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HOW TO BELIEVE IN NOTHING
& SET YOURSELF FREE
MICHAEL MISITA
CONTENTS
Chapter One
How To Believe in Nothing
Chapter Two
What Are Beliefs?
Chapter Three
Why We Believe
Chapter Four
My Quest for Freedom
Chapter Five
The Benefits of Freedom
Chapter Six
The Gateway to Transformation
Chapter Seven
The Next Step-Set Yourself Free
1
HOW TO BELIEVE
IN NOTHING
“I believe in everything ...
and I believe in nothing."
"Beliefs are part of our struggle not to be free. I
believe in everything and I believe in nothing." When
people hear me say that in my lectures, I usually get a few
puzzled looks until I explain there is no contradiction in that
statement. There is room for the total spectrum of possibilities
in the universe. To believe in something is always
limiting; believing in nothing is non-specific. There is
freedom from limitation because there are no particulars.
At this point, someone says, "But, everybody has to
believe in something. I believe in this ideology (or that
person, place or thing) and it freed me." Maybe it did ...
temporarily.
The possibility of living without the need to believe is
very threatening to many people. In a world of uncertainty,
the loss of something to hold on to can be frightening. I
understand that. I am not saying that you must believe in
nothing-if your beliefs work for you, that's fine. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with believing in anything. The
desire to believe is built into the human mind, which is
constructed to make judgments and form opinions. Without
this ability to be critical and discerning, the human race
would not have survived very long. It is when these
judgments and opinions become dogmatic that they are no
longer life-enhancing but limiting. If your beliefs don't
work for you, you need to take another look at them. Your
beliefs may be blocking you from being as happy or as
fulfilled as you would like to be.
To suggest that people consider dropping even one of
their beliefs, especially beliefs about God, makes them
extremely uncomfortable. I merely encourage people to see
and understand the accumulations and boundaries they have
and how they are creating and sustaining them. I'm suggesting
that those who wish to be more aware, more
awake-those who want to be free-begin by investigating
their beliefs, especially the belief that you need your beliefs.
I have worked with many people who experience limitation
in their lives because they believe in limitation, and
I've helped them to expand their consciousness by encouraging
them to believe in prosperity. Others say they don't
believe in themselves, but it's not belief they lack, it's
self-confidence. There are a lot of books and other materials
available to help people reprogram their mind with new
beliefs. Replacing negative mental programming with positive
programming can help them live happier, more satisfying
lives. There's nothing wrong with that.
In my own life, I have studied the internal workings of
my mind and experienced the power of thought by encountering
my illusions first-hand. As all that I persisted in
believing manifested itself in my world, I became increasingly
aware of the power of belief and its potent effect. I
began to observe what I believed to be true about myself
and the world around me. When I discovered that much of
my reality was shaped by my beliefs about what was real
rather than by reality itself, I began to question not only
what I believed, but why I needed those beliefs. Suddenly,
I felt stripped of all my ideas about reality-those giving
me pleasure as well as those I thought gave my life stability.
I began to understand the extent of and the reason for my
psychological bondage.
How do we handle the confusion we feel when we move
to the level of consciousness where we cease exchanging
one belief in favor of another and begin to question belief
itself? What is the nature of our existence when we begin
to see that our illusions are illusions? This is what this book
is about-the transcendence of belief to the fullness of
being.
You won't find a new set of beliefs to replace your old
ones; instead, you'll discover a new way of looking at
everything you encounter. I'll share my experiences and
those of others who have learned to transcend their beliefs
and set themselves free, as well as techniques you can use
to do the same. Instead of reacting with preconceived ideas
and conditioned responses, you'll move into a new state of
consciousness that will be infinitely more insightful, freeing
and rewarding than anything you've known before.
On a personal level, I have found this to be true. In
sharing what I've experienced, I do my part in helping
people to know themselves a little better, to begin to know
themselves as the source of their own misery. Also, my
conscious awareness deepens within me as a by-product of
sharing. I don't do what I do for a reason. These are just
observations of what happens as a result of sharing. To the
common mind, this may appear to be a motive, but being
oneself is completely beyond all motivation. You can't have
a reason for being yourself. You are yourself, and no reason
is needed. Whether or not anyone actually acts on what I'm
sharing is irrelevant to me. I can only share from where I
am right now and only with those who show an interest.
Without understanding that we carry the seeds of our
potential, there is no possibility for transformation; but if
we are fortunate enough to have a glimpse of those possibilities,
we will summon the courage to make the necessary
effort to bring about our own transformation, whatever the
cost. In doing so, we will discover that it has been well
worth it.
This book is not for people who need to believe in
something, it is for people who are at the level where they
are ready to stop conditioning altogether. They are becoming
more and more present. They are ready for the next
step, which is to question not just their various belief
systems but why they believe at all. This will propel them
into a space beyond the ordinary herd mentality. It's a jump
... a leap ... into the unknown.
Until you take this leap, all beliefs will create a burden.
They will not liberate you. If you can be open enough to
realize whatever you believe in is limited and that realitythe
truth-is limitless, you'll discover something of which
ninety-nine percent of the world is unaware ... freedom
from belief.
2
WHAT ARE BELIEFS?
"Your experiences in life are
conditioned by your beliefs, so
they are never totally accurate.
You must take this into account,
but you must also begin
somewhere. "
What are beliefs, then? Belief can be described as any
interpretation or framework for viewing reality that is held
beyond questioning. The word "belief" comes from the Old
English word geliefan, which comes from the Indo-European
base leubh, which is related to the Latin word libido,
meaning "what is desired, or loved."
From the very roots of the word, we see what beliefs
truly are-that which we desire to be so. Because beliefs
are a construct of the mind, freedom from them allows the
individual to begin to experience the aliveness of his total
being.
Beliefs are ideas that we have either made up or that have
been passed on to us. They are concepts that we have not
acquired through our own experience. Belief conditions
experience and experience then strengthens belief. What
you believe, you experience. The mind is a result of its
experience; it can recognize only that which is familiar.
Experience is not necessarily reality. Desire conditions the
mind, and belief is another cloak of desire. You want what
you want to be true. Knowledge, belief, conviction, and
conclusion are hindrances to truth. Belief in a Master
creates the Master. Belief in a dogma or a specific design
of action does produce what is longed for, but for a price.
If a person has the potential, belief can become a weapon
more dangerous than any gun. For most of us, belief has
more significance than actuality. To understand what is,
you don't need belief; on the contrary, beliefs prejudice
one's understanding. But beliefs warm and comfort us.
Belief produces a feeling of power and can be subtly
seductive.
If you know something to be true, it is no longer a belief,
it is a fact. Beliefs are not facts. There is a vast difference
between a fact and the idea of a fact. A belief is an idea of
what we hope to be a fact, but it is an idea that is based on
possibility, not actuality. We may fervently desire it to be
the truth, but it is not the truth. Understanding a fact does
not necessarily bring joy. Understanding a fact may cause
a disturbance in you, and what you want is comfort. Beliefs
are often used to gain status. The ego is strengthened as a
result of feeling its particular beliefs to be the truth.
Individuals and groups hope to gain an advantage by
wielding power over other individuals and groups. "I (we)
know the truth and you don't. Therefore, I am right and
you are wrong." This must be seen for what it is: the ego's
game. But truth gives no power over others. Truth cannot
be harnessed by the ego for a purpose of any kind. It must
be wanted for its own sake.
Rigid mental frameworks make it difficult to entertain
any new idea, let alone accept it. In fact, most people will
accept a new point of view only if it conforms in some way
to their current beliefs and does not take them beyond the
limited view of their own horizons.
So, beliefs are a way of limiting ourselves. They are the
mental limits we place on ourselves ... and those limits can
be stronger than any chains ever made. People accumulate
beliefs throughout their lives. Some we grew up with,
others are added by the people we associate with. They're
comfortable. The last thing most people would ever want
is to question their beliefs. Instead, they look for others to
reinforce their beliefs because they think the more people
who believe in something, the truer that thing becomes.
Needing verification of their beliefs, people are attracted
to other people and groups who think as they do. The search
is to find this verification, not to find anything new which
may disturb them. The search for truth is usually the search
for proof of what is already believed to be true, not what
is true.
This is particularly evident with religious and spiritually
minded people and ideas. Take Galileo, for example. The
majority of the world's population believed the earth was
flat, and became enraged when he offered scientific proofs
that it was round. The Catholic Church persecuted him for
not believing the earth was flat. It was only a few years ago
that the Church officially agreed Galileo was right.
But if a person is free of those beliefs, they can go
anywhere-to any church, any group-and be perfectly
happy and content because nothing need upset them. It is
incredibly freeing when you can go anywhere, be with any
type of person and feel complete in yourself. You don't
need to have anyone verify your beliefs, and you become
a more interesting person, more alive, free to come and go
as you will. You're open to new ideas and are able to act
appropriately in any situation-you know what to do, what
to say, how to act. You act purely without the need for
motive.
Why? Because you're free of restricting ideas and beliefs
about the situation. You don't have preconceived ideas, or
at least you're able to see that they are preconceived ideas.
You can say to somebody, "Well I believe this or that," and
know that it's actually a belief that you have. You don't have
to fight for your belief or debate whether it's true or not.
_______________________________________________
IDEAS AND PERCEPTIONS
In his essay, "Summa Theologica," Thomas Aquinas
discusses the process by which ideas are formed: "We
remember past events or happenings but we are never aware
of the memories by which we remember them. We can be
aware of imagined or imaginary objects but never the
images by which we imagine them. We apprehend objects
of thought but never the concepts by which we think of
them."
Human beings are complex, not simple. For example,
they think but they also feel. The relationship of thinking
and feeling is interactional and cyclical. The way we
structure our world makes us feel about it in certain ways.
The way we feel affects what we pay attention to and how
we make sense of it.
When we look at the world through these impressions,
we are enclosed and biased by those images. Because all
that we see and hear must be filtered through the concepts
that we hold of ourselves and the world around us, we never
really see anything around us with an objective eye. For
instance, each person is different at every moment and so
are we, but the mind is in the habit of looking with the
perceptions it has previously formed and those perceptions
may have nothing whatever to do with who or what that
person or thing is right now. I'm sure everyone has had the
experience of meeting an old friend not seen for years and
being disappointed that the person is not the person he knew
before.
People usually reach a conclusion based on a single
observation- a fragment of the picture-and then magnify
that grain of truth until it is completely out of proportion.
A waiter treats you poorly and you hate waiters. A man
treats you badly and you hate all men. You don't like
Saddam Hussein, so you mistrust all Iraqis. There is a great
tendency to embrace myths and fantasies because we want
to, although life is not nearly as complicated as we make it
out to be.
My observation is that we don't know what we are doing
or why, or even why we are here. The mind only makes
up ideas to pacify us, and we fall for them. When your mind
hears a statement like "You can be free of your beliefs,"
the mind will start calling everything a belief because it
wants to continue to assert its influence. Your mind doesn't
want you to know there is a knowing beyond beliefs where
the mind's influence ceases.
Most people lead a life of lies and false conclusions,
clinging desperately to their beliefs. Frequently, when
people realize that what they believe may not be true, they
will do a flip-flop and embrace the reverse of what they had
previously believed. A group I was asked to facilitate
illustrates this observation very well.
The intense anger generated by the circle of people was
almost overwhelming. I resisted the urge to flee as I surveyed
the group comprised of people recently disenchanted with
religious and spiritual organizations they had believed in
for years. Hostility and disappointment were evident on
every face. Some had signed over homes and property to
these groups; others had given their time, money, and
services, and now felt victimized. They felt they had been
betrayed, so they gathered with other people-who believed
as they did-to form a group whose purpose, it
seemed to me, was revenge.
One of the angriest people in the group was a middleaged
man who once had been a devout believer in his
church's doctrines for more than fourteen years. Now he
said he was an atheist. What he had done was to replace
one set of beliefs with another set, going from one extreme
to the other. This was the only way he could redirect the
energy that was freed when he released his old beliefs. The
all-encompassing, energy-consuming belief system left a
void that he replaced with something equally encompassing
and energy-consuming-rage, resentment and indignation.
His ego, acting on his belief that he had been taken
advantage of, projected any responsibility for his own
actions onto his former church, which he then completely
discredited.
I suggested that he could learn from the experience, if
he would look at the more positive side. I asked him what
he had learned, pointing out that he had obviously gained
from the experience, having had some wonderful times
belonging to the church as long as he had. I also told him
there is always a degree of truth to be found in every group,
but no matter how I tried to help him see the situation
clearly, he as fervently espoused atheism as he had his
former belief system. He could not see that he essentially
hadn't changed a thing. Instead of acknowledging his hurt
and the loss of his beliefs and allowing that energy to move
him into a period of not knowing, his mind quickly replaced
one false sense of knowing with another. He still wasn't free.
This is only counterbalancing within a limited dimension.
The addiction to the idea of duality needs to be
released. To transcend to a higher dimension, the negative
or positive nature of any belief is irrelevant.
Why would you want to hang on to something that isn't
true? Because you don't know or don't want to know what
is true. So you replace the insecure feeling of not knowing
with an idea that gives you the satisfying feeling that you
do know. However, truth is never a conclusion; it is always
a realization, a revelation.
Sometimes you will hold onto a belief that causes you
pain, even though you know your belief is unreasonable.
The pain may be all you have to cling to, and it is not readily
relinquished even though you may say that you want to
release it.
A friend named Clara was experiencing severe distress
over her mother's death, even though the woman had died
many years before. She was unable to face her feelings of
guilt over not being with her mother while she was ill, so
she blamed the nurses, the hospital, her brother and his
wife, the doctors, and God-in short, she concluded that
everyone and everything else was to blame for not taking
care of her mother properly. If she let go of the blame she
directed at others, she would be forced to deal with her
unvoiced belief that she was to blame. No amount of
reasoning or understanding would convince her to accept
other than what she wanted to believe, even though she
claimed she wanted to stop her grief and loneliness. Seeing
that she needed to hold onto those beliefs, I let her go.
Six months later, Clara showed up at my door, a completely
changed person. She radiated happiness and contentment.
I asked her what had happened to relieve her
distress and she told me that what I had said to her about
observing herself had finally penetrated her mind. In her
loneliness and despair, she had finally hit bottom and turned
to the only person left who would pay attention to herself.
She had taken an honest, clear look at herself and
her situation from a detached perspective and was able to
accept responsibility for her role in creating the situation.
She let go of the need to blame either herself or anyone
else. This released enough energy to bring about change
and allowed her the freedom to get on with her own life.
When we begin to observe, we start becoming aware of
our conclusions. If we have already decided something is
wrong or right, we cannot watch. The mind is a very subtle
thing. Whatever you see, you see through the mind; whatever
you listen to, you listen to through the mind-and the
mind is quick at imposing interpretations.
_______________________________________________
WHAT CAN WE REALLY KNOW
ABOUT ANYTHING?
You may think that your beliefs define who you are;
that's not true. Who you really are has nothing to do with
what you believe. Your beliefs only define the limitations
your mind places on your character and personality. It's
like being an actor. The actor is not the character he
portrays on the stage, no matter how convincing the performance.
Sir Laurence Olivier was not Hamlet or King
Lear; he merely portrayed these personalities. In real life,
Sylvester Stallone is neither Rocky nor Rambo.
In the same way, beliefs are the patterns through which
we play out our parts in the world. When you begin to see
through the belief systems you've been using to define the
character you're playing in this world, that character begins
to dissolve and the actor himself begins to show up.
To release belief, it is necessary to become fully aware
of the psychological interplay between belief (in the part
you're playing) and the self (the real actor). Then you are
able to see the falsehood behind belief.
When you begin to see this within yourself, you will
become aware that those around you-family, friends,
lovers, neighbors, co-workers, etc. -are also actors playing
roles of limitation. The difference is that they aren't
aware they're playing roles. You begin to understand, and
in understanding, there is no need to stay angry, to condemn
or criticize ... or to forgive. Understand yourself first, and
you will understand the world around you.
Through the years I've worked with hundreds of people
who have problems with their parents. They complain that
their parents don't accept them for who or what they are.
"You can't expect a turtle to run like a deer," I tell them.
I point out that they want unconditional acceptance from
their parents but are unwilling to unconditionally accept
their parents. The problem lies within themselves; their
parents are simply the scapegoats. A person who wants to
be truly free must refuse to place limits on others as well
as refusing to accept limitations from others.
Freeing yourself is not about hindsight. It's about being
aware of what you are doing, saying and feeling as it
occurs. Let's say you've gotten angry about something, and
you decide to talk it over with your therapist at the next
session. By then it will be too late. The anger experience
is over and you'll have had many other experiences in the
meantime. Just talking won't help much you've got to be
aware of it at the very moment it occurs. Once the moment
is over, it's too late. Conjuring up the experience won't
help much either, because it was yesterday's anger, yesterday's
energy, and it is lost forever. It's easy to be reasonable
after the fact. "Oh, I'll never do that again!" Yes, you
will, and you'll continue doing so until you catch yourself
in the act. I'm not saying it does no good to let out your
emotions and have catharsis, but these techniques are
limited. They help somewhat, but they don't free you
because they only deal with the past, not the present. You
must be alert when similar energy arises in you again and
experience the energy as it is happening, with full awareness.
To release belief, it is necessary to become fully aware
of the psychological interplay between belief and self; when
you are able to see the falsehood behind belief, the habit
will vanish.
At this point, you attain the intuitive insight that comes
from recognizing and acknowledging the limitations of the
mind. You shed the false protection of belief and allow
yourself to operate within what I call "the security of
insecurity. " You begin to see beliefs as merely conditioned
ways of knowing and applying knowledge that is relative,
not absolute.
Since I've been using acting as an example, I'll use it
again to further explain what I mean. I was a professional
actor most of my life. Actors are very insecure people.
Every actor knows that acting is not the field a person who
wants stability or financial security should be in, yet we
find ourselves drawn to that lifestyle. The Screen Actors
Guild, a union for actors, estimates that only about five
percent of the thousands of actors in the union actually make
their living by acting. If you've ever been around actors,
the most common topic of discussion is how miserable they
are that they are not working and how uncertain they always
feel. Years ago, I realized that, as an actor, sometimes I
would work, and most of the time I probably would not
work. I accepted the inherent instability of this profession,
and in doing so, I found stability. I never tried to be secure
in the field, nor did I permit acting to dictate whether or
not I was happy. This was the security of insecurity.
Acceptance is the kei here. The world is like this. Accept
it as it is, and you are free of it. Accept your parents for
who they are and you are free of them. What makes you
miserable is your desire to have things and people be other
than what they are. You want a turtle to run like a deer and
you want a lion to be like a sheep. Look deeply, and you
will see that the only time you aro angry and unhappy is
when things are not as you want them to be. When you
believe in particulars, you cause your own pain. Let go of
the particulars, and you will flow freely.
What can we expect of life when we are emancipated
from our belief systems? In that liberation lies the pathless
domain of freedom-the beginning of discovery. By realizing
and accepting that we live in a world of insecurity,
we are then moved into a place of peace that does not rely
on external conditions.
3
WHY WE BELIEVE
"If the thing believed is
incredible, it is also incredible
that the incredible should
have been so believed."
_____________
SAINT AUGUSTINE
Beliefs are part of your struggle not to be free. Youcling to the nalse because you do not know the true. Your
mind doesn't want you to know there is a knowing beyond
beliefs where the mind's influence ceases.
If you think your beliefs give you peace of mind, be
aware that beliefs are lazy things-they replace what is real.
Don't make the mistake of thinking a lazy mind is a peaceful
mind. A lazy mind can't be bothered to find out the truth
of a situation or thing because it requires too much effort.
Preconceived ideas produce a lazy mind. You've already
decided the way a person is or how a situation will be. There
is no room to explore, which limits yowr experiences. Yt
requires alertness to keep the mind clear and maturity tolive life in the full awareness of every moment as it happens,
no matter what the cost. The fear is that the ego may be
shattered and only a spiritually mature person has the
courage to allow that to happen. But if a person wishes to
grow, living life in the present, which may at times seem
painful and tragic, is the most important thing because the
present is the only door to reality. Once through it, you will
then begin to see the lack of value in what you have been
holding onto.
Why is it so difficult to remain in the present? You get
frightened and you get bored. You're looking for something
to turn you on, to get you moving, but at the same time
you're afraid to end your boredom. You want the real to
be what you want it to be ... not what it is. It's an awful
block. I often refer to it as the "Great Barrier." But it is
possible to be free if you'll allow yourself to see clearly and
you can only see clearly if you see beyond the images, the
beliefs that are blocking the view.
People protest that their beliefs are true, but people are
hungry to have experiences, especially spiritual experiences.
They don't realize that it is relatively easy to conjure
an experience out of their belief system, but that experience
is more fantasy than real. Real "mystical" experiences must
come unaided. The less you are involved in producing
them, the more genuine they are. Then they must be
released immediately or they will self-create more of the
same. Mystical experiences are intoxicating and there lies
the danger in them for those who wish to become more
aware.
All beliefs contain an element of truth that gives the
whole belief the feeling of being true. Your beliefs wouldn't
exist without your believing in them. Are you more interested
in your truth, in being right, or in truth itself? Truth
stands alone; it doesn't need your belief to give it reality.
Truth is one, it cannot be divided. It has no ownership
and does not need to be defended. Are you more interested
in what you think is real or in discovering what is real? A
belief may be ninety-nine percent false and only one percent
true. It's ridiculous to base one's whole life on that ratio
without ever examining it.
Beliefs frequently masquerade as fact. Though they
sometimes have a useful function in making sense of our
experience of the physical world, when they discourage
scrutiny instead of challenging us to further thought, we
need to examine the belief until we see the false percentage
in it. When you let that false percentage go, what's left will
be one hundred percent true, and you won't need to
maintain the belief any more.
_______________________________________________
ADDICTIVE STATES
Belief is a habit-a habit with intellectual content. It is
also an addiction. You may not have thought of yourself as
a belief junkie, but your beliefs shackle you as much as any
heroin addict's needle. Addiction can be defined as an
individual's adjustment to his environment, an habitual
style of coping that has compulsive qualities.
Eddie couldn't drink just one cup of coffee; he had to
drink twenty. He was also a recovering alcoholic. He
approached belief systems in the same way. Eric Hoffer
coined the phrase "true believer" to describe such a person.
When Eddie first came to the gathering, he was afraid of
his feelings and avoided them by being very intellectual.
He wanted everything to be clearly and sharply defined.
He also wanted to be in control of any situation he encountered,
but from the moment he arrived, he was dealing with
the unexpected. I continued to keep him off-balance.
I felt he would be helped by the realization that he might
not know as much as he thought he did. After he would
make a statement in the group, I would remind him that
what he had just said was probably a belief or theory, and
he really didn't know for sure the validity of what he was
saying. I used this tactic to open up a mind rigidly set on
having all the answers. He became able to say "I really
know nothing," and mean it. This freed him and enabled
him to consider other possibilities. He was also able to
explore his feelings and be less guarded.
My tactic had worked, almost too well. When it was time
for him to release the idea that he didn't know anything,
his addictive personality was unable to let go. He would
say, "I don't know" all the time to the point where it not
only was annoying to have a conversation with him, but it
became a block to his further growth. On numerous occasions,
I told him he had now made an addiction out of this
statement, that it had become a habit, thereby losing its
value for him. It took a while--he had to be weaned off the
statement the same way he had weaned himself off coffee
and alcohol, but he eventually moved past it.
Be aware of statements like this that have become habitual
detriments to your growth.
Look at the beliefs people have about their relationships.
I work with many people who have problems with relationships.
In fact, every problem is a relationship problem how
you relate to money, success, happiness, sex, the
universe, and so on.
When Freda came to me, she had just been divorced and
was about to marry her seventh husband. As we talked
about her relationship issues, she told me how rotten her
previous husbands had been, how they had mistreated her
and how screwed up they were. Then she said something
really interesting. "Now I'm on to another one."
I tried to show her how her belief system about marriage
kept her in a cycle, attracting the same kind of person over
and over again, but she denied it. She wouldn't see that she
was in any way responsible. She continued to complain
about her bad relationships with men until I was so exasperated,
I said, "You know, I'm trying to get you to focus
on the positive side of it, but you just keep telling me the
same stories over and over again. "
Freda hesitated for a second, then said, "I know, but I
just love talking about it."
I told her, "Your next husband isn't going to be any
different. You'll have the same problems with him because
you believe all men are the same-rotten, miserable wife
abusers, and you can't trust them. You'll produce the same
situation again because that's what you believe in, only each
time it will become more intolerable until you `get it.'
You're addicted to that belief. "
Everything possible to believe has this potential to become
addictive. We either cling to a particular belief, even
though it may have outgrown its temporary usefulness, or
replace it with another. We replace the idea of lack with
the idea of prosperity, the idea of hatred with the idea of
love, and so on. The habituation of our beliefs is a good
indication that we have probably stopped learning. If we
believe that we already know, we will not be able to observe
and experience the freshness of life. Recognizing that we
actually don't know moves us into the present moment.
Then, suddenly, things begin to happen. A crossover occurs
and we move into the unexpected, into the aliveness of life.
We become available to the new.
_______________________________________________
DESIRE
Ever transient and insatiable, desire is the pursuit of
illusion; its purpose is to give the mind a sense of security.
We find the reality of who we believe ourselves to be
unsatisfying. Out of this constant, disturbing dissatisfaction
arises fear, which we identify as either physically or
psychologically painful. Consequently, we want to become
other than what we are. Quick-fix fads and bandaid solutions
such as those featured in supermarket tabloids and
popular magazines appeal to these desires, promising the
moon but delivering only its reflection. We will go to any
length to avoid seeing what is; as a result, our decisions are
motivated by the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain.
We don't understand what we are now so we avoid facing
it by creating something else. We lull ourselves to sleep
with our beliefs, our rituals, our food, drink, sex and
ideals-all diversions to avoid being disturbed. Disturbance
is not a bad thing-it's necessary for anyone who
wishes to grow because only then do we question. Without
disturbance, there is stagnation. Observe the ebb and flow
of water in the ocean or a river or stream-the disturbance
keeps the water fresh and alive. Look along the edges where
the water isn't in motion-the vitality has left, causing the
water to stagnate.
As we look deeper, we see that desire pushes us forward
and our old companion, fear, holds us back. We understand
the language of fear, the origin of which we have forgotten
until we begin to observe ourselves, for when fear speaks
to us, we obey.
We want meaningful relationships but panic at even the
hint of a commitment; we desire success but are anxious
about it; we want to be happy but feel undeserving; we
hunger for recognition but worry that we are incapable of
living up to our religious or social ideals. It's one great big
tug-of-war.
What makes us afraid is that we reject what we innately
know to be the actual while clinging to the illusion. We are
terrified of being insecure, both physically and psychologically,
and of not achieving our desires, either for ourselves
or another. Our real motive is to be safe and protected.
However, in an insecure world, the fulfillment of pleasure
is dubious at best.
Can we look at our world as it is, without trying to escape
from the truth? Can we face our aloneness, our fears, our
relationships, our insecurities about the world, without
resorting to distractions? Can we observe ourselves without
comparisons, judgments, condemnations?
The real issue is, can you not recondition yourself?
That's the question. Can you not go from one side to the
other, but transcend both sides and go beyond both sides?
In other words, go beyond all conditioning. You see, it's
not just a matter of questioning your beliefs, although that's
how it starts. Once you start investigating what you believe
in, eventually the real question is not why do I believe in
these things, but why do I believe at all? You begin to
question belief itself. Why do we believe? What is the
necessity behind belief? Why do I need to believe?
Consciousness is not pure awareness but rather awareness
as it is embodied in the psychological structure of the
mind or the brain. Awareness exists independently of the
brain structure. At the point when you start questioning
belief, you will begin to move into a different state of
consciousness, then transcend consciousness to awareness.
You will move beyond all this talk of love and hate, of being
this or that. The content of consciousness will cease to be
the yardstick by which you measure your life because it is
based on a limited sense of identity. Awareness will become
more and more important. The very act of seeing the
complexity of the web you've woven around yourself is all
that's required for the whole structure to collapse all at
once, and you'll be in a state of freedom which you've never
experienced before. That is the nature of observing.
Judgment separates and divides by deciding in what class
or category an act belongs. It compares, distributes, estimates
but creates nothing. It cannot originate ideas because
it is of the past. Transformation requires the deep acceptance
of our being as we are now, without judgment.
_______________________________________________
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Why are we so ambitious? Why do we continually seek
to make the "I" amount to something? "I have to be good,
I have to be right, I have to be loving, successful, heroic,
modest, spiritual, etc." Why are we so concerned with the
future and the past?
Honesty is a rarity where motives are concerned because
it takes enormous energy and courage to look at ourselves.
We may find it too disturbing to see the genuine motives
behind our actions, so we cleverly conceal them behind a
multitude of masks: humility, generosity, virtue, respectability,
to name a few. Revealing the truth behind these
masks, we fear, might thwart the gratification of our
ambitions. We want to be successful to glorify our beliefs,
our ideals, or ourselves; this only serves to widen the gap
separating us from each other.
First we have a motive, out of which arise our inclinations,
which may be considered good or bad, ethical or
unethical, moral or immoral. If we each look deeply within
ourselves to find out where our pleasures lie, our inclinations
are revealed to us. We can then discern whether these
inclinations come from our inherited (genetic) mechanism
or from our acquired concepts (which come from our
environment and are also mechanical) or both. A closer
look at the reason for our choices reveals the heart of the
matter, which is that our beliefs are produced in our world
according to our motives.
Giving and getting are not based on what we think we
do but on the motive behind our actions. That motive is
always based on achieving pleasure and avoiding pain. Dr.
J. C. Arthur, in his book entitled The Sagacity and Morality
of Plants, says: "I have tried to show that all organisms,
even to the very simplest, whether plant or animal, from
the very nature of life and the struggle for its maintenance,
must be endowed with conscious feeling-pleasure and
pain being its simplest expression."
Years ago, when I first started speaking, I began receiving
gifts from people attending the groups I held. At first I
was flattered. I thought of the gifts as being given freely,
with no strings attached, but after a while I realized some
of them were bribes, not gifts. What is the difference
between a gift and a bribe? The dictionary defines a gift as
"given or bestowed without charge. The action, right, or
power of giving." Bribery is defined as "something to
induce a certain course of action, especially a wrong course
by the gift or offer of something valued." Most of what we
do in life is motivated by our desire to "get." Rarely, if
ever, do we give freely to another or ourselves. Bribery is
very subtle and cunning, and often disguises itself as good
intent.
I remember going with a friend to see a famous teacher
from India one evening. I was asked to bring a piece of fruit
as an offering to the guru as it was considered a symbolic
gesture of giving in return for the wisdom we were about
to receive. When we got there, the room was filled with
over a thousand devotees. After the talk and meditation, a
long line formed as we waited patiently to present our small
tokens of gratitude. In front of me was a man whose arms
were full of dolls, posters, a basket of fruit and other things.
The single apple I held suddenly seemed inadequate.
When the man's turn came, several attendants came
forward to help him lay his gifts on the floor before the
teacher. The crowd murmured its appreciation of this
impressive offering while waiting to see the guru's response.
The teacher took one look at the items presented to
him and waved the man away, refusing his gifts with a flick
of the hand. The man protested that the presents were for
him but again the guru waved the man away and told his
attendants to return the presents to the man. The attendants
escorted the man from the hall.
As we milled around afterward, I overheard some of the
people in the crowd criticizing the guru, saying that his
actions were not very loving. I realized that it was the man's
motives that were in question here. The teacher would not
accept these gifts because he recognized them as a bribe for
attention that would enhance the man's ego, therefore the
teacher immediately refused the presents and dismissed the
man.
When a person wants something in life, whether it be an
object, a relationship, success, money, or awareness, he
must question his real motive for wanting these things. He
must be as honest with himself as possible. If he finds he
wants these things for questionable reasons, then he must
face this honestly if he is to ever grow in awareness.
_______________________________________________
IMAGINATION AND CHOICE
Paul was a difficult person to speak with. He had been
raised in the kind of insecurity only a broken home could
produce, and had a mind-set that was rigidly unyielding.
He had recently attended several large metaphysical seminars
where he was told "You are unlimited. You can do
anything." He believed that his life had changed for the
better as a result of these affirmations. His first taste of
personal power completely seduced him.
Many metaphysically inclined people have the idea that
thought as expressed in imagination or creative visualization
is the ultimate expression of self, yet this idea shackles
them because thought, as expressed in the human form, is
limited by experience of the senses. Individuals who find
positive thinking and affirmations attractive are frequently
people who have never felt powerful enough. At this level
of development, they are exploring a sense of power. It is
important to move into the stage where you begin to
consciously direct the One Power. It is essential to growth
if one is to understand power and its limits. Unfortunately,
it has been bypassed by some groups in favor of letting go
and letting God.
· Should we stop imagining?
It is not necessary to stop imagining. We work in concert
with the One Power. There is a time to let go and a time
to act. Everything we do, every thought we think, wields
the power. Not to realize this fact is a result of spiritual
ignorance. How is one to learn and grow unless one
experiments and explores? Once you experience the miraculous
powers of your mind and release the idea that you
are separate from everyone and everything, you can then
leave your imagination alone to do the work it does best,
free to create in the present rather than in the future.
_______________________________________________
CONSCIOUS CHOICES
In my book, The Lover in You, The Art of Imagining, I
dealt with the issue of how to make conscious choices in
life. Making choices is an appropriate and important step
for people who are past- or future-oriented. They need to
have a starting point. Choice becomes very important for
people who are afraid. They need to know they can make
new choices that will improve the quality of their lives,
especially if they feel the choices they made in the past were
wrong. The experience of making a conscious choice and
acting on it is a means of seeing things for what they are in
order to be free of them. This opens the door for the real
to be revealed.
· How do we choose which beliefs or images to keep and
which to discard?
Why choose at all? Have you ever investigated why we
choose? We only choose when we're confused. If we aren't
clear about something, then we need to make a choice. Do
you need to choose when you see something clearly? We
make such a big deal of making choices. I'm not talking
about choosing which clothes you're going to wear or what
flavor of ice cream you're going to eat. I'm speaking about
the kind of choices that come from mistrust and uncertainty.
A mind that has no clarity must always choose. A clear
mind has no choice and responds appropriately.
The real choice is not whether you can do something,
but whether you should do something.
_______________________________________________
FREEDOM FROM BELIEF
The small assembly seemed receptive, and I felt very
relaxed as I walked on stage. Scanning the audience, I
noticed her. Self-confident and attractive, she was the only
person dressed completely in black. As I spoke, she nodded
her head in agreement, a wide smile on her face. At the end
of my speech, she was the first to come up and tell me how
much she had enjoyed the evening. She told me she agreed
with everything I had said, and that she, too, believed in
nothing. Appropriately, she was from Missouri, the
"Show-Me" State. During the casual conversation, to demonstrate
her lack of belief systems, she told me she didn't
even believe the sun would rise the next morning until she
saw it herself. "After all," she said, "it might not rise for
me." I laughed and told her that wasn't freedom from
beliefs, it was simply pessimism. In an instant, the smile
was gone and I realized that she felt exposed. As she
defended her position, I said nothing. She prided herself on
being free from beliefs according to her idea of what that
meant, and this belief formed what she felt was the very
core of her identity. When the false identity was exposed,
she became defensive. If she could have observed her
reaction at that moment, she would have seen a truth about
herself. Instead, by holding fervently to her position, she
missed an opportunity to experience freedom in a way she
had never experienced before.
We believe so many things on hearsay-in the faraway,
in heavens and hells, gods and goddesses-because we've
been told to believe in these things. We believe what we're
told about ourselves, never bothering to verify this information.
Freedom means letting go. Believing means holding
on. Because beliefs give you the illusion of freedom,
your most fundamental beliefs need to be questioned if you
are ever to experience the letting go that real freedom
brings. Once experienced, even briefly, you will be better
able to distinguish between real freedom and the illusion of
freedom.
The most limiting of all beliefs is that we are our body.
From the belief in the body comes our perception of the
world, and along with that, our perception of God, who is
supposed to have created the world. Then fear begins,
creating all kinds of systems to support and protect frightened
children who, hiding in their little belief-system
closets, are scared out of their wits by monsters of their
own making. So they pray and begin to worship, which
begets organized religion, which in turn demands sacrifice
in one form or another.
One beautiful spring day, several friends invited me to
attend Mass with them "just for the fun of it." When the
time for communion came, I decided to take part. My
friends were horrified. "You can't, you're not even Catholic,"
they said. They seemed to think the hand of God was
going to strike me down. I wasn't taking communion to
offend them. Since I was there, I wanted to participate fully
in the service. It's not necessary to believe in a particular
doctrine to enjoy the rituals. I thoroughly enjoyed taking
part in the rites while they were too disturbed by my actions
to take pleasure in the service.
There is a vast difference between being spiritual and
being religious. Spirituality does not require a belief in a
God or a system. It is the sense of the wholeness of things,
a trust in life. Religion is a set of teachings, rules and
conducts founded around a divine teacher, although religion
can enhance spirituality if it is used constructively.
A friend of mine who is gay used to have a problem
reconciling his sexual orientation with his religion. When
he went to confession and told the priest what the problem
was, the priest said, "The only sin is to deny what you are,
what God made you. " This young man was fortunate
enough to have a very wise and understanding priest who
helped him to accept himself. If he had gone to a priest who
believed otherwise, those beliefs would have been imposed
on him and he most likely would have continued to feel
guilt and remorse for who he was. Any teaching that causes
you to feel ashamed of yourself, your body, or your feelings
is aggressive and abusive. It is insulting to your very being.
You cannot be a whole person if you are constantly
burdened with judgments about your actions or with bombastic
commandments demanding adherence at the price of
your integrity. You can "get" religion-many do and
become religious gluttons-but you cannot "get" spirituality.
You cannot follow its rules because it has none.
All religions and "special" groups hold out the promise
of giving the individual a sense of being connected to
something, of being a part of something greater than
himself. The need to belong is a great motivator. Once a
person is aware of being part of everything, it is unnecessary
to go anywhere to feel a sense of belonging because
you are already a part of wherever you may happen to be.
· Aren't some New Age beliefs pathways to higher
consciousness?
The last couple of decades have seen a profound change
in attitudes toward expanded states of consciousness, enlightenment
and spirituality. The failure of our society to
provide a fertile ground for the cultivation of one's self-its
emphasis on materialism as opposed to community, of
isolation rather than integration, of man as inherently "evil"
rather than as intrinsically whole-has led to a mass turning
toward Eastern and Native systems of philosophy and
tradition as a means of salvation.
In typically Western fashion, the fascination with personal
transformation has become virtually a national obsession,
with gurus and recipes for enlightenment being
hawked like cotton candy at a carnival.
In our enthusiasm we overlook the fundamental aspects
of the teachings we embrace, with its seeming Catch-22
that requires us to be aware in order to be free. Without a
firm sense of self, the unawakened consciousness senses
the separation between the technique and the practitioner;
it's unable to see that the effectiveness of any technique
resides in one's self.
A self which is not conscious cannot be known. Consciousness
creates itself from the position of its own existence;
as it does, it moves slowly up to the stages of
awareness. The way we view ourselves goes through
developmental stages. Without complete movement
through these stages, blending and balancing the parts into
a whole, we're left with a sense of emptiness.
New Age and other current spiritual teachings, groups,
courses, etc., offer one-sided formulas or recipes for living.
The student replaces one set of beliefs for another, rather
than inquiring into the nature of being. They give people
beliefs to replace beliefs, doctrines to replace doctrines. It
may be argued that there are "higher beliefs." While there
may be some truth to this, the wise know that these beliefs,
too, must be released. The bottom line is, beliefs are
beliefs, period, and they keep people in a perpetual dream
state.
You want your beliefs, what you refer to as your truth,
confirmed by what your ordinary consciousness perceives
as new and exciting sources. But it's important to see that
all that you are capable of hearing at that ordinary level is
that which you have already heard, that which reinforces
the beliefs of your conventional consciousness. The "exotic"
is not telling you anything new.
Psychologist Francis Vaughan points out, "the failure of
orthodox religious practices to provide genuine experiences
of transcendence have created a climate of spiritual deprivation
and an intensified search for transcendental answers."
If there were such a thing as a "wrong" choice, the down
side of it would be the psychological consequences of
joining a group purportedly offering "spiritual" self-realization.
According to a prominent transpersonal psychologist,
large numbers of people are being led "to surrender
self-determination willingly in order to gain a sense of
purpose in a world perceived to be meaningless." We see
individual quests for personal growth and spiritual fulfillment
detouring through the shadow world of human potential,
the noble desire for self-realization turned into a simple
obsession with self-indulgence and immediate physical
sensation; such excesses have led to a nationwide concern
over cultism. Dr. Lowell Strieker addresses these issues by
saying, "The cult controversy illumines not only conflicts
of generation and values but shifts in perception about the
way the world is, the way it will be, and what ought to be
done about both."
People are hungry for any experience of what they think
to be God, Kundalini or UFOs and are eager to believe just
about everything they read or hear, if it fits in with what
they want to be true. If the simple beliefs you have about
yourself may be false, what makes you think these more
encompassing beliefs might be true?
Kurt is a gifted sculptor whose artwork is admired by
many, but he has difficulty making a comfortable, steady
living. His personal earthly efforts are diffused by his
otherworldly interests. His vivid imagination is a wonderful
asset to his work, but it doesn't help him much in everyday
life. He believes in flying saucers and claims it is the sign
of an enlightened mind not to rule out the possibility of
extraterrestrials. But for him, flying saucers are reality, not
merely the acknowledgement of possibility.
So much in his life is unfulfilling that the fantastic and
far-away holds greater appeal than his reality. He can't say
that he has actually met an alien or been beamed aboard a
spacecraft, but he likes the idea and wants it to be true. It
helps to make him special. If he were content with his life,
he might see things differently, but he's not content. He is
always getting involved with one scheme or another requiring
a hefty cash outlay, promising big returns that never
materialize. Because he always looks on the bright side, he
justifies these adventures as lessons. But he never does learn
from them and continues to be sucked into one get-rich-quick
scheme after another. In many ways, he is a very
aware person, more so than many, yet he never seems to
slow down long enough to see what he is doing.
In reading this example, you might think I am against
these possibilities. I am not against them. I neither believe
nor disbelieve them, which frees me for all possibilities
without binding my energy to the belief process.
Many metaphysical people love words like "sacred
places," "brotherhoods," the "light," and are conned by
endless promises made in this workshop or group that they
will meet their greater self, communicate with or see UFOs.
This is all advertising. They promise that you will find out
who you are, for a price. The price is not the money, but
the energy wasted in useless pursuits. You want your old
religions wrapped up in a New Age package but everything
remains the same. You're still pursuing the same things,
merely changing the facade. Now it's extraterrestrials, light
brotherhoods, sacred places and conspiracies. I find it
humorous when I look at our world and see the difficulty
people have in tolerating anything that is new or anyone
who is different, and yet there are so many who are eager
to meet beings who might be very different indeed. Not only
are most people unable to sustain a relationship with a
member of the opposite or even same sex, they can barely
tolerate their neighbor who happens to be of a different
sexual, political, religious, ethnic or economic background.
It's important to see the commonness of it all. It's
important to see how common you are just one of the
herd. And when you do find out that you've been taken for
a ride, you justify it by saying you have learned from the
experience. But you haven't. You were taken in by the same
old thing--empty promises. And it's even more important
to see that you will do it again. You're in love with anything
that keeps you away from what is happening now, anything
that prevents you from being who you are right now.
The power is not in the cards, the crystals, or in anything
or anyone outside yourself. All power resides in the I AM
of yourself. Within the I AM is the substantial, fundamental
truth. Now I wouldn't necessarily take away someone's
comfort but I am compelled to tell you that as long as you
view the world through your belief systems, the outside is
all illusion. It is not the reality that you take it for; it is a
shadow of the reality-temporary, a pale copy. Only the
essence is real. Start working with that as a basis and you
will build upon a stable foundation. Understand, we are not
here to change the world but to change our perception of
the world; out of this comes our reality.
· So you're saying that these beliefs are false?
No. It's not for me to be your authority on the truth of
what you may believe or disbelieve. You must be your own
authority. Your beliefs may be true, or only partially so.
I'm saying that if you want to be more conscious, aware
and awakened (something which every one of you reading
this book apparently wants or you wouldn't have read this
far), then you must examine all you have ever taken to be
true in order to find out for yourself what is true and what
is not.
You think your beliefs serve you, but in what way? Have
you investigated? Beliefs don't serve you; you serve them
and you pay dearly for it. They are an investment in
blindness. Believing yourself to be what you are not keeps
you from being all that you are. Remember the woman from
Missouri and her belief in her unbelief? Beliefs require an
enormous amount of energy to sustain them, energy that
you need if you want to go farther. It's a heavy price to
pay. If you wish to become more aware, you can't afford
it. That energy must be released. At a certain point, a
person who wants to be more aware cannot continue to
carry the burden of false beliefs. In order to climb to the
top of the mountain where truth resides, he must first unload
all the unnecessary baggage.
· I feel I would fight and even die for what I believe in!
Fight? Obviously. Die? I doubt it. Not intentionally,
anyway. Willingness to die for something doesn't make it
truer. What is true is that you're afraid to even consider the
possibility that your beliefs may not be true and that's the
truth you need to see. I admire your earnestness but your
statement is foolish. If you must die, die for what is real.
The fact that you refer to it as your truth suggests it is not
the Truth. Your statement can't be verified, which makes
it safe for you to say. It's like someone saying that they
love humanity while not being able to be in a relationship
with one other person. It's so easy to love the distant and
the obscure. Love one other person and you will love many.
Love yourself and you love everyone. I know you feel
you'd die for what you believe in, but the next time you're
placed in front of a firing squad for your beliefs, let us know
what happens. It will hold more weight then.
The more emotional or sentimental you are, the less
likely you are to examine your beliefs. This is detrimental
to many New Agers and churchgoers. The example of a
member of a group meeting at my house demonstrates this.
It had rained all day, and the moisture brought with it an
uncomfortable chill. It wasn't a gentle rain, but a heavy
downpour, the kind Southern California doesn't handle
well. The group members were soaked by the time they
entered the house, contributing to the uncharacteristically
sober discussion at hand.
Pamela's expression betrayed the disturbance she felt as
she sat cross-legged in a far corner of the room. She wanted
to be perfect. She worked hard at it and didn't hesitate to
correct you when your ideas and beliefs didn't coincide with
her own. She belonged to a well-known group with a nasty
reputation for aggressive persuasion and intimidation, yet
for her it was the most superior of teachings.
"I'm twenty-three and I am a very spiritually advanced
person. I am involved in a very spiritual organization and
it bothers me that most of the people sharing here are
coming from their heads. They're not coming from their
hearts. Feelings are what is important if you want to be
spiritual. I always come from my heart because that is the
only way we can get in touch with our inner self. We should
be sharing what we are feeling, not what we're thinking."
Her attempt at piousness couldn't disguise her patronizing
tone.
"Can you share from your feelings and let the others
share intellectually, or must everyone come from the space
you come from?" I asked. "You consider yourself to be
spiritually advanced and yet admonish anyone who doesn't
conform to your standard of behavior." This aggression
within us, even if it is believed to be spiritually motivated,
is why the world is as it is. Sentimental and emotional
feelings (which we often refer to as coming from our hearts)
are required to project what we believe in. The mind
produces these feelings (energy) in order to anchor the
illusion.
_______________________________________________
THE FUTILITY OF KNOWLEDGE
Unless you know from your own experience, all knowledge
is futile. Knowledge has its uses, but it has been my
experience that if I am going inward, it becomes more and
more useless; the deeper I go, the more useless it is. The
farther I go outward, the more useful it is. Knowledge is
all the past. The future is conjecture. Now can only be
experienced. I find that what we generally think of as
knowledge is really information. Knowledge is borrowed,
wisdom is my own, and only wisdom can transform you.
People love to brag about their knowledge, but if our
intelligence cannot show us the false phenomenon of the
ego, then we're not very intelligent at all.
Wisdom comes when knowledge has been put aside. Call
it knowledge or call it mind. Mind is knowledge. When you
have put aside all knowledge, you are in a state of not-knowing.
The state of not-knowing is difficult at first because
we are so used to thinking we know. But it eventually
becomes a beautiful experience because it is innocence.
You will be full of wonder and awe. Giving up is the first
step. But the real giving up is in realizing that there is
nothing to give up. There's nothing to give up because
nothing was ever ours in the first place.
4
MY QUEST FOR FREEDOM
"To know the truth, you must
pass through your own
experience in full awareness."
As human beings, we have an innate desire for freedom.
We want to be free from burdens, worries, lack, and the
unsettling feeling of insecurity. Although we cling to the
transient, we are conscious of the limited, tenuous and
illusory character of our physical existence. We may envision
the pleasures of this world to be real and satisfying,
but pain and despair continually remind us otherwise. We
try to believe that we will enjoy complete satisfaction once
we've attained worldly things, but inwardly there is an
unrelenting rebellion against this false belief. We intuitively
know that we can only find satisfaction and complete peace
by living in the present. Fueled by our desire for freedom,
we have accomplished much in making the world a better
place to live; however, there have always been limits to our
freedom.
The cause of internal and external conflict in our lives is
our assumption of and/or our quest for permanence. We
would like to hold on to something predictable. Our mind
would like to modify the world for reasons of convenience.
When it can't make the external conditions more predictable
and encounters the difference between what is and what
the mind believes should be, we experience pain.
We search for freedom with a mind fragmented by beliefs
which produces a world of duality where no peace, freedom
or satisfaction can be found because only conflict arises
from duality.
As long as we feel we are separate from each other,
freedom will appear to be the ability to control and manipulate
others. It doesn't take much of an expanded awareness
to see that we usually associate freedom with money and/or
success, which seems to lead to power, prestige and respect
in the eyes of the world. But true internal freedom comes
with the truth of what is. Only when we either willingly
look at or are forced to face what is, are we liberated from
these beliefs.
_______________________________________________
MY EXPERIENCE
I'd like to share my experience of how I came upon the
potential of being free from beliefs, so I'll give a little
history about how it all started.
I was born a lucid dreamer. A lucid dreamer is someone
who is able to enter into dream states, particularly at night,
and become conscious or awake in those dreams. These are
not the dreams of the common mind, although sometimes
that world is entered into or briefly touched by someone
during sleep and will be remembered by them as being a
very vivid dream. I didn't realize it was anything special
until years later; I just enjoyed my dreams every night.
I was also an avid reader. As I grew older, I soon
discovered books on magic and the occult. For years I read
anything on metaphysics that I could get my hands on. Even
when I worked as a dancer/actor on Broadway in New York
City, I always carried a book to read during intermission.
I knew there was something important in those books, if I
could only grasp it, that would give me the answers to all
life's questions, such as who am I? What's life all about?-
the usual questions.
When I moved to California, I stepped up my pursuit of
the answers to these burning questions with even greater
zeal. I became involved with many different groups and
religions, but because I've always had the ability to really
listen to what is being said and not get caught up in the
personality of the individual conveying these messages, I
was able to extract the gold and leave the rest. I saw other
people getting caught up in the personalities rather than the
message. I didn't have that problem -I didn't care who I
listened to or what their personality or lifestyle was as long
as I was learning something from them.
I became involved with a little-known organization that
presented ideas-different beliefs, myths and ideas, religious
and otherwise-to me, but they also gave me alternatives.
They never told me what to believe in. They were
very big on facts. They would say, "Now we don't know
what this is, but the facts are ..." and they would present
those facts. When it was a theory, they would say, "Now
this is just a theory," then explain what the theory was and
where it came from. They would present an idea or concept
with all the information available on the subject, then
stimulate the desire to experience it personally, rather than
merely accepting it without investigation. After I left the
group, I realized that what they were doing was training
me to be open to seeing the oneness of life.
Eventually, however, I got to a point where I felt I knew
too much. It was like an anchor around my neck, weighing
me down. I was full of knowledge on a mental level, but
unable to translate it to my life. I looked around and saw
the same thing with the others involved in groups-as far
as I could see, no one was really living what they were
teaching. And I wondered what good all that knowledge
was if it didn't lead to wisdom. I decided to just live my
regular everyday life as best I could, so I proceeded to set
aside all the books and information I had accumulated and
to live the principles I'd learned.
These principles included the idea of responsibility,
creative visualization, and positive thinking, as well as the
more esoteric concepts of Zen and Buddhism. I wanted to
experience these principles personally rather than merely
read or talk about them. I felt a great urge to communicate
these ideas to others, and I didn't want them discounting
the ideas because I wasn't personally living them myself. I
had already heard in other groups I was in: "Well, no, I
can't really do it myself, but I can teach it to you. " I wanted
to live it myself so I could share from personal experience.
So, after discarding all the books, I spent about four or
five years putting these beliefs into practice. I didn't
particularly care if anyone else lived these principles or not.
I wanted to do it -I wanted to live it, to experience it. If
belief truly did create and produce in life, then I wanted to
take my beliefs and prove it to my own satisfaction.
During this period, a dear friend named Alzada, an
eighty-year-old woman, taught me a great deal. I remember
asking her a question once that I thought very profound,
very deep-something about the oneness of the Universe.
And she just turned to me and said, "Is your rent paid?" I
didn't know what she was talking about, so I asked the
question again. Again, she turned to me and said, "Is your
rent paid?"
I later realized the point behind her question: if your
immediate, present world is not in order, there is no sense
pursuing otherworldly interests. But we're in love with
other dimensions of reality; we don't want to have to deal
with what's here and now.
I had been told by a teacher whose name was Neville that
"what is profoundly spiritual is also very practical," so I
decided to put my beliefs into practical application, so that
when I imagined something in my mind, it would produce
itself in the world. I put images up on a bulletin board of
all the things I wanted. I told myself if I truly believed these
things about myself, my life, and the world and held true
to those beliefs, keeping them constantly in mind, then I
would produce them in my life. I was reconditioning myself
to thinking positively, to thinking I can have anything I can
visualize: a new car, a new life, a wonderful relationship,
anything I want if I only believe it. And I did-I produced
all of it.
I even started visualizing certain statements I wanted
other people to say about me. For example, I was working
out a lot, going to a gym and building myself up physically.
Having always been thin and very self-conscious about it,
I wanted to hear someone say, "God, you look great!
You've really built yourself up. " The next day, a total
stranger walked up to me, hesitated, then turned to me and
said, word for word, what I wanted to hear. When I realized
how much my thoughts influenced the world, it frightened
me for a while, but I continued visualizing over and over
again.
I learned so much from doing this. I realized that every
time we believe anything, we produce it in the world. Now
it's not necessarily produced exactly the way we imagine,
the basic belief is produced relative to the motive behind
it. We bring our experiences into our life by believing them
into existence.
Let me give you an example. People in life will often say
they are waiting for another Jesus Christ, Buddha, or other
master teacher to come into the world. But what they really
want is a savior-someone to do for them what they cannot
or will not do for themselves. They want to believe that
someone is going to come and save them from all their sins,
the horrors of the world, or whatever else they think they're
bound by. That's a very natural thing for people to do, and
when people want a savior, that's what they're going to get.
For example, Hitler was a savior to the German people in
the 1930s because they believed they needed someone to
save them. They believed it and they produced it. Their
savior came-they got Hitler. This may seem like an
extreme example, but it can and does happen. It takes
millions of people to believe a man like this into existence.
We believe in something and we produce it, but by acting
on the basis of our beliefs, which are backed by questionable
motives, we live illusions which then create unfortunate
consequences.
Another example: There came a point where I wanted to
experience psychic phenomena-to travel to other worlds
and have out-of-body experiences and all sorts of things
like that-so I did. For several years I had incredible
mystical experiences that were a definite step in my growth
process. The more mystical experiences I had, the more I
believed in them. And the more I believed in them, the
more my mind produced them.
Then I started to grow again, and I moved from there
into giving seminars on imagination and teaching people
how to train their minds so that they would think constructively
and produce a different life for themselves.
This may seem to contradict what I've been saying about
beliefs, so let me explain further. In one sense, it is true
that, when identified through feelings, our beliefs can be
manifested. But one of the problems with having beliefs
and one of the benefits of being free of them is that beliefs
have boundaries. The very nature of a boundary means that
there is something beyond it. If we only cling to the
boundary, then we'll never go farther. Plato tells a story
about people dwelling in a cave who only saw the outside
world as the shadows cast upon the walls of the cave. One
day a man left the cave, went outside and experienced the
real world. Upon his return, the others didn't believe his
report of things outside their knowledge and experience.
But he was free from their belief that the cave was the only
real world because he had experienced a wider reality and
knew differently.
The way you view the world is not unlike being in a room
of a large house that is situated on a hilltop. Let's say you
are seated in the living room and there are four windows
in that room. One window looks onto a small courtyard,
one looks out at a neighbor's house, one faces north to a
mountain range, and the main picture window has a view
of the sky and the city below. Four people are looking
through four different windows. They are in the same
room, viewing the same world-in different ways. When
asked to describe reality, the person looking at the courtyard
might say, "The world is made up of flowers and a
fountain and sunshine. It is rather small but very beautiful."
The person looking out of another window will describe the
world differently: "Oh, no. There is the wall of another
house. There's a big tree shading the house and not much
sunlight in this world. It's also unkempt, for the grass is
overgrown and there are trash cans full of garbage sitting
around. It's not a very pretty sight." Another sees a
mountain range to the north. "There is a lot of potential in
my world. I see mountain tops that I could climb." The
fourth might say, "My world is really big. There's lots to
see-a vast sky, an ocean, a big city with lots of people.
There's a lot of diversity in my world."
While one view may be more expansive than another, all
are valid and have some truth but none of them is the
complete truth. You may encourage a person to look
through a different window, but he is still in only one room
of the house. I could tell you about other rooms in the house,
and you may or may not believe me. The young girl who
says she is very spiritual may be looking out of a bigger
window; this may give her the feeling of spiritual superiority,
but she's still confined to the living room.
Our teachings and organizations are like many rooms and
windows in the same house. Each room is different, and
each has windows with various views, but they are still in
the house. When you recondition or reprogram yourself,
you are exchanging the view from one window for another,
or even moving to a different room, but you are still in the
house. You have changed your belief and expanded yourself,
but you are still limited. You will always be limited
within the confines of the house. I am encouraging you to
leave the house altogether and move outside; to be under
the sky, not a roof; to be out in the fresh air, not in a stale
room. Beliefs are the walls surrounding a confined space.
No matter how big the room, all belief has a boundary,
which makes it limited. Have no walls. Neither believe nor
disbelieve. Be open and available. Be alive.
Here's another example to help you further understand
states of consciousness. Let's imagine a map of the United
States. You are on the East Coast and you want to reach
the West Coast because you've heard about the Pacific
Ocean and you want to experience it. The Pacific Ocean
represents the vastness of freedom and full awareness. So
you begin your journey, one state at a time. Each state is a
little different from the previous one because the people of
each state think differently and the laws of each state are
different as well. A law that might apply in New York may
not apply in Ohio. What is true in Ohio is not necessarily
true in Colorado, but they are similar because they are all
part of a greater country called America.
So, off you go. Obviously, in order to enter a state, you
must be willing to leave the previous state. Sometimes it is
difficult because each state (idea, belief, religion) has a .
certain allure. But your inner longing is to reach the West
Coast, no matter how sidetracked you may become at times.
While traveling through the different states, you take with
you all the accumulated knowledge you have gained. These
souvenirs take up room and weigh your luggage down; it
becomes heavier and heavier. After some time, you reach
Nevada and enter Las Vegas with all its glittering lights and
delights. This is the psychic world-the world of channeling,
fortune tellers, astrologers, and extraterrestrials. It's
unlike any other state you've visited.
You feel this must be what you've really been looking
for. You feel power like you've never felt before. It's fun
and exciting. You think you've arrived. That's the biggest
danger to those who are journeying to the West Coast. The
allure of Vegas is the most difficult to move beyond. It all
seems so real. Most people stay in this state a very long
time. A few eventually see the illusion, and realize that
although the experience is valid while you are in Las Vegas,
it is not the reality you originally sought. So, with much
effort and determination, you leave Nevada and continue
to the Coast. It is not gaining these powers that is the benefit
of the experience-it is the ability to release that power
after you have attained it.
Finally, you get a glimpse of the mighty Pacific. How
do you explain that glimpse to people who are landlocked?
How do you explain vastness and freedom to people surrounded
by the boundaries of walls? You finally reach the
shore and the ocean is before you. It's unlike anything you
could imagine, so different from the stories you'd heard.
But how do you travel in it? You can't take a car or a bus
or a train. None of those apply here. No belief system
applies. There are no landmarks, no paths just vastness.
This is water, not land. How do you leave the country itself
behind?
This story illustrates the journey we as individuals must
take. So you set out, going through many states of consciousness
on the way. Now I define a state of consciousness
as everything we believe, accept, and most
importantly, consent to as being true. Because it seems to
be true, we think it ceases to be a belief. For us, it becomes
a fact, even though it's a belief and not a fact.
Now, the fact may be true, it may be partially true or it
may be a complete superstition or fantasy. The human mind
is filled with so many of these beliefs, it's a wonder anyone
could move past the boundaries. Yet it is possible. There
are those who have done it. I've done it to a certain degree,
which is why I encourage people to move beyond the
boundaries and free themselves from beliefs. I don't mean
just the little beliefs about moving from lack to prosperity,
from hate to love, from one belief to another. I'm talking
about not reprogramming yourself. This is the basis of this
book: not reprogramming or reconditioning yourself. Can
a person neither believe nor disbelieve and, letting go of
where he is, not add a different belief? Is it possible? I say
it is.
Most people are afraid to let go of their beliefs because,
for a while, they feel as if they are not rooted to anything.
But that's what freedom is. People say they want freedom,
but what they really want is just a little freedom. The
boundaries of their beliefs may be pretty large, and they
may seem to be free, but sooner or later, they'll run up
against the limits of their belief. Why not sooner rather than
later? Why not today-why not now?
I started this book by saying, "I believe in everything and
I believe in nothing." Now that really confuses people.
They say, "Now wait a minute, you're being contradictory.
" What they don't understand is, it's not contradictory.
If their eyes were open and aware, they would begin to see
the world is both one vast contradiction and no contradiction
at the same time. Believing in nothing frees you to
believe in everything. In a sense, they cancel each other
out.
So, going back to my story, I taught these seminars for
a while, then I began writing for several metaphysical
magazines. This was during the time New Age ideas
became popular throughout the country and not just at
esoteric gatherings. I became reasonably well-known and
received invitations to speak at seminars, conferences and
the large metaphysical Expos, as well as on television. I
considered myself fortunate that I was able to speak to so
many different groups of people because, in their own
special way, they all related to what I was sharing. They
always thought of me as being a member of their own
particular organization, whether it be Catholic, Science of
Mind, Alcoholics Anonymous, or esoteric metaphysics.
While I was writing for a certain magazine, I became
friends with the editor, a man from India. One night, he
called me to question a statement I had made in my article.
"You don't really believe that, do you?" he asked.
"Believe what?" I said.
"That statement-you don't really believe that?" He
sounded so incredulous that I found myself reacting.
I said, "Well, I don't believe it. It's a fact."
He began to laugh, and said, "What makes you think this
is a fact?"
We debated for over three hours. It had been so long
since anyone had questioned what I said that it pushed a
button in me. I remember getting angry and upset because
he didn't accept what I was saying as the truth. As we were
arguing, I realized he was telling me this was a belief.
As I hung up the phone, my life changed immediately.
It was a transcendent experience, an illumination, and I
discovered that transformation is something that takes place
in an instant. It's not something occurring over a period of
time. The actual transformation happens instantly. It was
like I became illuminated as soon as I hung up that phone.
I sat there and I thought, "Oh my God, if that's a belief and
I took it as a fact, what about everything else I think factual?
How many of them are really beliefs?" I became confused
and sat up the whole night wondering whether the things I
had been teaching as fact were, in actuality, beliefs.
I had made a quantum leap from one level to an entirely
different level, questioning literally everything I had ever
thought I knew. I began to feel that I knew nothing. It was
as though my whole life had been spent as a safely anchored
ship, and now I was set adrift. I went through that period
for several weeks.
One morning, I woke up and realized that there are so
many different levels that what's true on one level is not
necessarily true on another level. (Ultimately, there are no
levels. Everything is "one," but for the purpose of explanation,
the concept of levels is sometimes used.) I felt
completely refreshed and free of everything. I walked
outside and was overwhelmed by the simplicity of life. It
dawned on me that there is no purpose to life other than
what we give it. I looked at a flower and saw the interconnectedness,
the oneness of life. I thought, there's no
purpose, no reason for anything and it just is what it is. Life
doesn't need a reason to exist.
The feeling of freedom that came over me was like
nothing I had ever experienced. My mind was free-it
didn't have to come up with explanations or ideas or beliefs.
I felt so fresh and so new. There was no need to look to
anything or look forward to anything. It was as though I
had seen life for the first time. I felt connected to every
aspect of life, but without the sense of urgency or need for
accomplishment I had always known. My mind wasn't
there. It was a sense, it wasn't a thinking process. It was a
sense, a feeling, a fragrance of life. It was what psychologists
describe as a "felt" experience, something that can't
really be explained verbally. How do you explain the
fragrance of a rose to someone who has never smelled one?
What words do you use?
I felt myself becoming progressively lighter. Waves of
raw emotion rose and fell within me, liquid feelings flowing
through my being that filled me up and carried my heart
away. I felt as though I were safely resting in gentle hands.
I knew at once that I was safe, that we are all safe and
always have been. It's an astonishing realization that has
nothing to do with wanting or needing to be secure. You
just know that you are secure; there is no question about it.
The experience left me a humbler and wiser man. I found
it difficult to share because there were no words to describe
what I had seen and felt, yet I was changed in many ways.
I began to allow this sense of deepening freedom within my
being to penetrate me profoundly. I became willing to let
myself be shaken in my familiar and secure beliefs, to allow
myself to be troubled enough to renew my inquiry into
myself and what I lived for.
I'd read about this process and understood it on an
intellectual level, but had never experienced it. Indeed, I
really wasn't aware that I had never experienced it-I'd
always thought I was completely aware and in touch with
reality. Until I was free, I didn't realize how unfree I had
been. That's when I really began to examine where I was.
· How can any of what you say be proven?
If I could give you the proof you want-which I can't - your
belief would be based on my proof, not your own.
You would end up back where you started. My experience
is my proof and is valid only for me. I can only share that
experience with you as best I can through the limited
medium of words. You can't have my experience-who
can have another's experience? Instead of spending valuable
energy looking for proof of the truth, which you do
not know, see the reason why you need external proof.
· But how can I know that what you say is true?
You're still looking for outside proof. To know the truth,
you must pass through your own experience in full awareness.
You can know what is not. What is, you can only be.
Investigate the proofs you have of what you believe you
know. You'll find you know nothing for sure. You just
believe what you've been told.
5
THE BENEFITS
OF FREEDOM
"We are such strange beings.
We don't understand the
common things of life,
the simple struggles and joys,
and yet we try to grasp
the mysterious and hidden."
The transformation that occurs when an individual
makes a quantum leap to a higher energy level produces a
radical shift in understanding that may be followed by major
changes in the individual, such as increased awareness,
leading to physical and psychological healing. This new
level of energy and awareness generates new relationships
with all aspects of our lives. The transformation I am talking
about begins with scrutinizing our life, our beliefs, ourselves.
Physicists tell us: "You cannot observe anything without
changing the object and even yourself." Most of us are quite
willing to scrutinize someone else's life and judge it by our
highly self-esteemed opinion. But can we observe our own
lives?
On more than one occasion, we have experienced how
observation generates self-transformation and transcends
habit patterns. When there is full awareness, we create
room for spontaneity. It is in this space that insights occur
to give us the freedom to drop our habits instantly. Unless
habits cease, there is no possibility of change.
This ability to observe ourselves has been shared with us
by many illumined men and women. What could be simpler
than to look at something and see it for what it is? I have
not yet found anyone-not even a Buddha, a Christ, or any
kind of revered master-who was not required to undergo
the fires of thought purification before developing the
ability to see. To truly see, we must first clear our inner
vision of the beliefs that cloud our perception of ourselves
and our world.
Life is a monologue, a soliloquy played out through our
relationships with ourselves, our world and with others; the
world and the seeming other is us. When we realize this,
we either become remorseful and (consequently) vindictive
and skeptical, or we take responsibility for our world by
way of the ideas we entertain-self-pity dissolves and in its
wake we find confidence and self-esteem.
If we can remain alert long enough to see the faults,
hypocrisy and the errors in our particular belief system see
it totally as it is and rise above it by not judging it-then
our lives will no longer be guided by the forces of dualitysuch
as attraction/repulsion, friendship/enmity, pleasure/
pain-but by the simple urge to give ourselves to the
moment, free from purely selfish desires.
_______________________________________________
RESISTANCE TO ACTION
Belief inhibits action. When you analyze and question an
action, you put an end to it. When you're aware, your
actions become very intense because you're giving it your
total self. Your being moves appropriately with that action.
It's almost as if there were no choice, which is a good thing
because choice is only for people who have belief systems.
You become free of having to make choices because you
move appropriately with life. You never do anything that's
inconsistent with the reality of who you are.
Because we can't see clearly all the time, we go other
places or turn to other things or other people.
A woman I counseled wanted everyone to do everything
for her. She felt incapable of any action on her own. I told
her repeatedly that only she could make her own changes,
no one else could do it for her. She thought if she could
only find the right place, read the right book or meet the
right person who would wave a magic wand over her, things
could change and transformation would occur. She'd been
to countless psychologists, doctors, groups, read numerous
books, and was still looking for a secret key. I told her the
only magic route to transformation lies through direct
action, but my words fell on deaf ears-it wasn't what she
wanted to hear.
Another man was addicted to Biblical and New Age
quotes. He said he believed in the truth of these sayings and
he could quote endless phrases, but he couldn't live them.
Why do people think this information holds more weight
if it is channeled or comes from some hidden manuscript
or lost scroll? It's so simple that the mind dismisses it. The
mind cannot comprehend simplicity. It wants everything to
be extremely complicated. Freedom from believing requires
that you live in a totally unknown universe.
People need to see the obvious: only they can live their
lives; no one else can live their lives for them. Until they
can overcome their mental and spiritual laziness, they will
remain stuck..
They are not alone. Lots of people, lacking a sense of
self-direction and self-responsibility, want someone or
something else to do for them what they need to do for
themselves. Let Jesus or Buddha save me. Give me a
miracle. Let the Universe do it.
_______________________________________________
THE ABILITY TO SEE
There are steps in the ordinary flow of consciousness that
we instinctively feel compelled to take. Many of us feel a
sense of loss when we realize that our beliefs no longer
define us. Some of us give up, content to be discontent,
dismally experiencing what is as what it's not.
Others, sensing that this is the train's last stop before
pulling into Sunset Village, join the gym, change their
hairstyles, even their lifestyles. They sell their big-city
house and move to the country to commune with nature.
They quit the corporate rat-race and stay home to write the
great American novel. Their children almost grown or out
of the nest, they trade in a familiar, sometimes uncomfortable
relationship with their spouse for the allure of a
mysterious stranger. Such external changes may boost
flagging self-esteem and even fulfill some vital needs, but
the ring they grasp is made of brass, not gold, as they
discover upon closer examination.
Others still hear the internal voice whispering its profound
longing. Dr. M. Scott Peck, in "The Road Less
Traveled," says this voice utters "the call to grace. . . . a
call out of spiritual childhood into adulthood."
Some people will start making what will appear to be
conscious choices and act on those choices; others will
become more choiceless as they begin to slow down and
stop rushing through life. There are people who are ready
to explore and release the beliefs that no longer serve them;
others will need to have something to believe in. Some will
move into a silent period while others will open up and
share more.
There are those who will need to stop disciplining
themselves, to stop trying to be so consistent and experience
a period of permitting themselves to "happen. " While some
need to enter into their feelings more, others will have to
begin having some control over their emotions, because at
a certain point, human emotion has to be brought under a
degree of control. And still others, must start to "think"-to
learn to use their minds-not more intellectually, but more
intelligently.
_______________________________________________
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
A child at play, full of laughter and tears, running and
jumping, yelling and singing, is marvelous to watch. And
watching her was about all I had the energy to do. A local
television news station had proclaimed the day as "the
hottest in years," as if I needed his verification. Resting in
the shade, barely able to move, afforded me the opportunity
to observe her silently as she played, expressing herself
fearlessly moment to moment, completely uninhibited and
seemingly unaffected by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds.
Expressing one's self can be frightening for most people.
I remember an acting class I attended many years ago in
New York City. The two actors on stage were doing one
of the most boring scenes I had ever witnessed. It wasn't
the fault of the material they were performing; it was them.
"What do you think you're doing up there?" the teacher
asked them.
After a long pause, one of the actors shyly suggested,
"Acting?"
We all laughed.
"We're trying to be real," added the other actor. "I don't
want to over-act."
"What do you people think real is?" the teacher inquired.
"Certainly not the behavior most people display in their
everyday lives. Out there, everyone is repressed, and you
think that is an example of real life? As actors, it is our
responsibility to express ourselves in a way that everyday
people do not because they are too self-conscious. You're
not here to be self-conscious. A little over-acting would do
you a world of good and hold your audience's attention a
whole lot more. They don't pay to come to the theater or
go to a movie to see what they can see in their everyday
lives. They come to the theater to feel something. They
come to see someone express themselves in a way they feel
they cannot. Everyone wants to express himself but almost
everyone is deathly afraid to do it."
There was momentary silence in the room, then the
teacher said, "Now, start the scene again, and for God's
sake, give it some life. Take some chances, show some
passion, stop playing it safe. Express yourselves!"
One of the biggest freedoms we experience upon releasing
belief is the freedom of expression. If you're free to
express, you're free to discover all sorts of new things about
yourself, other people, the world around you. You
exude it and it's catching. Other people like to be around
you because they can sense that energy and it allows them
to express themselves more completely.
For years, I produced hundreds of conscious images as
I practiced the principles I had learned about how the One
Power operates through the brain. I was really into imaging
a better life for myself, both physically and psychologically.
I worked hard, concentrating on what I wanted,
thinking positively. After years of controlling my emotions
and thoughts, I was tired of the constant discipline. I was
sure there must be some way to encompass all the individual
images and desires into one basic image. Finally, I realized
that all my wants and desires could be summed up in a very
simple and direct way. I wanted to be able to express
myself.
This was a great revelation to me. I had been trying to
discover what would make me happy-what people, places
and things-and how that happiness would ultimately be
attained. At that point, I entered into the state of expressing
myself 100 percent in everything I did.
What it all comes down to is that people want to express
themselves, whether through a relationship, wealth, success
or spirituality. Music, painting, dance, poetry and
prose are the soul's expression of the muse. Whether you
find your expression in the creation of such art or in its
enjoyment, you want the ability to express that self. If
people are able to express themselves totally-in their
feelings, in their talents, in their being-they are happy.
Yet as long as they are bound by their belief systems, they
are not able to express themselves fully because they have
no idea who they really are.
_______________________________________________
FREEDOM TO LOVE
Shortly after I had gone through the experience of
transcending beliefs, one of my oldest friends was in the
hospital, desperately ill. He had been attending a well known
metaphysical group and was an avid student of the
particular course they followed. I was with him when he
experienced a crisis and the doctors and nurses were trying
to help him. In his fear, he stubbornly refused their help.
He yelled that the Universe would take care of him. I think
he thought that help was just going to drop out of the sky
or something. Frustrated and angry, I said, "Who do you
think the Universe is? It's this doctor and this nurse and
me-all of us who are trying to help you. We are the
Universe."
His belief had separated him from reality, which was that
the Universe he revered so much worked through people.
Anyway, I stayed with him all night long. About three
o'clock in the morning, I suddenly had the sensation that
he was surrounded by a group of beings. Very clearly, I
heard a voice in my head saying, "It's a gathering of
angels."
Those who know me know that I am very grounded and
try to help other people be grounded. It's not that I do or
do not believe in the possibility of angels, it's simply that
I prefer to allow my experience to be genuine and not the
product of a vivid imagination or a particular belief system.
One of the wonderful things that results from being free of
belief systems is that you simply experience the moment
without getting caught up in it. So I was able simply to be
there and have the experience without having to cart around
a belief in angels or beings from another world. It happened,
I accepted it. I was open.
I couldn't get the voice out of my head for weeks. It kept
saying, over and over, "a gathering of angels. " It never said
what a gathering of angels was, but an idea was instilled in
me. Shortly before my friend's illness, I had come to the
realization that I didn't know what I believed and what I
didn't, so I decided to start a group. I wanted to invite
people who wished to experience greater personal and
spiritual freedom in their lives, so I had started to design
an announcement when I realized I didn't know what to call
the group. Now, a few short weeks later, I had a name.
So I put the announcement in my newsletter. The idea
was to gather a group of people who were on the path of
growth and share our thoughts, ideas, feelings-in short,
ourselves-and just be present in the moment. No leaders,
no followers, just people exploring the path of enlightenment
or just sharing our experiences and feelings with each
other. I knew what I needed was not to teach but to find out
what belief systems I had retained unknowingly.
Eight people attended the first meeting. Most, if not all,
had attended a metaphysical event called the Harmonic
Convergence, which was intended to bring about world
peace. In other words, they considered themselves extremely
spiritual and advanced. I introduced a subject and
let the discussion start rolling on its own.
As people spoke, they used what I call metaphysical
buzzwords: love, peace, harmony, consciousness, and so
on. As they grew more comfortable in the setting, I saw
these spiritual, peaceful beings grow more heated in their
attempts to outdo each other with the quality of their
metaphysical knowledge. It virtually became a free-for-all.
Finally, I could stand it no longer and said, "Look at the
eight of us. We're supposed to be so spiritually advanced
that we presume to teach others how to live more harmoniously,
yet we cannot gather in one room and keep peace
amongst ourselves. It's ridiculous." I was laughing because
the situation reminded me of certain wildlife specials I had
seen on television not the ones about cute little bunnies,
but the wild and woolly dangerous ones-and I thought,
instead of calling the meeting "A Gathering of Angels," I
should call it "A Gathering of Potentially Dangerous Animals."
I had attempted to provide a safe place where people
could discuss their ideas and concepts in peaceful nonaggression
and instead I found these spiritual barracudas
going for each other's throats.
In the course of that evening and the years of gatherings
that followed, I learned an awful lot from this group about
love, whether they were aware of it or not. It was part of
the freedom I had gained. When you have those moments
of freedom, you experience this thing called love, and with
it comes compassion and understanding. You don't condone
anything. You simply understand it. You protect
yourself if necessary, but you understand. And this understanding
only comes with freedom from belief systems.
Although I had no belief system to follow, no structure
I was trying to teach, nor was I desirous of learning or
inventing a new one, I continued having the group each
week. It was an education in people's motivations, desires
and beliefs. I saw, despite their self-proclaimed spirituality
(or maybe because of it), the very strongest barriers against
freedom from belief exist in people who consider themselves
spiritual. They bandy a lot of words about but don't
really understand their meaning.
The daughter of a well-known actress and metaphysical
speaker and author, Colleen had come to the gathering one
evening at the insistence of a friend. Settling into the sofa,
she glanced around the room, defying those present to tell
her something she didn't already know. After all, she was
her mother's daughter, and had absorbed her mother's
teachings, and that was more than enough. Besides, did we
know who she was?
Throughout the evening she constantly talked about
love-loving people, loving humanity, and how we just
have to love, love, love. Her aggressiveness and insensitivity
to those around her told me this woman knew nothing
about love, but she used the word and believed she understood
love. Intellectually, she did. She had been to lots of
seminars and had read many books, so she was filled with
knowledge and mistook that knowledge for understanding.
When I asked, "Can you tell me what you mean by love,"
she stumblingly said, "Well, you know, Love." I could hear
the capital letter as she reverently said the word, as if it
explained something.
Many metaphysical people talk a great deal about love.
It's easy to claim belief in something and think that means
you are living it, but words are not substitutes for action.
People talk a great deal about right action, but unless the
mind is free of ideas and beliefs, it cannot act rightly. The
highest form of sensitivity, love is vulnerable and receptive.
It can only be lived. If you are talking a great deal about
it, you probably aren't living it. This book is about love.
You cannot love through your beliefs, because beliefs
separate us. So, if you observe yourself talking a lot about
love, it’s probably time to start doing.
_______________________________________________
FREEDOM FROM EGO
We want our beliefs to be true because they define us,
make us special. Look how special I am. If you believe the
way I do, you're okay, otherwise you're an outsider. Only
my belief is the Truth. It is this belief in the specialness our
beliefs confer on us that brings us to the Ego.
A self-styled "spiritually advanced" man attended the
gathering once. Eric arrived late, which enabled him to
make a grand entrance. He didn't come to learn; he came
because he felt he had "arrived" and was there to share his
presence and knowledge with others. He had no interest in
listening or observing the truth about himself. He only
wished to monopolize the discussion with his ideas and
opinions. We had been talking about the roles we play in
life, and everyone shared but him. After a moment, I turned
to him and asked, "Why the image of the holy man when
it's hard enough just being anyone?" He said nothing, but
his face turned bright red. It was evident that he suddenly
saw himself clearly and realized he was fooling no one but
himself.
The Ego has to be right. Believing has a great deal to do
with being right. It reinforces our opinion of ourselves as
being right, therefore being good or special or elite. When
people become free of beliefs, they have reached the point
where their Ego doesn't need the outside reinforcement and
verification of another's definition of who they are. They
have their own insights and become their own authorities
about what they do, think and believe. They have what I
call freedom from the need to win, which allows them to
release deeply rooted ideas and free their egos from the
need to be right. Because they no longer need to be right,
they are free to share openly and allow others to share freely
as well. Their ego no longer gets in the way. There's no
longer any need for elitism.
I'm reclining in my swimming pool while working on
this book. The sky is clear and it's a beautiful day. The
temperature is about 80 degrees. The water feels great. I'm
looking at the fruit on the tree in my backyard. What more
could I desire? Why do I need to believe in anything? What
need do I have to convince myself that I believe in life after
death, or any other belief? I'm here. I'm alive and in the
present-what could be more wonderful?
I don't have to believe in this swimming pool. Complex
and sophisticated theories emerging in contemporary cognitive
psychology view all of our waking experience of
"reality" as only an approximation of the sensory world.
Maybe, on some deep level, the swimming pool is an
illusion and I believe in that illusion. But it doesn't matter.
The pool is here and I don't have to keep saying, "I believe
in a swimming pool and I believe I'm in the pool." It's not
necessary. Awake and aware of every moment and everything
that is happening, I'm content simply with being here
and now.
This business of what is real and what is illusion can be
confusing. Think of it this way: Stand in front of a mirror.
You are real and so is the mirror, but your image reflected
in the mirror isn't real. The ego is unreal but the thought
process, brain cells and memories are real. It's when
consciousness becomes identified with the brain cells (the
mirror) that the ego (the reflection) is formed. The more
aware you become, the less you are affected by this false
ego that interferes with everything. It's no longer threatening
to realize that you are powerless about certain things or
that you have limitations. The false ego wants to think it
has no limits, but it does. As your awareness grows, there
will be no false ego to make judgments about the past. You
will see the past clearly and be free of it.
_____________________________________________
FREEDOM TO BE REAL
"When you are Real you don't mind being
hurt. ... It doesn't happen all at once, " said the
Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time.
That's why it doesn't often happen to people who
break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have
to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you
are Real, most of your hair has been loved off,
and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the
joints and very shabby. But these things don't
matter at all, because once you are Real you
can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
"
-"The Velveteen Rabbit"
Like the Skin Horse told the Rabbit, becoming real "takes
a long time. " Just about the time most of our hair has
vanished and we get "loose in the joints," we realize there
is something still missing. Outwardly, we appear to be
mature individuals, yet inside we feel a sense of incompleteness,
a yearning for something as yet unknown. "Are
we real yet?" we wonder.
Our time until now has been spent making our mark on
the world. Now we become aware of a frozen void within
us; we feel hollow and unfulfilled. There must be something
more, we think. We once more question the meaning of our
existence.
This is in part brought on by the realization that we are
no longer young. We are not yet old, but the first blush of
youth is no longer upon us: our physical reactions are not
as quick as they once were and our thinking processes seem
to take longer than before. We become more aware of our
own mortality and begin to lose the youthful certainty that
old age and death are part of someone else's life, not our
own. We begin to see, as author Gail Sheehy puts it, "the
dark at the end of the tunnel." Growing older is like
watching the sun going down. As it nears the horizon, it
seems to descend faster. The proximity to death seems
closer as we age, so life seems to go faster.
Part of becoming free from beliefs includes coming to
terms with our inner self. In doing so, we begin to be whole
and wholly alive, moving from our limited consciousness
of belief to an awakened consciousness. In the struggle to
reconcile ourselves with ourselves, we must connect with
the powerful forces of destructiveness and creativity coexisting
in the human soul, and integrate them in new ways.
This can only be accomplished when we are no longer
blinded by belief.
In our search, we experience a crisis that leads to
personal transformation of spiritual awakening, and ultimately
to the wisdom of our inner-connectedness with the
community of life. The purpose of this crisis is to educate
the soul in becoming real.
The Chinese word for "crisis" is comprised of two
symbols, one meaning "danger," the other "opportunity,"
a reminder that crisis has a positive as well as a negative
aspect.
On higher levels of consciousness, AIDS might be considered
a necessary experience, but to the people who are
experiencing it and those who are close to them, it is very
traumatic. I'm no stranger to the subject, having facilitated
several HIV groups through the years. I've also been
personally affected by it through loved ones who have died
or are currently experiencing it.
Many metaphysical people, in an attempt to be helpful,
say things like "You created this," or, "It's only an illusion."
Others impose their own beliefs (especially about
wrath and punishment) that only confuse or anger a person
experiencing a life-threatening illness. When someone is in
pain or discomfort physically, emotionally or mentally, that
pain demands all their attention. Words don't help. Frequently,
the words of solace we speak are more to comfort
ourselves than the one who is suffering, because their pain
reminds us of our own mortality. Those who say "Illness
is an illusion" will find that statement isn't much help when
they are actually living with constant pain. It's easy to say
"I'm not afraid of death" when it is another's experience
you are talking about. Such bold statements go right out the
window during any real experience of one's mortality.
Steven was in his mid-twenties but looked much older.
He had just completed college and was out on his own for
the first time. He was open and receptive, devoid of any
pretense. He was real. He had AIDS.
"Do you feel you did anything wrong to bring this about,
such as making the wrong choices?" I asked.
"Perhaps, but I don't think so," he said thoughtfully.
"I hope that you are able to realize, at least in theory,
that this probably was not a conscious choice in the way
some people would have us believe," I told him.
"I just don't want to fight any more," he replied, sadness
and spent anger in his voice.
It is the nature of some people to fight. They are born
warriors, fighting for everything in life. When they get a
life-threatening disease, they will fight to the end. It's the
nature of others to be passive. When experiencing a crisis,
they surrender to it more easily. One way is not right or
more admirable than the other; it is simply the way that
particular person handles life. My observation is that AIDS
may be a disease having more to do with living than with
dying. Dying is easy; living is difficult we don't really
know what will happen next. We like to think we do, but
we don't. AIDS helps to reveal the personality that was
always there. From the standpoint of higher consciousness,
it may actually be a fortunate experience because it compels
a person to see, appreciate and respond to life in a way they
may not have experienced before. It makes a person real.
When a person experiences pain and discomfort from
moment to moment without trying to escape it, something
changes inside him. It's like a long-distance runner who,
exhausted and in pain, reaches a point where endorphins
are released. Even though his body is struggling, he moves
into a place of peace. The pain is still there, but he becomes
separated from it and continues to run. This is not really an
escape; it's a higher state of being.
_______________________________________________
FREEDOM FROM FEAR
Your beliefs chain you to the past. The minute you say
you believe something, it's already the past. You're basing
your belief on something you heard or saw a minute ago,
a year ago, ten years ago. It's always the past. You can
only be free in the present. You can't be free in the past,
you can't be free in the future. You can only be free right
now. Right this moment. You can only be liberated right
now.
I said earlier that our beliefs are based on fear. We
believe because we're actually afraid. That'd the bottom
line. Fear is something that can only exist relative to
something. Yet, many times when I ask what someone is
afraid of, they'll say what they're really afraid of is the
unknown. I tell them that's impossible. You can't be afraid
of the unknown. You can only be afraid of what you know
or of losing what you know. Fear is always in relation to
the known, not the unknown.
This fear of what we know is based on our past experiences.
For example, we remember a time when we were
hurt or abandoned or something unpleasant happened. Then
we're afraid of the future, because we're afraid that's going
to happen again. Our continual projection of these ideas and
beliefs into the future ensures that what we're expecting
will come to pass.
The fear of losing what we know occurs when you lose
the association you have with the familiar. An example of
this is fear of death. People think they are afraid of death
because it is unknown. I suggest that the real fear is of losing
what you know.
One evening, after the gathering had dispersed, Gerri
remained. She was emotionally vulnerable, longing for love
but afraid to love because she was afraid to lose. She kept
saying, "No one loves me. " As I took her hand, I could feel
her stiffen. I put my hand on her shoulder and she recoiled.
I asked her, "How can anyone love you? Love is not
permitted to enter into you-you've already said no. Love
is all around you. If you're sensitive, you can feel it
everywhere, but you can't feel it because you are so
closed."
"How can anyone love me? I'm so fat; all I do is eat.
I've never gotten over my father's death. Every man I meet
eventually leaves. Even friends don't seem to stay long. So
I get depressed, and when I'm depressed, I eat. The
problem is that I always feel depressed, so I'm always
eating."
"Obsession with food is a love need," I said as we walked
outside. "If you are loved and can love in return, you will
eat less. Love fills you up so much, you won't feel empty."
Lots of people have a "fear of abandonment" issue,
which leads to problems in relationships. They're afraid to
get close to other people, because they're afraid they are
going to be abandoned. I told her perhaps she should get a
nice cuddly dog or cat to keep her company. It would love
her unconditionally and help ease her fears of abandonment.
She loved animals, but she didn't want to get a pet
because she said eventually the animal would die and leave
her. She was afraid of that. She said there was no point in
loving something for years, only to have it die.
Well, she's already dead. She's so afraid of being hurt
that she can't enjoy something while it's here because, in
her mind, she wants it to last forever.
This issue of things lasting forever surfaced the other day
with a friend of mine. Bill was talking about how the turmoil
in his life had vanished and now everything was smooth
sailing. He thinks life will stay nice and calm, no more
turmoil. I suggested that everything moves in cycles, from
high to low and back again. "Life is like a wild river, Bill.
It's wild sometimes, it's calm at times and then it goes into
the rapids again."
He didn't like that; he thought that I was being negative.
It's not negativity to look at life as it is, and to see that life
is always changing. He wanted it to get to a certain point
and stay there.
This desire for constancy is a major problem for many
people. It is one of the reasons people hang onto their
beliefs. They want to believe in permanence, in things
always being good. If things aren't, then something must
be wrong. But there's no freedom in that. How can you be
free when your mind is so filled with all these conditions
based on fear?
Fear dulls the heart. It also dulls the mind. When you're
afraid, you don't really think about what's happening, you
simply react. There's no intelligence involved. It's impossible
to rise above fear through suppression or discipline or
any kind of will power. It can only be transcended when
you discover your beliefs, release them and understand the
cause of your fear, then face the fear
I'm not talking about rational physical fears, such as the
fear of fire. It's not the fire you fear, which can bring
warmth and comfort by heating our homes and cooking our
food. Instead, we fear the power fire has to injure and
destroy. These are rational fears. What I am talking about
is psychological fear, which is always related to the past
and the future, never the present.
When people transcend their beliefs, they move into a
timeless state where they are very much in the present and
at peace with themselves and the world around them. Once
we accept that fear exists, we can then move beyond it and
experience that indescribable stretching of being, the alchemy
that transforms chronos (measurable time) to kairos
(the timeless, infinite moment).
_______________________________________________
A FEW MORE BENEFITS
It requires courage to move beyond the boundaries of
your beliefs, but there are many benefits. In addition to all
the freedoms mentioned in this chapter, you'll also experience
a sense of increased self-worth because you will begin
trusting your own perceptions more; you will have less need
for others to agree with you. You will have fewer feelings
of anger, anxiety and depression because you will be
disclosing your real self in more spontaneous ways. Your
relationships with others will be better-more effective and
more satisfying-because you will neither need to approve
of their beliefs nor receive their approval. You will have
achieved a profound philosophical change and a radically
new outlook on life instead of a "positive thinking" attitude
that will only help you cope temporarily with life.
All these benefits can be stated in one word: Freedom.
6
THE GATEWAY TO
TRANSFORMATION
"Live and love dangerously.
Even if you only manage
a single real moment, it will
give you a taste of eternity."
_____________________
B H A G W A N S H R E E R A J N E E S H
I had always remembered my dad smoking, whatever the
occasion. Everyone's dad smoked back then. I don't remember
him not smoking. He had smoked three packs of
cigarettes a day for years and had tried unsuccessfully to
quit smoking many times. Before bedtime one night, in the
middle of winter, he was so fed up with his smoking that
he took his pack of cigarettes into the backyard and buried
it in the snow with a decisive "That's it, I'll never smoke
again." My mother, sister and I congratulated him on his
wise decision and went to bed happy in the knowledge that
this time he seemed determined.
Sometime after three o'clock in the morning, we heard
the wind slam the door shut. Awakened by the noise, we
went into the living room. Mother opened the drapes and
turned on the outside yard light. There was my father, on
his hands and knees, digging in the snow for that pack of
cigarettes. He was just about to light one when the light
switched on and startled him. He turned and looked at our
disappointed faces for what seemed like a long time, but
must have only been seconds. Then he looked at the
cigarette in his hand. He put it down and walked back into
the house. None of us said a word. We went back to bed.
My father never touched a cigarette again.
A transformation is a radical change in being. Our
transformation is brought about by causes within ourselves;
external causes are secondary. When we enlarge our ideas
of what we can be, we create an opportunity to grow beyond
our present limits.
People often ask me if this is something that takes a long
time to do. In one sense, it seems to be, but in another sense,
it happens instantly, immediately. When we see something
clearly, we change and are liberated.
In one instant of clarity, my father saw what he was
doing, and it changed him completely, forever. He saw the
truth of his addiction to cigarettes, and in an instant he was
liberated.
That's the way it happens. In an instant, we're liberated.
But one must be willing to see the truth which liberates,
and that's a problem for many people-they're not willing
to see the truth.
Deep down inside we know things aren't as we think they
are. And we don't like that, so we don't want to see it; we
just keep covering up with beliefs. We have to see that the
mind thinks it is very clear, though it never is. It may be
foolish and cunning, but it is never quite as clever as it
thinks it is.
People talk about wisdom, but wisdom is something that
can only happen when dreaming leaves. If a person has
belief systems, he is dreaming. We have to start associating
beliefs with dreaming. Beliefs are dreams, they're illusions,
not the truth. So wisdom can really only happen when
dreaming stops and observation starts.
_______________________________________________
OBSERVING OURSELVES
"The observer is the forerunner of the Master. "
-Gurdjieff
We begin by observing ourselves, not some great, profound
truth that's out there "somewhere," but what's within
ourselves. We look at what we do, objectively. By doing
so, we're eventually able to clearly see what we are doing
without covering it up with excuses and rationales.
We can learn more from the people who are in our lives
right now than we will ever learn from some savior, avatar
or old manuscript. I've observed that the simple act of dying
can put a bright shine on very tarnished metal. That is less
likely to happen with the living. With the living, we are
faced directly with all their faults and inconsistencies.
We are revealed in the process of relationship. Compelled
to seek the missing parts of ourselves, we surround
ourselves with friends and mates. Separately, each of us is
a fragment; life is the whole. The fragment will never be
all that you want it to be. How can it be when it is only a
fragment? Only when a relationship is not confined to a
pattern will it give you the opportunity for self-revelation.
There must be awareness without choosing one interest
against another, which is the major cause of all conflict.
Ever notice that the only time there is anger is when life is
not going the way we want it to go, or when people are not
being the way we want them to be? In other words, we only
become angry when we don't get our own way.
We have to see the raw truth of who, what and where
we are. That's the only way out-to go within and observe
ourselves. If we continually analyze our moods, passions
and fears, we are trapped within them until we can develop
the ability to simply observe them, without judgment,
without opinion. Only then will we be able to see clearly.
When we can do that, we're liberated. I know this because
it's happened to me, and I've seen it happening in the lives
of others.
We are afraid of losing our beliefs because they pacify
us with the illusion of security. But they are an obstacle to
the true security of self-awareness because they create an
image, and images are what prevent us from seeing a thing
as it actually is. If we cannot see what is real, our experience
is fragmented.
We are faced with a world that is constantly changing.
Would it not be more serene to embrace the flow of life
instead of struggling against it? Can we allow ourselves the
strength to connect with the sense of stability and vitality
within us and trust our own life energy? The mere observation
of the river of life transforms us from the dull,
uninventive, repetitive creatures that we tend to be, into the
alive creative beings that we long to become.
If you don't delude yourself with knowledge acquired by
others, you can search within yourself and knowing becomes
possible. We know that we are existence itself and
that we are someone-who-knows-consciousness itself.
(Don't handle this intellectually, just hear me out.) One part
of knowing is experiencing the ecstasy, the joy of one's
existence. When that is known, you will know yourself
completely, even if it's only a glimpse at first.
Forget endless discussion and blame, and go deeper into
an understanding of what you are now. Stop acting like a
machine. Live undefined. Don't place new conditions on
yourself and you will go beyond all conditioning. Spiritual
maturity lies in the readiness to let everything go, realizing
that there's nothing to give up because nothing is your own.
Transformation requires that we see the truth of a thing
in its totality. Truth itself can only be experienced in its
profound and eloquent totality; it requires awareness. We
must be at the point where we desire this awareness so fully
that we become willing to permit our being to go to any
length to attain it.
_______________________________________________
APPROACHING THE GATEWAY
When the hunger for the full realization of who we can
be leads us to enter into self-observation, we experience an
expansion of the boundaries of belief that lead toward unity
with the self. Developmental psychologist Pascual Leone
calls what emerges from such deeply felt internal interactions
the "ultraself." Transpersonal psychologist Ken Wilber
describes this as the "vision-logic stage" where we
become aware of "networks of relationships," or what I call
the interconnectedness of life. At this stage, the beliefs of
others and their different viewpoints are no longer threatening.
We are able to experience true intimacy for the first
time.
Developmental psychologist Charles Alexander points
out that this is "the hallmark of mature adult development"
where "one is said to recognize the limitations of `closed
system' formal operational reasoning that excludes sources
of information that do not fit one's current worldview. " He
goes on to explain that such detached reflection on life "is
often referred to as wisdom."
Yet many developmental psychologists agree this goal is
rarely achieved. Psychologist Jane Loevinger estimates that
less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the population reaches this state
of wisdom. She suggests that, "theorists themselves are
attempting to describe a level of which they may have some
experience but lack the necessary perspective to objectively
describe."
Why is it that so few reach the point where they are ready
for the spontaneous leap into the unknown? Part of the
answer lies in high-stress lifestyles that dilute the experience
of pure consciousness and discourage detached self observation.
Alexander notes that, "until these deep
stresses are fully eliminated, emotion cannot be completely
life-supporting and fully integrated with cognition, nor can
intuition be consistently valid." And still another part of the
answer lies in the individual's willingness to grow. There
is pain and effort involved in the growing process; many
of us are willing to accept the fruits but not willing to do
the labor. Thus progress toward the point of detached
self-awareness tends to be drawn out, fragmented and
incomplete.
Wilber's conclusion resonates with ancient philosophies
and great spiritual traditions: "Until the unbounded value
of the self, at the basis of the ego, is realized, the individual
will always remain, to some extent, unfulfilled. "
So we move past beliefs' boundaries into the spaciousness
of freedom where we begin to know who we are but
have yet to learn who we might become. We tremble on
the edge of the communion that will connect the realms of
essence and existence, and complete our reality. As
Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, "I don't think we're in
Kansas anymore, Toto."
_______________________________________________
PASSING THROUGH DISILLUSIONMENT
To begin the process, we must be willing to remove the
blinders of beliefs at all costs. It's not an easy path. When
we question these illusions and tenets, we pass through the
distress of disillusionment.
Disillusionment can prepare us for the next step. When
we become completely disillusioned with the person we
have been and the life we have been leading, we've
completed almost half the journey. I think disillusionment
is one of the greatest things that can ever happen to a person.
When people stop being complacent and self-satisfied with
who they are, they are able to see themselves clearlymaybe
for the very first time. Disillusionment opens many
doors because when people doubt, they begin to question
their values, traditions, ideals, illusions ... their beliefs.
And at this point, they are able to move beyond the illusions
that get in the way of their becoming all that they can be.
True understanding requires that you begin to doubt the
firm beliefs you hold, especially those pertaining to religion,
God, and the true meaning of life. Many people believe
it's not good to doubt or be disillusioned, but in order to
reach the point of true understanding and awareness, it is
necessary. When you really desire to become consciously
aware, you are no longer able to blindly accept things the
way you once did. You begin to release the security of the
familiar fantasy for the knowledge of reality. So people who
want to live more fully need to doubt the belief they most
love, even the very thing you are pursuing. You can't
blindly accept anything. When you're doubting, that means
that you are trying to discover something. In order to do
that you have to let go of the things that you hold so close
to you.
You can't hold on to something and examine it at the
same time. You have to release it so you can see it
completely. That's what doubt and disillusionment accomplishthe
ability to finally relinquish the tight hold we've
had on our beliefs and take a good, hard look at them. And
that's what observation is. It's the ability to really be in a
sense detached. Even just for a little while from something,
so that you can see.
· What about faith?
After all this talk of doubt and disillusionment, I can hear
some of you asking, "But what about faith?" Blind belief is
what you must question. Faith is not blind. Faith alone,
however, is not enough but must be expressed in action: it
is the willingness to try. To be alert and watchful is to have
faith in yourself. Faith is a quality whereas belief is a
concept. Those who are afraid cling to their beliefs and try
to convince, coerce or force others into agreeing with them
to achieve validation. It's that old idea that if a lot of people
agree on something, it must be true. I say that's absurd.
Truth is truth, no matter how many people agree or disagree
with it. Quality is important, not quantity. Faith has its place
and serves us, but we're talking about knowing. If you don't
know a thing, having faith in it will only give you the
experience you hoped for and not the real. It's far more
valuable to see clearly that you don't know. Beliefs are
beliefs, period, and will keep us in a perpetual dream state
unless they are utilized only when needed and then relinquished
as soon as possible.
_______________________________________________
LETTING GO
The awesome experience of opening to reality will give
you everything while simultaneously taking everything
away-no more hiding in the illusion of your beliefs. In a
sense, it resembles death, which is why it is frequently
referred to as "dying to self." It's a complete release of
everything. In this process we're dying every day to what
we know. And to die to everything-all your knowledge
and beliefs-is the beginning of wisdom.
While transformation happens in an instant, awakening
is not a single experience-it is a process that unfolds in its
own timing on many levels. It is a never-ending process,
something that you do from moment to moment. It's never
finished.
What happens is you're constantly refreshed. Your body,
mind and spirit are continually renewed because every day
is something different. You're no longer living with preconceived
notions and beliefs. You're open and available
to all life has to offer. What a tremendous reward! The
wonderful thing is that all you need do is release, you don't
have to add anything. People think that if they let something
go, they have to add something else because the emptiness
makes them nervous. That's the reconditioning reflex.
When I am inside the void, I can feel the One Power.
There is nothing but me and the power-thought and
emotion remain outside. I used to take it a little at a time,
but all the beauty and life and wonderment comes at once
now. I surrender to it, and by surrendering, I can direct it,
if appropriate.
This emptiness is really the highest form of love, as far
as I'm concerned, because there's no reactive memory, no
conclusions that distort perception and blind us to what is.
The joy that people seek comes at the moment of emptiness.
When your mind isn't cluttered with things, it has a chance
to be silent. It becomes clear and pristine. The mind moves
beyond pleasure to joyousness, independent of external
factors.
_______________________________________________
WORDLESSNESS
Existence is nameless. As long as no name is given,
everything is One. With words there is no way to escape
duality. Words are a contrivance for those who understand
only the language of words; they can create a terrible block
to awareness because when we name something, we no
longer see it for what it really is, we only see the symbol
or label we have placed on it. We separate it from the rest
and make it an object. When we speak, we bring in duality;
it is impossible not to. Obviously, when we wish to convey
something to another person, we usually make use of
words, but there is no need to use words simply for one's
self. If we constantly listen to the inner "babbler," so many
words pile up within us that we completely lose sight of our
inner mystery. Only when these superficial layers of words
are removed can we become acquainted with that center.
Pluck a guitar string and listen to how the resonance of
the note begins to fade. Can you hear where the resonance
gradually lost itself in non-resonance? In much the same
way, words slowly merge into silence. The full and empty
define each other.
It is in the silent spaces that we find definition, just as it
is 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 and
silence, the entire universe-all of existence-is a vibration
of solids and spaces. When we move our attention from the
conscious thinking level that uses words (the solids) through
higher levels of consciousness, the mind arrives at the
"spaces" of pure awareness.
When we have refocused our attention past the noise and
confusion of the "babbler" in our minds, we become aware
of the quiet of "no-mind." It is in the silence of "no-mind"
that we transcend the limitations of ordinary perception and
hear the melody of the soul. We are able to experience
periods of wordlessness in which we are able to see things
clearly. Buddha said, "Whatever I say is not to tell you of
That 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 concerns
love, but they wanted to hear the word itself. They don't
understand that the word conjures up all the concepts and
beliefs they hold about love.
Another example of a concept-laden word is "God."
When people hear the word "God," it triggers their belief
systems and they no longer are capable of thinking clearly.
Their beliefs enable them to set aside the reality in favor of
the concept. You believe a certain thing about a person or
group of people, such as Asians, homosexuals, fundamentalists,
or women, and it enables you to dismiss them. It's
a prejudice, which is also a loaded word.
Most people deny their prejudice because the word has
developed such negative connotations, usually relating to
racial issues, when all the word "prejudice" means is "a
preconceived judgment or opinion."
Here's a thought I'd like to spring on you-all beliefs
are prejudices. Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?
_______________________________________________
RELEASE OF ENERGY
Can you imagine the tremendous energy that is at your
disposal when you release your prejudices? Beliefs and
illusions aren't maintenance-free; because they are conflicts
and cause suppression, they use tremendous amounts of
energy. On the other hand, no energy is required to release
them. Once released, that energy then becomes available
for use in other areas of your life.
Fletcher was a young man who came to me complaining
of a lack of aliveness in his life. After we talked about what
was happening (or not happening) in his life, I told him to
let go of his ideas about his parents. He had a lot of
childhood issues relating to his parents and had nurtured
negative ideas about them for years. Now he wondered why
he felt so tired and uninvolved in life. He finally understood
that these ideas arising out of old programming were using
up all his energy. I would estimate eighty percent of his
attitude toward his parents was negative, only twenty
percent positive. Rather than telling him to concentrate on
the twenty percent positive feelings, I told him to release
all the feelings, positive and negative. The complete disappearance
of resistance, for and against, would free one
hundred percent of his energy and allow him to move into
a completely new state.
_______________________________________________
ENTERING INTO FREEDOM
It's so simple. It doesn't start a month from now when
you're prepared or six weeks from now or a year from now.
It starts right now, while you are reading this book. It's like
telling someone not to think about a pink elephant. Once
the idea of transcending beliefs is planted, you immediately
begin to observe your process. It's irrepressible.
People think that freedom is something that they are
going to attain at the end of some process. Not true. It
doesn't come at the end, it comes at the beginning. You
have to become free first, then that liberation allows you to
see everything in your life more clearly. Discovery is
impossible 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.
7
THE NEXT STEP:
SET YOURSELF FREE
"Man is just a bridge between
two eternities, the eternity of
nature and the eternity of God."
_____________
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Human consciousness is a most mysterious reality to
experience. Many think that it is something that happens to
you, that it cannot be sought. This impression is inaccurate;
a fully developed consciousness is both an active and a
productive state of mind.
More than ever before, it is time to be as present as
possible. We must see and accept what is here and now if
we are ever to unveil the illusions which surround us and
reveal the profound mystery of existence within ourselves.
It is not far away in some past or future life. It will not be
revealed 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 that
is to be reached. It is closer than near. It is simple, ordinary
and exists in the profoundly mundane. Unless we let go of
the far away, the conceptual and the burdensome knowledge
that has enslaved us and come back to the here and
now, we are doomed to continue in this perpetual dream
state from which all life's misery flows. The sooner you
become aware and drop out of the philosophy trap, the
better, 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 only
way it happens ... if you will only allow it.
_______________________________________________
LIVING HONESTLY
My car came to a stop at a crowded intersection. It was
late afternoon, hot and noisy. I was tired and anxious to get
home. Glancing out the window, I saw a homeless man
sitting on the curb. He wore a sign with the word "Hungry"
on it. Next to him stood an enthusiastic young man holding
out plastic bags of fruit-grapes in one bag, oranges in
another. 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 could
have sold it to Life magazine.
Life is a wild thing, full of irony and inconsistency; it's
unpredictable and uncompromising. The incredible beauty
and adventure of life lies in its ability to always be a
surprise, and you can't be surprised if you have specific
beliefs about it. You can only be disappointed. Experience
the joy and richness of life by allowing yourself to be both
earthly and unearthly. Since it's possible to be both, why
miss out on anything? Use every opportunity to grow and
to be. Life is a force, a power, an energy. Life soars. Meet
life on its terms and you will soar with it. Let the roots of
your earthly experiences grow deep and varied, and you
will reach higher than you've ever dreamed possible because
you will be more complete.
Don't let anyone impose on you his beliefs about what
is wrong with you. The ego may need to be transformed,
it's true, but not because it's wrong or bad or evil. It simply
has to be observed; what is meaningless will start fading
away of its own accord, while what is meaningful will begin
to materialize and grow. The beauty in being watchful is
not that we have to work to bring about its transformation
but that life itself-the Whole-transforms it.
All existence is beautiful. There is nowhere to hide from
it. Just remember that if you live totally, honestly, truthfully,
things may begin to go deeper. When things are
deepening, they begin to change. Accept the feeling of
insecurity this may bring, and trust your energy. Don't
compromise; there's no need to-insecurity will disappear
without compromise on your part.
Be careful not to destroy today by being afraid of tomorrow,
because if today has been destroyed, where will tomorrow
come from? If you don't worry about what tomorrow will
bring, and if you accept tomorrow's insecurity, you will
live today so courageously that a beautiful tomorrow will
arise out of that totality. So while you are alive, be alive!
Don't concern yourself with how long it lasts.
_______________________________________________
THE NEXT STEP
The 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 always
with you. You don't have to wait for what you are.
The ordinary, common mind that is part of the human
condition has a built-in need to have its beliefs verified by
others who believe similarly. The common mind automatically
seeks out and finds this confirmation for its own
comfort and security. To surround itself with others who
have the same wants and needs, who will support and
perpetuate one another's dreaming, so that it will stay
comfortably incarcerated within the framework of its delusions,
is the common and habitual thing to do. This is not
a criticism; it is to be expected while dwelling in ordinary
consciousness (herd mentality) because that is exactly what
we are supposed to do, or more accurately "must do," while
in that generic state.
There is also the uncommon mind-the God or spiritual
mind. If you have reached a point where you have the
capacity (if not always the willingness) to enter into a very
different state of consciousness-a place that has nothing
to do with ordinary consciousness you are, in a sense,
alone. You will find there are few books you can read and
even fewer places you can go that will support you or offer
any confirmation of this extraordinary state. You begin to
realize how completely mechanical you have been and how
predictable this world and everyone in it is. At this point,
you will find it increasingly difficult to express your
experience of this state and virtually impossible to follow
the herd just for the comfort it provides. Because, in
contrast to this extraordinary state, herd consciousness is
always mundane, unremarkable, unoriginal and dulling.
In this step there is a different quality of hearing and
seeing that is truly significant and very uncommon. It is, in
fact, extremely rare, although at first glance it will appear
not to be. It will, at first hearing, sound ordinary. That's
because 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 CHANGE
If you're not able to hear what you need to hear, you will
continually seek out places in which to encounter what you
already know. You will hold onto what you want to be true
about yourself, God, love, life and the world. You won't
go anywhere or listen for very long to anyone who may
disturb that illusion. You will, once again, need to be
disillusioned. It's the only way to incite your consciousness
to move within a system that is so ponderous and mechanically
repetitive.
This pattern must be broken because it affects every
single area of your life and is the major obstacle to going
beyond ordinary consciousness. You must see that this is
indeed what you do and then face up to the possibility that
things may not be what you want them to be. Would you
be willing to hear that? Could you hear it?
The next step is tricky because the dominant part of you
will assert that, "I am open to hearing what I need to hear! "
That is definitely not true. You will deny this; you will
become defensive and argue that you are open and available.
(You're probably doing so right now.) Ask yourself
if you are prepared to hear something new, something
which you may not like, or, are you prepared to hear only
that which you already know and/or that which you want
to believe?
When hearing something new, this dominant part of
yourself will say, "Even if what you say is true, I don't like
it!" If you don't like something, you'll never see it. You
won't believe it, you won't trust it you will simply reject
it. However, your opinion has no bearing on the fact that
ordinary consciousness simply does not want to hear anything
new. It wants to hear what it wants to hear; when it
catches a glimpse of what it needs to hear, ordinary
consciousness blocks this information because it doesn't
really want to hear it.
If you have the capacity to look at this, here is what you
need to consider now. Don't think that your consciousness
is extraordinary because you regard yourself as a "spiritual"
person, accumulate volumes of metaphysical, occult and
ancient knowledge, have met extraterrestrials, can read the
stars or speak with the dead. That's all a diversion and of
no consequence as far as awakening is concerned.
When you have gone to the extreme polarity of what your
ordinary consciousness calls "spiritual," this prominent
part becomes especially deceptive. Its allure is its ability to
make the mundane appear to be "new," unusual, interesting
and fun. This is actually a ruse to keep you involved and
under its mechanical influence so you will feel as though
you have transcended it.
Resistance to change is inherent on the level of the
mechanical structure of your ordinary consciousness. You
want to hear what you want to hear from what ordinary
consciousness sees as a new and exciting source. But it's
important to see that what you are capable of hearing at the
ordinary level is what you have already heard, what reinforces
the beliefs of your conventional consciousness. The
"exotic" is not telling you anything new. It's keeping you
where you are ... in the grip of the ordinary.
_______________________________________________
THE BRIDGE
At the beginning of this chapter is a quote from
Nietzsche. It bears repeating: "Man is just a bridge between
two eternities, the eternity of nature and the eternity of
God. " 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 appropriately
from moment to moment. As I write this, my
house is swaying back and forth from one of the thousands
of aftershocks Los Angeles is experiencing after a major
earthquake. I know that at this moment, people throughout
the city are experiencing fear as they feel the tremor. But
the earth is doing what it has done for millennia. It doesn't
have a problem with that-it is alive and ever transforming
itself.
Man, however, lives in time. He takes natural occurrences
personally and gives them human attributes, such as
a "vicious" storm, an "angry" earthquake. He calls an
unknowable God "loving" or "wrathful," depending on
what suits his purpose. This is because man is in the
middle-he is half-nature and half-God, and doesn't know
what to make of it. He is confused and ever striving to be
certain, but you can only be certain if you don't know much.
The more you know, the more confused you become. You
can never be certain if you know a lot, and there is no clarity
in one who knows little and is therefore certain, because
they are simply unaware of contradictory facts which could
confuse them. Only the ignorant can be certain. When a
person becomes more aware, more present, the mind
diminishes, and all uncertainty and certainty diminish along
with it.
Problems result from the way man looks at the world.
Because man has a divided consciousness, it distorts his
perception. He sees "two" where there is only "one. "
Whenever there are "two," there is conflict.
Some people lean more toward the common part of their
mind, others toward their "God" side. The difference
between a mind that is spiritual and one that is common is
that a common mind thinks, "There is nothing wrong with
me-everything else is wrong." Common-minded people
take no responsibility; blame is always placed elsewhere.
"Things will be just fine if they go the way I think they
should go." So they constantly try to change the world
around them. But is there any more happiness in the world
as the result of these efforts?
_______________________________________________
DOING VERSUS BEING
As you move through the phases of becoming more
aware, it may sometimes appear as if nothing is happening.
You are so accustomed to effort that just being is very
unsettling. You desire outer activity because you are not
used to taking the time to look at the reality of what is
happening to you. In allowing yourself to simply be, you
may 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 lacking
and there is no excess. Everything is balanced. You are the
problem, not the world around you.
When you observe a flower, do you think nothing is
happening? Just because you are not sensitive to the flower
doesn't mean nothing is happening. If you are completely
present with the flower, you will sense that it is a living
happening-alive, sensitive to the sun and wind, pulsating
with life. How silly to expect it to do something, as if simply
existing were not enough. Can you see how silly the
demands you place on yourself are?
When you think nothing is going on with you, it is
because you lack sensitivity. Sensitivity requires availability,
vulnerability and observation. It may take time for you
to adjust to this pace because you are used to running so
fast.
Non-doing is difficult. The mind wants something to
practice, but practice is not necessary. Enlightenment can
happen in an instant. It is not a question of how to bring it
about but how to allow it. You know something so profound
is taking place deep within yourself that it cannot be
analyzed or explained; words are inadequate.
When the inessential has been released, the essential is
revealed. A magnificent simplicity of being is born. You
become ordinary; to be ordinary is the most extraordinary
thing 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 some
techniques 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 about
to tell you is not a technique just be available to the sense
of it.
Non-investigation is the main cause of bondage. When
you don't know, you are free to investigate. If you are
listening to me and something awakens within you, you will
have an insight-something will be sensed, perceived. I'm
not trying to convince you. I'm just conveying a fact to you.
The only preparation for it, in a sense, is that you must not
be identified with your knowledge, your beliefs. I mean
prepared in the sense that you understand the meaninglessness
of everything you have ever known.
It is your awareness of the thinking process, an awareness
that can move you into a place where a realization of
what 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. Whatever
needs to remain will; the rest will fall away.
What's difficult is that we've enmeshed ourselves in so
much fantasy that separating the real from fantasy can be
very challenging. But it is possible and worth the effort, or
I 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're
afraid they'll be left with nothing. They think that to let go
means to get rid of something. Letting go is more like going
to sleep. You don't give up your bed when you fall asleep;
you just forget it. Not understanding this, they are afraid
and consequently, seek to substitute one belief for another,
one form of conditioning for another and they call that
freedom. They don't know that the finite is the price of the
infinite, just as death is the price of immortality.
· Is it possible for me to observe everything around me in
my daily life without the shadow of images or beliefs?
In time, yes. Not at first perhaps, but you must begin
now, right where you are, this very minute, and you must
find out for yourself. Don't take my word for it. Don't
believe me. Awareness or perception implies a state of
seeing in which there is no image. There is the experience
of just being.
· What is the witnessing that you encourage?
Inside the body there appears to be an observer and
outside--a world under observation. The witnessing I
encourage is in itself a meditation, a living process of being
available and non-resistant to what comes uninvited. Witnessing
is the last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the
real. 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 believing
in it. The Gap (void, silence, space, God) created by your
mind will not be real, it will just be your own creation. In
order to enter the void, (the Oneness), belief and thought
must cease.
· What about certain diets or behavior?
Outer circumstances can either help or hinder inner
circumstances, but cannot change them. A situation can be
created by outer circumstances so that the inner can erupt
more easily, but outer transformation is not inner transformation.
The efforts you make on the outside must not become a
substitute for inner transformation. The outer you will
never feel ready to transform because it has decided on
certain qualifications and preconceived specifications that
must be fulfilled before it will be ready. But it will never
be ready. Obsessions with the kind of food you eat, the
clothes 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. The
outer is the extremity while the inner is the central part of
yourself. Don't use activity on the outside to escape what
is needed inside.
· Am I responsible for everything that happens?
Shifting responsibility is a uniquely human game. You're
responsible only for what you can change, and you can only
change yourself. Realizing this is the first step.
At one level, you must clearly see and take full responsibility
in order to affect any transformation in your distorted
way of seeing. Then, and only then, can you transcend
responsibility.
You will see the belief that a particular thing can cause
an event is incorrect. For anything to happen, the entire
universe must consent. Every cause is universal. Your body
would not exist without the entire universe contributing to
its creation and survival. To affect the course of events,
you must bring a new element into the world and that
element can only be you, the power of love and understanding
focused on yourself.
_______________________________________________
TECHNIQUES
I will offer some techniques you may find helpful in the
beginning, but be aware that they too must be transcended.
Use them and be willing to release them or they will become
an addiction. Addictions medicate pain. Unless the pain is
seen, the addiction remains. Consciousness is a flow from
past to future-awareness happens only in the present.
LOVE EXERCISE
Do this exercise everywhere. Be aware of the energy
radiating from your body but don't direct it. Try to sense
it. When I say "sense" it, [don't mean emotionally. Sensing
something is not the same as feeling something. Allow the
energy to be absorbed by whomever or whatever needs it.
Don't interfere, just let it radiate from you, without focusing
on a a particular object.
In love, all fear disappears. There is no tomorrow, there
is no past. This moment is enough. Love just is you can't
do anything about it. If you do, it becomes artificial.
THE 'I DON'T KNOW"EXERCISE
All day, be aware of everything you say. Whenever you
find yourself coming to conclusions about anything, ask
yourself "What do I really know about it?"
In this exercise, you must stay especially alert to hear
your own opinions. Actually, it's kind of fun to catch
yourself in the act. Remember not to change anything, just
be aware. You may be surprised at how many conclusions
you reach.
MOTIVE EXERCISE
The One Power is responsive to our intentions and
expectations. Our expectations cause the energy we channel
through us to affect other energies. Spend a day concentrating
on "why. " Know why you do what you do and be honest
about it. Don't discuss your reasons with anyone, just be
aware of your real motives.
NO EXPLANATION EXERCISE
Spend the day not explaining any of your actions. Even
if you are asked, just say, "I have my reasons." It takes a
certain amount of courage to do this because we usually
feel that we are expected to explain everything we do-especially
if we say no to someone. Can you not explain
yourself for one day?
THANKFULNESS EXERCISE
Thankfulness is loaded with energy. Begin to appreciate
everything. Realize that you don't know what current
experiences will mean to you in the future. Be thankful all
day for everything that happens or doesn't happen.
THE STOP EXERCISE
The 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, what
you're thinking. Take a moment and just be aware, be
present.
THE AUTOMOBILE EXERCISE
You can modify the Stop Exercise for use in the car.
Now, obviously, you don't want to completely stop the car
unless you're parking. I call this modified version the
Automobile Exercise. Just before you get in the car, take
a deep breath. Stop yourself and be aware of what you're
doing. Get in your car and set off on your trip, but instead
of driving on autopilot, thinking about what you're going
to do later, slow down and take a good look at your
surroundings. If you're going 90 miles an hour, it's not
very easy to observe because you're too busy handling the
car. The slower you go, the more you see. Be aware of
everything you're passing. If you're traveling a familiar
route, be aware that it's not the same. Things are different.
Flowers have grown, trees have changed, different people
and cars are on the sidewalks and roads. It's like a
kaleidoscope-every day, different colors, shapes and patterns.
We take this for granted because we're lost in our
thoughts. Slow down.
You can also apply the Automobile Exercise to walking.
While walking, pause now and then. Slow down and be
aware of the physical feeling of walking. Be aware of your
muscles stretching, the air flowing past your face, the sights
and sounds around you. Don't try and change anything or
improve on anything. Look. See. Be totally there.
OBSERVATION AND AWARENESS
Acceptance is not a state of inaction or passivity. It is the
first step to successful action. You relax, you let go, you
are patient and peaceful. In this state you merely are. In
this state there are no expectations. There is no unnecessary
doing. When you are calm, detached and in complete
acceptance, you see the truth of a thing. Then truth acts.
This action is different in that it is much more effective than
if you try to do something based on your beliefs about what
should be done.
This exercise has to do with being quiet. Sit down in a
comfortable position and take a deep breath, which slows
the body's system and helps you observe more about
yourself. Begin observing your body. The body is the
easiest thing to observe, and the easiest to feel separate
from. Be aware of the sensations your body is feeling. If
you feel uncomfortable, see if you can be with that feeling.
If you must move, be aware that you're moving. If you
judge the fact that you can't sit in one position, go ahead
and judge. Be aware that you're judging the fact that you're
judging. Being constantly aware allows your body to be
whatever it is.
When you've done this for a while and feel ready to move
on to another area, explore listening. Listen, really listen
to all the sounds around you and see how many you can
pick up. You'll hear things you may not have noticed
before-a dog barking in the distance, the hum of traffic,
birds or the wind. Listen to all the sounds you normally
don'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 worry
about judgment right now. Judgment is of the mind; just
observe that. So, be aware of all your feelings without
judgment. If you do find yourself judging them as good or
bad feelings, then be aware that it is your mind judging.
That's what minds do-they judge. If you're having a sad
or unhappy feeling, see if you can leave it alone and be with
it. Try not to push it away or exchange it for any other
feeling. Take time and be aware of every feeling that you're
having at the moment. Don't conjure anything, just experience
what you are experiencing.
Move on to your thoughts. Watch them as they come and
go. 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 in
every aspect of your life. You will be aware of the times
you restrict yourself, when you want to say or do something
and don't, when you shut down. You'll become more aware
of your expansive moments when you are in tune with
everything around you. Be aware, don't judge, let these
things just occur naturally. Be aware of every moment. See
if you can spend a period of time not improving yourself.
Just watch. Soon, you'll get to a point where you'll find
yourself automatically observing yourself, the world, and
everything in it. This is the habit of awareness. It's a little
different from complete awareness. Eventually, you drop
even 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 these
things. You will no longer need to be right. You will no
longer need to be agreed with. All these things will fall by
the wayside. You'll simply be aware.
I would like to stress that when you are observing the
body, anything you observe is not you. If you can observe
the body, then you are not the body. If you can observe
feelings, then you are not the feelings. If you can observe
the mind, you are not the mind. Then what's watching all
of this?
'WHAT IS PERMANENT IN YOU" EXERCISE
No matter what you have experienced in your life, there
is something about you that has never changed or been
affected in any way. What is that something? Do not name
it-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 will
come and go; let it you cannot hold onto that either. You
can 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 and
observe is not you! This, unfortunately, cannot be fully
explained, which is frustrating for me at times. It's not in
the words. Just try to get the sense of what I am saying.
Watch.
THE SKY TECHNIQUE
In order for this technique to be clear, you must first try
to understand the structure of the mind. You cannot make
the mind clear. It cannot be whipped into submission, as so
many techniques and groups attempt to do. The mind can
be left behind, dropped, but it will never be clear-that is
impossible. It is the mind's nature to be full of concepts and
belief-"stuff." Mind is a continuous process of thoughts
gathered from everywhere, like a storeroom full of things
you think you may need someday. Of course, for the most
part, you never will, which is why these things were stored
in the first place. So they go on collecting dust. All
confusion is stored in the mind. Drop the mind and confusion
is dropped, but first it must be understood.
Think of it this way. Your awareness is like a clear blue
sky while your mind is like a cluster of clouds. The sky is
not affected by the clouds, which come and go as they will.
The sky remains clear.
When flying in an airplane, there is always turbulence at
takeoff, especially as you pass through a cloud layer. Once
you break through, however, you level off and everything
is smooth and peaceful. The clouds are below you now and
you may think, "Ah, the sun has come out." But the sun
was always shining. You don't need to change the clouds
to enter the clarity of the sky; just see the clouds as clouds
and go past them. That's where peace is, higher in consciousness.
So here is the exercise: On the next clear day, preferably
early 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 pristine
sky and enter into its clarity. Become one with it.
You will begin to feel the mind disappearing. There will
be gaps as the mind begins to drop away, and you will begin
to be aware that the clear sky has entered into you. There
will be only moments of clarity at first, but these intervals
will begin to lengthen as the clouds within you begin to
dissipate. Your thoughts will get out of the way, and the
outer clarity will become one with the inner. They are
already one; it has only been the constant thoughts (cloud
cover) which made a barrier. The sky doesn't begin at some
point above the earth; it is the same sky one foot above the
ground as at thirty thousand feet above.
The sky has no boundaries. This helps your boundaries
disappear because this open sky will be reflected within
you. Stare into that emptiness and feel that you have become
one with it. If you can do this, even for a moment, you will
experience realization because in that moment there is no
mind. You are not thinking, and that is the only time
realization can happen. There is no fear; there is only the
present, because the past and the future belong to the mind.
Existence is the present.
Remember these things: 1) Don't blink; just stare, even
if it is uncomfortable. If you blink, your thoughts will
continue. 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 another
barrier. If you move into the sky, it will immediately move
into you. Take your time or it's not effective, but don't
think of time. Just let yourself be lost in the sky. Then,
when you really feel that you have become one with the
sky, 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 will
know when. Just be aware of the clarity all around and
within you. You are not to imagine any of this. It's not
necessary; the clarity is already there.
4) Remember to be vulnerable. Nothing can enter you
without your allowing yourself to be vulnerable to it. Don't
project it; allow it to happen. Don't force it.
YES EXERCISE
Spend a day saying yes to everything. "Yes" is open and
available and lets your energy flow freely. "No" stops your
energy, and usually comes out of fear and mistrust. There
is a strong tendency to stop the flow and remain in control
by saying no, thereby resisting life so nothing can happen.
Growth becomes sluggish. Embrace the life force that flows
from everything and that life embraces you. Trust that all
will work out. Just say "yes."
BELIEF ANALYSIS EXERCISE
To begin to really understand what you believe and why,
write down your beliefs. The physical act of writing is
important because there is a certain clarity that occurs as a
result. Get a nice big notebook with lots of pages in it
because you are going to discover that you have many more
beliefs than you realize.
· #1: What do I believe (or disbelieve) in? (Disbelief is
also a belief).
Begin with "What do I believe?" Remember to include
the beliefs you have when you watch television or read the
newspapers. Write down as many as you can, and leave
plenty 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 my
parents, teachers, a friend; my church or religious teaching;
a book, newspaper or tabloid, television or movies? Put
some thought into this one and you may be surprised at what
you 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 what
you come up with, then question those as well. Keep in
mind that if you believe in a book, let's use the Bible for
an example, then you must realize that your belief that the
Bible is the word of God forms the basis for other beliefs
you hold.
· #4: Why do I believe this?
Why do you believe it? This is extremely important. Is
it because it fits in with the way you want, or hope things
are, or will be? Is it because you feel empowered or special
by having this belief? Is it because your ego is enhanced as
a result of believing this? Are you afraid not to?
It is of utmost importance that you are honest with
yourself. If you cannot be truthful with yourself, you'll
never be truthful with anyone else.
Here is an excerpt of a conversation I had with an
audience member during a talk I gave several years ago.
This is basically the conversation you need to have with
yourself while you are doing the Belief Analysis Exercise.
"Usually speakers talk a lot about love, but I've
noticed that you don't mention love or God very often.
Why is that?"
"I don't use the words `love' and `God' very often
because they cause the mind to project too much of what
one wants them to be. This leaves no room for experiencing
what 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 by
a long pause.) "I don't know ... because I love him. Isn't
that reason enough?"
"Reason enough for a person who never took the time to
explore, or reason enough for one who has been told he
should? What do you think would happen if you didn't love
God?"
"I don't know. Probably something bad. I'd get
struck by lightning or something."
"You don't love God; you're afraid of him. Your heart
is full of fear, not love, and this is what is important for
you to see. Churches, temples and sacred things are not of
God; they are the creations of our vanity and fear. Only the
unhappy and frightened worship God. If you put aside these
things and understand why you are unhappy instead of
enveloping 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 concept
of God. Your `god' has to conform to your distorted idea
of him because if he doesn't, you won't detect him at all.
You insist on your idea of particulars. Goddesses are the
current trap. Don't let your fear of God prevent you from
exploring the truth. Don't use God to escape. Watch these
pretensions and drop them. If you really want to be an
authentic person, be true to yourself."
"How do I do that?"
"If you haven't loved, face the fact and know it. Drop
all the illusions and remain true to your being, whatever it
may be. Since it is not possible to know yourself through
another, no matter how great he may be, you must know
yourself 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 much
more rewarding and creative. Is it because you don't trust
nature or the universe? You are nature itself and the
universe, but you don't trust your own life energy. If you
can't trust your own life energy, you'll never trust another's.
This is obvious when you look at the state of the
world.
"If we look through our own little belief system, we can't
see 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 the
mind 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 is
unconditional, untainted. Only love makes the mind sensitive.
This seeing, observing and listening are the greatest
acts. If you want to be free and unconditional, start by
exploring your beliefs and releasing all that is binding you.
You cannot love unconditionally with beliefs that, by their
very nature, have boundaries."
_______________________________________________
MEDITATION
Reports of transcendental experiences throughout history
show a striking similarity that cuts across cultural, social
and intellectual distinctions. Researchers have found fundamental,
universally available conditions that are present
in these experiences.
Hundreds of studies of meditators show that "repeated
experience of pure consciousness during meditation produces
significantly 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 practice
of meditation from the experiences of pure consciousness.
Although the practice is helpful, it is the experience of
transcendence itself that is of the greatest benefit.
Listen to the language of a scientist discussing quantum
physics-it sounds remarkably like the language of the
soul; one becomes aware that physics and metaphysics can
be thought of as two sides of the same coin. The metaphors
of metaphysics are simply attempts to describe what we are
as yet unable to perceive with any stability. Those who have
fully experienced the state of transcendence are termed
"mystics" who "understand our logic." We cannot fathom
the more unified, yet seemingly paradoxical, nature of their
cognitions until we too become transcendent. You can't get
away from the fact. You've got to be there to understand
it.
MEDITATION TECHNIQUES
Meditation is many things to many people, depending on
culture, religious traditions, psychological orientation, the
individual's purpose, etc. Whatever, it is not the definition
but the experience that matters.
Meditation opens the doors of perception, integrating the
mind and body, the aim being to refocus attention past the
noise and confusion of the "babbler" in our minds. When
this 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 that
meditation is more effective in the alleviation of anxiety
than therapy. Meditators have been shown in a recent,
large-scale "meta-analysis" (a statistical technique designed
to compare research across a variety of studies) to be
significantly more self-actualized than psychotherapy patients.
In addition, surprising things like prison recidivism
are significantly lower for prisoners who meditate than for
those who go into therapy.
Traditionally associated with Eastern religions, meditation
has been practiced in one form or another in all
religions and in most societies. Meditation researcher Michael
West notes that:
American Indians practice a form of meditation
remarkably similar to zazen [Zen meditation]. In
Africa, in the Kalahari Desert, the people of the
!Kung Zhu/twasi practice a form of ritual dancing
(like Islamic Sufi dancing) which activates a postulated
energy source and produces an `ecstasy' experience.
Many tribal groups practice such ritual
dancing coupled with chanting to produce altered
states of consciousness. ... The Eskimo would sit
facing a large soft stone and using a small, hard
hand-stone, would carve a circle in the large stone
continuously to produce trance. Meditation has long
been used within the Christian religion and many of
the Christian techniques are identical to those used
in other religions, cultures, and times.
Basically, there are two forms of meditation: active and
silent. Historically, active forms have used chanting, drums,
dancing and music to produce altered states of consciousness.
Silent forms of meditation use four techniques to
access pure consciousness: concentration, contemplation,
mental repetition of a sound, and detached observation.
Since the subject matter covers a large body of work, I'll
give a very brief overview. You may obtain books at your
local library or bookstore that will go into more detail.
· Concentration of a steadily visualized image or
symbol, such as a mystical rose, a thousand-petalled
lotus, a crescent moon, or Star of David; focus on
the breath; concentrate on no thought, considered
to be the most difficult, especially for beginners.
· Contemplation of an object, such as a candle flame,
a flower, statue, picture, or a mandala, a symbol
representing unity.
· Mental repetition of a sound, which may be a single
syllable, such as OM; a mantra, usually a Sanskrit
phrase; or a koan, which is an apparently insoluble
riddle, such as "What is the sound of a single hand
clapping?"
· Detached observation of what is happening without
being caught up in or identifying with any reaction
to it. The focus is centered on the present moment,
and the mind observes itself observing life as it
unfolds.
Whatever form of silent meditation is used, it requires
nothing more complicated than to sit quietly and enter
deeply into one-mindedness. If the mind wanders, the
meditator is instructed to bring it gently back to the focus
and not allow it to be distracted. In "The Meditative Mind,"
Daniel Goleman writes that the "key attributes of this state
are always the same: loss of sense awareness, one-pointed
attention to one object to the exclusion of all other thoughts,
and sublimely rapturous feelings. "
Okay, I've described different kinds of meditation, but
what exactly is it and how does it work? Scientists have
come up with several different models that attempt to
answer these questions. One model views meditation as a
mechanism to reduce stress and anxiety. Another views
meditation as nothing more than light sleep, a controlled
version of the trance state most people experience as they
fall asleep. Another model suggests that meditation is a
form of self-hypnosis, although there are others who say
that the mind deals with information at different levels in
hypnosis than while in a meditative state. For our purposes,
the end result is what matters, not the method.
Psychologist Arthur Deikman says, "Although the power
of meditation to affect physiological and psychological
functions has been substantiated in many different laboratories,
we have paid little attention to what the originators
have said about its intended purpose and the requirements
for its appropriate use. Focusing primarily on the experiences
and bodily effects of meditation is like collecting
oyster shells and discarding the pearls. Such `spiritual
materialism' inevitably interferes with the real potential of
meditation."
Meditation is a procedure, a technology. As such, it
facilitates outcomes such as stress reduction and consciousness
during sleep. Although these outcomes are a natural
part of the biology of the human system and can surface
spontaneously without meditation, it clearly increases the
likelihood of attaining these outcomes.
What the originators say is that consciousness is the
primary reality from which matter and life arose. Through
meditation, an individual can more fully experience the
pure consciousness that lies at the center of being.
As we enter into these states of consciousness, we are
able to move past the stuck spot in our lives, the place where
we have remained frozen in our beliefs. We are able to
change our beliefs and behaviors in response to one another.
This process requires us to extend ourselves, which results
in growth.
OTHER INTERNAL TECHNIQUES
The whole process of the evolution of human consciousness
rests in the ability to identify oneself as separate from
while participating in an ever-expanding involvement with
the world. Higher states of consciousness are a natural
progression when they are awakened in an individual who
has thoroughly completed the development of the basic ego
structure. Yet, achieving the merger of self with Self
presents a challenge to the ego. Always on guard, the ego
rules out the experience of oneness and makes the experience
of connectedness difficult.
There is a wide range of inner-oriented techniques other
than meditation that focus attention inward toward the
source of being, such as lucid dreaming and other dream
work, waking imagery and creative visualization, journal
keeping, and self-hypnosis. I'll briefly discuss each one;
you can obtain other books that go more thoroughly into
each subject than I have the space to do here.
Almost one hundred years since the publication of Freud's
classic "Interpretation of Dreams," dream work is receiving
widespread recognition as a valuable technique for
learning more about the self rather than being dismissed as
merely phantasms of the sleeping brain. For example, there
are professional dream organizations; movies with dream
themes are raking in millions; bookstore shelves are filled
with dream books, and magazine articles on working with
dreams have become almost monthly fare.
During the passionate embrace of altered-state-of-consciousness
work in the 1960s, one study paid a young man
a full-time salary to record his dreams over the span of a
year. He settled into a small mobile home and set out to
record his nightly encounters. With some practice, he was
recording up to one hundred pages of material a day. What
became incredibly clear was that the source of his nightly
excursions was the experience of awareness.
A particular form of dreaming, lucid dreaming, offers
us a direct link to the experience of pure consciousness.
The ultimate self-awareness experience in sleep is knowing
you are dreaming while you are dreaming, yet this is but
another bridge to even higher levels of consciousness.
Although dreams are the psyche's deepest imagery generating
system, we can also benefit through the conscious
application of imagery experienced in creative visualization.
Jeanne Achterberg, president of the Association for
Transpersonal Psychology, draws a line from the image to
the immune system to support a neurological relationship
between the image and the body's maintenance of health.
Pointing to the central role of emotions in both imagery and
disease, she states, "Verbal messages must undergo translation
by the imagery system before they can be understood
by the involuntary or autonomic nervous system and related
components. "
EXTERNAL TECHNIQUES
There are external techniques that help intensify awareness
as well. Among these techniques are yoga, sports,
games, martial arts, active forms of meditation using chanting,
dancing and music, and other physical activities that
produce what is popularly referred to as "flow." In every
case, the important thing is not the activity itself but the
experience of pure consciousness it facilitates. Even mundane
activities can access this consciousness, as this story
illustrates:
Ram Dass, a.k.a. Richard Alpert, tells of a time he was
lecturing to a group of young people about meditation and
higher states of consciousness. Both he and the audience
were attired in long, flowing robes and requisite beatific
smiles. In the midst of this sea of robes and smiles was an
elderly woman wearing a brightly flowered housedress,
matching hat and sensible shoes. She too often nodded with
a knowing smile during his lecture on the beauty of higher
states of consciousness. The teacher wondered how it was
she apparently identified with what he was saying. She did
not appear to "belong" to the audience to whom he was
speaking. Afterward, he asked her how she "knew." The
elderly lady in the flowered hat leaned over in a conspiratorial
fashion and whispered, "I crochet! "
Repetitive activity entrains the brain. A contemporary
form of this can be seen in the popularity of Nintendo.
While parents grumble about the apparently addictive quality
of the game, new research has shown that Nintendo
trains hyperactive children to be attentive, which is the
major problem in hyperactivity. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly,
Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, has
researched the experience of pure consciousness in daily
activities; he calls this "flow", and summarizes his work in
his book titled "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."
Some of the activities that produced flow included
games, gambling, television viewing, and sex.
In the sports arena, the "runner's high" has been well known
for years; lesser known are the effects on consciousness
of other sports. Hans Joachim Stein says of Kyudo,
the art of zen archery, that "like any serious practice whose
aim is to penetrate beyond appearances to the essence of
things and the meaning of life, the Way of the Bow can only
be considered to have reached an end with the transmutation
of the archer's earthly existence." Even a "non-sport" such
as golf, which has been praised by writer John Updike as
"the one [sport] wherein the walls between us and the
supernatural are rubbed the thinnest," can produce beneficial
changes that lead to pure consciousness.
The increasing popularity of martial arts, evidenced by
movies such as The Karate Kid and even the ubiquitous
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, emphasizes that the importance
of the external form lies in the interior experience.
Psychologist Charles Tart tells the story of Morehei
Uyeshiba, master of the Japanese martial art, Aikido, who
had witnessed village thugs beating his father:
I felt that the universe suddenly quaked and that
a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled
my body and changed it into gold. At the same time
my mind and body became light, I was able to
understand the whispering of the birds, and was
clearly aware of the mind of God, the Creator of
this universe. At that moment, I was enlightened:
the source of budo is God's love-the spirit of
loving protection for all beings. Tears of joy
streamed down my cheeks. I understood: Budo is
not felling the opponent by force, nor is it a tool to
lead the world into destruction. True budo is to
accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of
the world; to take God's love, which correctly
produces, protects and cultivates all beings in Nature,
and assimilate and utilize it in our own mind
and body.
In a world seemingly full of hate and violence, this man
was able to deal with disharmony in a spirit of love.
_______________________________________________
CONCLUSION
Di-no-saur (n.): Any of various prehistoric, extinct, often
gigantic reptiles; a person with obsolete ideas, beliefs,
attitudes.
We pause on the threshold, hands outstretched to embrace
the long-sought missing thing. When the light floods
through the open door of our awakened perceptions, what
we experience is the shock of recognition. The seeker and
the sought after are one.
Standing near a 600-year-old oak tree, I reflected on how
it was already old when I was born and will probably be
here long after I am gone. Our current lives are not long.
Long enough to learn what is required of us, what we need
to learn, but not long enough to change much of anything
but ourselves.
Many of you are bound by what you feel is a past you
never wanted and a future that cannot be. Therein lie
frustration, confusion and fear. Dissolution and change
frighten you. You want the security of knowing where you
are going, how you're going to get there, and what's going
to happen to you when you do get there. But you'll never
know for certain because life has many possibilities, a few
probabilities, and even fewer absolutes. Life is like that.
Failure to adapt to these variables in the changing circumstances
of life is what leads to extinction.
Negative experiences exact a price from us, as do
positive ones. One price of fame and recognition, for
example, is the burden of others' expectations. Good
fortune will always require more of us than failure ever
does. We're living a momentous adventure, the end of an
age, and this adventure has its price also. There is always
a price for balance to be maintained, which is why every
increase, whether personal or worldwide, is met by a
decrease somewhere. This adventure is where we earn the
currency required to enter the "New Era" predicted by so
many. That currency is awareness, and it is acquired at a
very high cost. That cost is the release of the old, which is
always the price of the new. Few are willing to pay this
high price, but the fact that a price must be paid may be the
proof that it is worth it.
This New Era will undoubtedly be very different from
what 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 fantasies
of what the New Era will be, evolve by focusing your
attention on the work at hand. Life reveals many secrets to
those who wait, watch, and listen. Time always fulfills
itself. Stop expecting others to do for you what you need
to do for yourself. Look beyond everything you see, then
look higher still.
Nothing in nature is clumsy. We are all creatures of our
time, the "good guys" and the "bad guys." Each body is
created for a life particular to its own unique purpose. Do
what you were born to do, be what you were born to be.
Accept it. Don't be a dinosaur. Drink deeply of life on its
terms and you won't become obsolete.
Be willing to release all past beliefs; all gods and
goddesses; avatars and saviors. What worked then won't
work now. What worked for them won't work for you.
Their time is over. This is our time. It is meant for us, for
you and for me. Let's move gracefully and lovingly into
this brave New Era, unspoiled and free of the past-ALL
of it!
And after all the journeying, all the pain and
joy, we may discover that the Transformation
was difficult to grasp, not because it was so far
away but because it was so very near. To find
the immense world of delight is, in the end, to
come home again, where it always was.
-George Leonard, "The Transformation"