithfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76<br />Preparation and Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78<br />Grace Is My Smile of Compassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80<br />Cheerfulness Brings Sunshine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81<br />The Fear of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82<br />I Am Your Strong Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83<br />Deliverance Has Come. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84<br />Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86<br />Patience Knows No Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88<br />Arm Yourselves with the Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90<br />Heirs of His Promises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91<br />The Echo of God’s Heartbeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92<br />He Refreshes My Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94<br />Veiled in Flesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95<br />11<br />THE SECRET of the UNIVERSE<br />Tell Me, My child, your deepest longings, and in all<br />your searching, come to Me. I am always found of them<br />who seek and ready to help the soul in need. It is your<br />need that draws Me to your aid. You feel a need and cannot<br />identify it. I know that in My presence it will be dissolved,<br />because I know it is My love for which you yearn.<br />“In My presence is fulness of joy”; therefore I know that<br />as you drink of the fresh waters of My Spirit you shall be<br />refreshed.<br />I do not tell you a new thing. I only say again what I<br />have said so many times before: Come unto Me. You shall<br />find rest for your soul, relief from your burdens, and quietness<br />of spirit.<br />There is no turmoil in the soul that rests in My bosom.<br />There is turmoil in the world, but you are not of the world,<br />My little one. You belong to Me. You are Mine, and I have<br />called you apart into a walk of faith, of holiness, of communion<br />with Me. Never go back to the beggarly elements<br />in quest of comfort. Your spirit knows the Fountain of<br />Life. Your heart knows but one love. . .the love of Christ;<br />and from that one love comes the grace to embrace all<br />creatures with understanding and compassion.<br />12<br />It is in the act of worship the soul is sanctified. “Thou<br />shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and Him only<br />shalt thou serve.” To love and worship any other is the path<br />of destruction. I will keep you from false worship as you<br />give yourself to Me in submission to Truth. Truth is<br />revealed in My Word. Make it your daily meat and drink.<br />Bind it to the doorposts of your mind. Store it in your<br />heart.Write it upon your walls. Speak it to your children.<br />Pursue Truth, and forsake it not. It is My life poured out<br />for you through the eternal revelation of the Holy Scriptures.<br />It is infallible. It has power to bind evil and to<br />release good. It is the storehouse of wisdom and the<br />source of life. It is the secret of the universe, and you shall<br />not add to nor take from.<br />Through My Word I have shared with you the fullness<br />of My life. As My Spirit breathes upon its truths, you shall<br />discover riches and depths beyond your present understanding.<br />Look not elsewhere for added revelation. Truth is<br />revealed not according to content but according to receptivity.<br />Suddenly a truth becomes real to you. The truth is<br />not new: Its revelation to you is new. My Word is ever, and<br />will continue to be, the unfailing source of spiritual life and<br />understanding. Man in his pride seeks elsewhere for<br />knowledge, looking to other men for enlightenment. He<br />13<br />drinks from other cups when he ought to come to the<br />fountain. He looks to the creature when he ought to worship<br />the Creator.<br />You know, My child, the source of all your good. Seek<br />Me with your whole heart. I will bless and reward in ways<br />beyond your expectation.<br />14<br />THE PROPHET’S TONGUE<br />No prophet of Mine is worthy of the name who brings<br />reproach upon Zion by a careless tongue. He who speaks<br />My words at any time must guard his lips at ALL times. He<br />is an unworthy mouthpiece who delivers My message in<br />one breath and denies Me in a selfish moment by words<br />that offend My Spirit.<br />“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt”<br />(Colossians 4:6).<br />15<br />INNER RESOURCES<br />Never allow circumstances to frighten you, My child.<br />You are not defeated by outer circumstances, but by inner<br />weakness.Whenever you are challenged, look not at the<br />magnitude of the problem, but examine your inner<br />resources. Out of the abundance of My Spirit within you<br />shall come the necessary strength to meet the demand;<br />nothing shall confront you that is greater than My grace.<br />It is easy to walk in the Spirit, because to do so implies<br />the flow of My life through your heart, your mind, your<br />actions, and your speech. It is the life of Christ made manifest.<br />It is the new creature displacing the old. It is the<br />kingdom of God evidenced where once reigned the kingdom<br />of self. It is love supplanting hatred, and righteousness<br />triumphing over evil. It is hope, joy, and peace. It is<br />kindness, tolerance, and understanding.<br />To move in love is to move in power, and the deeper the<br />love, the more effective its action upon the total personality.<br />16<br />PASSPORT to DELIGHT<br />Out of joy comes health and strength; for the life of<br />the Spirit is sustained within the human heart by faith, and<br />faith is an inseparable companion to joy. It is joy that lifts<br />the soul above the clouds of affliction into the sunshine of<br />God’s abiding love. It is joy that turns despair to confidence<br />and sweetens the bitter waters of sorrow.<br />To rejoice is to cease to doubt. The joyous spirit is in<br />harmony with the heart of God who knows no discouragement<br />nor countenances evil. Joy does not see the darkness<br />of the night but the brilliance of the stars. Better a cup full<br />of joy than a vault filled with riches. All the wealth of the<br />world cannot buy joy, and all the powers of hell cannot<br />take it from the one who has made it his possession.<br />And how is it to be possessed? It is by the abandonment<br />of selfish demands and the acceptance of the Father’s<br />will. It is by forming the daily habit of seeking to please<br />Him in all things. . .not as a burdensome duty, but as an<br />outer expression of an inner love. It is the heart of the cross<br />fulfilled in human experience. Stated in most simple terms,<br />it is to love God; for no man who loves Him can long be<br />sad. He is a fountain of joy. He is the epitome of consolation.<br />“Come unto Me, all who struggle and strive, for I will<br />17<br />be your comfort.” (“Come unto me, all ye who labour and are<br />heavy laden and I will give you rest.”) To rest is to rejoice,<br />and to rejoice is to be at rest.<br />He who does not know how to rest and rejoice, let him<br />employ his leisure thoughts in blessing all who come to<br />mind, and in so doing, he shall find blessings showered<br />upon his own head, and he shall rejoice because his cup is<br />filled. Never pray only that God will fill your own cup:<br />Pray rather that He will fill the cup of another, for it is<br />written that he who gives shall also receive. It is one of the<br />inescapable laws of the Spirit. It is the passport to delight.<br />“Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of<br />thine heart.” Can one be sad who has received from the<br />Father the desires of his heart (Psalm 37:4)?<br />18<br />HEAVEN IS YOUR PORTION<br />You are faltering on the threshold of understanding,<br />My child. Only the courageous discover My riches.<br />Faintheart will content himself with what his eye beholds.<br />The Spirit in you is wiser and will gladly fling aside all<br />material blessings to lay hold on eternal life. The Spirit is<br />not enticed by the glitter of gold nor tempted to desert<br />heavenly vision in favor of temporal blessings.<br />It is My love that will reveal to you the path of true<br />life. Your own heart will look for outer comfort. The only<br />true comfort, My child, is the comfort of My Spirit, and I<br />am within you, ministering continually in behalf of your<br />eternal spirit, as the priest who stood daily in the temple<br />offering prayers and sacrifices. This I am doing for you.<br />The greatest joy you can know is yours as your own spirit<br />joins with My Spirit in this holy worship. You may be in a<br />cathedral or in a tent. . .alone or in the company of others:<br />My Spirit continues to worship within the temple of your<br />heart.<br />The moment you join Me in true, conscious worship,<br />you experience joy and release. You are blessed and refreshed.<br />All that salvation brings you is activated in that<br />moment. Prayer is answered, sin is forgiven, fear is banished,<br />19<br />peace is restored, and the soul is at rest with its own self and<br />with its Maker.<br />Yes, heaven is your portion as you WORSHIP!<br />COME FIRST to ME<br />You are disobedient, My child, when you listen first to<br />others and then come to Me for a confirmation. I am your<br />Source, and you ought never to look to others until AFTER<br />you have come to Me.<br />My will brings peace, because My Spirit in you desires<br />always to please Me. Being rightly related to Me is your<br />safeguard. If in all things your foremost desire is to please<br />Me, I will not let you fail.<br />20<br />THE HOUR of DESTINY<br />O My people, draw near to Me and I will speak to your<br />hearts, and you shall know that it is My voice for I shall<br />confirm My word. He who searches for My truth shall be<br />taught of the Lord, and he shall know that the vessel used<br />is chosen and prepared by Me and does not speak of himself,<br />but every word that I shall give him, THAT shall He<br />speak.<br />I call you again this day, My people, to come to the<br />well and DRINK, and come to My Word and partake. Let<br />the hunger of your soul be nourished by the one source of<br />life which alone can satisfy. No human voice can answer<br />the cry of the soul. My Spirit alone can heal the broken<br />heart and revive the languishing. In mercy I minister. In<br />compassion I deal with your sins. “Return unto the Lord,” it<br />is written, “and He shall have mercy and abundantly pardon.”<br />I shall have a people purged and prepared for these latter<br />days. My purposes SHALL be fulfilled. MY Church shall<br />stand, and truly, the gates of hell shall NOT prevail against<br />its witness in the world. I shall preserve the faithful remnant,<br />and they shall walk with Me in white.<br />You shall lay aside your own petty personal plans and<br />selfish desires as you grasp the magnitude of the challenge<br />21<br />of THIS HOUR. Many are still sleeping who should be<br />AWAKE. Many still toy with trivialities. I plead with you,<br />My people, to seek Me with intensity and with a broken,<br />teachable spirit. I am not asking for your help but for your<br />consecration. I need trumpets through which to sound, vessels<br />through which to flow, hearts through which to love,<br />and lips to honor My Name.<br />Rise up, quit you like men; be strong. Lo, the battle is<br />in array. The enemy takes no rest.Wherever he perceives a<br />point of weakness, your hope of victory is small. I am your<br />strength and your only sure defense. See that you walk in<br />the Spirit. Only then is victory ensured.<br />Compare not your walk with others. You judge falsely<br />and unwisely. Falsely, because you see not the whole situation,<br />and unwisely because I judge each man individually.<br />Judge your own heart and examine your own way.<br />Condemn not another for his imperfection, but cry unto<br />Me that I may forgive your own iniquity and take away<br />your sin. Make straight paths, and let Me prepare through<br />the desert a highway of holiness and a path of peace.<br />Lo, the world is both at once on the precipice of<br />destruction and on the brink of revival. It is on the verge of<br />being both consumed by the fires of purification and<br />restored to Edenic perfection. Know the day in which you<br />22<br />live, O My people. Listen intently to My voice, for how<br />shall you obey except you know My will and how shall you<br />run except you be sent?<br />Lay aside the levity that robs the soul of its vitality. Put<br />away the clamour of self-seeking that closes your ear to My<br />voice. Let the zeal of the Lord consume self-pity and the<br />fires of My holiness consume your sins.<br />Lo, you have not many days to ready your soul. THIS is<br />the hour of your own spiritual destiny, and every present<br />action is laying up in store for you either eternal reward or<br />eternal poverty. He who has been faithful in little shall be<br />entrusted with much, and he who rules well over his own<br />city shall be given authority over ten. I shall not create in<br />that day leaders in the kingdom. I am preparing them even<br />now from those few who choose to lay aside the weights of<br />carnal pursuits and cast themselves headlong into full dedication<br />to My will.<br />23<br />THE ABIDING PRESENCE<br />“No good thing will he withhold from them who walk uprightly”<br />(Psalm 84:11). My presence within you is your richest<br />treasure. It is one that moth and rust cannot destroy, nor<br />thieves break through and steal. It will become dearer to<br />you as you relinquish outer joys. Your inner joy is as a plant<br />that unnurtured fades. Your inner joy is nurtured by your<br />awareness of and gratitude for My abiding presence. Be<br />not allured by the fascinations of the world. They are but<br />to perish. They are transitory. Even those which are not<br />evil are still of no benefit to your spirit.<br />It is the Word of God and the Spirit of God that feed<br />the soul of a man. It is his inner worship and outer witness<br />that strengthen him in faith. To fail to worship is to<br />become a perpetual disappointment to the heart of Christ.<br />It is to ignore the sacrifice of Calvary. It is to live and die<br />ungrateful for His mercy and love.Worship is the only<br />appropriate gift sinful man can give to a holy God. It is the<br />only fitting expression of the ransomed soul. Nothing can<br />bring greater satisfaction to the heart of God except to<br />teach another soul to do likewise.<br />24<br />ENDURANCE and LOVE<br />Endurance is native to those who love, for to truly love<br />is to continue to love under all circumstances. Man’s natural<br />love is often an exchange, a mutual giving and receiving;<br />but God’s true holy love will give when there is no<br />exchange, because it does not require reward and is not<br />motivated by gifts.<br />Love gives because it is its nature to give and so is<br />not a respecter of persons nor conditions. “A friend loveth<br />at all times,” and because he does, he endures. He endures<br />hardship, pain, privation, poverty, weariness, misunderstanding,<br />and sacrifice of personal wishes and needs. He<br />endures. He continues to give and continues to love<br />giving, and in so doing he is preserved in the day of<br />adversity.<br />He is preserved from doubts, fears, and questionings. He<br />is protected against discouragement. He is strengthened in<br />weakness and sustained in trouble. He is invincible. And love<br />is his sustaining force. He endures, for he sees Him who is<br />invisible. . .Him who is the epitome of love, and so he is at<br />one with the Creator and receives a continuing creative<br />power which is the secret of his endurance. To be one with<br />25<br />the source is to have an unfailing supply.<br />So bear cheerfully each day’s burden, for it is given to<br />purify the soul. In every trial there burns the Refiner’s fire.<br />THE HEAVENLY QUEST<br />Many heartaches come to those who follow Me. Some<br />are common to all men; others are the direct result of simply<br />being a disciple of one who Himself was called “a man<br />of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ” (Isaiah 53:3). He who<br />is obedient to Me will experience a similar kind of suffering.<br />It is the suffering of spiritual sacrifice. It is not selfsacrifice,<br />for it is not a giving of self, per se. It is a new and<br />more stringent kind of dedication—it is the heavenly quest<br />for total abandonment to the will of God.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-32819212584485422442007-08-16T04:26:00.000-07:002007-08-16T04:27:19.523-07:00christ in youFIFTH LESSONTHE WILL OF GODWHAT a long time it takes us to understand the will of God! You often use the phrase, "I have made up my mind." This has a great deal of meaning, if you pause to consider it, for in that very process you begin to bring into manifestation the desire of the mind. Thus you say: "I see a wrong condition in my mind, my mentality, my circumstances; I will make up my mind, this shall not be." You mentally set in motion the forces of the universe, seen and unseen, to accomplish your will. You see, it is impossible to live carelessly or lightly on the spiritual plane, and these lessons would be of no use to any one who has not been aroused to true spiritual consciousness, the consciousness of the divine humanity, the I AM. How can the will of God be expressed except through life, through humanity, in the hearts and 167168CHRIST IN YOUminds of beings who exist in Himself? There. fore know that the will of God is operative in yourself. Then how is it that the things we will and desire do not come to us, you may ask. Because deep down in all your desires, thoughts, and purposes there is an undercurrent, as it were, the thought within the thought, the desire within the desire, and what you most truly desire is always at the root of all your fleeting impressions and moods of the moment. Have you not often felt that the very thing you desire is not for your eternal good? Well, that very glimmer, that faint suggestion, is from the self of you that is making your life. You know within yourself the very quality, the very experiences best suited for your highest good. Once you give full play to this subtle suggestion behind1 all your thinking, you are one with the will of God, which is your own will. This is the voice of the spirit, heed its whisperings. Do not sin against the Holy Ghost, or you will lose eye and ear and become blind and deaf. On the plane1 Isa. xxx. 21.THE WILL OF GOD169of the senses this is most disastrous, because you are just where you are to do the will of God. It is your meat and2 drink. So delicate and so subtle is this holy inner voice that you must be very quiet and meek, if you would hear3 it. Let Jesus speak to you again and again, read the Gospels until you are led more and more to remove the veil which hides you from your true self. I have only answered your question, but hope to speak to you again on this subject. Peace, Heavenly Grace. God lives in you, He is your life.2 John iv. 34. 3 Ps. xxv. 2.SIXTH LESSONWORKERS TOGETHER WITH GODTHERE really is no such thing as space. For you, as for us, the spiritual law of attraction operates, but your consciousness of limitation, of distance, makes you blind and deaf to a great extent. At a later period of your unfoldment, to desire is to possess. Thus, if we wish to see you, our thought is a vital force, we are in your actual presence immediately, we are so close to you. Thought is so potent, so swift; every thought of ours becomes an outward expression; although you may not see it, you cannot think without a result. Be very careful that you think from the spiritual plane. The phenomena of time and sense are like children's toys to us. They will be discarded as you dwell in the higher consciousness. What divides us now is simply and only that you are not dwelling in, not breathing, seeing, hearing from the spiritual plane. Every effort to rise helps another; but 170WORKERS TOGETHER WITH GOD171see to it that you are watchful, vigilant, purposeful, and loving. You partake of the inflow and outflow of the breath of God. This is best described as waves, impelled by an irresistible law, and your whole planet is continually being swept over by this mighty healing breath. I am explaining this for purposes of healing, and hope to explain later that there are periods of outflow and recall. We wish you to breathe forth your healing currents in unison with the almighty good. Your cooperation is necessary for individual needs. Noon and sunrise are good times for raising conditions of false consciousness into the great One, especially the conditions known to you as feverish and nervous, or the consciousness of weakness. Other cases I hope to explain as I see you coming into contact; but previous to the expression of your desire for the healing of the body and a change of circumstances, breathe out a strong positive assurance of mans unity with God. Your highest good is to banish the idea of separation from God. Bands of us are striving to influence men and172CHRIST IN YOUwomen to free your land of asylums, reformatories, prisons, and similar places. Their inmates could be helped and healed so much more easily if they could be brought in contact with those who have learned the great truths we come to teach. We do not give these lessons for any other reason than to help your world, which we love. We hope to be of practical use in freeing your world from suffering, which is caused by ignorance. By this we do not mean that you escape discipline, but how can you begin to learn your real purpose for being if you are in bondage to false conditions? God did not purpose that your life should be spent in overcoming false conditions. He has a magnificent purpose, a part for you to take in His work. God bless you and keep you alive unto Himself and dead to sin. Amen.SEVENTH LESSONTHE CREATIVE ENERGYIT is the silent, creative great One, dwelling in the abyss of each, in whom we live and have our being. I am being taken within the centre of life. Again I am in the centre of power, but this time I remember that I have always been. The process of creation is always present, it is not a past series of events. There is no sense of past or future, but of a continuous present. I have already described the great, silent energy and the lack of colour and sound when in the centre, but this time the desire of life is upon me, the sense of lack. I desire beauty and colour. I am the positive one, and the virility and strength of the atmosphere around me lacks its opposite. With the desire I will, and soon the will, which is the producer, directs my forces. There is a new power about me. I am surrounded by a great are of light, and I become conscious of a 173174CHRIST IN YOUheart within myself. I love, I will! The are, which was of a varying shade of gold, slowly becomes roseate and glowing; the electrons of light are no longer colourless, but softened and shaded by pink. Love expresses the beautiful in colour. I am answered in myself. I am both positive and negative, male and female; and out of this consciousness, beauty of form and shade seem born; yet as I write this I know that perfection has always been, though I bring it into evidence by my will and desire. Colours surround me, and millions of shades seem to evolve from three—red, blue, and yellow. They harmonize and blend, and the place seems full of sound and form. I have desired, I have willed. The colours emit the sound, and soon I see the forms of flowers. These colours cannot be seen on the physical plane, though they are full of light and breath. As you see, this is extremely difficult to describe, as also for you to imagine, but the colours breathe and live, and are inter-related to sound and form. There seems no division between the moving shades and the appearance of elegant and delightful shapes. Truly I am in aTHE CREATIVE ENERGY175place of beauty, which is born out of the two in one. There is a sense of completeness, a harmony of many parts. The great energy is softened by beauty, and love is the breath of this life. The teacher speaks. You could not bear this for long, and the meaning will unfold to you. One single drop of dew contains what you have seen with the eye of the soul. The Creator is in the atom. Yes, truly, the whole of God is in the blade of grass. By this know that space is a meaningless word on the true plane of being. Everything is in the universal soul; the Christ mind alone comprehends. The one Self is creative, having both natures. In heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage. This is the highest consciousness of Christ.EIGHTH LESSONGOD THE ONLY LIFEI WANT to tell you how real, how true it is, that nothing exists outside God, and I can best help you by the description of an experience of my own. Life both here and there is a constant unfoldment, always fresh, a continual revelation. I have already told you of my entrance into the spiritual world, and now may I speak of one of my steps into a greater fulness of God, into life more abundant? I had learnt many things, the spiritual faculties were quickened, and I was always learning that our especial need is to have greater capacities for God, to do as Paul says continually—"Yield1 yourselves unto God." It was most wonderful to discover that my thought instantly produced an outer environment; in fact, my thought came into being at once. For instance, I desire quiet for meditation—1 Rom. vi. 13.176GOD THE ONLY LIFE177I am instantly in a grove and all is stillness, inviting repose. I think music—and at once I hear sublimest strains, ravishing and melodious. I am satisfied—the music gently ceases. Truly, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, all that awaits us when we are in God. I desire to help, and I am sent to people who are climbing up; and oh! the joy of helping them to their own. This is my longing desire for you. Be ye holy2 (healthy), for I am holy (healthy), says God. Happiness and health and all good is God. There is no secret initiation, no mystery in God. You only need the heart of the child to3 enter the kingdom. It is true in a beautiful sense that there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed. All things are open and are yours. You are not always able to understand because you are not sufficiently evolved; but never forget that all is yours, for ye are God's. Even this exquisite joy around me, even the knowledge that my thought made me, did not seem enough, and I longed intensely4 for God2 Lev. xix. 2. 3 Mark x. 15. 4 Ps. xlii. 1.178CHRIST IN YOUabove all else, until I realized that nothing but the Infinite could satisfy me. This thought, this desire, was not answered in the usual way, but one of the shining ones who go in and out among us stood beside me and said, "Are you ready for the cleansing waters? Your prayer is heard." At the same time the spirit within repeated the familiar words: "Ye shall5 surely find ME." "Yes, yes," I said, "all for God," and I fell on my knees in an attitude of prayer. Then began the cleansing by the waters from the River of God. From within there arose a cleansing stream, that made me aware of its workings in my heart. My limitations must go. I, who thought I possessed relatives, friends, home, must learn that God must enlarge my heart with greater loves, more friendships. There are no limitations where God is, no claiming of personalities. God is all. The waters were bitter, but you must do this for the great gain. Your ideas and thoughts are not God's thoughts, nor are your ways God's ways.6 Ah, it is true, and it will be your eternal good to5 Jer. xxix. 13. 6 Isa. lv. 8.GOD THE ONLY LIFE179know this now. Everything that seemed peculiarly my own was simply swept away until I was as nothing, and longing only for God. The Angel spake again with great love and tenderness—"Thou shalt know thyself by this test: art thou content to be nothing, and know nothing?" With great faltering I answered "Yes." The reply came, "Know God, and thou shalt BE." I think there was a long time of quiet. I seemed to become conscious of fresh surroundings. I seemed in the centre of the worlds, in a place of strength; I was conscious of the heart of love, far above my understanding—the rest and comfort of a great strength, and yet I suppose the best description for you is that I seemed in the atmosphere of God—knowing nothing but God— wanting nothing but good; and yet aware that it would take me aeons to understand, to know and grow in this heavenly consciousness. Soon I saw our earth, I saw the blindness of men; though dwelling in this wondrous love they were content to live in shadow, in pain. "Lord, I must go to them, I must tell them," I thought. The voice of the180CHRIST IN YOUSpirit spoke within—" I7 am God, and beside me there is none else." "Amen, Amen, Amen," I answered. To dwell consciously in God is to inbreathe and outbreathe harmony and love. I am without limits, I revel in freedom, I cannot think sin, sickness, or death except to remove them; they have become to me less than vapour. God is all in all, and no one can be outside God. Even your very stones and rocks are interpenetrated by the God-life. "Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead"; "Christ is8 the light of the world." Oh for a thousand voices to proclaim the truth that nothing is but God! Rise out of your false, shadowy consciousness and mount into the consciousness of love. "Truly He maketh my9 feet like hinds' feet." I know that in me the Christ has ascended to His Father; henceforth "the Father and I are one." In me the Trinity of the Three are one, and yet three. Spirit is substance, nothing can be real except7 Isa. xlv. 18. 8 John viii. 12. 9 Hab. M. 19.GOD THE ONLY LIFE181God; but joy of joys, as I met relatives, friends, and dear ones, I knew, how more than ever they were mine beyond thought of loss or separation! All I had lost was the fear of losing. God's thought is the only reality; the world is God's thought. You are yet to learn that all realities are in God's thought. You are to express them. Rise, dear heart, and take your place with us, that you may know God only, just where you are. Love never10 faileth. Begin now. This is the true way to bring in light and love, conquering death by the sacrifice of the body of sense, to rise in newness11 of life. I will come again. I have told you of this experience only to help. I would not have done so unless you were able to apprehend it. It will be meaningless to the seekers of wonders and signs. You must let self utterly melt away in order that Christ may come to His own.10 1 Cor. xiii. 8. 11 Rom vi. 4.NINTH LESSONHE GAVE HIMSELFAS you unfold in the consciousness of God, many inexplicable things become clear. One is the purifying process of pain. It is safer and grander to suffer, because, rightly viewed, it is sure to perfect the soul. Have you not sometimes felt the shallowness and the emptiness of joy? I tell you it is impossible to know true joy—the heights of joy—until you have known corresponding depths of pain. This is the process called "the refiner's fire."1 It is cleansing; it is good, and not evil. True joy—the joy of Heaven—should saturate the whole being, and touch the inner consciousness with a sense of its eternity, its everlastingness; and the suffering2 has prepared a place that joy may enter in. Learn the wisdom in these words—As sorrowful, yet3 always rejoicing."1 Mal. iii. 2. 2 Isa. ix. 2, 3.3 2 Cor. vi. 10.182HE GAVE HIMSELF183Now I would show you the difference between necessary suffering and useless pain, which is disorder; likewise between true joy and transient false joy. Divine humanity can attain the throne of the universe only by the way of the Cross. This is the way of sacrifice. Do not too hurriedly dismiss the pearl in the old orthodox teaching, it served its day and generation most efficiently. When man thought of himself as a separate and outside unit, only this teaching could help his unfoldment, so thank God for the ladder of dead creeds—dead selves. But now the divine Man is arising; He has burst the old4 bottles; the new wine of life cries out for space and freedom, as the sap does in the tree. Beware, for here is your danger; the suffering begins, which shall make the path by cleansing and burning up all that hinders the uprising of the divine in earth, air, and sea. The Son of God is come, and your very experiences of pain and suffering are the heralds of His approach. There is much more to be revealed to you, but we leave these messages with you to help you to4 Matt. ix. 17. Rev. xii. 10.184CHRIST IN YOUlive and express the highest within you, knowing that Christ will perfect that which concerneth Him, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.THE ENDsimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-3478230878892923682007-08-16T02:07:00.000-07:002007-08-16T02:08:56.449-07:0056The56BROTHERHOODEVIL57way unto Me is open to all, but the way is through the heart, treading the path of Love and of Selfless Service. In that Home Center you can truly say I AM, and know WHO you are, but the moment you let your interest and attention wander into the outer worlds of the senses and to any of the things within them, you are, as it were, pulled from your center, deluded into a sense of separation, and sucked into an outer and lower plane of consciousness away from God and Good, and you become involved in and are seemingly a part of that realm of consciousness where you allowed your interest and attention to become focused for the time being. But here is the secret by which you can regain your power,—you need only to remember Who you are, that your home is back in the center, in the Kingdom therewhere I AM—where the God of you IS; and then to re-focus your attention and interest there by seeing and feeling yourself centered therein and surrounded by and filled with My Love,—when you will actually and truly be there. Then by practicing staying in that Love Center, realizing Who you are—your identity with Me, and feeling My Love pouring out through you, as a heart center, you will find you can look out through and go in and out of these outer realms of consciousness a will, seeing and knowing they are all illusion;—reflections rather—of the glorious Realities within the Kingdom, created out of the substance of those imagined worlds that exist only by reason of your fancying them real and separate from My Consciousness; distorted concepts fashioned in ignorance and from efforts to understand their58BROTHERHOODEVIL59peculiar influence upon the relation to you. This is a great secret indeed, and it is waiting for all to know who have found the Way of Love, through the heart, unto Me. For I, God, AM Love, and the more you love—the more you forget self—the more do you let Me have My way in you. There fore let My Love, which is My Creative life flow freely through you. For in very truth you are My agent, My channel of expression; and only through you, whom I created in My Image and Likeness for such purpose, can I pour forth the fullness of My life and express My Real Self. In fact, I can do nothing outwardly except through you. Know that the very nature of My life is to love and bless, to grow and unfold, to heal and make perfect. It will do this naturally and always, if not interfered with byman's wrong thoughts, or by man's ignorant thoughts—his not knowing the mighty power he is wielding by forming thought pictures in his mind, into every one of which My Life flows and vitalizes and outmanifests them, according to the kind of feeling he puts into them. This accounts for the many inharmonious, troublous and obnoxious conditions now manifesting in your life. But it is just as easy to bring into manifestation the conditions and things you want, as those you do not want; for My Life is ever seeking—rushing, as air into a vacuum—to fill full and outmanifest all your thoughts, especially those into which you put intense feeling; for note carefully this great truth—feeling of any kind is LIFE, is My Life that you use to vitalize your thoughts. According to the intensity and quality of feeling—of love or60BROTHERHOODEVIL61hate, faith or fear, trust or worry, confidence or doubt—you put into your thoughts will they prove a blessing or an evil to you. This explains how each man—and no one else—is responsible and accountable for all the conditions surrounding him; for remember they exist primarily in his mind as the thought forms he has built there. Therefore, by replacing the pictures there you do not like with those you do like, and focusing your heart's interest and attention upon them, you change the conditions outwardly. When you can once realize that what is manifesting in your outer life — in your body, home, business, world—is only what you are seeing and holding in your consciousness, you will begin to clean out your mental house and to build and keep there only the things that will bring you soul satisfaction and happiness.It also explains how you can help and bless others who are in trouble and unable to help themselves. You, who are abiding in your center of Consciousness where I am, can send My Healing Life to any other center of My Consciousness to the Higher Self of a brother who is sick or weak and knows not in his brain consciousness of My Life within him. By simply opening your heart and letting My Love pour out you can send it direct to him; for in My Consciousness there is no space or time separation, and to Me you and your Brother are one with and part of Me. Just realize—feel and see My Love flow from you to him, who is in very truth your Self, because he is My Self; see It pouring forth from deep within, surrounding and filling him—just as it pours forth from within you—as a Radiant White Energizing Force—that spiritual Life Force which grows and fructifies and heals all liv-62BROTHERHOODEVIL63ing things. See it flowing from deep within his heart and radiating outward, through his mental, emotional and physical consciousness and bodies, permeating and flooding every part of them, and then surrounding and enclosing them in pure, brilliant, White Light—the Light of My Holy Love, which no evil or inharmony or imperfection can touch or come near, no more than darkness can be where there is brilliant light. Just to the extent that you actually KNOW this and can perfectly visualize and see it taking place, and can feel my tender love inspiring, flooding and uniting the consciousness of you both, will a perfect healing take place, and Evil and all its minions will be driven back into the darkness of nothingness and ignorance whence they came. For in very truth will it be My Lifethat is rushing into and which will vitalize the new and true concept thus formed in your minds and hearts, and which will make it a REALITY. For then the without will have become as the within, and you will see with the Light of My Love that all consciousness is My Consciousness. The KNOWING of this Truth will make you and all who are concerned about the problems of Evil, Disease, Lack or Imperfection, FREE. Do not pass by this article with just one reading, but go over it again and again, meditating earnestly upon every sentence and phrase, until you have made all the great Truth hidden back of the words your own. If you do this you will find you will be able shortly to demonstrate this Truth by thus blessing My children whom I will send to you for help, thereby finding your-64BROTHERHOODself an integral part of the Great Brotherhood in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, which I am establishing on earth even as it is in Heaven.THE ENEMYMAN from the earliest day, even during his sojourn in Eden, has been aware of two forces within himself ever opposing each other,—one that would inspire and lead him to the highest, and the other to the lowest of thoughts, feelings and actions. During his racial childhood man named that which called forth the lower phases of his nature the Devil, and thought of it as a malevolent power ever seeking to frustrate and keep from him the fulfillment of his desires. Later he questioned if it were not God punishing him for sins committed by with-holding from him the good things of life. But not until man grew up and his Real Self began to direct his thoughts was he6566BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY67able to see that what was holding him back and forcing him to be content with present if inadequate, possessions was but his own weakness of character and intellect, and that not until he had earned them could the powers unfold that came with knowledge and understanding, and could be exercised and controlled by him in the high use for which alone he began to see they were permitted and intended. And with this knowledge gradually came the realization that these higher powers could not unfold while selfishness ruled him, and that selfishness was in some definite way related to the Devil of earlier days. It was then that man began to respond consciously to the leadings of his Higher Self, and to try to control and overcome selfishness. In so doing he found that when he yielded to the voice of self, trouble, failure,inharmony or suffering always resulted, and although he knew this and sought to avoid such, yet there was something within him that was stronger and made him yield to that hidden and persistent selfishness ever seeking to maintain complete control. Thus he became aware that his greatest enemy was not some other person whom perhaps he had harmed or defrauded by such selfishness, but was that something within which was akin to the lowest phase of his own nature. When he listened to the voice of selfishness and not to that of his Higher Self—My Voice—it always brought harm, in that it made him suffer until his higher nature could again come into evidence, and could enable him to hear My Voice within, pointing out the sin he had committed against his brother, and the necessity of repentance.68BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY69And then he gradually became conscious that when he considered committing any selfish act voices encouraging such act and suggesting ways and means poured into his mind from without, indicating he was being influenced by outside forces, thoughts from other minds, that were ever ready to push him on to his and others' undoing— if he listened and yielded to them. Thus far man has come, learning that the' cause of evil is in himself, in that weakness or lack of character which usually has selfishness at its root; but he had yet to learn that the source of evil is really without himself. For evil is not in Me, Whose mind is the only mind in man, but is inspired by the passions and thoughts sent forth by the forces of darkness, and which are ever seeking openings in self-separated human minds where selfishness, which is of their darkenednature, is allowed to rule unchecked. Evil hates Truth as darkness hates light, and cannot exist where light is. Evil cannot manifest and thrive in the light of Truth, hence it must seek its own in order to live; and selfishness exists only because of the darkened sense of separation from Me, inspired by the enemy of light. When man knows I am the only self of him, and that it is My Mind, My Intelligence, My Will and My Love that lives in and grows his body and character and directs his life, and he is willing to let Me rule, he has found Truth, and that it is Truth that is making him free from the power of self, even as darkness always must disappear when the light comes. It is this fact that proves that the Enemy can find entrance into man's mind only when self in any way or at any time is al-70BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY71lowed to control, even if for but a short time. Once admitted and his subtle suggestions listened to, he is almost impossible to drive out until he has accomplished his will. For the selfishness that attracted him gave him his cue, and he is able to instill his poisonous idea to such effect, by feeding and encouraging the selfish desires and passions found there, that the mind becomes wholly blinded to Truth, and seeks thereafter only to satisfy the clamorings of self. And the Enemy, who—what is he? Only the entitized form of the mass selfishness of men, that vast cumulation of the evil thoughts and passions of men's lower nature appropriated by Masters of Evil, grown great and powerful by their stealing and feeding off of the vital forces that their unsuspecting dupes at their instigation had poured into such evil thoughts and desires, thus giving them direct power over menthrough men's own life-force now absorbed and incorporated into their Master-nature, which they could thereby easily use to bend men to their will. Do such Masters of Evil really exist? Yes, just as surely as evil men exist. These evil men are merely their servants, their dupes, their slaves, practically all unconscious of their Masters or of any outside power controlling them. In fact, all would deny and wholly refuse to believe in the existence of such Masters, so subtly have these Masters worked upon and deceived the thinking minds of men by instilling into them wrong beliefs about a personal God and an abstract devil, thus twisting their understanding of the inner laws of being so they would listen to and follow the prompting of their Masters who could then continue to control and exploit them to the accomplishment of their foul ends.72BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY73But, you ask, are these Masters of Evil living men, or do they exist only on the inner planes of being, like the Masters of Good? If you can conceive of Masters of Good, then you may know also of these Masters of Evil, for if the former exist, so do the latter; and as there is a Christ who rules and leads and inspires the former, so is there an AntiChrist who rules and leads and inspires the latter. As the Christ can work on earth only through His disciples, who through love of their fellow men have emptied themselves of self so that their higher nature is ever waiting upon and serving Him; so the AntiChrist can work only through his disciples who through hatred, jealousy, greed, and a continual exploiting of their fellows have grown so big and fat from self-indulgenceand in their feeling of superiority that their lower nature has become a perfect instrument for the use of the great Exemplar of Selfishness. Also as it is true that there are such Masters of both Good and Evil working on the Inner Planes of being and ever inspiring their disciples, so it is equally true that both these Masters are working also on the physical plane, living in human bodies, and doing the will of their respective Chiefs who abide on the Inner Planes. Likewise do only those who have earned the right, by "living the life" of their respective Chiefs, the Christ or the AntiChrist, ever come into personal contact with the Masters under whom they serve; for the Masters always remain in the background, and work through their disciples and agents, whom they have raised to places of influ-74BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY75ence and power because of their faithfully doing their Master's will. Those working consciously or unconsciously under Masters of Evil are always inspired and influenced towards Evil, while those under the banner of the Christ are inspired and led wholly to forget self and to work only for the uplifting of their fellow men. All is according to the great Law—"As above, so below; as below, so above." Good and Evil are opposite poles, and therefore where one manifests there must also be the other to complement it and balance its power. But remember, both are but men's concept of an Infinite Reality, which changes, not and cannot be affected by whatever men think of it as Good or Evil. However, there are only a comparatively few of both so-called Good and Evil Masters working in human bodies at the presenttime, conscious of their Master degree, although many are preparing to enter human existence as soon as perfect conditions can be found. The Good Masters, under divine Law, will enter naturally into newly born infant bodies, and will over-shadow others —their disciples, while the Evil Masters, where opportunity offers, will deliberately break the Divine Law by dislodging and driving out the Souls of infants, thus stealing their bodies from them, or by driving out Souls from mature bodies, dispossessing them, and thereafter obsessing and impersonating such Souls to their friends and associates. Such in the near future will be of common occurrence, and will be made easy for them by all who succumb to fits of passion, indulgence in intense hatred, jealousy, or self-pity, or continual brooding over wrongs done them, or habitual condemnations of others, and who will suddenly wake76BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY77one day in another world minus their physical bodies. And be it known the Anti-Christ is also, preparing to manifest himself, when all is ready and enough of such evil forces to serve his purpose are let loose on the earth and require his direction and control. For he has been preparing for this for thousands of years, training his Masters of Evil, who in turn have been carefully carrying out his plans with seldom any failure, through the agency of their earthly lieutenants — the great Bankers and Brokers of the money centers, the heads of Industrial Trusts, the Politicians, the Newspaper Editors, faithless Government Employees and Public Servants, any and all soulless individuals who seek only for self, and who unhesitatingly strike down ruthlessly those who stand in their way. These know not they are abso-lutely under the control of these forces of Evil; even if they knew, their moral fibre has become so weakened through habitual obedience to the selfish instinct fostered in them that they would have little power to resist the Master Forces ruling them. When the command goes forth, all these human agents will be compelled to fight under the banner of the Anti-Christ, him whom they have served so long, and who now claims and compels their absolute obedience. But, you say, what of the Bankers, great Industrial Leaders, Editors, and the many thousands of other high-type minds who are involved in similar exploitations, and who are more or less unconscious of wrong-doing, because of having been brought up and trained in the so-called capitalistic consciousness? These cannot at present accept such unproved statements as the foregoing,78BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY79and will naturally side with their associates on the enemy's side. What will become of them? Will they be condemned and destroyed with the Enemy, even though ignorant of evil-doing? Do not be too sure of their ignorance, for there is that in every man which causes him to know when he is doing wrong—when he is taking advantage of a fellow man's ignorance, weakness or inability to prevent it, to benefit self. While such do not realize the full extent of their crime against God, or know that they are actually serving the Great Enemy of man, yet the Truth is now being declared and is being broadcast over the earth, so that in time every man may hear. When the great tribulations that are shortly to fall upon mankind begin to manifest with everincreasing and unmistakably vindictive vio-lence, such men are going to think as they have never thought before, are going to desire to know Truth for itself with a mighty intensity, and are going to seek every possible way of escape. They will turn first to the churches, who will offer them a Christ crucified, who they say will save them. They will turn to Psychology, to Spiritualism, to the different cults, most of whom will offer them that favorite platitude the Enemy has been instilling into the minds of their followers during recent years—"There is no evil, there is only Good," when evil will be so everywhere about them that they can see, hear, feel, and therefore think of hardly anything else but evil. It is then that these seekers will be led by those Masters of Good, ever on the lookout to help every sincere searcher after Truth, to these declarations, and now they will be ready to listen to and recognize them as Truth. To all such80BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY81who accept and now know whom they were serving, and who are willing and anxious to renounce forever self and all its claims,— to such will be shown not only the way of escape, but they will be lovingly led into a place of safety. All this anticipates and at the same time announces to all who read to prepare for the great Battle of Armageddon shortly to begin on the physical plane, and which is already practically won on the Inner Planes, —for the Enemy with all his cohorts are being forced by the Powers of Good to the outermost of such realms, right up against the physical, where many think they can escape by thus stealing into human bodies. But their existence there will be shortlived, for the battle will soon be waging with awful intensity in the outer, and themighty Forces fighting for righteousness will quickly bring matters to such a crisis that all the forces of darkness will be compelled to come out fully in the open so that all people may see these forces and those who fight with them, and forever after will know them for the fiends they are. And the battle, by the very fact of its being fought in the open, will be won by the Forces of light; for as darkness cannot exist in the strong light of day, so with these forces of evil (who draw all their life and power from darkness, especially from the darkened minds of men, purposely kept deceived and ignorant of their Divine Nature, their Oneness with the Christ Mind), when the light of Divine Understanding is thus poured into men's consciousness, they will turn about, and because of the very destructiveness of their nature, will begin to destroy82BROTHERHOODTHE ENEMY83each other, until none are left, and their souls will vanish into the chaos and darkness from which they came. But think not this is not all in the Great Plan, and that the Anti-Christ and all his cohorts are not now wholly under My perfect control. For it is through him and his opposing forces that I provide the discipline and the punishment by which man learns to know unerringly Good and Evil. No man can truly know Good and Evil until he has tasted and eaten to satiation of the fruits of evil—has been so taught and led to the limit of selfish indulgence by the creator of evil —SELF, that he learns the foolishness and emptiness of it all, and finally awakens as a "Prodigal Son," and longs for his Father's house and the place at His table for goodness and abundance which he discarded for the husks of the outer world, and he startson his homeward journey to his Father's Kingdom. Those who have not awakened in this life to a knowledge of their spiritual nature must needs wait for a long, long period for another opportunity; for they cannot return to earth during the wondrous New Age I have prepared for My children who have listened to My Voice and whom I intend to lead into the Kingdom of Light and Love I am bringing down from Heaven into the midst of men.THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN85THE KINGDOM OF HEAVENYOU have been told that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and many have accepted that statement as being so. But how many have ever purposely investigated and consistently endeavored to discover its real meaning,—how and where within, and how to find it? It has been likened to many things by One Who unquestionably knew, Who was able to go in and out at will, from the powers He used, and which He ascribed not to Himself, but to His Father within the Kingdom which He said was within Himself. It has been said elsewhere herein that the Kingdom is within the heart. But it cannot be within the physical heart is meant. What then is meant?84Even as the heart of anything is supposed to be the very center of that thing, so must it imply in the statement that the Kingdom is within man's heart; it must mean that it is deep within, at the very center of his being. And, of course, it cannot mean his physical being, but something much deeper within. The only avenue of ingress to man's interior being must be through his mind, and most of those who have given any real thought to the subject have dimly perceived that the Kingdom of Heaven must be a state of consciousness within the mind. While it is indeed a state of consciousness, yet it is in very truth a place within the mind that can be reached by going there in consciousness, just as definitely and surely as you can go within your house, through several rooms, to an inner chamber in the very86BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN87center, and there find your den or library, where you love to hide yourself from the world and find therein the privacy and quiet for study and work. Let us imagine a house that is circular and very large, a house of many windows and doors. In this house the rooms are naturally in tiers, i.e., there is an outer tier into which one enters through doors from the outside. Then there is a second tier connecting with the outer, and connecting with it a third tier surrounding one small room in the center. Now let us consider this house as the human self, or that part of you that houses your personal or self-consciousness, that consciousness concerned with your physical body and its sensations, your emotions, feelings and desires, and all your thoughts, be-liefs and opinions about yourself. While that part of your consciousness concerned with the realms outside of yourself, in which dwell all your concepts of things, conditions and other people, let us consider as your world, the world of physical or material things. Of course each has a different world from everyone else, for each has different concepts of those things which surround him and engage his interest; some things interest one that another never sees, and therefore such have no place in the other's world. If we consider this house as comprising your self-consciousness, then the different rooms must be different states of your selfconsciousness. Those in the outer tier must of course be what is termed the physical consciousness. There are five doors which connect it with the outer world of conscious-88BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN89ness, called the doors of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Through these doors all sense of the physical world without comes to you. Suppose we then consider the next tier as that realm of consciousness within you that houses your desires, emotions and passions, from the lowest to the highest of such, called by some the astral realm and by others the desire world. You have read definite statements, made by those who have made a study of such states of consciousness, that these comprise an actual world within the mind, inhabited by the astral or desire bodies of all things that have physical bodies,— mineral, vegetable, animal or human, and also of some things above and below these kingdoms which naturally do not have physical bodies. And it is reasonable to accept that every world must have in itbodies composed of the natural substance of that world. Likewise, let us suppose the next inner tier with its many smaller rooms to represent the mental realm of consciousness, which houses all your thoughts, concepts and ideas of whatever nature. However, to make our analogy in perfect agreement with the statements above, within each of the three large tiers representing the physical, astral and mental realms there are seven smaller tiers or rows of rooms dividing and grading each realm of consciousness, from the lowest to the highest, and all so arranged that the highest of the physical row of that realm connects by special passageways with the highest row of the astral realm and then with the highest row of the mental realm; and likewise with each of90BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN91the six other grades down to the lowest, the lowest being the outermost of each large tier or realm and the highest the innermost. But also remember we are trying to depict here in the form of a circular house what properly should be shown as a spherical one, and that we are dealing with and entering into a fourth dimension of consciousness which cannot truly be described in terms of three dimensions. Even as Jesus tried to tell His disciples about the Kingdom, and had to use many parables that their human minds might be "lifted up" to glimpse this great state, so will it be necessary to read with other than mere brain intelligence to grasp the meaning behind the words herein used and the pictures they create. We have tried, by going thus within themind, to picture the various states and realms of consciousness encountered in your journey to the center of your being. You know of the physical, emotional and mental realms within you, but you have not as yet penetrated the inner chamber, the den, the sanctuary, where the Master of the house dwells. This chamber can be entered only through one door which is always kept closed and opens only at the command of the Master himself. Let us consider this inner chamber to be the sanctuary of the Soul, of the Real You, who are the Master of the house, into which none of the sensations, emotions, desires and thoughts of the outer realms are ever permitted to enter. But the Master, because of the peculiar, transparent nature of the walls (for they are only fancied walls, built out of the human sense of a separate mind), sep-92BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN93arating the different tiers or realms, can always look through them and see clearly all that is going on, and therefore is fully acquainted with everything present in the different rooms at all times. Likewise he naturally can go in and out of the different rooms at will, by simply entering into their consciousness, when of course he is immediately there. The house, remember, we have pictured to represent the personality, or that combined consciousness concerned with the various, emotions and thoughts relating to the separate self, and which are housed in the different rooms (states of consciousness) of the different tiers (realms or worlds of consciousness) forming what you think is your separate mind. Also, remember, your world existing seemingly without your house of self you are conscious of in this samemind, proving that all you are and see and know exists only in your consciousness, and nowhere else. Now try to realize this house of self was built by you in the long aeons past, when you first started on your outward journey from your Fathers House in the Garden of Eden (which House and Garden symbolize His Consciousness, even as the above house and the outer world symbolize your consciousness), and when you first began to think yourself separate in consciousness from Him. This thought of separation became a concept in your mind which in time, along with all your other thoughts of self, formed themselves around the center of your consciousness into what became your mental body; and later as this sense of separation became more real to you there grew about you what seemed to be realm after realm94BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN95(tier after tier) of consciousness, forming what became your mental world. Later you similarly built in consciousness around your mental body a desire or astral body, composed of all the desires, emotions, feelings, passions, fears, loves and hates of those early stages of tasting the experience of earning your bread by the sweat of your face, and with it formed in consciousness around you your astral world, containing similar desires and emotions from other centers of consciousness. Then later, as these and many more fully developed thoughts and desires became established in your consciousness, they gradually crystallized there and seemed each to have solid and separate forms, thus bringing into being your concepts of physical or material bodies, and of the physicalworld in which they seemed to live and move and have their being. But remember, all these various bodies, mental, astral, and physical, as well as the worlds in which they seemingly manifested, were but concepts existing only in that selfconsciousness of your mind, which, by thinking yourself as separate from the Father Consciousness, now conceived every other thing also as in separate forms or pictures within itself, and which when impulsed by desire outmanifested themselves in astral matter, and later sometimes in physical matter. Now try to realize that I, the God of you, am the Master within the little inner chamber of your house; that the house is part of My Mind even as is the little inner chamber. While what at present you think to be You is the combined consciousness of all the96BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN97rooms or states in all the different realms or tiers within the house—outside of and surrounding the inner chamber, which as yet you are unable to enter; for remember, all the ideas, thoughts and concepts inhabiting those rooms compose the different states of consciousness you have built up since you separated yourself from Me long aeons ago. Therefore you must be what we can call the human part of My mind, that part which still thinks itself separate from Me. For as mind thinks so does mind become. But know, I alone AM. The house of your mind must be and is a part of a center of My Mind, even as the different thoughts concepts, desires and emotions of the various rooms or states within your consciousness are parts or centers of your mind and consciousness. If your mind is a part of My Mind and you, therefore, are a center of myConsciousness, then you cannot be separate from Me, but should be able to participate in that Consciousness of which you are a part and become one with Me. For I would open the door that you may walk in and sup with Me, and that all that I am you may also be, and all that I have may be yours for the taking. You are in My Consciousness—are a part of My Consciousness; therefore there can be no separation and you may know that You and I are ONE, always were One and always will be One. Think on these things and KNOW the Truth. Now I will tell you a secret, which is only for those who have come with us thus far, —the inner chamber is a magical place; it is the entrance into the Kingdom you have been told to seek, for in very truth it is the door that admits you into My Conscious-98BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN99ness. And once within you will learn that chamber which seemed small from the outside in reality extends infinitely within, through realm after realm after realm with untold wonders and glories unfolding themselves at every step. For in here you are no longer separate but are consciously one with Me, and My Consciousness is yours and all that it contains is also yours. And here you learn another secret,—all that was without, in your seeming separate consciousness, were but reflections, sadly distorted reflections, darkened and misformed by ignorance, of the glorious realities within, the realities your Soul had for so long been trying to lead you to, but which you insisted in looking for without in the world of things. For even as you look up in the heavens in the dark of night in the outer world and get glimpses of myriads of worldsand universes shining there, you can now understand they are but glimmering reflections trying to shine through the darkened human mind of the many beautiful mansions in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, awaiting those of My children who truly seek Me and who let My Word rule in their consciousness until it leads them to Me. You ask, how may you seek within you and find that inner chamber that admits into the Kingdom of such a Heaven? By going in imagination, persistently, day after day, within your mind, through the different realms pictured above, seeking Me and Me only; by visioning yourself in the inner chamber as the Real You, your Highest Self,—as ME, the God of you; by thinking, speaking and acting as you imagine I think and speak and act,—until the very might of your desire and efforts at realization com-100BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN101pels Me to open the door and thereby to admit you into that Consciousness and that Home which was yours from the beginning. For long, very long, have I been waiting for such a desire to manifest on your part, and that is why I keep the door closed and open it only in response to such an effort to find me. Think you I do not always know both your outer and your innermost thoughts, and cannot see you no matter where you are in consciousness? Remember the walls of self do not exist to Me, and I can look right through into man's secret desires and can easily see what motives rule, and especially what prompts him to seek within the house of his inner self. My child, there is only one motive that will ever enable you to penetrate" deep enough into consciousness to find Me, and that motive is a desire, a yearning, to serveMe, the Christ within you and within every man; and when that yearning has become first with you and is the one supreme motive of your life, then I not only see you coming but I watch eagerly and send forth My love to help and spur you on. After a period of trying and testing, of l e a d i ng yo u i n t o s o me o f t h e r o o ms in the second tier of your house of mind within the realm of Desire, called by some the Realm of Illusion, to see if self still rules and if you can be distracted by the allurements of the astral senses; then if these do not hold you, leading you into the mental realms, named by some of the Hall of Learning, to see if intellect can entice you from your search by tempting you with the marvelous knowledge to be gained there; and if these do not stop you, then I am able to show forth from the Kingdom in your102BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN103heart some of My real Nature, and may be able to open it wide enough to pour forth some of My Divine Love. And when that happens you begin to feel Me there, but not so that you know it is I—at first; you only feel My Love trying to find outlet, by leading you to others that I may help and bless them through you; and when others are brought to you, you feel it as a great longing to help them. Thus do I gradually draw you in consciousness to the center of your being. And there sooner or later do you find the inner chamber—that it is your heart; and you now know you have a heart, and that it is in very truth the most wonderful and most important part of you; for from it issue all the vital things of life—and that most vital one of all, the power to help others. And then suddenly one day you realize ina great flash of illumination what Love is— that Love is God, and that what you feel in your heart is His Presence there. You then know that Love which issues from the heart is God's life, is your life, that His life and your life cannot be separate, but that through your consciousness of God's Love in your heart, you are He, and He is you—you are ONE! And then, as you learn consciously to open your heart and let Love out, you find it is a magical, a wonderfully brilliant Light that shines through and radiates from you, clearing away all mists and shadows from your human mind, enabling you to see with My eyes and to know with My understanding all things I desire you to know. And as it thus radiates from you it ever goes before you and penetrates to the soul of those who come to you, quickening like-104BROTHERHOODTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN105wise their hearts so that the words I speak through you find lodgment in their minds, and awaken them and make them aware of Me in their hearts, through the response they feel there to the Love coming from you. And they too are thus given a glimpse of the Kingdom within, proving that I, the Christ, am the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world—when I am able, through a human channel, thus to pour My Love into the heart of man, and light the wick that I have previously prepared there. I have now shown you the way into the Kingdom, that it is through the door of the heart into the little chamber within; that only Loving Service will open the door and admit you and enable you to go in and out at will. I will not tell you now about the won-drous life within the Kingdom, except to say that Love is the one and only life there, the life that all who abide there breathe, absorb, feed upon, grow with and build from strong, beautiful Souls. Love in very truth is the vitalizing, energizing Force animating, inspiring and directing all activities there; all there abide continually in My Consciousness, receiving freely of all that I am and have; and there even as here with you, as they let Love rule and fill their whole being, am I enabled to serve the more through them on all planes and in all realms of My Consciousness. Many there are in the world today who in the past have found the Kingdom and who are here now to help Me awaken the many thousands more who are longing and yearning to be shown the way unto Me. They are the ones whom I have sent to an-106BROTHERHOODswer the call of those who have asked, who have sought, who have knocked; for have I not promised that those who ask shall receive, and those who seek shall find, and those that knock it shall be opened unto them? But I can only serve My earth children through channels I have prepared, through those who have become empty of self and who now live only to serve. They are of the Kingdom on High, that Great Brotherhood of the Spirit, who are here and are actually bringing Heaven down to earth into the consciousness of many men these days. They are My blessed ones, the forerunners of that Brotherhood which soon is going to manifest, to live, work and rule on the earth, and which is going to raise it to the Heaven, that they two no longer may be separate but may appear as One to all men, as they are in the Great Reality.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-76459274049686818922007-08-16T00:15:00.001-07:002007-08-16T00:20:17.710-07:00brotherhoodTHE VOICE<br />YOU who have reached that stage in your climb to the heights where you are no longer seeking anything of self, having tasted of all that the outer world and its human teachers can offer, and something within is strongly insisting that you begin to prove and demonstrate what you have learned by living it and using it to help others who are still seeking; You, who have felt within the heart a definite call to service and yearn to follow and obey, but who from obeying many urges in the past, only to be disappointed and disillusioned each time by failure of the leaders to be worthy of the Causes they represent, and you are therefore uncertain<br /><br />8<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br />THE VOICE 9<br /><br />about this call, and are fearful of not knowing just what you ought to and can do; You who have not yet had this experience, but who are moved by a strong loving desire to help lift the load from those less fortunately situated, and who would know what is that insistent something within, and whose the voice that thus calls; Know, one and all, what you feel is My Love quickening into conscious active life in your heart, and what you hear is My Voice calling you to make ready for the Work I have been preparing you for—a Work that is your Work, long waiting for you to do,—when you have proven that self is no longer in control, and that you are willing to let Me lead the remainder of the way. You who think you are now ready, and<br /><br />sincerely wish to follow, hear this My Word and seek prayerfully to know My full meaning. First, remember who I am, I who am in all men, Who am That which speaks through all men, Who am the Self of you who read, dwelling deep within the heart—the innermost of you, and Who seek to come forth as the Christ and to show Myself—your Highest Self—to all men. Remember that I always speak from out the heart, and not from the head, the intellect being but My servant, My interpreter. But when the servant acknowledges not his Master, having grown proud, and deems himself above his station and tries to impress others with his knowledge and importance, then you may know why it is so hard to hear My voice and to know when it is I speaking, and why you become so<br /><br />10<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />11<br /><br />often confused and so uncertain what to do. Therefore it is most necessary that you determine whence comes the voice or voices that so confuse and disturb you. But, you say, suppose you have not yet reached the stage where you are able actually to hear a voice speaking within and to know it as one assuming to teach or lead you. Know that it is not an actual voice such as your physical ears hear that speaks; for are not every desire, every urge, every hope, longing, fear, discouragement, anxiety, regret, voices heard just as surely and effectively as audible voices? And while all such are voices I use to teach you the right from the wrong way, yet My Voice, that you long so to hear and to be always sure is Mine, you will never<br /><br />truly hear and know until you let Love abide and rule in your heart. For Love alone can clear away that in your heart and consciousness which causes you to listen to the voice of self, thus preventing your hearing Me when I speak. But know, My Child, there are sure ways of knowing when the voice of self speaks, and when I speak—to him who sincerely wills to know, and who is ready to face self, and see and know it for just what it is, and just what it pretends to be and is not. Self is always in an attitude of fighting for and protecting its own, always afraid of losing something it possesses; and so its voices of criticism, condemnation, anxiety, fear, worry, selfishness, greed, envy, jealousy are ever heard in their efforts to hold your attention; while My Voice of Love and Faith, Hope and Trust, Understanding and<br /><br />12<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />13<br /><br />Discrimination always seeks to enlist your interest in the Truth I would unfold to you. The voice of self is always asking, demanding something for self, is always concerned solely with self. My Voice always points you to and concerns you with others whom I want you to think of and to help. The voice of self sounds from without, always relates to something in the outer world, or to conditions springing from it. My Voice always sounds from within, relating to things of the Soul-state, your Soul, or your brother's. The voice of self ever seeks by much reasoning and argument to oppose anything that would deprive the self of some power or prerogative long held or exercised by it. My Voice speaks from deep within the heart and declares the Truth so definitely<br /><br />that unless self has complete control, the mind cannot but accept and recognize it as Truth. The voice of self is always trying to get from others that which will benefit self, often hiding such benefit behind sophistries put forth to fool the mind into believing they are for others' good. My Voice definitely requires that you denounce the ways of self, that you realize now and always that My Way is just the opposite of that of self; for it is ever the way of loving service to others, instead of getting for self. Especially would I have you know that any voice that holds out to you any way of gaining knowledge or power at a price other than through earnest seeking first My Kingdom and living the life of My Son is the voice of self, no matter if spoken by those proclaimed to be great teachers, swamis,<br /><br />14<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />15<br /><br />yogis, initiates, or masters, and no matter how much they charge for their teachings. For the Way unto Me cannot be found except as My Son Jesus taught and lived—the Way of loving service to others and the crucifixion of self. Many have thought they heard My Voice spoken by such teachers, only to learn what my real Voice finally making itself heard in the heart clearly pointed out—that self both within the teachers and within themselves cared nothing for Me, but only for what it could gain for self, and that it was only head knowledge that was being taught, and that it contained no spiritual life, and hence no real power came with it. Finally, you can always tell when it is not My Voice that speaks; for whenever anything is said that is not wholly good, that is not spoken in love, that is not as you know<br /><br />God would say and inspire it, then you may know it is self, trying to keep your mind "separate" so it cannot hear My Voice when I would lead it back to the consciousness of Me.<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />17<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br />WHEN a message comes containing an opportunity for real service, and disclosing a real plan and a real work for the helping of your brothers; not some vague highsounding ideal, but a definite practical work that your Soul recognizes, and your heart leaps toward in glad response—know that such response is My Voice calling you to the Work I have been preparing you for, and you need not question or doubt, for your Soul commands you to obey. But if there is no glad response in your heart, not even a faint voice there calling upon you to investigate as there may be something in this for you—and instead there is only a coldness and an entire lack of in16<br /><br />terest—know that message is for others and that particular Work is not for you, for you could be of no assistance, not being ready for such Work—as yet. But if hearing, and at first thus happily responding, if but for a moment, before doubts crowd in and from outer sources come advice and argument, criticism of that particular work or of the way it came to you, or of the messenger who brought it, fast smothering the urge in the heart still trying to hold your attention, know that I am but trying and testing you, to see if you are as yet ready for the Work which I always have awaiting My proven and faithful servants; to see if I can use you to awaken and prepare my other children so I can unfold My nature in them that they can feel Me as the Love in their hearts, and can thereby hear My voice there, and know I<br /><br />18<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />19<br /><br />am their Higher and Real Self and that I am calling them also, anxious to lead them forth into the New Day. While all calls are My Call, each with its separate appeal, yet each is but leading you on to a realization that all outer things that appeal, all calls of ambition, of riches, of leadership, of power, of human love, yea even of Spiritual attainment, are but the allurements of the separate self, that I use to build Me a strong personality in you, with its power of concentration and ability to accomplish; an instrument I thus develop and prepare for use in the fulfillment of My Plan and Purpose. Then when all is ready, in order that there may be nothing to interfere with or hinder Me in such use, one by one I take from you all outer things that still allure, until there is nothing anymore left, nothing and no one you can look<br /><br />or turn to but Me,—and you have learned to want and to know Me as the one and only thing of importance, and the perfect serving of Me becomes the sole concern and ambition of your life. It is then only I can send you the Great Call and you can hear it in your heart, which now has been opened wide for My use alone, and has been cleansed of all desires of self. Then only can you hear that Call, the call to My blessed ones, those who have dedicated themselves to Me and now live only to serve Me in their brothers. To all such of you, for there are many whom I have so prepared and who have responded, and who are working selflessly as one with Me, I now send the Call to Service, the call to join the Great Brotherhood of Servers; and those who hear and who know My voice and who gladly have learned<br /><br />20<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />21<br /><br />to heed it, I am opening their eyes and permitting them a vision of My Plan and of My Purpose for the New Age you are now entering, and am enabling them to comprehend the true and glorious meaning of Brotherhood, that Brotherhood I intend soon to bring forth from the Kingdom within, into actual manifestation in men's midst. Those of you who refuse to align yourselves with others, thinking that unnecessary for you can come to Me direct, and get all the guidance and help you need,—know you are still thinking of self and are not yet ready for true Service. To you I say the days of seeking and getting for self are past— never to return. No more studying to attain powers will I allow. The training period I allotted for such purpose is over. If you but know it, you brought all the "powers" you seek along with you. And I have been trying<br /><br />to teach you in the school of life's experiences and under those I appointed for your discipline and training, that when you are ready to use these powers—which in reality are not yours but Mine—no longer for selfish purposes, but wholly in My Service, I will uncover them to your consciousness and direct you perfectly in their use. For the Force I formerly gave to man for the growth and development of self is now withdrawn. Henceforth all My Wisdom, Love and Power is poured into and through the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit. He who would receive must go within his heart and find Me as the Christ, His Higher Self, abiding there, and must give up all of personal self and follow Him, must enlist and serve under His banner — the banner of Brotherhood. It is true you can still come to Me and<br /><br />22<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />23<br /><br />get the guidance you need, but only for the use and helping of your fellowmen. No more will I give of My Force to develop the consciousness of the separate self. Now all must go to the use of the Christ—to the binding and lifting of all self-consciousness into the consciousness of Brotherhood. I now call upon you to live and use what you so long have been studying and believing with your intellect about Service and Brotherhood. When you believe in your heart, which belief can only come from USE and DEMONSTRATION, then you will truly BE and KNOW a Brother, and not before. Only you who forget and are no longer concerned with your Soul's status can truly serve Me in your brothers, for when you learn to love your brothers more than self, then you will hear My Voice speaking in<br /><br />your heart telling you what to do and how to do it. Those who do not want to acknowledge any leader other than their Higher Self and therefore fear to join others in service in outer organizations, thinking such cannot be impersonally or spiritually directed by any human personality,—know that you are indeed striving to obey the voice of your Soul, but ignorantly; for your Soul will never require you to acknowledge or obey any leader who would ask you to do anything to which your Higher Self would not assent. Any such command or requirement of such a leader would immediately absolve you from allegiance in any such organization. But Wisdom also would first require you fully to satisfy your mind as to your Soul's desire, as previously explained, regarding the Call to such Service. For can<br /><br />24<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />25<br /><br />you not realize, that all that has gone before, My bringing you through so many disappointments and disillusionments, through all the various experiences and teachings into a consciousness of Me, as your Higher and only Self, has been but to lead you into that wider and deeper consciousness of Me as the Higher Self also of your brother, and that you and your brother thus become one in Me, and that there is and can be no separation. That is the true vision of Brotherhood. When you have caught that, then you have entered the Kingdom of My Consciousness and see and know as I would have you see and know. Therefore there cannot possibly be any separation between those consecrated to the Vision,—all are one, whether in the Spirit or in the flesh,—they are a part of that Great White Brotherhood of Spirit, the<br /><br />most perfect organization that is, for It is Eternal, always was, and always will be; and It is gradually drawing to Itself—one by one — all who have learned and conquered the illusion of self and separation. Do you want to be separate any more, My children, now that you know the Truth? No, for from now on the great hunger of your life will be for conscious union with your Brothers; for only then will you find and truly and fully know Me. As to any outer organization representing My Kingdom of the Spirit down in the midst of men being directed by a human personality, know that only through human instruments can My Will be done on earth. Even as I can accomplish My Will in large ways by inspiring many minds with My Love through My Spirit—the Christ— within them, so do I inspire many to look<br /><br />26<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />27<br /><br />only within to Him for leadership,—so that they may realize that He in them and He in everyone of their brothers is One — is I, their True and Only Self. Therefore it is not the personality of such leader they see any more, but only the Master—the Christ —of such personality through whom I work. Many have thus become His proven and faithful Disciples, My Beloved Sons, and they gladly obey His commands, knowing Him only as their Higher Self, and living only to help others also thus to learn to know and to obey Him; and they, through such selfless love and consequent oneness of purpose as His followers, thus become banded in Spirit in a great army of workers for Him. And all who can similarly learn to follow and serve Him, automatically become one of this invisible army, all under His leadership, and of course guided and di-<br /><br />rected by His more tested and proven ones — your elder Brothers — My generals and lieutenants, in mundane army terms. And how may you know your elder Brothers, those I have chosen to lead and guide My children into the New Day? By one way only — by that most sure way — by their fruits, by compelling others by their lives and their achievements to recognize the Christ of them. As in the past they have not been called from the high places, but I have called again the fishers of men—those whose lives are consecrated to the uplifting and helping of their fellows — particularly those who have not sought for self, but only to serve the Christ in their brothers, those whose names are unknown to the outer world for the work they have done, but who have brought thousands and thousands into the<br /><br />28<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />29<br /><br />consciousness of Me in their hearts, each in his own way. Think you I can work My will otherwise? It is only through such chosen ones—they who have given themselves over wholly to Me — that I can do My Will upon the earth as I purpose it to be done. To such I give a glimpse of My Plan and My purpose. But think not I work only through such conscious channels. Am I not working My Will through you, and through every one who at any time seeks to obey his Highest Self? Such, in very truth, form My Army —My workers, My servers, My fighters for Truth and Righteousness. The armies now being used for destruction and to obey the will of human kings or rulers are but man's using My Heavenly plan of organization for his selfish and inhuman purposes.<br /><br />But the day of such use of My Heavenly plan is soon over. The Battle of Armageddon soon to be fought on earth will forever drive from men's minds the desire and ability to use My spiritual knowledge and power for other than the benefit and blessing of their fellowmen. Brotherhood is to be an actual conscious realization of the men of earth, and I call upon you, My children, to help Me and your Brothers of the Spirit to make it so. My Message of Brotherhood is now being broadcast over the whole world. There are many who have caught it from the inner planes and are giving it forth as I have permitted and am enabling them to do, but there is One whom I have chosen and appointed, have made responsible for and given the power to link and to bind all Souls who have found Me into one great<br /><br />30<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />army of Servers, consecrated to the work of preparing the Way for the ushering in of the New Day. By his Words and by his Work ye may know him. Make no mistake, but seek him the spirit of whose words and deeds is that your Highest Self approves and glorifies.<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br />TRY, My children, to realize Brotherhood is a REALITY, that it is not merely what ordinary minds think is only an ideal. For a real and very potent and actual Brotherhood exists, as many are having proven to them these days, those who have felt My Love in their hearts and are following Its leadings, which in very truth is My Voice speaking, the Voice of My Spirit — the Christ—abiding in the hearts of all men. For in unaccountable yet unmistakable ways have I brought some of you who read into contact with individuals whom you feel are Brothers, though you may never have met them before—in the outer. And again<br />31<br /><br />32<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br /><br />33<br /><br />have I brought to you, or have led you to those who needed the very help which seemingly only you could give; the surest evidence being your surprise at hearing yourself say words and feel a great love within you' pushing them forth, which you had no forethought of saying, and which proved to be just the words those others afterwards claimed they had come to you to hear. Who led or sent such to you? Who were so well acquainted with both you and them that They knew beforehand just what you would say and what those others needed? Who but They in the Spirit, My Ministers, Who were so at one with you because of the love They bore Me in you and in them that They could inspire you to say what you did? Constantly perhaps are some of you made aware of such service you are called upon to render, and likewise are you made to feel<br /><br />in some undefinable but very actual way that you are related not only to those whom thus you are led to help, but as well to those invisible Ones in Spirit Who brought such to you for such help. All must admit there is a Brotherhood of the Spirit, and that such is an invisible Brotherhood in no way related to the flesh. Can you doubt that Jesus and His Disciples, Paul, Elijah, and the other great prophets; Moses, Jacob, Abraham, of the Old Testament; and all the other Just Men Made Perfect of their days and before, as well as those of the many generations since, who have followed the Christ, have mastered self and have learned to live His life,—can you not see that They are of that Brotherhood? If not, where are They now and what are They doing? Surely They are living in the Kingdom I prepared for such, and are<br /><br />34<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br /><br />35<br /><br />working — serving there, are They not? Working and serving in Spirit, striving to inspire and lead Their younger brothers still in the flesh consciousness to a like knowledge with Theirs of the Christ within their own hearts, and to follow Him unto the Resurrection and into Eternal Life — their Divine Heritage, and where these perfected Souls are now dwelling, even though they may be living in bodies that are walking upon the earth. What else can be the goal of our humanity, and can you imagine anyone who has come into the Christ Consciousness ceasing thus to serve, no matter if he be in the Kingdom of the Spirit or in the flesh, until all his brothers have come into possession of the same fruits of the Spirit he is enjoying? True Brotherhood is of the heart and<br /><br />seeks only to lift up and love and bless, even though the weaknesses and limitations of the lower self stand forth glaringly. He who can look through these and see only Me, the Higher Self of his brother, and who proceeds to serve Me, knows the pure joy of My Love and the real meaning of Brotherhood. Oh, My children, ever refuse to see the personality of your brotherhood, no matter what is said about it, for always I would have you know the Soul shining back of the mask. If you will but wait upon Me within I will let you see through My eyes of Love the sorrowful one yearning for recognition there, and who at your kind words of understanding will respond in such unmistakable way you will surely learn the truth of My words. Open your heart and let Love out, and<br /><br />36<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />you will not only soon feel Me big within you, but you will learn what Brotherhood truly is; for REAL Brothers will come into your life and prove a source of wondrous joy and great blessing to you.<br /><br />HE WHO IS TO COME<br />AS ALL MEN deep in their hearts would deem it an inestimable privilege to be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face, and to commune with Him, if they thought such were possible, — know, you who earnestly seek for such privilege, that such is not only possible, but the Master waits yearningly for that very thing, and is in very truth the inspirer of that desire in your heart, trying to tell you that He is ever abiding in the Kingdom within you, guiding and teaching and preparing you through one of His disciples, who has become sufficiently one in consciousness with Him, for that day. For even as He taught when on earth,<br />37<br /><br />38<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />HE WHO IS TO COME<br /><br />39<br /><br />that He, the Christ in all men, is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man can come unto Me except through finding and knowing Him within his own heart, so have He and all of His many disciples ever since been helping man to find the Christ within themselves, so they also can come unto Me. For the Christ of Him and the Christ of you is One—is My Spirit in man, the Image and Likeness of Me in which I conceived Man in the beginning; and it is Jesus Christ —that Image and Likeness—that Ideal— that is the Light and the Life in all men that, out of the darkness of self, is pushing forth and growing them until My Word fully becomes flesh. All who are manifesting in physical bodies today are not here by accident or because of some whim of fate, but are here either because they chose to be here at this par-<br /><br />ticular time, to help their Brothers prepare for the ushering in of the New Day, having dedicated themselves to that Service ages ago in a past life, or because I brought them the opportunity of redeeming through present service the errors of the past—the long-past. To all men this present time is the chance of adjustment, not of one life, but of many—the accounting of an Age, if they will listen to and hear My Voice speaking in their hearts, and will seek only to serve Me. Therefore, My children, turn within where I abide and try earnestly to hear and know My Voice speaking in your heart. Turn from the voices of self whose mouthpiece is the intellect, and who would bind you longer to the world of the senses by leading you to believe their false reports. Think earnestly and well, for you have at<br /><br />40<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />this time the opportunity of many, many lives. Serve Me henceforth in your brothers; espouse with a whole heart the Cause of HIM WHO IS TO COME. Stand shoulder to shoulder with your fellows who have enlisted and are training for the Great Battle for Righteousness, and I promise you will have the supreme joy and privilege of meeting and communing with Him face to face, and of seeing Him rule in a purified and regenerated world.<br /><br />LEADERS<br />YOU, My chosen ones, whom I have called in the past to gather My little ones that I might awaken them from the sleep of self and separateness and teach them through you the way unto Me,—know that you have been faithful and many have come unto Me through you, and through this Service have I drawn you and them close to Me in preparation for the Greater Day and for the far greater Service that awaits. For you must know that I had a purpose in choosing you for such Work and in drawing such unto Me, and that as you and they realize this and look forward to the utter forgetting and losing of self will I have in you pure and empty hearts in which I can<br />41<br /><br />42<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />43<br /><br />live My life, do My Will and be My Self on earth, even as in Heaven. But, Alas! Some of you seem to have for gotten that you are My Ministers and you have been doing this all for Me, and, from long being looked up to as shepherds of these My children and from being followed by many such whom you have allowed to lean upon you, and for this privilege have encouraged them to provide for your physical support and comfort, as a consequence you have grown to believe such are specially attached to you and should look no further, as you are able to feed their hunger for knowledge and to care for all their Spiritual needs. I know that those to whom this applies may not have realized this, but I ask you now to search deep within and see if it is partly, if not wholly, true; that when some<br /><br />of your followers come to you with a teaching from a different source, or especially from some new messenger I have sent forth whose appeal is drawing many to hear him or her, you are sure you have so conquered personality that no words of criticism either of the messenger or of his message are voiced by you, but only kind and loving expressions of a true Brother, a pointing out so clearly that the other messenger is a most dear Brother—another of My beloved sons sent to do My bidding; so that your hearers will go away uplifted and inspired with a high spirit of understanding and will praise God for the new realization of Brotherhood that has come to them. If you have caught this Vision you are truly blessed and you remain My chosen one for the greater Service, but to all others I now declare the day of separate Movements<br /><br />44<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />45<br /><br />and separate teaching is past, for all such have been but the way and the means I have used to prepare and fit those of My former servants whom I sent into earth life to lead My children into the New Day, when My Kingdom is to be brought down upon earth even as it is in Heaven, and when there will be only one Movement and one Church, the Church of the LIVING Christ. To those so called do I now give the task of awakening their Brothers, of calling them unto repentance, of pointing out the One and Only way, THE WAY OF THE HEART, which is the straight and narrow path that leads to the gate which admits the Servants and Warriors gathering to serve under HIM WHO IS TO COME. You who up to the present have been unwilling to consider actively aligning your<br /><br />movement with others, thinking you have been receiving direct from Me or from one of My sons in the Spirit all the guidance needed to lead you and your followers into the Light of the New Day, and that you can hold them and guide them up the slippery path that leads to self-mastery by means of such inspiration, which has proved so helpful in the past,—know that I now call you to join with your Brothers who have already responded to My Call and who have enlisted in that Eternal Army called Brotherhood, which must include all who would enter and participate in the Kingdom of Love and Righteousness, that I purpose soon to establish on earth. The work you have been doing in the past is practically finished—as far as you can go with it; that has largely been concerned with the head—an awakening of the under-<br /><br />46<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />47<br /><br />standing and a quickening of the higher faculties of the intellect of those you have been teaching; but now the time is come when all such must be put to the real USE for which they have been developed. If you have taught them impersonally and have led them thereby to understand clearly that all self-development was for the later use of the Higher Self under the direction of the Christ, then you will not doubt or hesitate, but you and all your true followers will know that this is the Call for which you have been preparing them, and for which you have long been waiting. But if you are listening to the voice of self and to its subtle pointing out that by joining with others you will lose prestige, and your followers will become enamored with other teachings, and what more vitally concerns you, you may lose the income they are<br /><br />now providing for your support and sustenance,—to you I bring the supreme test —that of deciding this day whom you shall serve—God or Mammon. Make no mistake—no longer can you deceive yourself. Those who truly love Me must give up ALL and follow Me. The Lord Christ calls; He will have no halfhearted or weak-kneed servants. All those who belong in the Great White Brotherhood must absolutely and finally renounce self and all its claims, and must now live only to Serve. In such the separate self exists no more, for they see the One Self in all men —and have learned the glorious meaning or Brotherhood; — they have truly found Me, and that I in them and I in their broth-<br /><br />er am the ONE and ONLY SELF.<br />But there are still many fine and earnest teachers who have become so wrapped up<br /><br />48<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />49<br /><br />in their own vision and mission, which I inspired in them in the past, and are so concerned about fulfilling that mission that they cannot feel any real sympathy with others having an equal or greater vision. In fact they will not take the trouble to investigate or even read carefully what others are doing, and therefore cannot speak or advise intelligently with their followers when questioned about them. These do not realize that this is but a subtle and insidious form of Spiritual selfishness and that it is preventing their comprehending the full meaning of Brotherhood, and therefore the real inner meaning of their own Mission; and as a result they are feeding their followers with only the husks of Truth—with but intellectual concepts, no matter how high sounding and beautiful, but which are incapable of inspiring them with the true Spirit of Service and thereby accomplishing<br /><br />what I sent them forth to do — prepare their followers for full participation in the Work of My Holy Brotherhood. Those teachers and leaders who are so engrossed in what they consider their own Work, as well as those who cannot and will not yield to the call of their Higher Self, will find that one by one their followers will fall away; for many of these followers have likewise heard My Call to Service and no claims of loyalty to a personal leader or Movement can long hold them with My Voice calling in their hearts. Your work as a leader of a separate Movement is finished, for the hearts of all true followers of the Christ hear the cry of Brotherhood, and if you, their leader, do not obey that Call, your followers will and must; for it is that true part of your teaching—your showing them the way unto Me<br /><br />50<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADER<br /><br />51<br /><br />and telling them how they may know My Voice, that first attached them to you. But fear not, if you truly exemplify to your followers that which you have taught, and if you now manifest the Spirit of Real Brotherhood you will find the children I have entrusted to your care will not leave you, but many blessings now to you inconceivable will be added in marvelous ways. Oh, beloved, can you not see that all your work in the past has been but a preparation for this far greater Work—that of making Brotherhood an actual reality among men? You have been awakening My children, training and unfolding their consciousness so that they could find and know the Christ within,—their True Self, and their only Real Teacher, and so thereby they could enter into My Consciousness and see the illusoriness and falsity of all outer things.<br /><br />By finding the Christ, they find the Kingdom, and in the Kingdom they learn to practice real Brotherhood. Now you must help them to make that Brotherhood a living Reality. Your work is not finished — your real work is but just beginning—if you enlist in that part of the Great White Brotherhood I am forming here on Earth, and to which I am calling not only you and all My children who are in your care, but all My other Ministers and My children in their care; for the glorious campaign for Righteousness is already started and this time will be won by My Army whose members are legion and whose might is supreme. For remember I Am in them and I am surrounding and protecting them with My LOVE, and those who are with Me are far greater than those who are against me.<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />53<br /><br />EVIL<br />YOU who are troubled by the problem of evil, thinking that evil is only an illusion, and by recognizing and trying to fight it only gives to it a power over you which otherwise it would not have,—know the truth. Evil does exist, but only in man's mind, created by his own evil thinking, and it is a very tangible power there—so long as he continues to feed and vitalize it by entertaining such thoughts and allowing them to influence or control his speech and actions. However, there is a center within man, deep within his heart, where I, the Christ of him abide. There, he becomes a center<br />52<br /><br />of and one with My Consciousness—his true home, where all is Peace, Purity, Power ,and Perfection. Whenever man stays outside that home center, no matter if in the world of thought, the world of feeling and desire, or the outermost world of matter, unless his attention is firmly fixed upon Me in that center, or he knows his oneness with Me there, all becomes confused and distorted and all tends to distract and separate man's consciousness from Mine and to involve and hold him in these worlds which long ages ago, when he had wholly forgotten Me and imagined himself alone and separate from My Life and My Love, he had created by mentally building them one by one around him, until they grew into definite beliefs, and the outermost became so crystallized a concept that he saw all things in this realm as separate materialized forms, and thought them unquestionably solid and tangible.<br /><br />54<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />55<br /><br />And having lost the consciousness of Me and of My Love, and with it the ability to know the Good, the True, and the Perfect of all things, in the darkness of separation in which he now wandered he saw only the shadows of the Real, and these distorted and twisted; and he blasphemed when in, his imperfect sight he stumbled in judgment and fell, or was hurt by bumping against unseen obstacles. And thus man conceived and built Evil into the worlds of his consciousness and made of it a power he ever since has thought he must fight, if he would be free of and unhurt by it. But you who read may see if you will, through the eyes of My Love, that evil exists not where I am, in the Kingdom of My Consciousness,—that center deep within the, heart of every man. It exists only without, in that consciousness of separation, — mental,<br /><br />desire or physical worlds, where, if man allows his deeper interest to wander, he becomes enamored with the illusions and error concepts created there back through the ages by millions of other minds similarly deluded. Evil exists in greater or less degree in all realms of consciousness that man thinks are separate from My Consciousness. But you know where I Am, God IS—and all in His Kingdom must be and is Good and True, Pure and Holy, Happy and Perfect. All you need do, therefore, to be free from evil, sin, disease, lack or imperfection of any kind, is to withdraw within to that center, your Real Home, where I AM, and where you will see and know Truth as your own, even as I see and know it. Each man can prove this for himself, but each must come within where I AM to prove it. The<br /><br />56<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />57<br /><br />way unto Me is open to all, but the way is through the heart, treading the path of Love and of Selfless Service. In that Home Center you can truly say I AM, and know WHO you are, but the moment you let your interest and attention wander into the outer worlds of the senses and to any of the things within them, you are, as it were, pulled from your center, deluded into a sense of separation, and sucked into an outer and lower plane of consciousness away from God and Good, and you become involved in and are seemingly a part of that realm of consciousness where you allowed your interest and attention to become focused for the time being. But here is the secret by which you can regain your power,—you need only to remember Who you are, that your home is back in the center, in the Kingdom there<br /><br />where I AM—where the God of you IS; and then to re-focus your attention and interest there by seeing and feeling yourself centered therein and surrounded by and filled with My Love,—when you will actually and truly be there. Then by practicing staying in that Love Center, realizing Who you are—your identity with Me, and feeling My Love pouring out through you, as a heart center, you will find you can look out through and go in and out of these outer realms of consciousness a will, seeing and knowing they are all illusion;—reflections rather—of the glorious Realities within the Kingdom, created out of the substance of those imagined worlds that exist only by reason of your fancying them real and separate from My Consciousness; distorted concepts fashioned in ignorance and from efforts to understand their<br /><br />58<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />59<br /><br />peculiar influence upon the relation to you. This is a great secret indeed, and it is waiting for all to know who have found the Way of Love, through the heart, unto Me. For I, God, AM Love, and the more you love—the more you forget self—the more do you let Me have My way in you. There fore let My Love, which is My Creative life flow freely through you. For in very truth you are My agent, My channel of expression; and only through you, whom I created in My Image and Likeness for such purpose, can I pour forth the fullness of My life and express My Real Self. In fact, I can do nothing outwardly except through you. Know that the very nature of My life is to love and bless, to grow and unfold, to heal and make perfect. It will do this naturally and always, if not interfered with by<br /><br />man's wrong thoughts, or by man's ignorant thoughts—his not knowing the mighty power he is wielding by forming thought pictures in his mind, into every one of which My Life flows and vitalizes and outmanifests them, according to the kind of feeling he puts into them. This accounts for the many inharmonious, troublous and obnoxious conditions now manifesting in your life. But it is just as easy to bring into manifestation the conditions and things you want, as those you do not want; for My Life is ever seeking—rushing, as air into a vacuum—to fill full and outmanifest all your thoughts, especially those into which you put intense feeling; for note carefully this great truth—feeling of any kind is LIFE, is My Life that you use to vitalize your thoughts. According to the intensity and quality of feeling—of love or<br /><br />60<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />61<br /><br />hate, faith or fear, trust or worry, confidence or doubt—you put into your thoughts will they prove a blessing or an evil to you. This explains how each man—and no one else—is responsible and accountable for all the conditions surrounding him; for remember they exist primarily in his mind as the thought forms he has built there. Therefore, by replacing the pictures there you do not like with those you do like, and focusing your heart's interest and attention upon them, you change the conditions outwardly. When you can once realize that what is manifesting in your outer life — in your body, home, business, world—is only what you are seeing and holding in your consciousness, you will begin to clean out your mental house and to build and keep there only the things that will bring you soul satisfaction and happiness.<br /><br />It also explains how you can help and bless others who are in trouble and unable to help themselves. You, who are abiding in your center of Consciousness where I am, can send My Healing Life to any other center of My Consciousness to the Higher Self of a brother who is sick or weak and knows not in his brain consciousness of My Life within him. By simply opening your heart and letting My Love pour out you can send it direct to him; for in My Consciousness there is no space or time separation, and to Me you and your Brother are one with and part of Me. Just realize—feel and see My Love flow from you to him, who is in very truth your Self, because he is My Self; see It pouring forth from deep within, surrounding and filling him—just as it pours forth from within you—as a Radiant White Energizing Force—that spiritual Life Force which grows and fructifies and heals all liv-<br /><br />62<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />63<br /><br />ing things. See it flowing from deep within his heart and radiating outward, through his mental, emotional and physical consciousness and bodies, permeating and flooding every part of them, and then surrounding and enclosing them in pure, brilliant, White Light—the Light of My Holy Love, which no evil or inharmony or imperfection can touch or come near, no more than darkness can be where there is brilliant light. Just to the extent that you actually KNOW this and can perfectly visualize and see it taking place, and can feel my tender love inspiring, flooding and uniting the consciousness of you both, will a perfect healing take place, and Evil and all its minions will be driven back into the darkness of nothingness and ignorance whence they came. For in very truth will it be My Life<br /><br />that is rushing into and which will vitalize the new and true concept thus formed in your minds and hearts, and which will make it a REALITY. For then the without will have become as the within, and you will see with the Light of My Love that all consciousness is My Consciousness. The KNOWING of this Truth will make you and all who are concerned about the problems of Evil, Disease, Lack or Imperfection, FREE. Do not pass by this article with just one reading, but go over it again and again, meditating earnestly upon every sentence and phrase, until you have made all the great Truth hidden back of the words your own. If you do this you will find you will be able shortly to demonstrate this Truth by thus blessing My children whom I will send to you for help, thereby finding your-<br /><br />64<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />self an integral part of the Great Brotherhood in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, which I am establishing on earth even as it is in Heaven.<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br />MAN from the earliest day, even during his sojourn in Eden, has been aware of two forces within himself ever opposing each other,—one that would inspire and lead him to the highest, and the other to the lowest of thoughts, feelings and actions. During his racial childhood man named that which called forth the lower phases of his nature the Devil, and thought of it as a malevolent power ever seeking to frustrate and keep from him the fulfillment of his desires. Later he questioned if it were not God punishing him for sins committed by with-holding from him the good things of life. But not until man grew up and his Real Self began to direct his thoughts was he<br />65<br /><br />66<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />67<br /><br />able to see that what was holding him back and forcing him to be content with present if inadequate, possessions was but his own weakness of character and intellect, and that not until he had earned them could the powers unfold that came with knowledge and understanding, and could be exercised and controlled by him in the high use for which alone he began to see they were permitted and intended. And with this knowledge gradually came the realization that these higher powers could not unfold while selfishness ruled him, and that selfishness was in some definite way related to the Devil of earlier days. It was then that man began to respond consciously to the leadings of his Higher Self, and to try to control and overcome selfishness. In so doing he found that when he yielded to the voice of self, trouble, failure,<br /><br />inharmony or suffering always resulted, and although he knew this and sought to avoid such, yet there was something within him that was stronger and made him yield to that hidden and persistent selfishness ever seeking to maintain complete control. Thus he became aware that his greatest enemy was not some other person whom perhaps he had harmed or defrauded by such selfishness, but was that something within which was akin to the lowest phase of his own nature. When he listened to the voice of selfishness and not to that of his Higher Self—My Voice—it always brought harm, in that it made him suffer until his higher nature could again come into evidence, and could enable him to hear My Voice within, pointing out the sin he had committed against his brother, and the necessity of repentance.<br /><br />68<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />69<br /><br />And then he gradually became conscious that when he considered committing any selfish act voices encouraging such act and suggesting ways and means poured into his mind from without, indicating he was being influenced by outside forces, thoughts from other minds, that were ever ready to push him on to his and others' undoing— if he listened and yielded to them. Thus far man has come, learning that the' cause of evil is in himself, in that weakness or lack of character which usually has selfishness at its root; but he had yet to learn that the source of evil is really without himself. For evil is not in Me, Whose mind is the only mind in man, but is inspired by the passions and thoughts sent forth by the forces of darkness, and which are ever seeking openings in self-separated human minds where selfishness, which is of their darkened<br /><br />nature, is allowed to rule unchecked. Evil hates Truth as darkness hates light, and cannot exist where light is. Evil cannot manifest and thrive in the light of Truth, hence it must seek its own in order to live; and selfishness exists only because of the darkened sense of separation from Me, inspired by the enemy of light. When man knows I am the only self of him, and that it is My Mind, My Intelligence, My Will and My Love that lives in and grows his body and character and directs his life, and he is willing to let Me rule, he has found Truth, and that it is Truth that is making him free from the power of self, even as darkness always must disappear when the light comes. It is this fact that proves that the Enemy can find entrance into man's mind only when self in any way or at any time is al-<br /><br />70<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />71<br /><br />lowed to control, even if for but a short time. Once admitted and his subtle suggestions listened to, he is almost impossible to drive out until he has accomplished his will. For the selfishness that attracted him gave him his cue, and he is able to instill his poisonous idea to such effect, by feeding and encouraging the selfish desires and passions found there, that the mind becomes wholly blinded to Truth, and seeks thereafter only to satisfy the clamorings of self. And the Enemy, who—what is he? Only the entitized form of the mass selfishness of men, that vast cumulation of the evil thoughts and passions of men's lower nature appropriated by Masters of Evil, grown great and powerful by their stealing and feeding off of the vital forces that their unsuspecting dupes at their instigation had poured into such evil thoughts and desires, thus giving them direct power over men<br /><br />through men's own life-force now absorbed and incorporated into their Master-nature, which they could thereby easily use to bend men to their will. Do such Masters of Evil really exist? Yes, just as surely as evil men exist. These evil men are merely their servants, their dupes, their slaves, practically all unconscious of their Masters or of any outside power controlling them. In fact, all would deny and wholly refuse to believe in the existence of such Masters, so subtly have these Masters worked upon and deceived the thinking minds of men by instilling into them wrong beliefs about a personal God and an abstract devil, thus twisting their understanding of the inner laws of being so they would listen to and follow the prompting of their Masters who could then continue to control and exploit them to the accomplishment of their foul ends.<br /><br />72<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />73<br /><br />But, you ask, are these Masters of Evil living men, or do they exist only on the inner planes of being, like the Masters of Good? If you can conceive of Masters of Good, then you may know also of these Masters of Evil, for if the former exist, so do the latter; and as there is a Christ who rules and leads and inspires the former, so is there an AntiChrist who rules and leads and inspires the latter. As the Christ can work on earth only through His disciples, who through love of their fellow men have emptied themselves of self so that their higher nature is ever waiting upon and serving Him; so the AntiChrist can work only through his disciples who through hatred, jealousy, greed, and a continual exploiting of their fellows have grown so big and fat from self-indulgence<br /><br />and in their feeling of superiority that their lower nature has become a perfect instrument for the use of the great Exemplar of Selfishness. Also as it is true that there are such Masters of both Good and Evil working on the Inner Planes of being and ever inspiring their disciples, so it is equally true that both these Masters are working also on the physical plane, living in human bodies, and doing the will of their respective Chiefs who abide on the Inner Planes. Likewise do only those who have earned the right, by "living the life" of their respective Chiefs, the Christ or the AntiChrist, ever come into personal contact with the Masters under whom they serve; for the Masters always remain in the background, and work through their disciples and agents, whom they have raised to places of influ-<br /><br />74<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />75<br /><br />ence and power because of their faithfully doing their Master's will. Those working consciously or unconsciously under Masters of Evil are always inspired and influenced towards Evil, while those under the banner of the Christ are inspired and led wholly to forget self and to work only for the uplifting of their fellow men. All is according to the great Law—"As above, so below; as below, so above." Good and Evil are opposite poles, and therefore where one manifests there must also be the other to complement it and balance its power. But remember, both are but men's concept of an Infinite Reality, which changes, not and cannot be affected by whatever men think of it as Good or Evil. However, there are only a comparatively few of both so-called Good and Evil Masters working in human bodies at the present<br /><br />time, conscious of their Master degree, although many are preparing to enter human existence as soon as perfect conditions can be found. The Good Masters, under divine Law, will enter naturally into newly born infant bodies, and will over-shadow others —their disciples, while the Evil Masters, where opportunity offers, will deliberately break the Divine Law by dislodging and driving out the Souls of infants, thus stealing their bodies from them, or by driving out Souls from mature bodies, dispossessing them, and thereafter obsessing and impersonating such Souls to their friends and associates. Such in the near future will be of common occurrence, and will be made easy for them by all who succumb to fits of passion, indulgence in intense hatred, jealousy, or self-pity, or continual brooding over wrongs done them, or habitual condemnations of others, and who will suddenly wake<br /><br />76<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />77<br /><br />one day in another world minus their physical bodies. And be it known the Anti-Christ is also, preparing to manifest himself, when all is ready and enough of such evil forces to serve his purpose are let loose on the earth and require his direction and control. For he has been preparing for this for thousands of years, training his Masters of Evil, who in turn have been carefully carrying out his plans with seldom any failure, through the agency of their earthly lieutenants — the great Bankers and Brokers of the money centers, the heads of Industrial Trusts, the Politicians, the Newspaper Editors, faithless Government Employees and Public Servants, any and all soulless individuals who seek only for self, and who unhesitatingly strike down ruthlessly those who stand in their way. These know not they are abso-<br /><br />lutely under the control of these forces of Evil; even if they knew, their moral fibre has become so weakened through habitual obedience to the selfish instinct fostered in them that they would have little power to resist the Master Forces ruling them. When the command goes forth, all these human agents will be compelled to fight under the banner of the Anti-Christ, him whom they have served so long, and who now claims and compels their absolute obedience. But, you say, what of the Bankers, great Industrial Leaders, Editors, and the many thousands of other high-type minds who are involved in similar exploitations, and who are more or less unconscious of wrong-doing, because of having been brought up and trained in the so-called capitalistic consciousness? These cannot at present accept such unproved statements as the foregoing,<br /><br />78<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />79<br /><br />and will naturally side with their associates on the enemy's side. What will become of them? Will they be condemned and destroyed with the Enemy, even though ignorant of evil-doing? Do not be too sure of their ignorance, for there is that in every man which causes him to know when he is doing wrong—when he is taking advantage of a fellow man's ignorance, weakness or inability to prevent it, to benefit self. While such do not realize the full extent of their crime against God, or know that they are actually serving the Great Enemy of man, yet the Truth is now being declared and is being broadcast over the earth, so that in time every man may hear. When the great tribulations that are shortly to fall upon mankind begin to manifest with everincreasing and unmistakably vindictive vio-<br /><br />lence, such men are going to think as they have never thought before, are going to desire to know Truth for itself with a mighty intensity, and are going to seek every possible way of escape. They will turn first to the churches, who will offer them a Christ crucified, who they say will save them. They will turn to Psychology, to Spiritualism, to the different cults, most of whom will offer them that favorite platitude the Enemy has been instilling into the minds of their followers during recent years—"There is no evil, there is only Good," when evil will be so everywhere about them that they can see, hear, feel, and therefore think of hardly anything else but evil. It is then that these seekers will be led by those Masters of Good, ever on the lookout to help every sincere searcher after Truth, to these declarations, and now they will be ready to listen to and recognize them as Truth. To all such<br /><br />80<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />81<br /><br />who accept and now know whom they were serving, and who are willing and anxious to renounce forever self and all its claims,— to such will be shown not only the way of escape, but they will be lovingly led into a place of safety. All this anticipates and at the same time announces to all who read to prepare for the great Battle of Armageddon shortly to begin on the physical plane, and which is already practically won on the Inner Planes, —for the Enemy with all his cohorts are being forced by the Powers of Good to the outermost of such realms, right up against the physical, where many think they can escape by thus stealing into human bodies. But their existence there will be shortlived, for the battle will soon be waging with awful intensity in the outer, and the<br /><br />mighty Forces fighting for righteousness will quickly bring matters to such a crisis that all the forces of darkness will be compelled to come out fully in the open so that all people may see these forces and those who fight with them, and forever after will know them for the fiends they are. And the battle, by the very fact of its being fought in the open, will be won by the Forces of light; for as darkness cannot exist in the strong light of day, so with these forces of evil (who draw all their life and power from darkness, especially from the darkened minds of men, purposely kept deceived and ignorant of their Divine Nature, their Oneness with the Christ Mind), when the light of Divine Understanding is thus poured into men's consciousness, they will turn about, and because of the very destructiveness of their nature, will begin to destroy<br /><br />82<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />83<br /><br />each other, until none are left, and their souls will vanish into the chaos and darkness from which they came. But think not this is not all in the Great Plan, and that the Anti-Christ and all his cohorts are not now wholly under My perfect control. For it is through him and his opposing forces that I provide the discipline and the punishment by which man learns to know unerringly Good and Evil. No man can truly know Good and Evil until he has tasted and eaten to satiation of the fruits of evil—has been so taught and led to the limit of selfish indulgence by the creator of evil —SELF, that he learns the foolishness and emptiness of it all, and finally awakens as a "Prodigal Son," and longs for his Father's house and the place at His table for goodness and abundance which he discarded for the husks of the outer world, and he starts<br /><br />on his homeward journey to his Father's Kingdom. Those who have not awakened in this life to a knowledge of their spiritual nature must needs wait for a long, long period for another opportunity; for they cannot return to earth during the wondrous New Age I have prepared for My children who have listened to My Voice and whom I intend to lead into the Kingdom of Light and Love I am bringing down from Heaven into the midst of men.<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />85<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br />YOU have been told that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and many have accepted that statement as being so. But how many have ever purposely investigated and consistently endeavored to discover its real meaning,—how and where within, and how to find it? It has been likened to many things by One Who unquestionably knew, Who was able to go in and out at will, from the powers He used, and which He ascribed not to Himself, but to His Father within the Kingdom which He said was within Himself. It has been said elsewhere herein that the Kingdom is within the heart. But it cannot be within the physical heart is meant. What then is meant?<br />84<br /><br />Even as the heart of anything is supposed to be the very center of that thing, so must it imply in the statement that the Kingdom is within man's heart; it must mean that it is deep within, at the very center of his being. And, of course, it cannot mean his physical being, but something much deeper within. The only avenue of ingress to man's interior being must be through his mind, and most of those who have given any real thought to the subject have dimly perceived that the Kingdom of Heaven must be a state of consciousness within the mind. While it is indeed a state of consciousness, yet it is in very truth a place within the mind that can be reached by going there in consciousness, just as definitely and surely as you can go within your house, through several rooms, to an inner chamber in the very<br /><br />86<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />87<br /><br />center, and there find your den or library, where you love to hide yourself from the world and find therein the privacy and quiet for study and work. Let us imagine a house that is circular and very large, a house of many windows and doors. In this house the rooms are naturally in tiers, i.e., there is an outer tier into which one enters through doors from the outside. Then there is a second tier connecting with the outer, and connecting with it a third tier surrounding one small room in the center. Now let us consider this house as the human self, or that part of you that houses your personal or self-consciousness, that consciousness concerned with your physical body and its sensations, your emotions, feelings and desires, and all your thoughts, be-<br /><br />liefs and opinions about yourself. While that part of your consciousness concerned with the realms outside of yourself, in which dwell all your concepts of things, conditions and other people, let us consider as your world, the world of physical or material things. Of course each has a different world from everyone else, for each has different concepts of those things which surround him and engage his interest; some things interest one that another never sees, and therefore such have no place in the other's world. If we consider this house as comprising your self-consciousness, then the different rooms must be different states of your selfconsciousness. Those in the outer tier must of course be what is termed the physical consciousness. There are five doors which connect it with the outer world of conscious-<br /><br />88<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />89<br /><br />ness, called the doors of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Through these doors all sense of the physical world without comes to you. Suppose we then consider the next tier as that realm of consciousness within you that houses your desires, emotions and passions, from the lowest to the highest of such, called by some the astral realm and by others the desire world. You have read definite statements, made by those who have made a study of such states of consciousness, that these comprise an actual world within the mind, inhabited by the astral or desire bodies of all things that have physical bodies,— mineral, vegetable, animal or human, and also of some things above and below these kingdoms which naturally do not have physical bodies. And it is reasonable to accept that every world must have in it<br /><br />bodies composed of the natural substance of that world. Likewise, let us suppose the next inner tier with its many smaller rooms to represent the mental realm of consciousness, which houses all your thoughts, concepts and ideas of whatever nature. However, to make our analogy in perfect agreement with the statements above, within each of the three large tiers representing the physical, astral and mental realms there are seven smaller tiers or rows of rooms dividing and grading each realm of consciousness, from the lowest to the highest, and all so arranged that the highest of the physical row of that realm connects by special passageways with the highest row of the astral realm and then with the highest row of the mental realm; and likewise with each of<br /><br />90<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />91<br /><br />the six other grades down to the lowest, the lowest being the outermost of each large tier or realm and the highest the innermost. But also remember we are trying to depict here in the form of a circular house what properly should be shown as a spherical one, and that we are dealing with and entering into a fourth dimension of consciousness which cannot truly be described in terms of three dimensions. Even as Jesus tried to tell His disciples about the Kingdom, and had to use many parables that their human minds might be "lifted up" to glimpse this great state, so will it be necessary to read with other than mere brain intelligence to grasp the meaning behind the words herein used and the pictures they create. We have tried, by going thus within the<br /><br />mind, to picture the various states and realms of consciousness encountered in your journey to the center of your being. You know of the physical, emotional and mental realms within you, but you have not as yet penetrated the inner chamber, the den, the sanctuary, where the Master of the house dwells. This chamber can be entered only through one door which is always kept closed and opens only at the command of the Master himself. Let us consider this inner chamber to be the sanctuary of the Soul, of the Real You, who are the Master of the house, into which none of the sensations, emotions, desires and thoughts of the outer realms are ever permitted to enter. But the Master, because of the peculiar, transparent nature of the walls (for they are only fancied walls, built out of the human sense of a separate mind), sep-<br /><br />92<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />93<br /><br />arating the different tiers or realms, can always look through them and see clearly all that is going on, and therefore is fully acquainted with everything present in the different rooms at all times. Likewise he naturally can go in and out of the different rooms at will, by simply entering into their consciousness, when of course he is immediately there. The house, remember, we have pictured to represent the personality, or that combined consciousness concerned with the various, emotions and thoughts relating to the separate self, and which are housed in the different rooms (states of consciousness) of the different tiers (realms or worlds of consciousness) forming what you think is your separate mind. Also, remember, your world existing seemingly without your house of self you are conscious of in this same<br /><br />mind, proving that all you are and see and know exists only in your consciousness, and nowhere else. Now try to realize this house of self was built by you in the long aeons past, when you first started on your outward journey from your Fathers House in the Garden of Eden (which House and Garden symbolize His Consciousness, even as the above house and the outer world symbolize your consciousness), and when you first began to think yourself separate in consciousness from Him. This thought of separation became a concept in your mind which in time, along with all your other thoughts of self, formed themselves around the center of your consciousness into what became your mental body; and later as this sense of separation became more real to you there grew about you what seemed to be realm after realm<br /><br />94<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />95<br /><br />(tier after tier) of consciousness, forming what became your mental world. Later you similarly built in consciousness around your mental body a desire or astral body, composed of all the desires, emotions, feelings, passions, fears, loves and hates of those early stages of tasting the experience of earning your bread by the sweat of your face, and with it formed in consciousness around you your astral world, containing similar desires and emotions from other centers of consciousness. Then later, as these and many more fully developed thoughts and desires became established in your consciousness, they gradually crystallized there and seemed each to have solid and separate forms, thus bringing into being your concepts of physical or material bodies, and of the physical<br /><br />world in which they seemed to live and move and have their being. But remember, all these various bodies, mental, astral, and physical, as well as the worlds in which they seemingly manifested, were but concepts existing only in that selfconsciousness of your mind, which, by thinking yourself as separate from the Father Consciousness, now conceived every other thing also as in separate forms or pictures within itself, and which when impulsed by desire outmanifested themselves in astral matter, and later sometimes in physical matter. Now try to realize that I, the God of you, am the Master within the little inner chamber of your house; that the house is part of My Mind even as is the little inner chamber. While what at present you think to be You is the combined consciousness of all the<br /><br />96<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />97<br /><br />rooms or states in all the different realms or tiers within the house—outside of and surrounding the inner chamber, which as yet you are unable to enter; for remember, all the ideas, thoughts and concepts inhabiting those rooms compose the different states of consciousness you have built up since you separated yourself from Me long aeons ago. Therefore you must be what we can call the human part of My mind, that part which still thinks itself separate from Me. For as mind thinks so does mind become. But know, I alone AM. The house of your mind must be and is a part of a center of My Mind, even as the different thoughts concepts, desires and emotions of the various rooms or states within your consciousness are parts or centers of your mind and consciousness. If your mind is a part of My Mind and you, therefore, are a center of my<br /><br />Consciousness, then you cannot be separate from Me, but should be able to participate in that Consciousness of which you are a part and become one with Me. For I would open the door that you may walk in and sup with Me, and that all that I am you may also be, and all that I have may be yours for the taking. You are in My Consciousness—are a part of My Consciousness; therefore there can be no separation and you may know that You and I are ONE, always were One and always will be One. Think on these things and KNOW the Truth. Now I will tell you a secret, which is only for those who have come with us thus far, —the inner chamber is a magical place; it is the entrance into the Kingdom you have been told to seek, for in very truth it is the door that admits you into My Conscious-<br /><br />98<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />99<br /><br />ness. And once within you will learn that chamber which seemed small from the outside in reality extends infinitely within, through realm after realm after realm with untold wonders and glories unfolding themselves at every step. For in here you are no longer separate but are consciously one with Me, and My Consciousness is yours and all that it contains is also yours. And here you learn another secret,—all that was without, in your seeming separate consciousness, were but reflections, sadly distorted reflections, darkened and misformed by ignorance, of the glorious realities within, the realities your Soul had for so long been trying to lead you to, but which you insisted in looking for without in the world of things. For even as you look up in the heavens in the dark of night in the outer world and get glimpses of myriads of worlds<br /><br />and universes shining there, you can now understand they are but glimmering reflections trying to shine through the darkened human mind of the many beautiful mansions in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, awaiting those of My children who truly seek Me and who let My Word rule in their consciousness until it leads them to Me. You ask, how may you seek within you and find that inner chamber that admits into the Kingdom of such a Heaven? By going in imagination, persistently, day after day, within your mind, through the different realms pictured above, seeking Me and Me only; by visioning yourself in the inner chamber as the Real You, your Highest Self,—as ME, the God of you; by thinking, speaking and acting as you imagine I think and speak and act,—until the very might of your desire and efforts at realization com-<br /><br />100<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />101<br /><br />pels Me to open the door and thereby to admit you into that Consciousness and that Home which was yours from the beginning. For long, very long, have I been waiting for such a desire to manifest on your part, and that is why I keep the door closed and open it only in response to such an effort to find me. Think you I do not always know both your outer and your innermost thoughts, and cannot see you no matter where you are in consciousness? Remember the walls of self do not exist to Me, and I can look right through into man's secret desires and can easily see what motives rule, and especially what prompts him to seek within the house of his inner self. My child, there is only one motive that will ever enable you to penetrate" deep enough into consciousness to find Me, and that motive is a desire, a yearning, to serve<br /><br />Me, the Christ within you and within every man; and when that yearning has become first with you and is the one supreme motive of your life, then I not only see you coming but I watch eagerly and send forth My love to help and spur you on. After a period of trying and testing, of l e a d i ng yo u i n t o s o me o f t h e r o o ms in the second tier of your house of mind within the realm of Desire, called by some the Realm of Illusion, to see if self still rules and if you can be distracted by the allurements of the astral senses; then if these do not hold you, leading you into the mental realms, named by some of the Hall of Learning, to see if intellect can entice you from your search by tempting you with the marvelous knowledge to be gained there; and if these do not stop you, then I am able to show forth from the Kingdom in your<br /><br />102<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />103<br /><br />heart some of My real Nature, and may be able to open it wide enough to pour forth some of My Divine Love. And when that happens you begin to feel Me there, but not so that you know it is I—at first; you only feel My Love trying to find outlet, by leading you to others that I may help and bless them through you; and when others are brought to you, you feel it as a great longing to help them. Thus do I gradually draw you in consciousness to the center of your being. And there sooner or later do you find the inner chamber—that it is your heart; and you now know you have a heart, and that it is in very truth the most wonderful and most important part of you; for from it issue all the vital things of life—and that most vital one of all, the power to help others. And then suddenly one day you realize in<br /><br />a great flash of illumination what Love is— that Love is God, and that what you feel in your heart is His Presence there. You then know that Love which issues from the heart is God's life, is your life, that His life and your life cannot be separate, but that through your consciousness of God's Love in your heart, you are He, and He is you—you are ONE! And then, as you learn consciously to open your heart and let Love out, you find it is a magical, a wonderfully brilliant Light that shines through and radiates from you, clearing away all mists and shadows from your human mind, enabling you to see with My eyes and to know with My understanding all things I desire you to know. And as it thus radiates from you it ever goes before you and penetrates to the soul of those who come to you, quickening like-<br /><br />104<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />105<br /><br />wise their hearts so that the words I speak through you find lodgment in their minds, and awaken them and make them aware of Me in their hearts, through the response they feel there to the Love coming from you. And they too are thus given a glimpse of the Kingdom within, proving that I, the Christ, am the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world—when I am able, through a human channel, thus to pour My Love into the heart of man, and light the wick that I have previously prepared there. I have now shown you the way into the Kingdom, that it is through the door of the heart into the little chamber within; that only Loving Service will open the door and admit you and enable you to go in and out at will. I will not tell you now about the won-<br /><br />drous life within the Kingdom, except to say that Love is the one and only life there, the life that all who abide there breathe, absorb, feed upon, grow with and build from strong, beautiful Souls. Love in very truth is the vitalizing, energizing Force animating, inspiring and directing all activities there; all there abide continually in My Consciousness, receiving freely of all that I am and have; and there even as here with you, as they let Love rule and fill their whole being, am I enabled to serve the more through them on all planes and in all realms of My Consciousness. Many there are in the world today who in the past have found the Kingdom and who are here now to help Me awaken the many thousands more who are longing and yearning to be shown the way unto Me. They are the ones whom I have sent to an-<br /><br />106<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />swer the call of those who have asked, who have sought, who have knocked; for have I not promised that those who ask shall receive, and those who seek shall find, and those that knock it shall be opened unto them? But I can only serve My earth children through channels I have prepared, through those who have become empty of self and who now live only to serve. They are of the Kingdom on High, that Great Brotherhood of the Spirit, who are here and are actually bringing Heaven down to earth into the consciousness of many men these days. They are My blessed ones, the forerunners of that Brotherhood which soon is going to manifest, to live, work and rule on the earth, and which is going to raise it to the Heaven, that they two no longer may be separate but may appear as One to all men, as they are in the Great Reality.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-1319237727313805512007-08-16T00:15:00.000-07:002007-08-16T00:17:31.432-07:00brotherhoodTHE VOICE<br />YOU who have reached that stage in your climb to the heights where you are no longer seeking anything of self, having tasted of all that the outer world and its human teachers can offer, and something within is strongly insisting that you begin to prove and demonstrate what you have learned by living it and using it to help others who are still seeking; You, who have felt within the heart a definite call to service and yearn to follow and obey, but who from obeying many urges in the past, only to be disappointed and disillusioned each time by failure of the leaders to be worthy of the Causes they represent, and you are therefore uncertain<br /><br />8<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br />THE VOICE 9<br /><br />about this call, and are fearful of not knowing just what you ought to and can do; You who have not yet had this experience, but who are moved by a strong loving desire to help lift the load from those less fortunately situated, and who would know what is that insistent something within, and whose the voice that thus calls; Know, one and all, what you feel is My Love quickening into conscious active life in your heart, and what you hear is My Voice calling you to make ready for the Work I have been preparing you for—a Work that is your Work, long waiting for you to do,—when you have proven that self is no longer in control, and that you are willing to let Me lead the remainder of the way. You who think you are now ready, and<br /><br />sincerely wish to follow, hear this My Word and seek prayerfully to know My full meaning. First, remember who I am, I who am in all men, Who am That which speaks through all men, Who am the Self of you who read, dwelling deep within the heart—the innermost of you, and Who seek to come forth as the Christ and to show Myself—your Highest Self—to all men. Remember that I always speak from out the heart, and not from the head, the intellect being but My servant, My interpreter. But when the servant acknowledges not his Master, having grown proud, and deems himself above his station and tries to impress others with his knowledge and importance, then you may know why it is so hard to hear My voice and to know when it is I speaking, and why you become so<br /><br />10<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />11<br /><br />often confused and so uncertain what to do. Therefore it is most necessary that you determine whence comes the voice or voices that so confuse and disturb you. But, you say, suppose you have not yet reached the stage where you are able actually to hear a voice speaking within and to know it as one assuming to teach or lead you. Know that it is not an actual voice such as your physical ears hear that speaks; for are not every desire, every urge, every hope, longing, fear, discouragement, anxiety, regret, voices heard just as surely and effectively as audible voices? And while all such are voices I use to teach you the right from the wrong way, yet My Voice, that you long so to hear and to be always sure is Mine, you will never<br /><br />truly hear and know until you let Love abide and rule in your heart. For Love alone can clear away that in your heart and consciousness which causes you to listen to the voice of self, thus preventing your hearing Me when I speak. But know, My Child, there are sure ways of knowing when the voice of self speaks, and when I speak—to him who sincerely wills to know, and who is ready to face self, and see and know it for just what it is, and just what it pretends to be and is not. Self is always in an attitude of fighting for and protecting its own, always afraid of losing something it possesses; and so its voices of criticism, condemnation, anxiety, fear, worry, selfishness, greed, envy, jealousy are ever heard in their efforts to hold your attention; while My Voice of Love and Faith, Hope and Trust, Understanding and<br /><br />12<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />13<br /><br />Discrimination always seeks to enlist your interest in the Truth I would unfold to you. The voice of self is always asking, demanding something for self, is always concerned solely with self. My Voice always points you to and concerns you with others whom I want you to think of and to help. The voice of self sounds from without, always relates to something in the outer world, or to conditions springing from it. My Voice always sounds from within, relating to things of the Soul-state, your Soul, or your brother's. The voice of self ever seeks by much reasoning and argument to oppose anything that would deprive the self of some power or prerogative long held or exercised by it. My Voice speaks from deep within the heart and declares the Truth so definitely<br /><br />that unless self has complete control, the mind cannot but accept and recognize it as Truth. The voice of self is always trying to get from others that which will benefit self, often hiding such benefit behind sophistries put forth to fool the mind into believing they are for others' good. My Voice definitely requires that you denounce the ways of self, that you realize now and always that My Way is just the opposite of that of self; for it is ever the way of loving service to others, instead of getting for self. Especially would I have you know that any voice that holds out to you any way of gaining knowledge or power at a price other than through earnest seeking first My Kingdom and living the life of My Son is the voice of self, no matter if spoken by those proclaimed to be great teachers, swamis,<br /><br />14<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE VOICE<br /><br />15<br /><br />yogis, initiates, or masters, and no matter how much they charge for their teachings. For the Way unto Me cannot be found except as My Son Jesus taught and lived—the Way of loving service to others and the crucifixion of self. Many have thought they heard My Voice spoken by such teachers, only to learn what my real Voice finally making itself heard in the heart clearly pointed out—that self both within the teachers and within themselves cared nothing for Me, but only for what it could gain for self, and that it was only head knowledge that was being taught, and that it contained no spiritual life, and hence no real power came with it. Finally, you can always tell when it is not My Voice that speaks; for whenever anything is said that is not wholly good, that is not spoken in love, that is not as you know<br /><br />God would say and inspire it, then you may know it is self, trying to keep your mind "separate" so it cannot hear My Voice when I would lead it back to the consciousness of Me.<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />17<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br />WHEN a message comes containing an opportunity for real service, and disclosing a real plan and a real work for the helping of your brothers; not some vague highsounding ideal, but a definite practical work that your Soul recognizes, and your heart leaps toward in glad response—know that such response is My Voice calling you to the Work I have been preparing you for, and you need not question or doubt, for your Soul commands you to obey. But if there is no glad response in your heart, not even a faint voice there calling upon you to investigate as there may be something in this for you—and instead there is only a coldness and an entire lack of in16<br /><br />terest—know that message is for others and that particular Work is not for you, for you could be of no assistance, not being ready for such Work—as yet. But if hearing, and at first thus happily responding, if but for a moment, before doubts crowd in and from outer sources come advice and argument, criticism of that particular work or of the way it came to you, or of the messenger who brought it, fast smothering the urge in the heart still trying to hold your attention, know that I am but trying and testing you, to see if you are as yet ready for the Work which I always have awaiting My proven and faithful servants; to see if I can use you to awaken and prepare my other children so I can unfold My nature in them that they can feel Me as the Love in their hearts, and can thereby hear My voice there, and know I<br /><br />18<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />19<br /><br />am their Higher and Real Self and that I am calling them also, anxious to lead them forth into the New Day. While all calls are My Call, each with its separate appeal, yet each is but leading you on to a realization that all outer things that appeal, all calls of ambition, of riches, of leadership, of power, of human love, yea even of Spiritual attainment, are but the allurements of the separate self, that I use to build Me a strong personality in you, with its power of concentration and ability to accomplish; an instrument I thus develop and prepare for use in the fulfillment of My Plan and Purpose. Then when all is ready, in order that there may be nothing to interfere with or hinder Me in such use, one by one I take from you all outer things that still allure, until there is nothing anymore left, nothing and no one you can look<br /><br />or turn to but Me,—and you have learned to want and to know Me as the one and only thing of importance, and the perfect serving of Me becomes the sole concern and ambition of your life. It is then only I can send you the Great Call and you can hear it in your heart, which now has been opened wide for My use alone, and has been cleansed of all desires of self. Then only can you hear that Call, the call to My blessed ones, those who have dedicated themselves to Me and now live only to serve Me in their brothers. To all such of you, for there are many whom I have so prepared and who have responded, and who are working selflessly as one with Me, I now send the Call to Service, the call to join the Great Brotherhood of Servers; and those who hear and who know My voice and who gladly have learned<br /><br />20<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />21<br /><br />to heed it, I am opening their eyes and permitting them a vision of My Plan and of My Purpose for the New Age you are now entering, and am enabling them to comprehend the true and glorious meaning of Brotherhood, that Brotherhood I intend soon to bring forth from the Kingdom within, into actual manifestation in men's midst. Those of you who refuse to align yourselves with others, thinking that unnecessary for you can come to Me direct, and get all the guidance and help you need,—know you are still thinking of self and are not yet ready for true Service. To you I say the days of seeking and getting for self are past— never to return. No more studying to attain powers will I allow. The training period I allotted for such purpose is over. If you but know it, you brought all the "powers" you seek along with you. And I have been trying<br /><br />to teach you in the school of life's experiences and under those I appointed for your discipline and training, that when you are ready to use these powers—which in reality are not yours but Mine—no longer for selfish purposes, but wholly in My Service, I will uncover them to your consciousness and direct you perfectly in their use. For the Force I formerly gave to man for the growth and development of self is now withdrawn. Henceforth all My Wisdom, Love and Power is poured into and through the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit. He who would receive must go within his heart and find Me as the Christ, His Higher Self, abiding there, and must give up all of personal self and follow Him, must enlist and serve under His banner — the banner of Brotherhood. It is true you can still come to Me and<br /><br />22<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />23<br /><br />get the guidance you need, but only for the use and helping of your fellowmen. No more will I give of My Force to develop the consciousness of the separate self. Now all must go to the use of the Christ—to the binding and lifting of all self-consciousness into the consciousness of Brotherhood. I now call upon you to live and use what you so long have been studying and believing with your intellect about Service and Brotherhood. When you believe in your heart, which belief can only come from USE and DEMONSTRATION, then you will truly BE and KNOW a Brother, and not before. Only you who forget and are no longer concerned with your Soul's status can truly serve Me in your brothers, for when you learn to love your brothers more than self, then you will hear My Voice speaking in<br /><br />your heart telling you what to do and how to do it. Those who do not want to acknowledge any leader other than their Higher Self and therefore fear to join others in service in outer organizations, thinking such cannot be impersonally or spiritually directed by any human personality,—know that you are indeed striving to obey the voice of your Soul, but ignorantly; for your Soul will never require you to acknowledge or obey any leader who would ask you to do anything to which your Higher Self would not assent. Any such command or requirement of such a leader would immediately absolve you from allegiance in any such organization. But Wisdom also would first require you fully to satisfy your mind as to your Soul's desire, as previously explained, regarding the Call to such Service. For can<br /><br />24<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />25<br /><br />you not realize, that all that has gone before, My bringing you through so many disappointments and disillusionments, through all the various experiences and teachings into a consciousness of Me, as your Higher and only Self, has been but to lead you into that wider and deeper consciousness of Me as the Higher Self also of your brother, and that you and your brother thus become one in Me, and that there is and can be no separation. That is the true vision of Brotherhood. When you have caught that, then you have entered the Kingdom of My Consciousness and see and know as I would have you see and know. Therefore there cannot possibly be any separation between those consecrated to the Vision,—all are one, whether in the Spirit or in the flesh,—they are a part of that Great White Brotherhood of Spirit, the<br /><br />most perfect organization that is, for It is Eternal, always was, and always will be; and It is gradually drawing to Itself—one by one — all who have learned and conquered the illusion of self and separation. Do you want to be separate any more, My children, now that you know the Truth? No, for from now on the great hunger of your life will be for conscious union with your Brothers; for only then will you find and truly and fully know Me. As to any outer organization representing My Kingdom of the Spirit down in the midst of men being directed by a human personality, know that only through human instruments can My Will be done on earth. Even as I can accomplish My Will in large ways by inspiring many minds with My Love through My Spirit—the Christ— within them, so do I inspire many to look<br /><br />26<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />27<br /><br />only within to Him for leadership,—so that they may realize that He in them and He in everyone of their brothers is One — is I, their True and Only Self. Therefore it is not the personality of such leader they see any more, but only the Master—the Christ —of such personality through whom I work. Many have thus become His proven and faithful Disciples, My Beloved Sons, and they gladly obey His commands, knowing Him only as their Higher Self, and living only to help others also thus to learn to know and to obey Him; and they, through such selfless love and consequent oneness of purpose as His followers, thus become banded in Spirit in a great army of workers for Him. And all who can similarly learn to follow and serve Him, automatically become one of this invisible army, all under His leadership, and of course guided and di-<br /><br />rected by His more tested and proven ones — your elder Brothers — My generals and lieutenants, in mundane army terms. And how may you know your elder Brothers, those I have chosen to lead and guide My children into the New Day? By one way only — by that most sure way — by their fruits, by compelling others by their lives and their achievements to recognize the Christ of them. As in the past they have not been called from the high places, but I have called again the fishers of men—those whose lives are consecrated to the uplifting and helping of their fellows — particularly those who have not sought for self, but only to serve the Christ in their brothers, those whose names are unknown to the outer world for the work they have done, but who have brought thousands and thousands into the<br /><br />28<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE CALL TO SERVICE<br /><br />29<br /><br />consciousness of Me in their hearts, each in his own way. Think you I can work My will otherwise? It is only through such chosen ones—they who have given themselves over wholly to Me — that I can do My Will upon the earth as I purpose it to be done. To such I give a glimpse of My Plan and My purpose. But think not I work only through such conscious channels. Am I not working My Will through you, and through every one who at any time seeks to obey his Highest Self? Such, in very truth, form My Army —My workers, My servers, My fighters for Truth and Righteousness. The armies now being used for destruction and to obey the will of human kings or rulers are but man's using My Heavenly plan of organization for his selfish and inhuman purposes.<br /><br />But the day of such use of My Heavenly plan is soon over. The Battle of Armageddon soon to be fought on earth will forever drive from men's minds the desire and ability to use My spiritual knowledge and power for other than the benefit and blessing of their fellowmen. Brotherhood is to be an actual conscious realization of the men of earth, and I call upon you, My children, to help Me and your Brothers of the Spirit to make it so. My Message of Brotherhood is now being broadcast over the whole world. There are many who have caught it from the inner planes and are giving it forth as I have permitted and am enabling them to do, but there is One whom I have chosen and appointed, have made responsible for and given the power to link and to bind all Souls who have found Me into one great<br /><br />30<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />army of Servers, consecrated to the work of preparing the Way for the ushering in of the New Day. By his Words and by his Work ye may know him. Make no mistake, but seek him the spirit of whose words and deeds is that your Highest Self approves and glorifies.<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br />TRY, My children, to realize Brotherhood is a REALITY, that it is not merely what ordinary minds think is only an ideal. For a real and very potent and actual Brotherhood exists, as many are having proven to them these days, those who have felt My Love in their hearts and are following Its leadings, which in very truth is My Voice speaking, the Voice of My Spirit — the Christ—abiding in the hearts of all men. For in unaccountable yet unmistakable ways have I brought some of you who read into contact with individuals whom you feel are Brothers, though you may never have met them before—in the outer. And again<br />31<br /><br />32<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br /><br />33<br /><br />have I brought to you, or have led you to those who needed the very help which seemingly only you could give; the surest evidence being your surprise at hearing yourself say words and feel a great love within you' pushing them forth, which you had no forethought of saying, and which proved to be just the words those others afterwards claimed they had come to you to hear. Who led or sent such to you? Who were so well acquainted with both you and them that They knew beforehand just what you would say and what those others needed? Who but They in the Spirit, My Ministers, Who were so at one with you because of the love They bore Me in you and in them that They could inspire you to say what you did? Constantly perhaps are some of you made aware of such service you are called upon to render, and likewise are you made to feel<br /><br />in some undefinable but very actual way that you are related not only to those whom thus you are led to help, but as well to those invisible Ones in Spirit Who brought such to you for such help. All must admit there is a Brotherhood of the Spirit, and that such is an invisible Brotherhood in no way related to the flesh. Can you doubt that Jesus and His Disciples, Paul, Elijah, and the other great prophets; Moses, Jacob, Abraham, of the Old Testament; and all the other Just Men Made Perfect of their days and before, as well as those of the many generations since, who have followed the Christ, have mastered self and have learned to live His life,—can you not see that They are of that Brotherhood? If not, where are They now and what are They doing? Surely They are living in the Kingdom I prepared for such, and are<br /><br />34<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS<br /><br />35<br /><br />working — serving there, are They not? Working and serving in Spirit, striving to inspire and lead Their younger brothers still in the flesh consciousness to a like knowledge with Theirs of the Christ within their own hearts, and to follow Him unto the Resurrection and into Eternal Life — their Divine Heritage, and where these perfected Souls are now dwelling, even though they may be living in bodies that are walking upon the earth. What else can be the goal of our humanity, and can you imagine anyone who has come into the Christ Consciousness ceasing thus to serve, no matter if he be in the Kingdom of the Spirit or in the flesh, until all his brothers have come into possession of the same fruits of the Spirit he is enjoying? True Brotherhood is of the heart and<br /><br />seeks only to lift up and love and bless, even though the weaknesses and limitations of the lower self stand forth glaringly. He who can look through these and see only Me, the Higher Self of his brother, and who proceeds to serve Me, knows the pure joy of My Love and the real meaning of Brotherhood. Oh, My children, ever refuse to see the personality of your brotherhood, no matter what is said about it, for always I would have you know the Soul shining back of the mask. If you will but wait upon Me within I will let you see through My eyes of Love the sorrowful one yearning for recognition there, and who at your kind words of understanding will respond in such unmistakable way you will surely learn the truth of My words. Open your heart and let Love out, and<br /><br />36<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />you will not only soon feel Me big within you, but you will learn what Brotherhood truly is; for REAL Brothers will come into your life and prove a source of wondrous joy and great blessing to you.<br /><br />HE WHO IS TO COME<br />AS ALL MEN deep in their hearts would deem it an inestimable privilege to be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face, and to commune with Him, if they thought such were possible, — know, you who earnestly seek for such privilege, that such is not only possible, but the Master waits yearningly for that very thing, and is in very truth the inspirer of that desire in your heart, trying to tell you that He is ever abiding in the Kingdom within you, guiding and teaching and preparing you through one of His disciples, who has become sufficiently one in consciousness with Him, for that day. For even as He taught when on earth,<br />37<br /><br />38<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />HE WHO IS TO COME<br /><br />39<br /><br />that He, the Christ in all men, is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man can come unto Me except through finding and knowing Him within his own heart, so have He and all of His many disciples ever since been helping man to find the Christ within themselves, so they also can come unto Me. For the Christ of Him and the Christ of you is One—is My Spirit in man, the Image and Likeness of Me in which I conceived Man in the beginning; and it is Jesus Christ —that Image and Likeness—that Ideal— that is the Light and the Life in all men that, out of the darkness of self, is pushing forth and growing them until My Word fully becomes flesh. All who are manifesting in physical bodies today are not here by accident or because of some whim of fate, but are here either because they chose to be here at this par-<br /><br />ticular time, to help their Brothers prepare for the ushering in of the New Day, having dedicated themselves to that Service ages ago in a past life, or because I brought them the opportunity of redeeming through present service the errors of the past—the long-past. To all men this present time is the chance of adjustment, not of one life, but of many—the accounting of an Age, if they will listen to and hear My Voice speaking in their hearts, and will seek only to serve Me. Therefore, My children, turn within where I abide and try earnestly to hear and know My Voice speaking in your heart. Turn from the voices of self whose mouthpiece is the intellect, and who would bind you longer to the world of the senses by leading you to believe their false reports. Think earnestly and well, for you have at<br /><br />40<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />this time the opportunity of many, many lives. Serve Me henceforth in your brothers; espouse with a whole heart the Cause of HIM WHO IS TO COME. Stand shoulder to shoulder with your fellows who have enlisted and are training for the Great Battle for Righteousness, and I promise you will have the supreme joy and privilege of meeting and communing with Him face to face, and of seeing Him rule in a purified and regenerated world.<br /><br />LEADERS<br />YOU, My chosen ones, whom I have called in the past to gather My little ones that I might awaken them from the sleep of self and separateness and teach them through you the way unto Me,—know that you have been faithful and many have come unto Me through you, and through this Service have I drawn you and them close to Me in preparation for the Greater Day and for the far greater Service that awaits. For you must know that I had a purpose in choosing you for such Work and in drawing such unto Me, and that as you and they realize this and look forward to the utter forgetting and losing of self will I have in you pure and empty hearts in which I can<br />41<br /><br />42<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />43<br /><br />live My life, do My Will and be My Self on earth, even as in Heaven. But, Alas! Some of you seem to have for gotten that you are My Ministers and you have been doing this all for Me, and, from long being looked up to as shepherds of these My children and from being followed by many such whom you have allowed to lean upon you, and for this privilege have encouraged them to provide for your physical support and comfort, as a consequence you have grown to believe such are specially attached to you and should look no further, as you are able to feed their hunger for knowledge and to care for all their Spiritual needs. I know that those to whom this applies may not have realized this, but I ask you now to search deep within and see if it is partly, if not wholly, true; that when some<br /><br />of your followers come to you with a teaching from a different source, or especially from some new messenger I have sent forth whose appeal is drawing many to hear him or her, you are sure you have so conquered personality that no words of criticism either of the messenger or of his message are voiced by you, but only kind and loving expressions of a true Brother, a pointing out so clearly that the other messenger is a most dear Brother—another of My beloved sons sent to do My bidding; so that your hearers will go away uplifted and inspired with a high spirit of understanding and will praise God for the new realization of Brotherhood that has come to them. If you have caught this Vision you are truly blessed and you remain My chosen one for the greater Service, but to all others I now declare the day of separate Movements<br /><br />44<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />45<br /><br />and separate teaching is past, for all such have been but the way and the means I have used to prepare and fit those of My former servants whom I sent into earth life to lead My children into the New Day, when My Kingdom is to be brought down upon earth even as it is in Heaven, and when there will be only one Movement and one Church, the Church of the LIVING Christ. To those so called do I now give the task of awakening their Brothers, of calling them unto repentance, of pointing out the One and Only way, THE WAY OF THE HEART, which is the straight and narrow path that leads to the gate which admits the Servants and Warriors gathering to serve under HIM WHO IS TO COME. You who up to the present have been unwilling to consider actively aligning your<br /><br />movement with others, thinking you have been receiving direct from Me or from one of My sons in the Spirit all the guidance needed to lead you and your followers into the Light of the New Day, and that you can hold them and guide them up the slippery path that leads to self-mastery by means of such inspiration, which has proved so helpful in the past,—know that I now call you to join with your Brothers who have already responded to My Call and who have enlisted in that Eternal Army called Brotherhood, which must include all who would enter and participate in the Kingdom of Love and Righteousness, that I purpose soon to establish on earth. The work you have been doing in the past is practically finished—as far as you can go with it; that has largely been concerned with the head—an awakening of the under-<br /><br />46<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />47<br /><br />standing and a quickening of the higher faculties of the intellect of those you have been teaching; but now the time is come when all such must be put to the real USE for which they have been developed. If you have taught them impersonally and have led them thereby to understand clearly that all self-development was for the later use of the Higher Self under the direction of the Christ, then you will not doubt or hesitate, but you and all your true followers will know that this is the Call for which you have been preparing them, and for which you have long been waiting. But if you are listening to the voice of self and to its subtle pointing out that by joining with others you will lose prestige, and your followers will become enamored with other teachings, and what more vitally concerns you, you may lose the income they are<br /><br />now providing for your support and sustenance,—to you I bring the supreme test —that of deciding this day whom you shall serve—God or Mammon. Make no mistake—no longer can you deceive yourself. Those who truly love Me must give up ALL and follow Me. The Lord Christ calls; He will have no halfhearted or weak-kneed servants. All those who belong in the Great White Brotherhood must absolutely and finally renounce self and all its claims, and must now live only to Serve. In such the separate self exists no more, for they see the One Self in all men —and have learned the glorious meaning or Brotherhood; — they have truly found Me, and that I in them and I in their broth-<br /><br />er am the ONE and ONLY SELF.<br />But there are still many fine and earnest teachers who have become so wrapped up<br /><br />48<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADERS<br /><br />49<br /><br />in their own vision and mission, which I inspired in them in the past, and are so concerned about fulfilling that mission that they cannot feel any real sympathy with others having an equal or greater vision. In fact they will not take the trouble to investigate or even read carefully what others are doing, and therefore cannot speak or advise intelligently with their followers when questioned about them. These do not realize that this is but a subtle and insidious form of Spiritual selfishness and that it is preventing their comprehending the full meaning of Brotherhood, and therefore the real inner meaning of their own Mission; and as a result they are feeding their followers with only the husks of Truth—with but intellectual concepts, no matter how high sounding and beautiful, but which are incapable of inspiring them with the true Spirit of Service and thereby accomplishing<br /><br />what I sent them forth to do — prepare their followers for full participation in the Work of My Holy Brotherhood. Those teachers and leaders who are so engrossed in what they consider their own Work, as well as those who cannot and will not yield to the call of their Higher Self, will find that one by one their followers will fall away; for many of these followers have likewise heard My Call to Service and no claims of loyalty to a personal leader or Movement can long hold them with My Voice calling in their hearts. Your work as a leader of a separate Movement is finished, for the hearts of all true followers of the Christ hear the cry of Brotherhood, and if you, their leader, do not obey that Call, your followers will and must; for it is that true part of your teaching—your showing them the way unto Me<br /><br />50<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />LEADER<br /><br />51<br /><br />and telling them how they may know My Voice, that first attached them to you. But fear not, if you truly exemplify to your followers that which you have taught, and if you now manifest the Spirit of Real Brotherhood you will find the children I have entrusted to your care will not leave you, but many blessings now to you inconceivable will be added in marvelous ways. Oh, beloved, can you not see that all your work in the past has been but a preparation for this far greater Work—that of making Brotherhood an actual reality among men? You have been awakening My children, training and unfolding their consciousness so that they could find and know the Christ within,—their True Self, and their only Real Teacher, and so thereby they could enter into My Consciousness and see the illusoriness and falsity of all outer things.<br /><br />By finding the Christ, they find the Kingdom, and in the Kingdom they learn to practice real Brotherhood. Now you must help them to make that Brotherhood a living Reality. Your work is not finished — your real work is but just beginning—if you enlist in that part of the Great White Brotherhood I am forming here on Earth, and to which I am calling not only you and all My children who are in your care, but all My other Ministers and My children in their care; for the glorious campaign for Righteousness is already started and this time will be won by My Army whose members are legion and whose might is supreme. For remember I Am in them and I am surrounding and protecting them with My LOVE, and those who are with Me are far greater than those who are against me.<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />53<br /><br />EVIL<br />YOU who are troubled by the problem of evil, thinking that evil is only an illusion, and by recognizing and trying to fight it only gives to it a power over you which otherwise it would not have,—know the truth. Evil does exist, but only in man's mind, created by his own evil thinking, and it is a very tangible power there—so long as he continues to feed and vitalize it by entertaining such thoughts and allowing them to influence or control his speech and actions. However, there is a center within man, deep within his heart, where I, the Christ of him abide. There, he becomes a center<br />52<br /><br />of and one with My Consciousness—his true home, where all is Peace, Purity, Power ,and Perfection. Whenever man stays outside that home center, no matter if in the world of thought, the world of feeling and desire, or the outermost world of matter, unless his attention is firmly fixed upon Me in that center, or he knows his oneness with Me there, all becomes confused and distorted and all tends to distract and separate man's consciousness from Mine and to involve and hold him in these worlds which long ages ago, when he had wholly forgotten Me and imagined himself alone and separate from My Life and My Love, he had created by mentally building them one by one around him, until they grew into definite beliefs, and the outermost became so crystallized a concept that he saw all things in this realm as separate materialized forms, and thought them unquestionably solid and tangible.<br /><br />54<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />55<br /><br />And having lost the consciousness of Me and of My Love, and with it the ability to know the Good, the True, and the Perfect of all things, in the darkness of separation in which he now wandered he saw only the shadows of the Real, and these distorted and twisted; and he blasphemed when in, his imperfect sight he stumbled in judgment and fell, or was hurt by bumping against unseen obstacles. And thus man conceived and built Evil into the worlds of his consciousness and made of it a power he ever since has thought he must fight, if he would be free of and unhurt by it. But you who read may see if you will, through the eyes of My Love, that evil exists not where I am, in the Kingdom of My Consciousness,—that center deep within the, heart of every man. It exists only without, in that consciousness of separation, — mental,<br /><br />desire or physical worlds, where, if man allows his deeper interest to wander, he becomes enamored with the illusions and error concepts created there back through the ages by millions of other minds similarly deluded. Evil exists in greater or less degree in all realms of consciousness that man thinks are separate from My Consciousness. But you know where I Am, God IS—and all in His Kingdom must be and is Good and True, Pure and Holy, Happy and Perfect. All you need do, therefore, to be free from evil, sin, disease, lack or imperfection of any kind, is to withdraw within to that center, your Real Home, where I AM, and where you will see and know Truth as your own, even as I see and know it. Each man can prove this for himself, but each must come within where I AM to prove it. The<br /><br />56<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />57<br /><br />way unto Me is open to all, but the way is through the heart, treading the path of Love and of Selfless Service. In that Home Center you can truly say I AM, and know WHO you are, but the moment you let your interest and attention wander into the outer worlds of the senses and to any of the things within them, you are, as it were, pulled from your center, deluded into a sense of separation, and sucked into an outer and lower plane of consciousness away from God and Good, and you become involved in and are seemingly a part of that realm of consciousness where you allowed your interest and attention to become focused for the time being. But here is the secret by which you can regain your power,—you need only to remember Who you are, that your home is back in the center, in the Kingdom there<br /><br />where I AM—where the God of you IS; and then to re-focus your attention and interest there by seeing and feeling yourself centered therein and surrounded by and filled with My Love,—when you will actually and truly be there. Then by practicing staying in that Love Center, realizing Who you are—your identity with Me, and feeling My Love pouring out through you, as a heart center, you will find you can look out through and go in and out of these outer realms of consciousness a will, seeing and knowing they are all illusion;—reflections rather—of the glorious Realities within the Kingdom, created out of the substance of those imagined worlds that exist only by reason of your fancying them real and separate from My Consciousness; distorted concepts fashioned in ignorance and from efforts to understand their<br /><br />58<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />59<br /><br />peculiar influence upon the relation to you. This is a great secret indeed, and it is waiting for all to know who have found the Way of Love, through the heart, unto Me. For I, God, AM Love, and the more you love—the more you forget self—the more do you let Me have My way in you. There fore let My Love, which is My Creative life flow freely through you. For in very truth you are My agent, My channel of expression; and only through you, whom I created in My Image and Likeness for such purpose, can I pour forth the fullness of My life and express My Real Self. In fact, I can do nothing outwardly except through you. Know that the very nature of My life is to love and bless, to grow and unfold, to heal and make perfect. It will do this naturally and always, if not interfered with by<br /><br />man's wrong thoughts, or by man's ignorant thoughts—his not knowing the mighty power he is wielding by forming thought pictures in his mind, into every one of which My Life flows and vitalizes and outmanifests them, according to the kind of feeling he puts into them. This accounts for the many inharmonious, troublous and obnoxious conditions now manifesting in your life. But it is just as easy to bring into manifestation the conditions and things you want, as those you do not want; for My Life is ever seeking—rushing, as air into a vacuum—to fill full and outmanifest all your thoughts, especially those into which you put intense feeling; for note carefully this great truth—feeling of any kind is LIFE, is My Life that you use to vitalize your thoughts. According to the intensity and quality of feeling—of love or<br /><br />60<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />61<br /><br />hate, faith or fear, trust or worry, confidence or doubt—you put into your thoughts will they prove a blessing or an evil to you. This explains how each man—and no one else—is responsible and accountable for all the conditions surrounding him; for remember they exist primarily in his mind as the thought forms he has built there. Therefore, by replacing the pictures there you do not like with those you do like, and focusing your heart's interest and attention upon them, you change the conditions outwardly. When you can once realize that what is manifesting in your outer life — in your body, home, business, world—is only what you are seeing and holding in your consciousness, you will begin to clean out your mental house and to build and keep there only the things that will bring you soul satisfaction and happiness.<br /><br />It also explains how you can help and bless others who are in trouble and unable to help themselves. You, who are abiding in your center of Consciousness where I am, can send My Healing Life to any other center of My Consciousness to the Higher Self of a brother who is sick or weak and knows not in his brain consciousness of My Life within him. By simply opening your heart and letting My Love pour out you can send it direct to him; for in My Consciousness there is no space or time separation, and to Me you and your Brother are one with and part of Me. Just realize—feel and see My Love flow from you to him, who is in very truth your Self, because he is My Self; see It pouring forth from deep within, surrounding and filling him—just as it pours forth from within you—as a Radiant White Energizing Force—that spiritual Life Force which grows and fructifies and heals all liv-<br /><br />62<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />EVIL<br /><br />63<br /><br />ing things. See it flowing from deep within his heart and radiating outward, through his mental, emotional and physical consciousness and bodies, permeating and flooding every part of them, and then surrounding and enclosing them in pure, brilliant, White Light—the Light of My Holy Love, which no evil or inharmony or imperfection can touch or come near, no more than darkness can be where there is brilliant light. Just to the extent that you actually KNOW this and can perfectly visualize and see it taking place, and can feel my tender love inspiring, flooding and uniting the consciousness of you both, will a perfect healing take place, and Evil and all its minions will be driven back into the darkness of nothingness and ignorance whence they came. For in very truth will it be My Life<br /><br />that is rushing into and which will vitalize the new and true concept thus formed in your minds and hearts, and which will make it a REALITY. For then the without will have become as the within, and you will see with the Light of My Love that all consciousness is My Consciousness. The KNOWING of this Truth will make you and all who are concerned about the problems of Evil, Disease, Lack or Imperfection, FREE. Do not pass by this article with just one reading, but go over it again and again, meditating earnestly upon every sentence and phrase, until you have made all the great Truth hidden back of the words your own. If you do this you will find you will be able shortly to demonstrate this Truth by thus blessing My children whom I will send to you for help, thereby finding your-<br /><br />64<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />self an integral part of the Great Brotherhood in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, which I am establishing on earth even as it is in Heaven.<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br />MAN from the earliest day, even during his sojourn in Eden, has been aware of two forces within himself ever opposing each other,—one that would inspire and lead him to the highest, and the other to the lowest of thoughts, feelings and actions. During his racial childhood man named that which called forth the lower phases of his nature the Devil, and thought of it as a malevolent power ever seeking to frustrate and keep from him the fulfillment of his desires. Later he questioned if it were not God punishing him for sins committed by with-holding from him the good things of life. But not until man grew up and his Real Self began to direct his thoughts was he<br />65<br /><br />66<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />67<br /><br />able to see that what was holding him back and forcing him to be content with present if inadequate, possessions was but his own weakness of character and intellect, and that not until he had earned them could the powers unfold that came with knowledge and understanding, and could be exercised and controlled by him in the high use for which alone he began to see they were permitted and intended. And with this knowledge gradually came the realization that these higher powers could not unfold while selfishness ruled him, and that selfishness was in some definite way related to the Devil of earlier days. It was then that man began to respond consciously to the leadings of his Higher Self, and to try to control and overcome selfishness. In so doing he found that when he yielded to the voice of self, trouble, failure,<br /><br />inharmony or suffering always resulted, and although he knew this and sought to avoid such, yet there was something within him that was stronger and made him yield to that hidden and persistent selfishness ever seeking to maintain complete control. Thus he became aware that his greatest enemy was not some other person whom perhaps he had harmed or defrauded by such selfishness, but was that something within which was akin to the lowest phase of his own nature. When he listened to the voice of selfishness and not to that of his Higher Self—My Voice—it always brought harm, in that it made him suffer until his higher nature could again come into evidence, and could enable him to hear My Voice within, pointing out the sin he had committed against his brother, and the necessity of repentance.<br /><br />68<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />69<br /><br />And then he gradually became conscious that when he considered committing any selfish act voices encouraging such act and suggesting ways and means poured into his mind from without, indicating he was being influenced by outside forces, thoughts from other minds, that were ever ready to push him on to his and others' undoing— if he listened and yielded to them. Thus far man has come, learning that the' cause of evil is in himself, in that weakness or lack of character which usually has selfishness at its root; but he had yet to learn that the source of evil is really without himself. For evil is not in Me, Whose mind is the only mind in man, but is inspired by the passions and thoughts sent forth by the forces of darkness, and which are ever seeking openings in self-separated human minds where selfishness, which is of their darkened<br /><br />nature, is allowed to rule unchecked. Evil hates Truth as darkness hates light, and cannot exist where light is. Evil cannot manifest and thrive in the light of Truth, hence it must seek its own in order to live; and selfishness exists only because of the darkened sense of separation from Me, inspired by the enemy of light. When man knows I am the only self of him, and that it is My Mind, My Intelligence, My Will and My Love that lives in and grows his body and character and directs his life, and he is willing to let Me rule, he has found Truth, and that it is Truth that is making him free from the power of self, even as darkness always must disappear when the light comes. It is this fact that proves that the Enemy can find entrance into man's mind only when self in any way or at any time is al-<br /><br />70<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />71<br /><br />lowed to control, even if for but a short time. Once admitted and his subtle suggestions listened to, he is almost impossible to drive out until he has accomplished his will. For the selfishness that attracted him gave him his cue, and he is able to instill his poisonous idea to such effect, by feeding and encouraging the selfish desires and passions found there, that the mind becomes wholly blinded to Truth, and seeks thereafter only to satisfy the clamorings of self. And the Enemy, who—what is he? Only the entitized form of the mass selfishness of men, that vast cumulation of the evil thoughts and passions of men's lower nature appropriated by Masters of Evil, grown great and powerful by their stealing and feeding off of the vital forces that their unsuspecting dupes at their instigation had poured into such evil thoughts and desires, thus giving them direct power over men<br /><br />through men's own life-force now absorbed and incorporated into their Master-nature, which they could thereby easily use to bend men to their will. Do such Masters of Evil really exist? Yes, just as surely as evil men exist. These evil men are merely their servants, their dupes, their slaves, practically all unconscious of their Masters or of any outside power controlling them. In fact, all would deny and wholly refuse to believe in the existence of such Masters, so subtly have these Masters worked upon and deceived the thinking minds of men by instilling into them wrong beliefs about a personal God and an abstract devil, thus twisting their understanding of the inner laws of being so they would listen to and follow the prompting of their Masters who could then continue to control and exploit them to the accomplishment of their foul ends.<br /><br />72<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />73<br /><br />But, you ask, are these Masters of Evil living men, or do they exist only on the inner planes of being, like the Masters of Good? If you can conceive of Masters of Good, then you may know also of these Masters of Evil, for if the former exist, so do the latter; and as there is a Christ who rules and leads and inspires the former, so is there an AntiChrist who rules and leads and inspires the latter. As the Christ can work on earth only through His disciples, who through love of their fellow men have emptied themselves of self so that their higher nature is ever waiting upon and serving Him; so the AntiChrist can work only through his disciples who through hatred, jealousy, greed, and a continual exploiting of their fellows have grown so big and fat from self-indulgence<br /><br />and in their feeling of superiority that their lower nature has become a perfect instrument for the use of the great Exemplar of Selfishness. Also as it is true that there are such Masters of both Good and Evil working on the Inner Planes of being and ever inspiring their disciples, so it is equally true that both these Masters are working also on the physical plane, living in human bodies, and doing the will of their respective Chiefs who abide on the Inner Planes. Likewise do only those who have earned the right, by "living the life" of their respective Chiefs, the Christ or the AntiChrist, ever come into personal contact with the Masters under whom they serve; for the Masters always remain in the background, and work through their disciples and agents, whom they have raised to places of influ-<br /><br />74<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />75<br /><br />ence and power because of their faithfully doing their Master's will. Those working consciously or unconsciously under Masters of Evil are always inspired and influenced towards Evil, while those under the banner of the Christ are inspired and led wholly to forget self and to work only for the uplifting of their fellow men. All is according to the great Law—"As above, so below; as below, so above." Good and Evil are opposite poles, and therefore where one manifests there must also be the other to complement it and balance its power. But remember, both are but men's concept of an Infinite Reality, which changes, not and cannot be affected by whatever men think of it as Good or Evil. However, there are only a comparatively few of both so-called Good and Evil Masters working in human bodies at the present<br /><br />time, conscious of their Master degree, although many are preparing to enter human existence as soon as perfect conditions can be found. The Good Masters, under divine Law, will enter naturally into newly born infant bodies, and will over-shadow others —their disciples, while the Evil Masters, where opportunity offers, will deliberately break the Divine Law by dislodging and driving out the Souls of infants, thus stealing their bodies from them, or by driving out Souls from mature bodies, dispossessing them, and thereafter obsessing and impersonating such Souls to their friends and associates. Such in the near future will be of common occurrence, and will be made easy for them by all who succumb to fits of passion, indulgence in intense hatred, jealousy, or self-pity, or continual brooding over wrongs done them, or habitual condemnations of others, and who will suddenly wake<br /><br />76<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />77<br /><br />one day in another world minus their physical bodies. And be it known the Anti-Christ is also, preparing to manifest himself, when all is ready and enough of such evil forces to serve his purpose are let loose on the earth and require his direction and control. For he has been preparing for this for thousands of years, training his Masters of Evil, who in turn have been carefully carrying out his plans with seldom any failure, through the agency of their earthly lieutenants — the great Bankers and Brokers of the money centers, the heads of Industrial Trusts, the Politicians, the Newspaper Editors, faithless Government Employees and Public Servants, any and all soulless individuals who seek only for self, and who unhesitatingly strike down ruthlessly those who stand in their way. These know not they are abso-<br /><br />lutely under the control of these forces of Evil; even if they knew, their moral fibre has become so weakened through habitual obedience to the selfish instinct fostered in them that they would have little power to resist the Master Forces ruling them. When the command goes forth, all these human agents will be compelled to fight under the banner of the Anti-Christ, him whom they have served so long, and who now claims and compels their absolute obedience. But, you say, what of the Bankers, great Industrial Leaders, Editors, and the many thousands of other high-type minds who are involved in similar exploitations, and who are more or less unconscious of wrong-doing, because of having been brought up and trained in the so-called capitalistic consciousness? These cannot at present accept such unproved statements as the foregoing,<br /><br />78<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />79<br /><br />and will naturally side with their associates on the enemy's side. What will become of them? Will they be condemned and destroyed with the Enemy, even though ignorant of evil-doing? Do not be too sure of their ignorance, for there is that in every man which causes him to know when he is doing wrong—when he is taking advantage of a fellow man's ignorance, weakness or inability to prevent it, to benefit self. While such do not realize the full extent of their crime against God, or know that they are actually serving the Great Enemy of man, yet the Truth is now being declared and is being broadcast over the earth, so that in time every man may hear. When the great tribulations that are shortly to fall upon mankind begin to manifest with everincreasing and unmistakably vindictive vio-<br /><br />lence, such men are going to think as they have never thought before, are going to desire to know Truth for itself with a mighty intensity, and are going to seek every possible way of escape. They will turn first to the churches, who will offer them a Christ crucified, who they say will save them. They will turn to Psychology, to Spiritualism, to the different cults, most of whom will offer them that favorite platitude the Enemy has been instilling into the minds of their followers during recent years—"There is no evil, there is only Good," when evil will be so everywhere about them that they can see, hear, feel, and therefore think of hardly anything else but evil. It is then that these seekers will be led by those Masters of Good, ever on the lookout to help every sincere searcher after Truth, to these declarations, and now they will be ready to listen to and recognize them as Truth. To all such<br /><br />80<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />81<br /><br />who accept and now know whom they were serving, and who are willing and anxious to renounce forever self and all its claims,— to such will be shown not only the way of escape, but they will be lovingly led into a place of safety. All this anticipates and at the same time announces to all who read to prepare for the great Battle of Armageddon shortly to begin on the physical plane, and which is already practically won on the Inner Planes, —for the Enemy with all his cohorts are being forced by the Powers of Good to the outermost of such realms, right up against the physical, where many think they can escape by thus stealing into human bodies. But their existence there will be shortlived, for the battle will soon be waging with awful intensity in the outer, and the<br /><br />mighty Forces fighting for righteousness will quickly bring matters to such a crisis that all the forces of darkness will be compelled to come out fully in the open so that all people may see these forces and those who fight with them, and forever after will know them for the fiends they are. And the battle, by the very fact of its being fought in the open, will be won by the Forces of light; for as darkness cannot exist in the strong light of day, so with these forces of evil (who draw all their life and power from darkness, especially from the darkened minds of men, purposely kept deceived and ignorant of their Divine Nature, their Oneness with the Christ Mind), when the light of Divine Understanding is thus poured into men's consciousness, they will turn about, and because of the very destructiveness of their nature, will begin to destroy<br /><br />82<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE ENEMY<br /><br />83<br /><br />each other, until none are left, and their souls will vanish into the chaos and darkness from which they came. But think not this is not all in the Great Plan, and that the Anti-Christ and all his cohorts are not now wholly under My perfect control. For it is through him and his opposing forces that I provide the discipline and the punishment by which man learns to know unerringly Good and Evil. No man can truly know Good and Evil until he has tasted and eaten to satiation of the fruits of evil—has been so taught and led to the limit of selfish indulgence by the creator of evil —SELF, that he learns the foolishness and emptiness of it all, and finally awakens as a "Prodigal Son," and longs for his Father's house and the place at His table for goodness and abundance which he discarded for the husks of the outer world, and he starts<br /><br />on his homeward journey to his Father's Kingdom. Those who have not awakened in this life to a knowledge of their spiritual nature must needs wait for a long, long period for another opportunity; for they cannot return to earth during the wondrous New Age I have prepared for My children who have listened to My Voice and whom I intend to lead into the Kingdom of Light and Love I am bringing down from Heaven into the midst of men.<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />85<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br />YOU have been told that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and many have accepted that statement as being so. But how many have ever purposely investigated and consistently endeavored to discover its real meaning,—how and where within, and how to find it? It has been likened to many things by One Who unquestionably knew, Who was able to go in and out at will, from the powers He used, and which He ascribed not to Himself, but to His Father within the Kingdom which He said was within Himself. It has been said elsewhere herein that the Kingdom is within the heart. But it cannot be within the physical heart is meant. What then is meant?<br />84<br /><br />Even as the heart of anything is supposed to be the very center of that thing, so must it imply in the statement that the Kingdom is within man's heart; it must mean that it is deep within, at the very center of his being. And, of course, it cannot mean his physical being, but something much deeper within. The only avenue of ingress to man's interior being must be through his mind, and most of those who have given any real thought to the subject have dimly perceived that the Kingdom of Heaven must be a state of consciousness within the mind. While it is indeed a state of consciousness, yet it is in very truth a place within the mind that can be reached by going there in consciousness, just as definitely and surely as you can go within your house, through several rooms, to an inner chamber in the very<br /><br />86<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />87<br /><br />center, and there find your den or library, where you love to hide yourself from the world and find therein the privacy and quiet for study and work. Let us imagine a house that is circular and very large, a house of many windows and doors. In this house the rooms are naturally in tiers, i.e., there is an outer tier into which one enters through doors from the outside. Then there is a second tier connecting with the outer, and connecting with it a third tier surrounding one small room in the center. Now let us consider this house as the human self, or that part of you that houses your personal or self-consciousness, that consciousness concerned with your physical body and its sensations, your emotions, feelings and desires, and all your thoughts, be-<br /><br />liefs and opinions about yourself. While that part of your consciousness concerned with the realms outside of yourself, in which dwell all your concepts of things, conditions and other people, let us consider as your world, the world of physical or material things. Of course each has a different world from everyone else, for each has different concepts of those things which surround him and engage his interest; some things interest one that another never sees, and therefore such have no place in the other's world. If we consider this house as comprising your self-consciousness, then the different rooms must be different states of your selfconsciousness. Those in the outer tier must of course be what is termed the physical consciousness. There are five doors which connect it with the outer world of conscious-<br /><br />88<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />89<br /><br />ness, called the doors of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Through these doors all sense of the physical world without comes to you. Suppose we then consider the next tier as that realm of consciousness within you that houses your desires, emotions and passions, from the lowest to the highest of such, called by some the astral realm and by others the desire world. You have read definite statements, made by those who have made a study of such states of consciousness, that these comprise an actual world within the mind, inhabited by the astral or desire bodies of all things that have physical bodies,— mineral, vegetable, animal or human, and also of some things above and below these kingdoms which naturally do not have physical bodies. And it is reasonable to accept that every world must have in it<br /><br />bodies composed of the natural substance of that world. Likewise, let us suppose the next inner tier with its many smaller rooms to represent the mental realm of consciousness, which houses all your thoughts, concepts and ideas of whatever nature. However, to make our analogy in perfect agreement with the statements above, within each of the three large tiers representing the physical, astral and mental realms there are seven smaller tiers or rows of rooms dividing and grading each realm of consciousness, from the lowest to the highest, and all so arranged that the highest of the physical row of that realm connects by special passageways with the highest row of the astral realm and then with the highest row of the mental realm; and likewise with each of<br /><br />90<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />91<br /><br />the six other grades down to the lowest, the lowest being the outermost of each large tier or realm and the highest the innermost. But also remember we are trying to depict here in the form of a circular house what properly should be shown as a spherical one, and that we are dealing with and entering into a fourth dimension of consciousness which cannot truly be described in terms of three dimensions. Even as Jesus tried to tell His disciples about the Kingdom, and had to use many parables that their human minds might be "lifted up" to glimpse this great state, so will it be necessary to read with other than mere brain intelligence to grasp the meaning behind the words herein used and the pictures they create. We have tried, by going thus within the<br /><br />mind, to picture the various states and realms of consciousness encountered in your journey to the center of your being. You know of the physical, emotional and mental realms within you, but you have not as yet penetrated the inner chamber, the den, the sanctuary, where the Master of the house dwells. This chamber can be entered only through one door which is always kept closed and opens only at the command of the Master himself. Let us consider this inner chamber to be the sanctuary of the Soul, of the Real You, who are the Master of the house, into which none of the sensations, emotions, desires and thoughts of the outer realms are ever permitted to enter. But the Master, because of the peculiar, transparent nature of the walls (for they are only fancied walls, built out of the human sense of a separate mind), sep-<br /><br />92<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />93<br /><br />arating the different tiers or realms, can always look through them and see clearly all that is going on, and therefore is fully acquainted with everything present in the different rooms at all times. Likewise he naturally can go in and out of the different rooms at will, by simply entering into their consciousness, when of course he is immediately there. The house, remember, we have pictured to represent the personality, or that combined consciousness concerned with the various, emotions and thoughts relating to the separate self, and which are housed in the different rooms (states of consciousness) of the different tiers (realms or worlds of consciousness) forming what you think is your separate mind. Also, remember, your world existing seemingly without your house of self you are conscious of in this same<br /><br />mind, proving that all you are and see and know exists only in your consciousness, and nowhere else. Now try to realize this house of self was built by you in the long aeons past, when you first started on your outward journey from your Fathers House in the Garden of Eden (which House and Garden symbolize His Consciousness, even as the above house and the outer world symbolize your consciousness), and when you first began to think yourself separate in consciousness from Him. This thought of separation became a concept in your mind which in time, along with all your other thoughts of self, formed themselves around the center of your consciousness into what became your mental body; and later as this sense of separation became more real to you there grew about you what seemed to be realm after realm<br /><br />94<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />95<br /><br />(tier after tier) of consciousness, forming what became your mental world. Later you similarly built in consciousness around your mental body a desire or astral body, composed of all the desires, emotions, feelings, passions, fears, loves and hates of those early stages of tasting the experience of earning your bread by the sweat of your face, and with it formed in consciousness around you your astral world, containing similar desires and emotions from other centers of consciousness. Then later, as these and many more fully developed thoughts and desires became established in your consciousness, they gradually crystallized there and seemed each to have solid and separate forms, thus bringing into being your concepts of physical or material bodies, and of the physical<br /><br />world in which they seemed to live and move and have their being. But remember, all these various bodies, mental, astral, and physical, as well as the worlds in which they seemingly manifested, were but concepts existing only in that selfconsciousness of your mind, which, by thinking yourself as separate from the Father Consciousness, now conceived every other thing also as in separate forms or pictures within itself, and which when impulsed by desire outmanifested themselves in astral matter, and later sometimes in physical matter. Now try to realize that I, the God of you, am the Master within the little inner chamber of your house; that the house is part of My Mind even as is the little inner chamber. While what at present you think to be You is the combined consciousness of all the<br /><br />96<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />97<br /><br />rooms or states in all the different realms or tiers within the house—outside of and surrounding the inner chamber, which as yet you are unable to enter; for remember, all the ideas, thoughts and concepts inhabiting those rooms compose the different states of consciousness you have built up since you separated yourself from Me long aeons ago. Therefore you must be what we can call the human part of My mind, that part which still thinks itself separate from Me. For as mind thinks so does mind become. But know, I alone AM. The house of your mind must be and is a part of a center of My Mind, even as the different thoughts concepts, desires and emotions of the various rooms or states within your consciousness are parts or centers of your mind and consciousness. If your mind is a part of My Mind and you, therefore, are a center of my<br /><br />Consciousness, then you cannot be separate from Me, but should be able to participate in that Consciousness of which you are a part and become one with Me. For I would open the door that you may walk in and sup with Me, and that all that I am you may also be, and all that I have may be yours for the taking. You are in My Consciousness—are a part of My Consciousness; therefore there can be no separation and you may know that You and I are ONE, always were One and always will be One. Think on these things and KNOW the Truth. Now I will tell you a secret, which is only for those who have come with us thus far, —the inner chamber is a magical place; it is the entrance into the Kingdom you have been told to seek, for in very truth it is the door that admits you into My Conscious-<br /><br />98<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />99<br /><br />ness. And once within you will learn that chamber which seemed small from the outside in reality extends infinitely within, through realm after realm after realm with untold wonders and glories unfolding themselves at every step. For in here you are no longer separate but are consciously one with Me, and My Consciousness is yours and all that it contains is also yours. And here you learn another secret,—all that was without, in your seeming separate consciousness, were but reflections, sadly distorted reflections, darkened and misformed by ignorance, of the glorious realities within, the realities your Soul had for so long been trying to lead you to, but which you insisted in looking for without in the world of things. For even as you look up in the heavens in the dark of night in the outer world and get glimpses of myriads of worlds<br /><br />and universes shining there, you can now understand they are but glimmering reflections trying to shine through the darkened human mind of the many beautiful mansions in the Kingdom of My Consciousness, awaiting those of My children who truly seek Me and who let My Word rule in their consciousness until it leads them to Me. You ask, how may you seek within you and find that inner chamber that admits into the Kingdom of such a Heaven? By going in imagination, persistently, day after day, within your mind, through the different realms pictured above, seeking Me and Me only; by visioning yourself in the inner chamber as the Real You, your Highest Self,—as ME, the God of you; by thinking, speaking and acting as you imagine I think and speak and act,—until the very might of your desire and efforts at realization com-<br /><br />100<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />101<br /><br />pels Me to open the door and thereby to admit you into that Consciousness and that Home which was yours from the beginning. For long, very long, have I been waiting for such a desire to manifest on your part, and that is why I keep the door closed and open it only in response to such an effort to find me. Think you I do not always know both your outer and your innermost thoughts, and cannot see you no matter where you are in consciousness? Remember the walls of self do not exist to Me, and I can look right through into man's secret desires and can easily see what motives rule, and especially what prompts him to seek within the house of his inner self. My child, there is only one motive that will ever enable you to penetrate" deep enough into consciousness to find Me, and that motive is a desire, a yearning, to serve<br /><br />Me, the Christ within you and within every man; and when that yearning has become first with you and is the one supreme motive of your life, then I not only see you coming but I watch eagerly and send forth My love to help and spur you on. After a period of trying and testing, of l e a d i ng yo u i n t o s o me o f t h e r o o ms in the second tier of your house of mind within the realm of Desire, called by some the Realm of Illusion, to see if self still rules and if you can be distracted by the allurements of the astral senses; then if these do not hold you, leading you into the mental realms, named by some of the Hall of Learning, to see if intellect can entice you from your search by tempting you with the marvelous knowledge to be gained there; and if these do not stop you, then I am able to show forth from the Kingdom in your<br /><br />102<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />103<br /><br />heart some of My real Nature, and may be able to open it wide enough to pour forth some of My Divine Love. And when that happens you begin to feel Me there, but not so that you know it is I—at first; you only feel My Love trying to find outlet, by leading you to others that I may help and bless them through you; and when others are brought to you, you feel it as a great longing to help them. Thus do I gradually draw you in consciousness to the center of your being. And there sooner or later do you find the inner chamber—that it is your heart; and you now know you have a heart, and that it is in very truth the most wonderful and most important part of you; for from it issue all the vital things of life—and that most vital one of all, the power to help others. And then suddenly one day you realize in<br /><br />a great flash of illumination what Love is— that Love is God, and that what you feel in your heart is His Presence there. You then know that Love which issues from the heart is God's life, is your life, that His life and your life cannot be separate, but that through your consciousness of God's Love in your heart, you are He, and He is you—you are ONE! And then, as you learn consciously to open your heart and let Love out, you find it is a magical, a wonderfully brilliant Light that shines through and radiates from you, clearing away all mists and shadows from your human mind, enabling you to see with My eyes and to know with My understanding all things I desire you to know. And as it thus radiates from you it ever goes before you and penetrates to the soul of those who come to you, quickening like-<br /><br />104<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN<br /><br />105<br /><br />wise their hearts so that the words I speak through you find lodgment in their minds, and awaken them and make them aware of Me in their hearts, through the response they feel there to the Love coming from you. And they too are thus given a glimpse of the Kingdom within, proving that I, the Christ, am the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world—when I am able, through a human channel, thus to pour My Love into the heart of man, and light the wick that I have previously prepared there. I have now shown you the way into the Kingdom, that it is through the door of the heart into the little chamber within; that only Loving Service will open the door and admit you and enable you to go in and out at will. I will not tell you now about the won-<br /><br />drous life within the Kingdom, except to say that Love is the one and only life there, the life that all who abide there breathe, absorb, feed upon, grow with and build from strong, beautiful Souls. Love in very truth is the vitalizing, energizing Force animating, inspiring and directing all activities there; all there abide continually in My Consciousness, receiving freely of all that I am and have; and there even as here with you, as they let Love rule and fill their whole being, am I enabled to serve the more through them on all planes and in all realms of My Consciousness. Many there are in the world today who in the past have found the Kingdom and who are here now to help Me awaken the many thousands more who are longing and yearning to be shown the way unto Me. They are the ones whom I have sent to an-<br /><br />106<br /><br />BROTHERHOOD<br /><br />swer the call of those who have asked, who have sought, who have knocked; for have I not promised that those who ask shall receive, and those who seek shall find, and those that knock it shall be opened unto them? But I can only serve My earth children through channels I have prepared, through those who have become empty of self and who now live only to serve. They are of the Kingdom on High, that Great Brotherhood of the Spirit, who are here and are actually bringing Heaven down to earth into the consciousness of many men these days. They are My blessed ones, the forerunners of that Brotherhood which soon is going to manifest, to live, work and rule on the earth, and which is going to raise it to the Heaven, that they two no longer may be separate but may appear as One to all men, as they are in the Great Reality.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-71126467781671604172007-08-16T00:09:00.002-07:002007-08-16T00:14:17.162-07:00way outTHE WAY OUT<br /><br />W<br /><br />E KNOW that with many finances are often a problem. All followers of Jesus Christ should learn the law which if obeyed will enable them to rise out of all conditions of lack, limitation, inharmony, disease and unhappiness that may manifest. You ask if this is really possible, and if there is a law which if obeyed will enable one to accomplish all that. We say emphatically, there is such a law, and that you can be free from the fear and dominance of money, that you can have an abundance of all good things, that you can be well and happy, and can bring about an adjustment into perfect harmony of all departments of your life—if you want these things enough to train yourself to obey this law. You say that you would do anything to obtain such wonderful blessings, if it is humanly possible.<br /><br />10<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />11<br /><br />It is not only possible, but everyone who is filled with such a desire can do it. For know a great truth,-that you are permitted to be in such unhappy conditions by your Higher Self-solely in order that you may seek and gain the knowledge, the power and the ability to control them, in order to free yourself forever from them and to assume your true place in life, and therein receive the heritage of good that is here for you, whenever you become wise and strong enough to claim it and use it for the good of others and not for selfish ends. First know that it is all a matter of consciousness, and that you, yourself alone, are to blame for these conditions: for you alone created them and are firmly holding them in your consciousness—or they would not be so plainly manifesting. All this we are taught in those great words, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. " We know that you have heard this stated perhaps many times before, and so often that it may have become an old story. Some of you have tried to prove it and to rid your<br /><br />consciousness of all your negative thoughts; but because it took determined and persistent effort you soon grew tired, on account of the strong opposition met with, and you then dropped back into the current of the old conditions and if anything became more helpless than you were before. Others may have heard of the saying, but it did not impress them; for they could not accept the assertion that all of the inharmonies in their lives are the result of their own beliefs, or of their past thinking crystallized into beliefs. They preferred to blame it all on someone else, and even God came in for a share of the blame. The main trouble with almost everyone is that they do not realize how many negative and destructive beliefs they are carrying around with them in the subconscious realms of mind and which creep through into the conscious mind whenever it is free from interest in other things. Until you can begin to study your mind and watch for and note these negative beliefs when they come-and you will find that they<br /><br />12<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />13<br /><br />are actually beliefs-and refuse them further support, there is not much hope for you. In fact it is the first thing you must learn to do. Those who are too mentally lazy to do such watching and controlling of their thoughts, are usually the ones who will not accept that their own thinking and beliefs create for them all of the conditions now manifesting in their lives. But it makes no difference whether you accept it as being true or not—it is the law. THE LAW Now if you are ready to hear the law, we will state it in words that everyone can understand. Note these words, and let them impress themselves on you, so that from this moment ever afterward they will live in your mind as a guiding influence. "WHATEVER YOU THINK AND HOLD IN CONSCIOUSNESS AS BEING SO, OUTMANIFESTS ITSELF IN YOUR BODY OR AFFAIRS."<br /><br />Whether you accept this as yet or not, consider for a while the truth that every thought you think, especially those relating in any way to self, hovers around in your mental atmosphere, just as a child stays close to its parent. These thoughts being about yourself receive the life that maintains them from the feeling that you put into them. In other words, the thoughts themselves are but mental forms, but when you think them with feeling of any kind you fill these forms with life and they become as living things which ever return to you, their parent, to be fed with more living power. For all feeling expressed is life, is vital power, and if you only knew it, all the thoughts which persistently influence your mind and harass you, are only your mental children clamoring for food and attention, and compelling more worrying, anxiety, or fear from you; all of which are excellent food containing rich vital power, and which makes them grow rapidly, until they become so powerful that in time they dominate your mind so that you can scarcely think of anything else.<br /><br />14<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />15<br /><br />When the fact is, these thoughts exist to you only when you let them into your mind— that is, they are of importance to you only when you give them attention and recognition. But on the other hand, their power over you and their life can quickly be nullified by simply knowing the law, and refusing to feed them longer with life power by giving them further attention or interest. And it should not be necessary to state that voicing such thoughts definitely and speedily outmanifests them, for the spoken word is far more potent than the thought. Above all else you should guard carefully your speech, voicing nothing you do not want to see manifest. Always remember, however, that by preventing such thoughts entering the mind there will be no impulse to voice them. So that you can see now that it is all a matter of consciousness, of thinking and harboring the right kind of thoughts — those you wish to outmanifest, and of letting into your mind no thoughts you do not want to manifest in your body or affairs.<br /><br />And perhaps you can also see that what is ordinarily called thinking is only the admitting into your mind of thoughts that originated chiefly in other minds and which you of course attracted to you. This is also true of all negative, inharmonious and destructive thoughts —there must be something in you that attracts them or they would not come. Many will still permit them to come, for only by the suffering, hardship and struggle to escape from their influence that you undergo, will you learn how to free yourself and gain the power to control and consciously direct your life to constructive ends. That is the hard way, but we are now going to show you the true way to free yourself forever from fear and worry about finances, and from all other destructive forces. We are assuming that all who read are students and followers of Christ's teachings. You remember those significant words of His in the Sermon on the Mount.<br /><br />16<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />17<br /><br />"Take no thought (or be not anxious) saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed; "For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. "But seek ye first the Kingdom (Consciousness) of God, and His righteousness (Right Ideas); and all these things will be added unto you." We know that these words seem important to you, but we also know that very few take them as actual promises and try definitely and determinedly to-put them to the proof. But that is the very thing you must do, if you would obey the law; and when we show you how to free yourself from fear and worry you will not only be able to free yourself from the power money has over you, but you will have found the straight and narrow way to the Kingdom. And all the powers of the Kingdom will help you, if you are strong and determined enough to win the goal. For the<br /><br />Kingdom of God and His righteousness is only a state of consciousness where we do right I thin king -where we think God's thoughts^ only. Can you do that? Surely you can —if you will. Then this is the way: THE WAY You must train yourself to STAND GUARD CONTINUALLY AT THE DOOR OF YOUR MIND, AND TO LET IN NO THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO OUTMANIFEST. Think this over carefully, and you will see that it is the only way. It may seem hard —at first, and you may not know what to admit and what to deny. But guard the door from every negative thought and feeling of whatsoever nature — from every thought that you know God would not have you think; from every doubt, fear, worry, anxiety, or concern of any kind; from every tendency to criticize, judge or<br /><br />18<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />19<br /><br />condemn anybody or anything or any condition; from self-pity, jealousy, envy, irritation, unkindness, anger, hatred, etc. These will give you an idea of what are negative and ungodlike thoughts, and which must no longer have a part in your consciousness. If you will keep all such untrue thoughts out of your mind, you can see that then and then only can your Higher Self draw into your mind the true and positive thoughts that will attract to you the good that is waiting to manifest itself to you. For while your mind is cluttered with all those fearful, worrying, discouraged, sick, weak, poverty-tainted thoughts, how can you expect anyone who feels these vibrations — and vibrations are things you cannot cover up —to be attracted to you, or how can you expect God to inspire you with thoughts of a beneficial nature? In fact, such negative thoughts actually keep away the things you are longing to have manifest in your life —for like attracts like. Think! Poverty-stricken thoughts do not attract prosperity or jobs; sick thoughts do not build a healthy consciousness; and belief<br /><br />that you are a failure invites failure. You say this all sounds good, but when one is sunk so deep in conditions that no matter which way he turns he sees only sickness, hunger, poverty or failure facing him, despite months of effort to conquer the.condition, to get work, or to do something to tide over till better days come, —how is he to think of anything else? Yes, dear friend, we see what you are up against, but we also see that you are caught fast between the horns of a dilemma. You have sought help from the world of men and it has turned you down. You have exhausted all the forces of self, and you admit that you are completely helpless. And perhaps you have even prayed to God, and seemingly He has not heard, or He has not answered you. But where — who is this God to whom you have prayed? Is he somewhere up in the skies, or in some hazy place, you know not where? Have you prayed to God within you? Have you turned there and opened your heart to Him, deep within your self, in the Kingdom, where your Higher Self abides?<br /><br />20<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />21<br /><br />If not, dear friend, then after reading this article carefully until you truly get its full meaning for you, pray to Him there; get down on your knees and in deep and true humility pour out your heart to Him, knowing that He as your Higher Self hears you, that He does know that you have need of all these things, and that He will answer you. Go back to those words in the Sermon on the Mount and read them over again and again, until you get all of their wondrous meaning and realize that they are meant for you, and that they are a definite promise made by the Master to you - that if you will do what you are there told to do, the Father will give to you all things that you need. Think! This is Jesus' promise to you, and therefore it will be fulfilled—if you do your part. YOU CAN DO IT You can do it, you must do it—if you would have the blessings which He promises you, and which we promise you when we say<br /><br />that you can have an abundance of all good things and that you can be free from the dominance of money forever. And what must you do? You must not be anxious or worry anymore about what you shall eat or drink or what you shall wear, for your loving Father knows that you must have all of these things. But if you will seek first His Kingdom — that is, His Consciousness, where you must think only His thoughts for you—as we have shown you how to do, and then will do what He tells you to do when His thoughts come into your mind, He will provide you with all the good things He has had in store for you from the beginning. We know that we are telling you to do what now seems almost impossible. But, dear friend, this is the only way to win these blessings; and you say you will do anything to obtain them, if it is humanly possible. It is not only possible, but it is the very thing ordained and intended for you by your Higher Self—or He would not have brought this message to you and placed this ultimatum so squarely before you.<br /><br />22<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />23<br /><br />You have tried your way, and you have tried the world's way, and you know where they have brought you. And now you are given the opportunity of trying God's way! The way laid out for you in the beginning. Can you not see that it is now the only way for you? Thus God brings His children that love Him finally to realize that they cannot serve both God and Mammon. For they must be shown that they are serving Mammon just as much by fearing him and yielding to the power of money, as they would be by openly worshipping money and becoming its slave when having great quantities of it. They must be made to see that by fearing money's seeming power they are making it first and God second in their lives, and until they truly want to serve God more than any other thing, and prove it by their right thinking, speech and actions, they are not yet where His help can reach them. THE ULTIMATUM So this is the ultimatum that you are facing.<br /><br />You have now come to the place where God holds out His hand to you, and says: "My child, I would help you. But it means that you must give yourself and all your ideas over wholly to Me, must learn to think only My thoughts, speak only what I would say, and do only what I would have you to do. It means that you must not let into your mind or believe any other thoughts, no matter what appearances are or how much such thoughts beg for admittance. "You have had your chance and you see what a sorry mess you have made of things. Now if you are willing utterly and completely to trust Me, and to wait upon and serve Me only, and will keep your mind and heart clean and empty of all untrue thoughts so that I may fill them with My thoughts, I will inspire in you the ideas that will lift you quickly out of your present consciousness—which means out of present conditions—into one where peace, harmony and plenty will be your mental children, that will ever come to you to be fed with loving trust in Me, con-<br /><br />24<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />25<br /><br />fidence in your power to express Me, and with the pure joy of living, that you will then be feeling as the natural and continuous state of your consciousness." Is this worth trying for? Do you really want it? Then what are you going to do about it? If you are willing to make a supreme effort and to put all the power of your will into it; will make yourself a positive agent of your Father's Will, looking only and always to Him to guide and inspire you, you will truly r receive all the help you need, and will find, if you persist despite any discouragements that may come testing your determination, that you will then walk straight into the good that has long been waiting for you.<br /><br />APPEARANCES<br /><br />your thinking, and which your fearing and worrying crystallized into facts and fastened upon you. Try to realize the great significance of this. It is not what you see as conditions surrounding you that really counts—it is what you believe is so. And when you know—as we have proven to you—that what you believe is the cause of what is manifesting outwardly as it now appears, you will definitely begin to change your beliefs into those you want to manifest. Think this over, for it is the only way you can change conditions and their appearances, you must remove from your consciousness the beliefs you are holding there, by replacing them with beliefs you want to see manifest in your life and affairs. How can you do this—when you cannot help but believe the things that stare you in the face, no matter which way you turn?<br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />This means that from this moment you must pay no more attention to appearances, for what is now appearing is but the outmanifestation of what you formerly visualized in<br /><br />We will now show you the way, a way so<br /><br />26<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />27<br /><br />simple and easy that anyone can do it, if they will obey exactly what we tell them to do. All that is needed is to say over and over again to yourself until you believe it absolutely, letting not a single doubt of its truth ever enter your mind, the following words: "GOD LOVES AND CARES FOR ME AND IS GIVING ME ALL GOOD THINGS. "I LOVE HIM AND THINK HIS THOUGHTS AND DO ONLY THE THINGS HE WANTS ME TO DO." Try to realize the full truth of these words, to feel it, to see yourself actually living in the consciousness of it, going about your daily work in that consciousness. If you do this, it will bring the greatest possible blessings into your life. The first statement should not be hard to believe, for you surely know that He loves and cares for you; for whether you know it yet or not, everything that has come into<br /><br />your life has been good for you, for through These things He has brought you to the place where you should be willing to look to and trust Him only, so that His love and care can give you all the good things He has had for you from the beginning. And it should be easy to love Him, and through consciously loving and trying to think His thoughts, you can see that it opens your mind so that His thoughts come into it. and can thus direct you just what to do that will bring success, prosperity, health, harmony and happiness into your life. Dear friends, we wish that we could reveal the truth of the above wonderful statements so clearly to you that they will live with you and will motivate your every thought, word and act forever afterward. They are so mighty in their truth that if lived they will make you more than man. So do not pass them by because they seem so simple and commonplace. Stay with them until all their glorious import dawns upon you and you feel the change that they will<br /><br />28<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />29<br /><br />surely and quickly bring into your consciousness and therefore into your life and all your affairs. DEFINITE INSTRUCTIONS And now for instructions of a concrete nature. Let us take some definite good that you want to have manifest in your life—we do not mean things, but conditions that will bring harmony and happiness to yourself and dear ones; which means that you must make sure that it is good, that it is what the God of you wants you to have. That should be easy, for He has ordained all good things for you— but you must know that and be able to see it as good. Then build in your mind a picture of that good. Build it perfect, in every detail, so that it stands out clear and distinct as a finished and accomplished fact. According to how complete and distinct is this picture in your mind is it actually finished on the mental plane —the plane of concrete mental forms, which determines its physical appearance—<br /><br />and is it ready to come forth into manifestation. And now if you will follow exactly the same process which brought into manifestation all of the present unwanted conditions in your life, only using the opposite kind of thoughts and feelings, as we shall indicate, you can bring forth into perfect manifestation this picture now existing on the mental plane and awaiting the action of your will. We will take as an illustration a friend who recently lost her position. Several weeks before, this friend mentioned to the writer that their business was very poor and that they had laid off several who had charge of departments similar to hers, and she supposed she would be the next to go. The writer remonstrated with her and tried to show that that attitude of mind would bring to her what she did not want. Two weeks later another friend reported that she had said the same thing to her, and we do not know to how many others she had voiced it. But a few days afterward, as she had pictured it. the notice of her dismissal came.<br /><br />30<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />31<br /><br />Now let us analyze the mental process which created and brought to pass the losing of her position. The conditions of the business, the letting go of other department heads and clerks naturally caused our friend to build a picture in her mind of her also probably having to go sooner or later, and through the fear of it she actually saw herself leaving. Day after day the conditions in the office, her talks with fellow employees and with others in other businesses in similar bad straits, and with those who had lost their jobs, increased and intensified her fear and helped her to build in the details of her picture, until she had it all finished and perfect. Then she naturally felt she would soon have to go. So of course it had to come to pass. Now do you understand? The proof that she and she alone created the necessity of her going was, (1) she was the last of all the heads of departments let go, for she was the most efficient; (2) she began criticizing her employers and their actions; (3) she learned afterward that they did not want to lose her<br /><br />and they might give her back her position, having hired two young men to replace the other women let go. But she had created on the mental plane the finished thought form of being dismissed and had vitalized it with her fears and other feelings, and as a result that thought form had to outmanifest; and so it forced itself into the minds of her employers and impelled them to do what they otherwise would not have done. Now let us apply similar thought processes to the bringing forth of the good you pictured above into manifestation. You have built and now see the finished picture of that good, but now instead of seeing a negative outmanifestation of that picture, we will see a positive and happy one. So every day and as often as possible during the day you will see your pictured good manifesting, affecting your life in every way you can visualize it; see yourself actually enjoying it and sharing it with your dear ones and friends; and all the time you are seeing it consciously pouring deep feelings of joy, of<br /><br />32<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />33<br /><br />love and gratitude into your sense of its being an actual and living reality, your own creation, the product of your own spirit, which you are nursing and bringing forth into physical being. And just as surely as our friend brought forth her unwanted creation into actuality, so must your good come forth and be to you all that you visioned and intended it to be. It is the law, and a faithful following of this process in all constructive thinking and creating will always bring the results sought, even as your destructive thinking brought the results unsought. Study the above examples and explanation until the process stands out clear and true to you. Then study your own individual case until you see plainly how you came to your present state. Then begin to reverse your thought processes as shown above, until you express along constructive lines only. Your sincere desire to free yourself-not just to ease yourself from suffering and hardship, but to know the truth, to learn the cause of being in any unwanted condition, and to<br /><br />gain the ability to free yourself from it, so you can help others to get free-will draw to you the help needed, and you will in time be free. Do not give up if your mind does not respond immediately, for it has formed the habit of wrong seeing and thinking, and you were a long time forming present conditions. Just know that if you persist until your mind sees that you are determined and really mean it. it will soon fall in line and follow the new ways of thinking you lay down for it as easily as it did the old ways in the past. The main thing is to remember always that you are dealing and working with mental substance on the mental plane, and are not concerned with outer appearances and conditions, for you know that by such work you .ire shaping and changing conditions to those YOU wish to be manifest.<br /><br />W<br /><br />E HAVE now shown you the Law. We have explained to you its operation. We have made clear that by wrong thinking<br /><br />34<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />35<br /><br />and believing you have brought upon yourself the conditions now surrounding you, and we have shown you how to free yourself from these conditions and how to create those you wish to manifest in your life. There now remain only a few more things to tell you to help impress it all upon your mind so that it will become a part of your consciousness. BE POSITIVE The first is the importance of always being positive in your thinking, positive in your speaking, and positive in your doing. And never negative. The negative person attracts all the negative things of life, all the ills, inharmonies, troubles that are in the mental atmosphere — the effluvia of other weak and negative minds; while a positive person attracts all the good. If you understand the radio you will know that when you set your dial at a certain wave length, all that is "on the air" of that wave length will make itself heard. It is exactly the same with your mind; it will receive whatever<br /><br />happens to be "on the air" of the wave length to which your thoughts are attuned. So that it is "up to you" and you only what your mind radio gives forth or outmanifests. Have you ever noticed how a positive person in a crowd of ordinary persons is always the center of attraction, always makes his or her presence felt, and always accomplishes things that lesser ones never think of? A most forcible illustration was once when driving on a thoroughfare where there was a temporary narrow road built at the side of where a new bridge was being constructed, we came to a halt because of a long line of automobiles ahead. After waiting for some minutes the writer got out and noticed perhaps thirty cars on the long decline to the bottom of the ravine and a similar line up the hill on the other side. But seemingly the left side of the road was clear all through. He could not see any sense in waiting, so he pulled out and started ahead and went through without opposition. While going up the other side he looked back and found a great string of cars following him, and a man in one of these told<br /><br />36<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />37<br /><br />him that they had been waiting back there for twenty minutes. Evidently two cars from opposite directions had come together with others following them, and they were afraid they could not get through on the narrow road, because of other cars coming. It is always so in life; the positive soul gets there, the negative one stays behind, or tags along when he finds a leader. Why be negative? It is all an attitude of mind, and can be changed simply by changing your beliefs. Besides we are all sons and daughters of God, children of the greatest King in the world. Who naturally gives all the riches and good things of His Kingdom to all those of us who know it is our divine heritage and who will accept and enjoy them. A KING'S SON Try to realize that you are the equal —nay the superior—of any world Prince, the son of the King of any World Kingdom; for our Father's Kingdom includes his father's kingdom; and if we could lift our minds to the<br /><br />consciousness of our true Selves as sons of God, we would go about KNOWING that all that our Father, the King, has is ours, and that all of the Father's servants will rush to supply —to anticipate — our every need. This is actually so. Each one can experience it. All you need is to believe it, and to go about in that consciousness, even as does the Prince of any world kingdom in his lesser kingdom consciousness. Then as a King's son you must learn, if all that your Father has is yours, to spend freely of the riches He has given you with absolute fearlessness. For there is no limit to them, no lack of wealth, for it is always available— His resources are inexhaustible. You must acquire this consciousness, you must feel even as does the other Prince about spending or using money Think you that he has any fear of lack or limitation of supply? No, there is always a great plenty for his every need, for his every comfort, every pleasure, for every constructive idea; for he knows that back of him is his father, the King, and all the resources of his kingdom. So<br /><br />38<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />THE WAY OUT<br /><br />39<br /><br />must you learn to know that back of you is your Father-God, with all the resources of His Kingdom. USE MONEY FEARLESSLY The quickest way to rid your mind of that old fear of want, fear of your job, fear of the power of money, is to have an absolute trust in your heavenly Father's loving care and for you to pay out gladly your last dollar for a needed thing, KNOWING that by so doing you make it possible for Him to supply you with plenty more. It is as if your needs must keep the stream of money ever flowing, if you would not clog up its source. For money, in its true sense, is the means for the perfect expression of material life; even as the blood is the means for the perfect expression of physical health. In both cases your mind must not only hold true and pure thoughts—God's thoughts only —about the material life of yourself and others, and about your physical well-being, but you must know that God's Mind is the<br /><br />Source of all true thoughts; and by perfect faith and trust in Him you thus keep yourself open to the free circulation of His Thoughts in your consciousness about both your affairs and your body, thus creating perfect health and harmony in both. This has been proven by many so-called "tithers." They have created a consciousness where they know that, by using money freely in such perfect trust in God, and especially in thanksgiving and loving gratitude to Him, giving freely a percentage of their income to that part of His Work which is bringing the Truth to them, they become greatly blessed in this world's goods and are put in a position where they can help many souls to come into this same truth. It is the pinching and holding on to your last dollar, fearing that no more will come, that actually prevents your receiving more. For giving, more than anything else, helps to open the channel so that supply, both spiritual and material, can freely flow. Now we wish finally to emphasize that the application and proving of this great law notonly will bring financial freedom and success, but it will bring also perfect health, harmony, and happiness into all departments of your life. For when you begin to think only true thoughts about yourself, then of course God's consciousness lives in your body and His thoughts rule your mind, and there can manifest only perfect health in your body and perfect harmony in all your various affairs; when naturally happiness must sing in your heart and be your daily companion. So, dear friend, we have given you this message —one born of an intense yearning to furnish to those who are wandering in the darkness of present world conditions a sure guide to lead them back into the Light of Love, of abiding Trust, and of true Happiness.<br /><br />If the Message, THE WAY OUT, strongly impressed you and especially if it was the means of freeing you from desperate conditions from which there seemed no way out, we earnestly urge that you do all you can to get it in the hands of those of your friends who need its saving help.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-39992575567382158802007-08-16T00:06:00.000-07:002007-08-16T00:09:10.641-07:00the way beyondTHE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />I<br /><br />N OUR booklet, "THE WAY OUT," was pointed the way to freedom from lack, limitation, inharmony, disease and unhappiness, and there is no excuse for any who faithfully follow the suggestions given to be any longer in such condition. The booklet has reached scores of thousands of readers and many have been lifted by its truths into a new consciousness and thereby into a new world, where everything and everybody are changed, for they are seeing with new eyes and with a different understanding. That which appears is no longer what it seemed, but the good and the real are now visible and can be seen shining through all conditions and people — because they are now looked for, and the former negative tendencies are tabooed and not allowed to enter the consciousness.<br />45<br /><br />46<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />47<br /><br />This is not the case with all of course, for a great number have not been able to conquer those tendencies which so long have been permitted to rule. The press of circumstances and the negative conditions everywhere manifest seemingly have been too much for them and they have become utterly discouraged, not knowing that they actually have within themselves the power to rise out of these conditions, and that help is waiting the moment they awaken from their despondency and definitely determine to do the best they can to prove the truth of what was stated in the booklet. It is for such that this new Message is written, with the earnest desire that all who read will be so inspired by its truths that they will make the necessary effort and will thus receive the good that has been waiting for them from the beginning. We first urge that everyone who reads procure a copy of "THE WAY OUT" if one is not already owned, and that it be studied carefully and prayerfully. It will do good merely to read it, or even to study it, unless what is<br /><br />given you to do is faithfully TRIED until proven — that is, tried day after day in all your thinking, speaking and acting, for at least one month. If you will do it that long, we promise that such a change will manifest in your consciousness—and likewise in your affairs—that it will be a turning point in your life, and you will never again return to the old way of thinking and acting. Is it not then worth the effort? Then do not let anything prevent your making a supreme effort, asking God to give you the strength and ability to accomplish what we have shown.<br />GOD WITHIN YOU<br /><br />Now, we are going to try to make clear to you the statement in "THE WAY OUT," that God is within you; make it so clear that never more will you think of Him as somewhere up in the skies, nor will you be uncertain as to who or what He is. First try to realize that the life animating and growing you is not your life, that you<br /><br />48<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />49<br /><br />have no control over it, that it does things to you, causes you to do things, puts you through all the experiences you are undergoing without your consent, and that seemingly it knows just what it is doing and must have a very wise and loving purpose in doing it. Likewise the consciousness that you call yours seemingly receives all its ideas, thoughts and impressions wholly independently of your will or desire. They come into your mind when they will, influence your feelings and actions continually, and you have little power to prevent it. Also you will admit that you have no power of your own, that you can think, speak and do only as the power to do these things is given you from within. And that Something doing all this, unquestionably is a greater, far wiser and a very loving Something that knows always what to do, knows the end before the beginning, and is apparently trying to teach your human mind about Itself, teach it the lessons contained in each experience, and the laws back of life and of physical manifestation. Because that Something is so different from<br /><br />and yet is so intimate a part of what you call you. It must be akin to what is termed God. We have called It the Higher Self, and it is in fact very God in you. It is like a ray or reflection of God's mind shining somewhere deep within your consciousness—a "light which shineth in the darkness, but the darkness (of the outer human mind) knoweth it not." For certainly when It can get your mind's attention and you listen. It displays a wisdom that I is as near to that God as the human mind can conceive. And those who heed and obey are given a glimpse of something wonderful, which while inexpressible is altogether divine and most satisfying. GOD IS ALL IN ALL You have heard the statement that God is All in All, and of "the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Then that light must be a ray of God's Mind that shines in the darkness of the human mind, ever trying to make it aware of its Divine Source within itself— the Mind of God, from<br /><br />50<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />51<br /><br />which it derives all that it is, all that it has, and all power to be, to know or to do anything. Then think, if God is All in All, He is in everything and in everybody — no matter what it is or who he is. It must be so! Yet who of us always sees and acknowledges Him in such? And because we do not acknowledge Him in His manifestations, refuse to see Him, and call Him everything He is not, we see instead all the error, the evil and the lies that our darkened minds have accepted as real, lose ourselves in the maze of our "separate" misconceptions; and in consequence endure the inharmonies, disease and suffering of minds thinking themselves apart from the Consciousness that includes them and all that is. God being All in All, then all things and all men are good and perfect. They could not be otherwise, when God and His goodness and perfection are everywhere. But make no mistake, when stating that all things and all men are good and perfect, we are not speaking of what you with your "separate" mind and present understanding see<br /><br />and believe; we are not speaking of "appearances"—of your separate mind's creations. For what you see now are only the pictures you have built in your mind of what you thought was the truth —before you really knew about God's being All in All and ever showing forth His goodness, beauty and perfection in everything—to those who have eyes to see. Therefore it is necessary first to convince your mind of the truth, so that it can be free itself of all these untrue beliefs —these false pictures of God and of His expressions of Himself that it has built and is carrying around in its consciousness. Then listen! God, Who is All in All and Who is all good and all perfect, must be also all wise, all loving and all powerful. Anything less than these is not of God, but must be man's wrong, ignorant, and distorted concepts of God and of His expressions of Himself. Think that out until you see how true it is. Then all things of an inharmonious or unhappy nature that you see, whatever they be that are less than good or perfect, are only<br /><br />52<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />53<br /><br />what you think is so, because of ignorance or wrong teaching. And so long as you continue to believe these things are real, they will continue to be real to you, no matter what they are, whether they pertain to the conditions surrounding you. to your body, to your self, to your affairs, or to those invisible things which relate to and affect your life, health and happiness. GOD IS THE REAL YOU Now let us relate this truth of God being All in All to yourself. If He is all we have stated, then He must be the real you, must be that higher, greater you we pointed out earlier in this message, whose life is animating your body, whose mind is influencing all your thoughts, speech and actions, and whose power enables you to do all things that you do. It must then be His Consciousness that is your consciousness, but stepped down through your Higher Self to your soul and then to your human mind, expressing Itself on the Spiritual plane in your Higher Self as<br /><br />the Christ Consciousness, on the soul plane in your soul or soul consciousness, and on the physical plane in your brain mind as mortal consciousness. But it is all God's Consciousness relayed down through your Higher Self, and enabling you to be as much aware of God, the Real Self of you and the One Self of all men (for is He not All in All?) as the channel of your darkened mortal mind has been illumined to perceive Him and to partake of His Consciousness. It is said that to Know God, man must first know his self. And when you truly know that you are not a thing of flesh and blood, but are a human soul or a center of consciousness, clothed by a garment of flesh, even as your soul clothes your Real or Christ Self—the Holy Spirit or Consciousness of God —as we have shown above, you can begin to understand how God actually is within you —IS you. Now let us consider you first as a soul, a center of consciousness, and then we will try to show you the relation of your soul to your human mind and your Higher, Spiritual Self.<br /><br />54<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />55<br /><br />You in your integrity are a soul and are pure consciousness. In other words you are that which is conscious or aware of all that comes to you from without through the avenue of your five senses, or through vibrations which they are not sensitive enough to perceive, such as impressions or thoughts from other centers of consciousness. All of these sensations are brought to your consciousness through the mediumship of your human mind, while the vibrations mentioned are received directly by the soul and are interpreted to the mind according to how the mind has been prepared to understand them. As a soul or consciousness you are distinct from your human mind, for the mind serves merely as an instrument to receive and inform you of what comes from without in the world of matter. Yet your mind is in reality an outer extension of your soul consciousness, slowed down to the mental capacity of your human brain, there serving as your agent in the informing you of all things going on in the physical world and the carrying out of your instructions pertaining to that world.<br /><br />In that partial and necessarily limited consciousness, your mind grew to think itself a self and separate from you in your soul consciousness. In this fancied separateness it gradually filled its consciousness with all those wrong concepts and beliefs about physical and mental things spoken of above, which grew so real and tangible in its consciousness that they in time ruled all your thoughts, speech and actions. And this outer and fancied separate consciousness is what constitutes your lower or mortal self. But these concepts and beliefs should have no influence over your soul consciousness — only as you let them. The proof is, when you get quiet and still your mind and shut out all thoughts and impressions coming from without, then you are in your pure soul consciousness and are free to be aware of the impressions coming from within your soul. For then you learn that deep within the soul there is a higher consciousness and a Spiritual intelligence that presses the soul from within informing you of Spiritual things, even as the outer mind's consciousness presses from<br /><br />56<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />57<br /><br />without to inform you of material things. And that higher or innermost consciousness is that of your Higher or Divine Self. In reality there is only one Self, but this enables you to see how the Higher Self, the Spirit of God in man, reaches down or out from the center of man's being in Divine Consciousness into the soul consciousness, and thence outward into the mortal mind, giving to man's brain its consciousness, which causes man to think his consciousness separate, when it is only the consciousness of God thinned down to the brain mind's capacity to hold and use it.<br /><br />YOUR GOD SELF Then the Higher Self, this Spirit of God deep within you, is the real you, is the Self that has ever been directing all the activities of your life, has been actually doing all through you, knows just what He is doing, assumes all responsibility and evidently sees the end before the beginning.<br /><br />Then you can realize that of your human self you do nothing, and never did anything; that all the power, knowledge and life you have comes from your Higher Self; and that if you ever wish to be, to do, or to have anything, and to gain the freedom, happiness and peace your soul seeks, it behooves you to get well acquainted with that Self, to learn to cooperate with Him, and to wait upon and serve Him in all the activities of your life. From this you can also realize that the reason you failed to gain any of these things in the past, is because you tried to get them without reckoning upon your Higher Self or knowing His part in the doing—you tried to do it alone. So He let you fail again and again, until you came to that place where you learned the uselessness of trying to do anything yourself, and you became willing to turn to Him and humbly ask Him to take charge and you gladly yielded over all to Him and put all your trust in Him. Everyone must come to that place—every seeker of the true way of life; for until self with its human mind has been completely<br /><br />58<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />59<br /><br />humbled and gives up utterly, it cannot accept the truth of its non-reality and of the actuality of the God-man within, and that He can do all and will provide all things—when the human mind yields itself wholly to Him. If you who read have come to that place, and are truly ready to give yourself to the God Self within, then we will tell you of a great but simple law that you must follow.<br /><br />A SIMPLE LAW<br /><br />That Law is—"Whatever is before you to do, do it the best you know how, in order to please your God-Self. " For He placed you just where you now are and provided the particular task confronting you as the best means and opportunity in which to teach your human mind the next lessons you are to learn, and to develop in you the spiritual qualities you still lack in order to make your human self a perfect instrument for His use. Then in doing that task, for He provides all tasks and brings you to all problems, having<br /><br />now given yourself over wholly to Him, you are concerned only that you do what is before you the best you can, KNOWING that He will provide the power, understanding and ability needed, and that you are not responsible any more for results, as they are all in His keeping. For have you not put the full responsibility on Him, are now trusting everything to Him, and consequently you no longer have any fears, doubts or worries to clog your mind and prevent His accomplishing His purpose for you? Only by thus yielding all to Him can you be a clean and open channel through which He can bring through into being the good and perfect things He intends to manifest in your life. For He can intend nothing less than that, else why all the trouble He is taking with you? It is all a matter of trusting, dear friend, of trusting the God within you. If you have failed in the past, no matter how hard you tried, it is because you did not trust enough. Therefore we are bringing this great truth closer by asking you truly to trust the God within, your Higher Self, the Christ of you,<br /><br />60<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />61<br /><br />Who we have shown has all the wisdom and power of God; to let go utterly and put ALL your trust in Him. You must learn thus to trust, until it becomes the supreme and dominant influence in your consciousness, for THE ONLY THING THAT PREVENTS YOUR GOOD FROM COMING INTO NATURAL AND CONTINUOUS EXPRESSION IS YOUR LACK OF REAL FAITH AND TRUST IN THE GOD WITHIN YOUYOUR CHRIST SELF. This means that if instead of faith and trust you still let fears, doubts and worries into your mind, then of course there they cause you to build negative pictures of the things you are fearing, and you proceed to entertain and feed them by further fears, until they become actual living things in your mental world. In time they largely control your mind and you are helpless. And naturally ev e r y t i me y o u su c c u mb t o t h e m, y o u grow more helpless.<br /><br />Is this not true? —Then what is the solution? Only one thing. You must let go completely and turn the whole problem over to God. Do that actually —"wash your hands" of it, "step out from under," and throw the entire responsibility upon Him. Think! Can you do that? Try it. In fact, He wants you to do it. Talk to this God within the Real Self of you, and tell Him that you are through, that you have done your best, and that is all you can do — and it was useless. And now it is up to Him; He will have to handle it. Actually mean it, and then let go and truly "wash your hands" of all responsibility. Then, and not until then, has He got your mind in the state where it is ready to hear His Voice and learn what He has in store for you. For once it has really thrown off the burden of self, there is no longer a negative force attracting the old fears, doubts and worries. Instead you become a positive force in your believing that He now will take care of all things, for you intend to do nothing and to give Him the chance to prove what He can do.<br /><br />62<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />63<br /><br />AN ABSOLUTE LETTING GO It is to just that state of mind He desires to bring you, where you actually let go, giving the load you are carrying over to Him, and thereby become as free as a little child, just such a child as we will now picture to you. Standing on the sidewalk of a busy street waiting for the light signal, is a little boy of three years whose hand is tightly clasped in that of his father. Then they start across. Is the child frightened by the big automobiles and the noise and tumult at this busy corner? No, he sees and knows no danger and gleefully enjoys the turmoil and the mixing with the crowd hurrying across —for he knows that Dad is taking care of him and will not let any harm come to him. Just as he unconsciously knows that Dad will feed and clothe him, for to him Dad is as God who will provide everything he needs and take every care of him. Think you your God-Self does not love you and is not taking equal care of you, His child? For are you not a part of His Being and does He not need you to express His Self?<br /><br />Then how could He let you really suffer or come to any harm? What your human mind suffers and the dangers it fears are only the nightmares of childhood which disappear when the light of understanding is brought. Besides such mental suffering actually burns away the qualities of self that hinder His perfect expression, while through the fears that come and persist He teaches you how to become strong. It is these mental fears—for they are purely mental, that is, they exist in your mind, not in His Consciousness—that are clogging your mind-channel, and preventing His pouring through it the good that awaits. Then you will have to cleanse your mind of all such negative things—of every doubt, fear or worry, and especially of those wrong pictures you are carrying around in your consciousness. Do you still see yourself as sick, or ailing, or poor, or very much needing anything? Then can you not realize it is that picture which is clogging up the channel? For what you think and carry around in consciousness as being so always outmanifests<br /><br />64<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />65<br /><br />itself. How can the good you wish to manifest get by that picture? That is the whole trouble, dear friend,— you have not cleansed your mind of those old picture-beliefs, some of which are hiding down in the dark corners of your subconsciousness, purposely refusing to come out into the light; for they know, the moment you see them for what they are. their days are numbered. In fact, you must go down into the subconsciousness and dig out all of such and cast them forth; for until the whole mind is clean and free of all negative and untrue thoughts and feelings and is kept so, it cannot be brought into your God Consciousness where there are only positive, true, good and perfect ideas about you and you can see all things in their reality, even as He sees, and you can know as He knows; your mind thus becoming a perfect channel through which He can give you your divine heritage which He has so long had waiting for you.<br /><br />IMAGINE THE GOD-YOU Now we ask you to try to imagine yourself in the Consciousness of your God-Self and to see with His eyes this self you call you, and the other selves around you and the world you live in. In the first place, know that as He is all wise, all loving and all powerful, and is still you, but a perfect you, He must have a perfect mind and body —but not like your physical self. His body is that "image and likeness of God" in which man was originally formed. And if God made man like Himself, who could change man —a perfect being? Not even man, himself. Then man must still be perfect! Yes, it cannot be otherwise. For think you anyone could alter or bring to naught any perfect thing God created? We know you are asking how then did man become so changed. He is not changed —the real man. He is your Higher Self—the Real You—the perfect Man, just as God created him, as He now sees him, and as he will always be.<br /><br />66<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />67<br /><br />Now listen! What you and others see are mortal man's creations—not God's. They are merely the creations of man's fancied "separate" mind, and have no existence except in his brain-mind's consciousness. When God gave man free-will. He gave him the power to think as he wills, which means to create. He could think good—God's thoughts, or evil—not God's thoughts. Man did not realize his God nature then; he had only his human nature to judge by, and the only way to learn was, not by taking God's or anyone's word for things, but by thinking, by trying and finding what his creations—the things, conditions and people of his world —were not. And so he thought and created and tried from the beginning to make perfect things and conditions in this world of his consciousness— with the results you see everywhere about you. Not that many men back through the ages have not learned the truth —the truth we are trying to teach you, —that they can do nothing of themselves, but with the help of the God within them they can do all things^<br /><br />can have all things, can be all things. And with His help such have come into and are now dwelling in their Christ Consciousness, are One with Him, and are doing the Father’s Work on earth even as others are doing it in Heaven. THE CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS And what do they see in this Consciousness? They see that they are souls, living in a perfect world, where every soul is young, good, beautiful and perfect, even as the Father conceived them, and where everything is devised for the free use and enjoyment of its inhabitants. Which means that there is a rich abundance of all good things for everyone always available. No one there ever needs anything, for it is always at hand. There any desired thing is created by thought and you can have it when and as you wish it. Then of course no one takes from another or owes another anything, for everyone has everything he wants; because all he has to do is to see clearly in his mind what he wants and it takes<br /><br />68<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />69<br /><br />shape and substance right before his eyes, ready and perfect for his use. From this you can see there is no selfishness there, for all there are those in whom self no longer is. There is no injustice, for the law of justice rules everyone's consciousness. There is no evil, for it has been learned that evil, sin, sickness, inharmony, and unhappiness are the creations of mortal mind, and of course one who is selfless is in his Christ Consciousness and no longer thinks and thereby creates such things. Does this help you to see how and why ! man is responsible for this outer world—that it is his own creation, and not God's creation? And can you now see what is God's world — His Kingdom, your heavenly home, where you can return as a Prodigal Son anytime you will be remembering and seeing only the , truth, and where you will find your heavenly Father waiting for you with outstretched ,. arms? And Who is this heavenly Father? He is your own Real Self, the God-You, that is 1 always back in that Consciousness deep within<br /><br />your soul, where you can retire any moment you will. All you have to do is to throw off everything that presses upon your consciousness from the outer world of the human mind and turn your attention to the inner world of Spirit. Especially must you refuse to see, to talk about, or let your mind dwell upon outer conditions, no matter how hard they appear or how they seemingly affect you; for remember they exist only in the world of man's mind, and not in the real world the God-You sees and lives in. If you resolutely do this, it will not be long before you will have evidence of the reality of this Kingdom within, and you will hear His Voice and receive definite guidance as to what He wills and what is His purpose for you. For He must have a purpose, or why all this disciplining and developing of your mind and character? Make no mistake, He knows what He is doing and why; and when you have given self entirely over to Him, He will take you into His Consciousness, and there you will work with Him to accomplish what He intended from the beginning.<br /><br />70 THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />71<br /><br />The beautiful part of it is that there are others there working with you, others who have found Him within themselves, have found there a new and wonderful self, a wonderful world, and wonderful comrades in it; a world far more real than the ever-changing one of their own creation. Yes, they have found their eternal home, the Kingdom of God's Consciousness, the same home which Jesus described in His many parables, when trying to tell of it to the' people of His day, where He went after His mission was accomplished; where He now I lives and works among His disciples who have followed Him there. To them He is a very real and actual Teacher, Guide and Friend, Who is preparing them for the great day when He will make Himself manifest to all His followers on earth and will bring Heaven down to earth to be truly in the midst of men. THE NEXT STEP This shows you what is possible to him who learns to think only true thoughts about<br /><br />himself and about all in his world. Some wonderful truths have been unfolded to you, and now it surely will be easier for you to do the things you have found you must do, if you would free yourself from the old consciousness and the conditions surrounding you and would enter the new consciousness awaiting. The way out has been shown you. But you must walk in it, no one can do that for you. You cannot be shoved, nor can you jump or slide into the Kingdom—you have to earn your right to enter, have to walk every step of the way there, no matter how difficult and steep grows the path. It is no journey to be taken by the half-hearted and weak-kneed. If you are now convinced of the truth of what was shown, the next step then is to try to prove its truth, first by getting thoroughly acquainted with this Real Self of you, by seeing Him as yourself, and by going about in His Consciousness. Practice this daily until you actually feel Him within, feel Him giving you of His power, of His vitalizing life and energy, and you thrill at the realization of it.<br /><br />72<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />73<br /><br />Then make the determined and unrelenting effort to think only His thoughts and to see and hear only the good and perfection in everything and everyone, resolutely shutting your eyes and mind to appearances and looking right through them to the good they hide. You can do this—if you will. You can find good anywhere—if you truly look for it. For with such a desire in your heart you connect up with the good—your God Consciousness—within, which will illumine your mind and enable you to see with your Spiritual eyes and to hear with your Spiritual ears what is hidden from mortal consciousness. ' With every loving desire to please this God-You, you will find help given you to do it, especially when you earnestly put your trust in Him. When you do thus trust Him, you will learn what He means when He says: "If you abide in Me, and let My Words abide in you, you can ask what you will and it will be done unto you." For when your trust becomes absolute you.<br /><br />will not want anything any more, for you will know that all He is and has is yours. And there will be no more need to ask, as He will be giving you continually of the riches of His Kingdom, whose store is inexhaustible. This then, dear friend, is what we would have you do —to strive every moment of the day, no matter what you are doing, to abide in His Consciousness, to put all your trust in Him, leaving everything to Him, KNOWING that He will do all things through you perfectly, as you keep your mind free from doubts, fears, worries, untrue thoughts, and concern about results. For you thus enable him truly and freely to live His life in you, do His will in you, be His Self in you, even as He intended and has been preparing you for all your mortal life.<br />GOD AND MAMMON<br /><br />In the following verses from the Sermon on the Mount is found all that anyone needs to know who is facing the tribulations now being visited upon humanity and is seeking<br /><br />74<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />75<br /><br />the reason and purpose of it all and how to be free from them. We will point out to you how wonderfully it all applies to this very question we have been discussing and how it perfectly confirms all that was stated. We will start with these significant words: 'No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will cling to the one and neglect the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Think carefully what this means. How many of you are not trying to serve two masters? Yes, you are trying to serve God, but who of you at the present time are not fearing money and its power? Who are not bowing down before it, daily acknowledging its power over you, afraid to do anything because of the control it has over most of your thoughts and acts? In fact is not its influence such that it receives now ten times—nay, one hundred times—more of your thoughts than does God? And yet you say you are not serving mammon!<br /><br />Dear friends, you cannot continue this way. You cannot any longer serve two masters. The time has come when you must decide whom you will serve-God or mammon. For why think you these tribulations are being visited upon mankind? It is because in the past you have been trying to serve both God and mammon, and now both have withdrawn their support and are letting you cast for yourself. So you are finally learning that you or yourself can do nothing, and you are now facing the necessity of choosing whom you will serve and to whom you will give all your allegiance—for when you do choose that is what will be required of you. And this applies particularly to all seekers after Truth, but includes also those who may in any way have claimed God's help. For those who are truly serving Him, placing all their trust in Him, are unaffected by present conditions and are continually prospered. While those who have given full allegiance to mammon are likewise greatly prospered— seemingly; but their time of reckoning has not yet come.<br /><br />76<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />77<br /><br />We are not interested in the latter, however. Our thoughts are for you —you who are anxious to serve God and to free yourself from the power of mammon forever. To you Jesus' words are especially directed. Hear them, for they are actual promises and contain very definite and unmistakable instructions for you: "Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious about your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor about your body, what you shall wear. Is not the life of more value than food, and the body than raiment? "Observe the birds of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor : gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of greater value than they? "Besides, which of you by being anxious can prolong his life one moment? And why are you anxious about raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not neither do<br /><br />they spin; and yet I tell you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. "Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Here you are told plainly the difference between what is required of those who would serve God and those who serve mammon. The former are clearly shown that they need not be overly concerned about the affairs of their life—about food, drink and clothes; for they are promised that God will take care of all these things—if they trust Him. Besides they know that it is His life that is in them, even as in the birds and the lilies, and surely He will feed and clothe and provide for His own life. But does mammon require such trust? No, he ever holds over his servants the whip of fear of loss, lack and poverty until they become abject slaves to his slightest wish. The former in their efforts to please God<br /><br />78<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />79<br /><br />develop and portray a life of loving and selfless service. While the latter as they yield more and more to mammon develop into cold and heartless beings, thinking only of how to satisfy their utterly selfish lusts. But listen further to Jesus' words: "Therefore be not anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? "For all these the Gentiles seek, and your heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The Gentiles was a term used by the Jews as synonymous with "heathen" or those who were not of the "chosen people of God," and undoubtedly Jesus used it with that meaning. In other words, the chosen of God, His servants, know Him and trust him fully for all their needs. But the Gentiles, those who are not His people, are the ones who are always<br /><br />anxious about what they shall eat or drink or how they shall be clothed. So Jesus tells us that if we will make first the seeking of the Kingdom of God—the Divine Consciousness where love and peace abide, putting all our trust in God and giving all our service to Him—all the things needed in the physical world will be richly provided. The Emphatic Diaglot translation from the original Greek states they will be "superadded." "Be not anxious then for the morrow, for the morrow will have its own problems. Sufficient for each day are the problems thereof " How much more plainly can it be declared to us that we are being lovingly watched over and cared for, that all our needs are known and will be supplied, and that our only thought should be a knowing that everything will be provided for us, even as God provides for the birds and the lilies? Then it all resolves itself in a matter of<br /><br />80<br /><br />THE WAY BEYOND<br /><br />trusting and abiding, and of doing the thing that is right before us to do the very best we know how, leaving the results, tomorrow and all else to God. Can you bring yourself to do this, dear friends? You must decide now. This is the time when we must choose on which side we will stand. Only a little while remains. Whom then are you going to serve? Do you require more tribulations and harder tests to help you decide? But remember it can no longer be a half hearted or a divided service. That will not be any longer permitted. The hopelessness of such should have been proved to you from former efforts. You must give up all— all that you have and are —and follow Him; must make Him and the finding of His Kingdom and the living of His life FIRST in your con sciousness. It must be an every-moment-ofthe-day trusting; the thought of Him must supersede every other thought. That is the kind of trusting He now seeks from you. And oh, the joy and blessedness of those who have given themselves over wholly to Him in such trusting!simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-51711449873699523162007-08-16T00:03:00.000-07:002007-08-16T00:05:37.014-07:00wWEALTH<br /><br /><br /><br />YOU, to whom I have given an abundance of that which the world calls Riches, hearken unto this My special Message to you. You! Who are you, that you should be thus blessed above your brothers? Who are you, that you should be given such a privilege, when millions of your fellows apparently have nothing? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever satisfactorily answered it? Or perhaps you think YOU did it all; that you have no one to thank for these so-called blessings but yourself? Think you this is so? Let us see. Did you ever wonder WHY you were born<br />83<br /><br />84<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />85<br /><br />as you were, into the particular conditions that surrounded your entrance into this life? Did you ever wonder why you had to contend with the particular conditions that surrounded and confronted you all along your journey up through life? Did you ever wonder why YOU came equipped with the certain tendencies, qualities and powers of mind and soul you had, while your brothers and sisters and even your parents were so entirely different or came much less fortunately equipped? Have you arrived at any satisfactory conclusion? No? Then listen! I AM responsible for all this. I did it all. I chose those conditions for you to be born into. I created every condition you met in life, and forced you through them, and through every experience of whatsoever nature. It was I who brought you to where you are today. You, of yourself, did nothing. That person-<br /><br />ality you call yourself is merely an automaton which I move to suit My purpose. I! Who am I? I, Who speak with so much assurance and authority? Be Still, and Know. I AM YOU, your TRUE Self; That higher, purer, supernal part of you that arouses itself as you read, which sits back and listens and judges, and points out the truth of these words to your consciousness, and which from the beginning has guided and taught you all the Truth you know today. Not that personality you show to the world and which you THINK is yourself; not that proud, selfish mask of a self that has been feeding you on error all these years. For I AM your REAL Self, that Something in you which you KNOW has made you all you REALLY are, that has inspired, and cautioned, and chided, and urged, and led you on and on, despite hardships, obstacles, suffering, failure, until you have, in a dim,<br /><br />86<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />87<br /><br />half-conscious way grown to rely upon It, without knowing definitely why. Yes, I AM that Something. I AM that Divine SELF of you, abiding deep within your human personality, almost stifled by its worldly ideas, its selfish desires, its foolish pride and ambitions, yet ever seeking, longing, yearning to make you conscious of My existence, of My REAL Identity. Yes, My ch ild , th at So meth ing AM I, I, Who from the beginning have been sitting here within, quietly waiting for this moment. Yet while waiting it was really I Who was guiding you all the time, Who put each thought into your mind, made you do everything you did, and Who utilized the foreknown result of each thought and act so as eventually to bring you and others to a final conscious recognition of Me. And if I have permitted you to feed on these worldly ideas, to follow these selfish desires, to grow fat with pride, and even to gain the summit of all your ambitions, it was only that you might learn the hollowness of it all, and that you could awaken to the<br /><br />realization that there is something else, something which the SOUL of you yearns to bring forth. Yes, I have "blessed" you by giving you all these things you sometime in the past desired, desired so strongly that you FORCED Me to give them to you. For Desire is the agent of My Will, and supplies you with everything you want, if you want it with sufficient power to compel It to serve you. But have these things proved the blessings you thought and expected? Have you gotten out of them real enjoyment, and is your heart now at peace? If not, why? It is only because you have failed to recognize Me, your True Self, as the Giver, and have used them not at all in My service, but only to satisfy your own selfish pleasure. But I have allowed you to indulge yourself to your heart's content with all such empty joys, even leading you on from one to another, holding out to you the possibility of finding in some new bauble, or sensation, or accomplishment, or power, that something<br /><br />88<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />89<br /><br />you craved, but which, alas! you have never found and never even glimpsed,—except, perhaps, when in the hours of deepest remorse and penitence you turned from this world of self you created around you to the Ideal within, and dimly sensed THERE My Presence. Ah, dear son, I have indeed given you these blessings, and they ARE REAL blessings; for they are My special sign of approval to YOU . But the blessings are not what you think them to be. The real blessings are in the qualities I have developed in you in the acquirement of these riches, in the attainment of these desires,—the qualities of determination to win, of persistency of purpose, the power to do, the ability to master every natural fault and weakness that stand in the way; all of which are but different phases of My Will, the USE of which I have been teaching you, that later on I can manifest in and through you, with your consent, My Will in Spiritual ways, even as you have been manifesting It in worldly ways. In other words, all attaining, whether it be<br /><br />of money, power or fame— in art, literature or music, science, philosophy or religion, is but so much training in the USE of My Will; and therefore labor, business, science, religion, the arts or the professions, are merely incidents, or the outer means I use to develop in you the CONSCIOUS use of My Will. You may think it is YOUR will that is so acting, but so long as you consider yourself as separate from Me, and you use this will only to please yourself, it naturally is selfwill, and that is why it brings you no lasting or tangible good, only trouble, unhappiness, and heartache, when the novelty of possession wears off. And so, of course, you cannot know Me, and therefore cannot acknowledge that ALL that you do, or have, or suffer, is but the result of the action of MY Will working thus in and through you to bring about My Purpose. But the time is coming when you will understand somewhat of this. Hence this Message. Hence this special favor to you. You may ask, why I, God, the Omnipotent One, the all Good, the all Wise, made such<br /><br />90<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />91<br /><br />an unequal distribution of My Blessings, of My Substance, of My Intelligence, of the use of My Will, giving to the few the vast surplus, and to the many such a pitiful lack. You may well ask, for that is the problem I have given you and all to solve. But as I have enabled you partly to solve this problem, even though you do not know it, I will now disclose to you some of its apparent mysteries.<br /><br />II<br />KNOW, My son, that I give no thing to anyone unless that thing has been earned by him. By earned, I mean, grown ready for it, through desiring it so strongly that he finally draws from Me, his all-powerful, perfect SELF within, sufficient life-force and vital energy to compel conditions and circumstances to yield up and other intelligences to supply the necessary means and substance to provide form or actuality for that thing. So it is that sometime in the past, either in this life or in a previous existence, you had arrived at the point where I could inspire in you the Idea of possessing Wealth. I could do this, for you had grown in Soul stature and strength so that it had come time to awaken and develop in you certain of your Soul qualities and faculties which I needed for use in My service. So I implanted in your mind the Idea of possessing Wealth or Riches. This Idea, following the usual course of Nature, in the process<br /><br />92<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />93<br /><br />of time, put forth its rootlets within the soil of world conditions. These rootlets of determination, persistence, daring, doing, saving, seeing only success ahead, undiscouraged by obstacles, never recognizing failure, pushed their way unerringly to the most fertile soil, through and past all obstacles, deep into the earth nature. Likewise and at the same time a little shoot from the Idea pushed its way up towards the light and gradually began to show itself above the surface of your mental and material life. This shoot, which was the STOCK of the Idea of Wealth, grew fast, when once firmly rooted, and it soon became a sturdy, wide-spreading tree. That tree is the outward manifestation of your life today. The nature and kind of a tree is what your character is. Its leaves are your money; its fruit just what the possession of that money has meant to you. If there is decay or unsoundness in root, trunk or branch, it is because of error, wrong or disease somewhere in the tree, which finally will destroy it unless remedied or removed. Is there any error, wrong or disease in<br /><br />YOUR tree. My son? Are there any worms gnawing their way into its heart? Let us see. Let us search deep beneath the surface soil of world conditions, with its finely worked out system of "legitimate" methods, and its politically gained protection of the law. Let us look underneath the bark of selfishness, with its human beliefs and opinions regarding the rights of the strong. Let us peer into the cracks and crotches, the dark places in your life which are carefully hidden from the world. Let us look unflinchingly into all these places, and see if there are not some rotten spots. Have you attained all this Wealth by absolutely honorable and righteous methods? Has any part of it been gained by sharp business practices,—yes, legitimate from the law's standpoint, but not from Mine, your True Self? Was part of it gained by deception of friends or partners? Part by taking advantage of trusts imposed in you? Part by going through bankruptcy and settling for a percentage of your just debts? Part by riding roughshod over weaker Souls? Part by<br /><br />94<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />95<br /><br />deliberate fraud? Part by any means which aroused a protesting voice within you, and which voice, in moments of quiet and solitude, ever appears to remind and accuse? Ah, My dear child, can you truly say that none of the Wealth you possess is thus tainted? Yes, I know, and understand. And dear one, if you have suffered, and have regretted, and are now seeking to make restitution, it is because you have listened to My Voice, and are beginning to recognize and long for My guiding influence in your life. But if you deny, and loudly proclaim that none of the above applies to you, and you still refuse to listen to My loving Voice within, wee, faint, almost drowned by the loud tumult now going on in your heart,--know, dear one, that you, too, must suffer, must enter into a life of heartache and misery and sorrow, into which I must plunge you, in order to purge your Soul of the pride, self-will and self-love that now control you; so that you, too, can awaken to My Love and thus learn to hear and know My Voice, ever<br /><br />seeking to point out to you the true way of Life. As for your brothers, many, very many, I do not yet deem ready to receive the Idea of acquiring Wealth. In many others the Idea has been planted, and they are merely feeling the quickening power of Desire, My agent. Others are forced by Desire to think and strive, and are beginning to see the means of future acquirement. And still others are in the act of producing tangible results. With all, however, I AM merely using the Idea of Wealth, and the motive power of Desire for its acquirement, to develop those Soul qualities and mental faculties which will enable Me finally and fully to bring into manifestation their Real Self, I, God within them, that through them My Will may be made manifest on earth even as It is in Heaven. With you, My blessed one, in whom I have brought to complete fruition My Idea of Wealth in the form of Money and Possessions, and who as My custodian are now capable and ready consciously to co-operate with Me<br /><br />96<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />97<br /><br />in its use in My Service, when you can be convinced that I, God, will direct you in such use,—know that soon, very soon, you will become conscious that I AM within you, and that you need not go without to any other authority to learn this great fact. For I will cause you to KNOW that I AM leading and guiding you, and will gradually open up to your consciousness My Plan and Purpose for the Use and distribution of ALL that I have' given you. You, who have already heard My Voice within, and are seeking to satisfy Me by giving a portion of your wealth to churches, or libraries, or scientific research, or charity, or settlement work, or other enterprises, thinking My Voice can be stilled that way, and that the yearning hunger in your heart may be thus appeased: Know that such acts are all in vain, for never can I thus be satisfied. My Voice will become only more insistent, as you strive by giving merely a portion of the wealth you hold and which is ALL Mine and none of it<br /><br />yours, in such effort to please Me. For, My child, I AM already pleased with you. Are you not what I have made you? Is not all you have done what I permitted and even caused you to do? And if I have permitted you to try to propitiate Me by using your Wealth in such manner, it is only because such was all I could make you understand at the time of My Purpose surging within you. Therefore, when, in your desire to please Me, you attract to you many who ask you to give of your abundance to this or that charity, to this or that project for helping humanity, and what you call your business judgment tells you what is given will not be used properly or wisely for such purposes, and you do not respond,—know that you have likewise been led thus to refuse by Me, Who thus chose for you, even as I chose for you to give to those other enterprises; and all this for the fulfilling of My Purpose. For I have not only reserved this Wealth I have given you for a special Service, and I have chosen you as My Agent in its<br /><br />98<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />WEALTH<br /><br />99<br /><br />distribution in the way I shall disclose to you all in due season; but I AM preparing your human mind so that you can understand it is not your Wealth I want, but YOU . I want you to know that you and I are One; that I, your REAL Self, must now rule; that selfwill and self-pleasure must die, and My Will and My Pleasure must live and be FIRST and ALL with you from now henceforth. Therefore, I AM preparing your mind so that I can speak direct to your Soul consciousness from within, and I AM quickening your heart so you can become wholly conscious of My Presence therein. So, beloved, if I say I want YOU , ALL of you; heart, soul, mind, body,—all you are, all you have, all you ever hope to be or have, I say it because I want My own,—YOU the mortal expression of My Self. The time has come when you must know We are ONE, that there is no separation, no difference — only as you think there is. Hence, all you have or are is Mine and always has been Mine and Mine only. And now I claim My own.<br /><br />My own MUST come to Me. My claim you MUST recognize. And you MUST give back ALL, —every penny, your home, lands, securities, business; your body, intellect, heart, faculties, will, your whole personality — every loved possession, even the dearest treasure of your heart. For not until you have brought all and laid them at My feet, and said, "Here, Father, take ALL. Take and use, and only let me serve Thee. Command and henceforth I will obey;" Not until you thus come in true humility, with a desire as strong to give to Me as the one which impelled you to get for self; not until your Soul is so possessed with a yearning to serve Me and to rest Its wearied heart in My Love that It can no longer be denied,— can you ever enter into My Kingdom. Long ago to another people I said, "It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This is just as true today. For he whom I have deemed worthy to express the qualities of Soul I AM now expressing through yousimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-10064831271984606092007-08-15T13:57:00.001-07:002007-08-15T13:57:48.535-07:006see them awakened to the consciousness of the<br />possession of qualities and powers similar to<br />those you possess, and which, with Me to guide<br />and direct their use, will lift them and you to<br />such heights your human minds now cannot<br />conceive?<br />How would you like to see the down-andouts,<br />the failures, the discouraged, the discontented,<br />the weak, the sick, all awakened<br />to their Divine heritage, to the knowledge<br />that ALL that I, the FATHER, have is theirs;<br />and that each and all can be shown HOW to<br />attain it-all that WANT to know, and ASK<br />to be shown?<br />How would you like to live in a community,<br />in a world, where all were alike expressing<br />My highest qualities and powers, where each<br />was seeking so to eliminate his personality,<br />with all its limited selfish ideas, beliefs and<br />opinions, that My Perfect Life can express?<br />Would that not be a beautiful world?<br />Would that not be the real Heaven?<br />Dear son, that is what is coming into manifestation.<br />It is coming despite all appearances<br />to the contrary. The realization of this Heaven<br />has already come to many. It is coming soon<br />to many more, and later to all, as My quickening<br />Power is brought to them, even as It has<br />now been brought to you, and which first<br />must come from without before it can manifest<br />within.<br />If you would like to hasten its coming, dear<br />son, I hereby give you that privilege. If you<br />would like to help make it possible that<br />thousands and thousands of your brothers<br />can come into the Great Awakening, can<br />come into possession of My DIVINE Qualities<br />and Powers, then Beloved:<br />Turn within to Me, and seek earnestly to<br />KNOW My Purpose. Pray unceasingly, until<br />I disclose it all, My Blessed One.<br />Ask and ye SHALL receive. Seek and ye<br />SHALL find. Knock and it SHALL be opened<br />unto you.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-13544422725778032022007-08-15T13:56:00.002-07:002007-08-15T13:57:16.239-07:005But mark you, My son! The words I herein<br />speak are seeds I AM planting in your heart,<br />and they will germinate, and the time will<br />come when the Truth of them will appear<br />plainly to your understanding.<br />Then you will know I AM in you, that I<br />AM YOU, that I, your TRUE Self, must and<br />will rule; and that all I have said herein shall<br />blossom forth in actual manifestation in your<br />life.<br />You who understand and whose heart<br />urges you to enter into full partnership with<br />Me; you, beloved, I here promise, shall soon<br />partake of the Heavenly Joy that awaits.<br />In the meantime, your work lies before<br />you. You must BE STILL, and learn to<br />KNOW I AM GOD, WITHIN you. You must<br />study and meditate on this and My other<br />Revelations. You must realize that I, God,<br />AM all that there is; that I gave you all, and<br />that I can take away all.<br />You must accustom yourself to this Truth,<br />and must make ready to give back all to Me<br />for USE in My service.<br />But, dear son, in giving all to Me, fear not;<br />I, God, AM no outside person, I AM only<br />your Real Self, your own True, Wonderful,<br />Perfect SELF.<br />I ask you to give to no one but Me, your<br />TRUE Self, and then only that I may direct<br />and guide you in its USE. Instead of holding<br />for self, you now will hold for Me. Instead<br />of seeking your pleasure, you now will seek<br />only Mine.<br />Henceforth you are to abide in Me and<br />let My Words abide in you, and just to the<br />extent you do this, you can ask what you will<br />and it will be done unto you.<br />Be Still! - and KNOW - I AM - GOD.<br />Know that I AM holding in reserve for you<br />wonderful uses for the Wealth I have brought<br />into manifestation through you, uses different<br />from any I have heretofore shown unto man.<br />I have long been preparing you so that you<br />can cooperate with Me in such use.<br />How would you like to see Man, your<br />brothers, many of them, thousands of them,<br />hundreds of thousands, quickened as you<br />have been quickened with the realization of<br />My Presence within? How would you like tosimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-82043152281313750842007-08-15T13:56:00.001-07:002007-08-15T13:56:41.316-07:004income, or profits, in order to get the most<br />returns for them; fearing continually, when<br />approached by friends or acquaintances, that<br />they are trying to interest you in some<br />favorite scheme, or in some unwise speculation,<br />or some craftily conceived plan to<br />relieve you of some of your money?<br />Yes, if you would but enter into partnership<br />with Me, letting Me be the elder partner,<br />throwing all responsibility upon Me, then<br />indeed would you be relieved of all this; and<br />you would find, instead of cares and burdens<br />and problems, now so exacting they leave you<br />not one moment's peace of mind, that all this<br />has been lifted from you forever, and Life<br />has become one glad round of happy days,<br />filled to the brim with Soul-satisfying experiences,<br />because wholly devoted to making<br />others happy.<br />IV<br />AND now, My son, what say you?<br />What are you going to do about it?<br />I have shown you who and what you are;<br />that you are nothing; that I AM, and you are<br />NOT,—you being only one of My mortal<br />expressions, which I have brought into being in<br />order to manifest on earth through you some<br />of My Divine qualities, and to bring Joy and<br />Peace and Good-Will into the hearts of many<br />of My other and less complete expressions.<br />I have shown you all this. And you may<br />not believe it. But that makes no difference.<br />You can believe or not, as you choose. But<br />whichever you choose, know it is really I<br />Who choose, and not you. And if you disbelieve,<br />it is only because I AM not yet ready<br />for you to entertain this belief; for you still<br />have many disillusionments, disappointments,<br />heartaches and sufferings to go through<br />before you can come into true understanding of<br />My meaning.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-53444372890350580212007-08-15T13:55:00.000-07:002007-08-15T13:56:00.167-07:003104 WEALTH WEALTH 105<br />through which I AM going to pour many<br />Blessings into the hearts and lives of thousands<br />of your brothers.<br />Would you like to work thus with Me, My<br />son?<br />Would you not like to be such an avenue,<br />to participate in this Joy and Happiness, to<br />become a partner with Me in its distribution,<br />— with Me, your own True Self?<br />Think! Think what it would mean!<br />Is it possible? Could you really be a participator?<br />you ask.<br />Yes, and all you need to do is to turn within<br />to Me, with perfect Faith and Trust, and<br />let Me show you the way. All it needs is for<br />you to be CONSCIOUS of Me, abiding thus in<br />your heart, inspiring your every thought,<br />word and act, no longer listening to selfwill<br />and self-interest, but only to Me, your<br />Higher Self, as I tell you of My plans and<br />open up to you the wonderful visions of what<br />I have in store for you, if you faithfully<br />follow My instructions.<br />Ah, My son, if you only would! If you<br />only could know the Glory that awaits<br />compliance with this longing surging in your<br />heart!<br />Then indeed would you be in Heaven, right<br />here on earth. And such Joy and Peace and<br />Rest would be yours, that your very Soul,<br />even now at the thought of it, almost bursts<br />its bounds in its yearning that it may be.<br />Then would Life be a continual song of<br />gladness, for the Sun of My Love would<br />shine continuously from out your heart,<br />lighting and blessing you all along the way.<br />Then would We joyfully start out each day<br />to Our business or task, be it whatever it may,<br />you letting Me do the leading, and you waiting<br />upon My every Word, resting and trusting<br />absolutely in My Wisdom and Judgment,<br />KNOWING that the thing We do will always be<br />just the RIGHT thing, and that all that We do<br />will bring SUCCESS, no matter what We undertake.<br />How would you like to form such a partnership,<br />My son?<br />Would that not be better than spending<br />most of your time worrying about business or<br />investments, or what to do with surplus,simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-14300180514409463922007-08-15T13:54:00.000-07:002007-08-15T13:55:10.345-07:002Presence, I, that Something deep down in<br />your heart that yearns for the highest, for<br />PERFECT expression; that craves for the<br />true riches of life, which now you know all<br />the money in the world cannot supply.<br />I, God, within you, AM speaking straight<br />from out the depths of your heart, from My<br />Kingdom there, sweeping aside all your<br />accumulation of worldly ideas, beliefs and<br />opinions, and am talking direct to your<br />Soul consciousness.<br />For the time is come when you must<br />awake to your Divine mission, to the REAL<br />purpose of your coming into this world, into<br />this life, into this personality, into the possession<br />of these qualities, this ability, which<br />entitled you to be the custodian of the Wealth<br />I have given you,—but only for such purpose.<br />The time is come for you to know this, to<br />know Me. that within you which gave you<br />this desire for wealth, which gave you the<br />power to acquire it, which inspired and<br />impelled and guided your every effort to<br />attain it. and finally which now gives you the<br />desire to use SOME of it in My Service.<br />Can you not see that Something is I, your<br />own True Self, yes, God within you, the<br />only God you will ever know, the God Who<br />is not only dwelling and working thus in the<br />Kingdom within you, but within your every<br />brother, be he high or low, rich or poor,<br />wise or ignorant; the God Who is gradually<br />evolving your human personalities, with<br />their mortal bodies, minds and intellects, so<br />that He can eventually through you express<br />ALL of His Divine qualities, even as it is<br />in Heaven?<br />So I have been evolving and unfolding<br />you so that I can find perfect expression<br />through you, just as I evolve the Rose,<br />first the bud-shoot, then the bud, finally<br />unfolding its petals,-so that through it I<br />can show forth some of My perfect fragrance<br />and beauty.<br />But you I have chosen to be a CONSCIOUS<br />worker and expressor with Me. I have chosen<br />you to be the means by which I AM going to<br />bring great Joy and Happiness into this world<br />of sorrow, discouragement, discontent and<br />misery. I have chosen you to be the avenuesimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-46624699164311949092007-08-15T13:48:00.000-07:002007-08-15T13:53:58.909-07:001cannot easily humble himself,—cannot<br />reduce that haughty personality, which so<br />long has led and ruled, so he can go through<br />the narrow gate of self-abnegation and selfdenial.<br />Yet I say unto you, you must come to that,<br />if you would enter into My Kingdom.<br />This is all foolishness, you say. You cannot<br />enter the Kingdom of God here on earth.<br />Even if you could, you would have to be<br />shown of what practical value such an attainment<br />was to one in business, with a family,<br />and all the associations and responsibilities<br />of large and varied interests.<br />Let us see if it is not possible to find that<br />Kingdom and to enter it right here on earth.<br />III<br />LISTEN! And ponder.<br />Are you not seeking happiness, peace,<br />health, love, the fullness of life here on earth?<br />Think you you will find them in the things<br />and practices of the world? Have you not<br />learned the futility of that?<br />Think you you can be truly rich and truly<br />happy, when millions of your brothers are in<br />poverty and misery?<br />No, My child; not until you have risen<br />above all the illusions of this world of yours,<br />have had your sight cleared by misery and<br />suffering, have felt the poverty of love, have<br />hungered for the TRUE Bread of Life, and<br />have finally gotten a taste of it through forgetting<br />self and serving your brothers, with My<br />Righteousness as the guiding influence of your<br />life, —can you ever find true happiness, find<br />that peace, that harmony, that love your Soul<br />craves. But when you HAVE found THAT, then<br />you have indeed entered into My Kingdom.<br />I AM come to you now to help you find<br />that Kingdom, to make you aware of Mysimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-24368650474515150862007-06-30T07:06:00.000-07:002007-06-30T07:40:40.315-07:00homeThe First Remembrance: Dying is something you do for you.<br />The Second Remembrance: You are the cause of your own death. This is always true, no matter where, or how, you die.<br />The Third Remembrance: You cannot die against your will.<br />The Fourth Remembrance: No path back Home is better than any other path.<br />The Fifth Remembrance: Death is never a tragedy. It is always a gift.<br />The Sixth Remembrance: You and God are one. There is no separation between you.<br />The Seventh Remembrance: Death does not exist.<br />The Eighth Remembrance: You cannot change Ultimate Reality, but you can change your experience of it.<br />The Ninth Remembrance: It is the desire of All That Is to Know Itself in Its Own Experi­ence. This is the reason for all of Life.<br />The Tenth Remembrance: Life is eternal.<br />The Eleventh Remembrance: The timing and the circumstances of death are always per­fect.<br />The Twelfth Remembrance: The death of every person always serves the agenda of every other person who is aware of it. That is why they are aware of it, Therefore, no death (and no life) is ever "wasted." No one ever dies "in vain."<br />The Thirteenth Remembrance: Birth and death are the same thing.<br />The Fourteenth Remembrance: You are continually in the act of creation, in life and in death.<br />The Fifteenth Remembrance: There is no such thing as the end of evolution.<br />The Sixteenth Remembrance: Death is reversible.<br />The Seventeenth Remembrance: In death you will be greeted by all of your loved ones – those who have died before you and those who will die after you.<br />The Eighteenth Remembrance: Free Choice is the act of pure creation, the signature of God, and your gift, your glory, and your power forever and ever.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-53372424044568137462007-06-26T00:38:00.001-07:002007-06-26T00:41:37.950-07:003,4,,,del 42.33 Creating anew is the precursor of the coming of the new world. Remember, only from a shared vision of what is can you begin to produce unity and relationship through unity and relationship. This is your purpose now, and this the curriculum to guide you to the fulfillment of your purpose.<br /><a name="_Toc127531004">chapter 3</a> <br /><a name="_Toc127531005">Natural Vision</a><br /><br />3.1 Observation is an extension of the embrace that in turn makes the embrace observable. The embrace is not an action so much as a state of being. Awareness of the embrace comes from the vision of which I have just begun to speak.<br /><br />3.2 Observation and vision are closely linked but not the same. Observation has to do with the elevation of the personal self. Vision has to do with what cannot be elevated. Vision has to do with the divine pattern, the unity that binds all living things. Observation is the means of seeing this binding pattern in physical form.<br /><br />3.3 The personal self is still in need of being elevated — elevated to its original nature — by its original nature or intent. The devotion of the observant will return you to your original purpose. The vision of Christ-consciousness will take you beyond it.<br /><br />3.4 Original intent has everything to do with the nature of things for original intent is synonymous with cause. The original intent of this chosen experience was the expression of the Self of love in observable form. This original intent or cause formed the true nature of the personal self capable of being observed in relationship. The displacement of the original intent, while it did not change the original cause, formed a false nature for the personal self. This displacement of the original intent can be simply stated as the displacement of love with fear. It is as simple as that. Yet the way in which each of you have interpreted this displacement has come to seem quite complex.<br />3.5 You may not feel that you have ever intended to live in fear. But the displacement of the original intent was so complete that each life began with fear and proceeded from this beginning continually reacting to fear. While the original intent remained within you and caused you to attempt to express a Self of love despite your fear, fear has thwarted your every effort and caused the very effort that has continued the cycle of fear. To have to try to be who you are and to express who you are is the result of the displacement of the nature of love with the nature of fear. What we now are about is reversing this displacement and returning you to your true nature.<br /><br />3.6 For every being there is a natural state that is joyful, effortless, and full of love. For every being existing in time there is also an unnatural state of being. Both states of being — the natural and the unnatural — exist in relationship. While relationship is what has kept you forever unable to be separate and alone, relationship is also what has kept you forever unable to return to your natural state of being. The fear that was birthed along with the erroneously inherited idea that it was your nature to be separate and alone, made relationships fearful as well. Trust became something to be earned. Even the most loving parent, like unto your most loving image of God, having brought a child into a fearful world, became subject to the tests of time. Thus did the world become a world of effort with all things in it and beyond it, including God, weighed and balanced against the idea of fear.<br /><br />3.7 Now, as we reverse this set of circumstances, and replace the world of fear with a world of love, there can be no more weighing of love against fear. God did not create fear and will not be judged by it. All judgment is the cause of fear and this effort to weigh love’s strength against fear’s veracity. While you chose to believe and live in a world the nature of which was fear, you could not know God. You could not know God because you judged God from within the nature of fear, believing fear to be your natural state.<br /><br />3.8 As the natural state of love is returned to you, judgment falls away because vision will arise. With the onset of the vision of love, many of you will make one final judgment in which you find everything to be good and full of love. Once all has been judged with the vision of love, judgment is over naturally for it has served its purpose. This is the final judgment.<br /><br />3.9 The vision that will arise in you now is not new. It is your natural vision, the vision of love. What is new is the elevation of the personal self that will be caused by the return of your natural state of love. This is where observation comes in.<br /><br />3.10 Vision will allow you to see the nature of the world and all that exists within it truly. Observation will allow you to elevate the personal self to its rightful place within the nature of a world of love.<br /><br />3.11 Vision is the natural means of knowing of all who were created in love. Observation is the natural means of sharing what is known in physical form.<br /><br />3.12 The physical form is not the natural or original form of the created. Vision is the means by which the original nature of the created can once again be known. Observation is the means by which the original nature of the created can newly be seen in physical form. Once the original nature of the created becomes observable in physical form, physical form will surpass what it once was and become the new nature of the created. There is no reason why the original nature of your being cannot become a being the nature of which is form if you so choose it to be. There is a reason why the original nature of your being cannot exist in a form unnatural to love. A form whose nature is fear cannot house the creation of love.<br /><br />3.13 Man has striven since the beginning of time to be done with the separated state of a being of form, and at the same time to hang on to life, not realizing that what exists in form does not have to be separate and alone; not realizing that what lives does not have to die. That the nature of form can change. That the nature of matter is one of change. That the nature, even of form, once returned to its natural state of love, is one of unity and everlasting life.<br /><br />3.14 The idea of everlasting life in form has seemed a curse to some, a miracle to others. Death comes as destruction to some, as new life to others. Either way is but your choice. Your attachment to life has kept you alive in form. Your attachment to death has kept your form subject to the cycle of decay and rebirth. There is another alternative.<br /><br />3.15 The promise of life everlasting was not an empty promise. It is a promise that has been fulfilled. It is you who have chosen the means. Now a new choice is before you.<br /><a name="_Toc127531006">chapter 4</a> <br /><a name="_Toc127531007">the Inheritance of Everlasting Life</a><br /><br /><br />4.1 Everywhere within your world you see the pattern of life-everlasting. Where there is a pattern of life-everlasting, there is everlasting life. Means and end are one, cause and effect the same.<br /><br />4.2 The pattern of life-everlasting is one of changing form. It is one that is revealed on Earth by birth and death, decay and renewal, seasons of growth and seasons of decline. This is the pattern of creation taken to extremes. Inherent within the extreme is the balance. Even in the biblical description of creation was a day of rest spoken of. Creation balanced with rest is the pattern that has been taken to extremes within your world. You think of birth as creation and death as rest. You do not realize that your nature, and the nature of your life, like that of all around you, is governed by seasons natural to the state of love, seasons of regeneration.<br /><br />4.3 In your history, generations pass, through death, to allow for new generations to be born. As your planet has reached a state of growth known as over-population, this balance between old generations and new seems necessary and even crucial. One generation must pass to make room for the new.<br /><br />4.4 Even before the planet reached the state of over-population, this idea was much in evidence. The passing of a parent was seen, particularly historically, as the time of the child of the parent coming into his or her inheritance or time of<br />fullness. The power and prestige, the earthly wealth of the parent, passed historically to the son.<br /><br />4.5 This is one of the reasons that I came in the form of the “Son of God.” In the time in which I lived, the idea of inheritance was an even stronger idea, an idea with much more power than in current times. Inherent within the idea of inheritance was an idea of passing as well as an idea of continuity. What belonged to the father passed to the son and thereafter belonged to the son. What was of the father continued with the son.<br /><br />4.6 What my life demonstrated was a capacity for inheritance not based upon death. My life, death, and resurrection revealed the power of inheritance, the power of the Father, as one of life-giving union. I called you then, and I call you now, to this inheritance.<br /><br />4.7 This idea of inheritance is a natural idea arising from the nature of creation itself. It is an idea of continuity that is an idea consistent with that of creation. There is no discontinuity within creation. Like begets like. Life begets life. Thus is revealed the pattern of life-everlasting. <br /><br />4.8 Changing form is part of the pattern of life-everlasting. The change in the form you now occupy, the change I have spoken of as that of elevation of the personal self, is a natural part of the pattern of life-everlasting. It is long over-due. It is long over-due because you have rejected rather than accepted your inheritance.<br /><br />4.9 This is why this treatise is called A Treatise on the New. There has not been a time on Earth in which the inheritance of God the Father was accepted, save by me. This is why this time is spoken of as the time of fullness. It is the time during which you have within your awareness the ability to come into your time of fullness by accepting the inheritance of your Father. You have the awareness and thus the ability to accept the continuity of life-everlasting.<br /><br />4.10 Lest this sound like the ranting of your science fiction, and cause you to turn deaf ears to the knowledge I would impart, let me assure you that immortality is not the change of which I speak. You are not mortal, and so a word that speaks of an opposite to what you are not and have never been is not the accurate word. I do not speak of bodies living forever instead of living for what you call a lifetime — be it a lifetime of twenty, or fifty, or ninety years. Life has continuously been prolonged without a substantial change in the nature of life. To think of living on and on as you have lived your life thus far would not appeal to many of you. Those aged and contemplating death might wish for prolonged life, but many of these same welcome death as the end to suffering and strife. To continue on endlessly with life as it has been would only relegate more and more to lives not worth living.<br /><br />4.11 What is it then, of which I speak? If you still must look ahead and see death looming on the horizon, how can it be that I speak of life-everlasting? Am I but using new words to repeat what you have heard in various form from various religions and systems of belief for countless ages? Am I but calling you to a happy death and an after-life in heaven?<br /><br />4.12 I am calling you to the new. I am calling you to transform. I am calling you to Christ-consciousness. I am calling you to everlasting consciousness even while you still abide in form. To be cognizant or aware of everlasting consciousness while you still abide in form is to be fully aware that you have life-everlasting.<br /><br />4.13 Being fully aware that you have life-everlasting is totally different than having faith in an after-life. Faith is based upon the unknown. If the unknown were not unknown faith would not be necessary. Faith will become unnecessary, as life-everlasting becomes known to you.<br /><br />4.14 This knowing will come from the return of true vision. True vision sees life-everlasting where perception but saw finite life and mortal bodies. Once vision and Christ-consciousness have returned to you, the means of life-everlasting will be understood as a choice. Because there was no relationship save that of intermediaries between the human and the divine, there was no choice but to end the separated state in order to return to unity through death. Once the return to unity has occurred in form, the decision to continue in form or to not continue in form will be yours.<br /><br />4.15 Continuity is an attribute of relationship, not of matter. It is only in the relationship of matter to the divine that matter can become divine and thus eternal. If you can abide in unity while in human form, you will have no cause, save your own choice, to leave human form. To abide in unity is to abide in your natural state, a state of life-everlasting. To abide in a state of separation is to abide in an unnatural state from which you eventually will seek release.<br /><br />4.16 Although this discussion is likely to cause many of you serious doubts about the truth and applicability of this course, this discussion is necessary to your awareness of Christ-consciousness. To believe that you are mortal is to believe that you must die to the personal self of form in order to be reborn as a true Self. This is an old way of thinking. Have we not worked throughout this Course to return your true identity to you now? The joining of heart and mind in relationship is the joining of the personal self with the true Self in the reality in which you exist now. Remember, the heart must abide in the reality where you think you are. Only through your mind’s acceptance of your new reality has the heart been freed to exist in the new reality that is the state of unity and relationship.<br /><br />4.17 Can you not see the necessity of removing the idea that your true Self will be returned to you only through death? What purpose would this Course serve if it were just another preview of what to expect after you die? What difference would this make to your way of living or to the world in which you live?<br /><br />4.18 What purpose will death serve when your true Self has joined with your physical form? You will see it simply as the transformation it has always been, the transformation from singular consciousness to Christ-consciousness. Form has been but a representation of singular consciousness. As form becomes a representation of Christ-consciousness it will take on the nature of Christ-consciousness of which my life was the example life. To sustain Christ-consciousness in form is creation of the new. My one example life could not sustain Christ-consciousness for those who came after me but could only be an example. What you are called to do is to, through your multitude, sustain Christ-consciousness, and create the union of the human and the divine as a new state of being. This union will take you beyond the goal of expressing your Self in form because this goal but reflected the desire for a temporary experience. The temporary experience has been elongated because of the appeal of the physical experience. What this treatise is saying to you is that if the physical experience appeals to you, and if you create the union of the human and the divine as a new state of being, this choice will be eternally yours. It will be a choice of your creation, a creation devoid of fear. It will be a new choice.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-73146768784349476362007-06-26T00:38:00.000-07:002007-06-26T00:39:55.618-07:002 del 4Outward seeking is turning inward. Inward or internal discoveries are turning outward. This is a reverse, a polar reversal, that is happening worldwide and externally as well as individually and internally. It is happening. It is not predictive. I have never been and will never be predictive, for I am Christ-consciousness. Christ-consciousness is awareness of what is. Only an awareness of what is, an awareness that does not conceive of such as what was and will be, can peacefully coexist with the unity that is here and now in truth.<br /><br />2.2 Again let me repeat and reemphasize my statements: where once you turned outward in your seeking and saw within what you perceived without, now you turn inward and reflect what you discover within outward. What you discover within is in a way that what you perceive without is not.<br /><br />2.3 I have always been a proponent of The Way of Christ-consciousness as The Way to Self and God.<br /><br />2.4 There was no Way or path or process back to God and Self before me. It was the time of man wandering in the wilderness. I came as a representation or demonstration of The Way. This is why I have been called “The way, the truth and the life.” I came to show The Way to Christ-consciousness, which is The Way to God and Self. But I also came to provide an intermediary, for this is what was desired: a bridge between the human or forgotten self, and the divine or remembered Self. Jesus the man was the intermediary who ushered in the time of the Holy Spirit by calling the Holy Spirit to possess the<br />human or forgotten self with the spirit of the divine or remembered Self. Although God never abandoned the humans who seeded the Earth, the humans, in the state of the forgotten self, could not know God because of their fear. I revealed a God of Love and the Holy Spirit provided for indirect and less fearful means of communion or communication with God.<br /><br />2.5 The people of the Earth and all that were created have always been the beloved of God because Love is the means of creation. The people of the Earth, and all that were created, were created through union and relationship. Creation through union and relationship is still The Way and The Way has come into the time of its fullness.<br /><br />2.6 The production that so has so long occupied you will now serve you as you turn your productive and reproductive instincts to the production and reproduction of relationship and union.<br /><br />2.7 But before we can proceed forward, I must return to and dispel any illusion you may have of superiority over those who came before. That those who came before did not become aware of their true nature does not mean that it did not exist. That there are others living among you in this time who will not become aware of their true nature does not mean that it does not exist within them. You are no more accomplished than anyone has been, or is, or will be. The truth of who you are is as accomplished as the truth of all of your brothers and sisters from the beginning of time until the end of time. Any text that tells you that you or those of your kind or time are more or better than any other is not speaking the truth. This is why we began with the chosen and will return again and again to the statement that all are chosen.<br /><br />2.8 I belabor this point because you literally cannot proceed to full awareness while ideas such as more and better remain in you. This is not about evolution unless you wish to speak of evolution in terms of awareness. You must realize that if you were to see into the eyes and hearts of any human from any time with true vision, you would see the accomplished Self there. There can be no judgment carried forward with you and when you continue to believe in a process of evolution that has made you better than those who came before, you are carrying judgment. While you continue to believe that being chosen means that some are not chosen, you are carrying judgment. While you continue to believe that a final judgment will separate the good from the evil, you are carrying judgment.<br /><br />2.9 I also belabor this point because those of you familiar with the Bible, upon hearing words such as the end of time or the fullness of time, think of the predictions of the Biblical end of time. I speak of this because it is in your awareness and because many false interpretations of this time as a time of judgment and of separating the chosen people from all others abound. All are chosen. All are chosen with love and without judgment.<br /><br />2.10 The idea of separation is an idea that is not consistent with the idea of unity. If you proceed into this new time thinking that this new time will separate you from others, or cause you, as the chosen, to be separate, you will not become fully aware of the new time. Full awareness of the new is what this treatise seeks to accomplish and so it is necessary to belabor these false ideas that would keep you from this awareness. If you think you can observe in judgment you do not understand the definition of observation provided in A Treatise on the Personal Self.<br /><br />2.11 Being first does not mean being better. That I was the first to demonstrate what you can be does not mean I am better than you. Just as in your sporting events, a “first” is applauded, and soon a new record replaces that record-setting first, just as someone had to be “first” to fly a plane or land on the moon, being first implies only that there will be a second and a third. That attention and respect is given to those who first achieve anything of any merit is but a way of calling all others to know what they can achieve. One may desire to best a sporting record and another to follow the first man into space and the one who desires to best a sporting record may feel no desire to follow the first man into space and vice versa, and yet, what one achieves but opens the door for others and this is known to you. Even those who did not desire to fly in a plane when this feat was first accomplished have since flown in planes. <br /><br />2.12 Similarly, those who have achieved “first place” do so realizing that the elevated “place” they briefly hold is of a finite nature and that others will soon do the same and that those who follow in time will do so more easily, with less effort, and with even greater success. They may consider themselves “better than” for a moment in time, but those who do will be bitterly disappointed as their moment passes. Despite the necessity for a confidence that has led them to achieve their desired end, most who so achieve and become the first to set records, discover, or invent the new, are not aware of themselves as “better than” for their goal was not to be better than anyone but themselves. Surely many desire to be “the best” as a means to glorify the ego, but few of these succeed for the ego cannot be glorified.<br /><br />2.13 Thus, you must examine your intention even now and remove from it all ideas that were of the old way. You would not be here if you were still interested in glorifying the ego. You also are not yet completely certain of your Self, and in your uncertainty, still subject to the patterns of thought of the old. Many of these patterns do not concern me for they will fall away of themselves as your awareness of the new grows. But these few on which I linger will prevent your awareness of the new from growing and so must be consciously left behind.<br /><br />2.14 It is difficult for you, because of the patterns of the past, to believe that you are chosen to be the pioneers into a new time without believing that you are special. This is one of the many reasons we have worked to dispel your ideas of specialness. One of the best means for us to clarify the lack of specialness implied in the statement that all are chosen, is through your observation of yourself.<br /><br />2.15 The ability to observe what the Self expresses was among the original reasons for this chosen experience. Observe now the expressions of the self you are and have been. Although you are different now than you were as a child, and different now than you were a few years ago, and different now than when you began your learning of this course, you are not other than who you have always been. Who you are now was there when you were a child, and there in all the years since then, and there before you began your learning of this course. Your awareness of the Self that you are now was not present in the past, but you can truly now, with the devotion of the observant, see that the Self you are now was indeed present, and was the truth of who you were then as now. <br /><br />2.16 How, then, could you possibly observe any others without knowing that the truth of who they are is present even though it might seem not to be? This is the power of the devotion of the observant that you are called to, the power of cause and its effect. This is the power you now have within you, the power to observe truth rather than illusion. This is the power to observe what is. This is Christ-consciousness.<br /><br />2.17 I repeat, this is the power to observe what is. It is not about observing a potential for what could be if your brother or sister would just follow in the way that has been shown to you. It is about observing what is. The power to observe what is is what will keep you unified with your brothers and sisters rather than separating you from them. There is no power without this unity. You cannot see “others” as other than who they are and know your power. You must see as I see and see that all are chosen.<br /><br />2.18 Only from this shared vision, this observation of what is can you begin to produce unity and relationship through unity and relationship.<br /><br />2.19 This is why it has long been stated that you are not called to evangelize or convince anyone of the merits of this course of study. This is just a course of study. Those whom you would seek to evangelize or convince are as holy as your Self. This holiness need only be observed. When you think in terms of evangelizing or convincing, you think in terms of future outcome rather than in terms of what already is. This type of thinking will not serve the new or allow you full awareness of the new.<br /><br />2.20 Can you remember this, blessed sons and daughters of the most high? Your brothers and sisters are as holy as your Self. Holiness is the natural harmony of all that was created as it was created.<br /><br />2.21 Now I tell you something else and hope you will remember it and bid it true. Each day is a creation and holy too. Not one day is meant to be lived in a struggle with what it brings. The power to observe what is relates to everything that exists with you, including the days that make up your life in time and space. Observing what is unites you with the present in that it unites you with what is rather than with what you perceive to be.<br /><br />2.22 Observation of what is is a natural effect of the cause of a heart and mind joined in unity. This first joining in unity, the joining of heart and mind, joins the physical and the spiritual world in a relationship of which you can be more and more steadily aware. It is a new relationship. Unity always existed. Oneness always existed. God always existed. But you separated yourself from direct awareness of your relationship with unity, with oneness and with God, just as you separated yourself from relationship with the wholeness of the pattern of creation. You have believed in God and perhaps in some concept of unity or oneness, but you have also denied even the possibility of experiencing your own direct relationship with God, or the possibility that your life is a direct experience of the pattern of unity or oneness that is creation.<br /><br />2.23 Think of this denial now, for it is still evident in the pattern of your thinking. We have spoken of this within the text of A Course of Love as your inability to realize the relationship that exists with the unseen and even the seen. You have moved through life believing you have relationships with family and friends and coworkers, occasionally acknowledging brief relationships that develop with acquaintances or strangers, connections that feel real with like-minded associates for brief periods of time, but still essentially seeing yourself moving through life alone with few sustaining connections save for special relationships, and with little purpose implied in the brief encounters you have with others. You have watched the news and developments in parts of the world far away from you and at times are aware of ecological and sociological connections, or of other occurrences that are likely to have an impact on your life or on your part of the world. But unless you believe in the ability of what happens to have an effect on you, you do not consider yourself to have a relationship with the occurrence.<br /><br />2.24 With your new understanding of observance must come a new understanding of relationship and the ability of the devotion of the observant to affect relationship.<br /><br />2.25 Yet we have strayed here from the overriding idea of what I have revealed to you. A new relationship now exists between the physical and spiritual. It is not an indirect relationship but a direct relationship. It exists and you are becoming aware of its existence. You will increasingly be unable to deny it and you will not want to. As you allow awareness of this relationship to grow in you, you will learn the lessons that are being spoken of within this treatise.<br /><br />2.26 This new relationship is the only state in which observation of what is can occur. The separated state was nothing more than the disjoining of heart and mind, a state in which mind attempted to know without the relationship of the heart and so merely perceived its own creations rather than the creations birthed in unity.<br /><br />2.27 Let this idea gestate a moment within you and reveal to you the truth of which it speaks. The separated state of the mind created its own separate world. Cause and effect are one. The perceived state of separation created the perceived state of a separate world. The real state of union, returned to you through the joining of mind and heart, will now reveal to you the truth of what was created and allow you to create anew.<br /><br />2.28 This state of union is what differentiated me from my brothers and sisters at the time of my life on earth. Because my state of consciousness, a state of consciousness we are calling Christ-consciousness, allowed me to exist in union and relationship with all, I could see my brothers and sisters “in Christ” or in their true nature. I saw them in union and relationship, where they saw themselves in separation. This ability to see in union and relationship is the shared vision to which you are called. <br /><br />2.29 You have lived with the vision of the separated self for so long that you cannot imagine what shared vision will mean, and do not recognize it when you experience it. This is why you can still think of observance of what is as a game of make believe and feel that you will have to trick yourself into believing that you see love where there is cause for fear. You must remember that you are now called to see without judgment. To see without judgment is to see truly. You need not look for good or bad, but only need be steadily aware that you can only see in one of two ways — with love or fear. <br /><br />2.30 You expect yourself to still see with the eyes of separation rather than with the shared vision of which I speak. You expect to see bodies and events moving through your days as you have in the past. And yet your vision has already changed, although you are not aware of the extent of this change. Realize now that you have come to recognize unity. You no longer see each person and event as separate, with no relation to the whole. You are beginning to see the connections that exist and this is the beginning. <br /><br />2.31 Examine what you may have felt the onset of true vision would mean. Have you considered this question? Have you expected to see in the same way but more lovingly? Have you thought you might begin to recognize those who, like you, are joined with me in Christ-consciousness? Have you suspected that you might see in ways literally different? That you might see auras or halos, signs and clues previously unseen? Have you included other senses in your idea of “sight”? Have you thought your instincts will be sharpened and that you will know with an inner knowing that will aid the sight of your eyes?<br /><br />2.32 All of these things are possible. But true vision is seeing relationship and union. It is the opposite of seeing with the eyes and the attitude of separation. It is seeing with an expectation first and foremost of revelation. It is believing that you exist in relationship and union with all and that each encounter is one of union and relationship and purpose…purpose that will be revealed to you because you exist in union with the Source and Cause of revelation.<br /> Seeing with the vision of Christ-consciousness is already upon you. You are in the process of learning what it means. This treatise is here to help you do so. Learning to see anew is the precursor of learning to create anew. Creatingsimultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71111992592302092.post-63149346351138593882007-06-25T02:50:00.000-07:002007-06-25T02:52:17.528-07:00forwardforward<br />A year or so after the Course of Love series was complete, “Learning in the Time of Christ” was provided as an aid to those questioning how to work with the material of this Course. It has been edited here to serve as an introduction to the Treatises. The full text is available from the Course of Love website: www.acourseoflove.com.<br /><br /><br />The Treatises bring the same situation you encountered in receiving the Course of Love, but you will now encounter these situations in life. You are no longer only a reader. Your experience of this Course has extended beyond reading and beyond the classroom situation. Now a time may come when studying truly seems to be in order. The guidance provided by your reading may seem to come and go and your desire to rely on what you have “learned” will grow. You may desire to backtrack, review, or begin to highlight passages to return to again and again. New questions may arise and a desire for feedback or discussion grow stronger. This may also be precisely the time when you are so caught up in experience and learning “in life” that return to a group or classroom situation feels next to impossible.<br /><br />Now you are experiencing life in a new way and will be attempting to reinforce what you already know and have already accepted. The “language” is returned to as a helpful friend would be turned to for judgment-free advice. What those who begin to experience life in a new way begin to discover are the patterns of thoughts and behavior that are most deeply entrenched. You feel in need of assistance! <br /><br />You may need to become more flexible, meet in groups less frequently, and favor more casual and spontaneous encounters. Yet what is being gained through experience is still in need of being shared. This sharing can offer a rich and rewarding opportunity for differences to be revealed and for the welcome realization that differences do not make separate.<br /><br />The forward motion is one away from learning and toward acceptance of what is. While differences may be highlighted in this time, what will be revealed through sharing is that while experiences may differ greatly and seem to be offering diverse “learning” situations, you, and those with whom you share, will actually be coming to many very similar new insights and truths. <br /><br />The impatience of the earlier level may seem to have increased as your experiences will be moving you along at your own pace. Comparisons may arise and some may feel they are not advancing as quickly as others, while those moving quickly may feel in need of time to catch their breath!<br /><br />Inclinations may be strong during this time, to “figure things out.” Problem solving is discouraged. Trust is encouraged. Question: “How might I be able to look at a situation in a new way?” Remembering the gentleness of the Art of Thought over the relentless stridency of the thinking mind is helpful. Obsessive thinking is always ruthless, judgmental, and wearing on you. <br /><br />The entrenched patterns of the past are difficult to dislodge even when they have been recognized. “Watch the parade go by” as what has gone unhealed is brought forward for acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go. With the letting go of each old pattern or situation that seems fraught with peril, a cloud of despair will lift, a little more of darkness recede, and a little more light be available to show the way.<br /><br />Here you may meet individual assessment and self-doubt. You may wonder if you are missing something. You may feel as if you have not experienced unity or as if you are no closer to knowing yourself or God. You may feel as if this course of study that seemed to be working so well for a while, now is letting you down. You may wonder where and when the peace, ease, and abundance promised by this course will arrive. Stay grounded in the present and remember that you are no longer seeking. This time of engagement with life is just what is needed to integrate what has been learned. A return to the simple words that begin the Treatise on Unity would be appropriate: “A treasure that you do not as yet recognize is going to be recognized. Once recognized it will begin to be regarded as an ability. And finally, through experience it will become your identity.”<br /><br />The achievements of the past, achievements that awarded credentials, certificates, and degrees, admiration, respect, and status, are now a thing of the past. What you may well be looking for is your reward for the investment you have made in this coursework. While you are looking for it to show up in an old way you will miss the new ways that are being revealed. The achievements of the past were not lasting and they are not what you would truly want now. The goal is reached in being who you are at last. It is present—not in the future. It is with you—not beyond you. The treasure is you.simultaneohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06453871819126937600noreply@blogger.com0