Lesson 7 (Levels of Consciousness and Being)
We have been considering for the past several weeks becoming acquainted with the self, with the mechanical conditioning. Recently we have been dis-identifying from the self to be aware of the "self" as object. I is an observer reporting to X that which is going on in the "self" in order that the "self" does not report in the name of I directly to X and set off all manner of unnecessary unpleasant situations that are destructive or disintegrating to the state of being. To further aid our observation, we will consider some "levels of consciousness" and some "levels of being."
As we observe these, it may be possible to have an aim. An aim is not a goal. A goal is to arrive at a certain place to achieve a certain result. An aim is a direction to go. We will consider that an aim might be to be able to see differently than we have heretofore seen in our "conditioned state" and that as we are observing, we will see differently.
The greatest obstruction to man using the teaching and possibly evolving into a different state of being (or having the ending of disintegration which means exactly the same thing) is that the self-improvement concept, the self-improvement suggestions, the urge to be different since the earliest days of one's existence is very very strong.
As we observe the "self" and begin to be acquainted with it, a self-improving "I" attempts very strongly to get I, the observer, to identify with it and start on a program of self-improvement. This is to fall back into the world. If one should discover that one has done so, it is not anything to be ashamed of or to regret. It is to say, "I'm awake and back on the job" and to be aware of that particular bit of "conditioning."
The teaching says that there are four basic levels of consciousness and many levels of being.We will consider first the four general levels of consciousness:
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The first is SLEEP.
One is asleep in the bed, under the influence of an anesthetic, under the influence of toxicity in the body from adaptation, or in a state of coma. In the state of sleep, obviously one is not responsible. One doesn't do very much and only dreams go on, if anything. Some of the dreams are not recalled, some are recalled. They are merely the Not-I's playing and are totally in sleep. I is asleep and I must sleep now and then. One finds that I uses tremendous amounts of energy in observing and must go to sleep. However, it does not have to sleep for years and it has been in a hypnotic sleep for many years.
The second level of consciousness is called WAKING SLEEP.
In other words, the person appears to be awake, walks about, does all the daily chores, writes books, teaches college courses, performs surgery, repairs automobiles, cooks meals, builds buildings and all sorts of things, but this is a walking sleep or waking sleep because one is in a conditioned state and responds to the same mechanical responses. Buttons can be pushed.
The third state of consciousness is called SELF-AWARENESS.
This is awareness of the self of paying attention to the self as object. It is the one we have recently started on; it is a new state of consciousness. It is seeing the "self," "John" or "Mary" as object. It is not condemning or justifying. It is an observer simply being aware of the "self." This is a new state of looking at things, a new way of being, actually, from anything that we have ever known. We have always said I to everything.
The fourth level of consciousness is called OBJECTIVE AWARENESS or
OBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.
One sees everything freely without identifying with anything, without having any "ideal"to compare it to or to look to. It is seeing everything objectively, reporting to X, and X does all the work. This is, of course, is a state of consciousness that we may not experience for some time.
These states of consciousness are not something one can "do."
They are something one experiences as the various Not-I's, the bits of conditioning, are rendered inoperative by X from the conscious paying attention to the "self" as an "object. This is really the only thing one can do. The other states occur. In the states of being which are existent in each of these states of consciousness, there are three basic "states of being."
STATES OF BEING
Under the level of SLEEP there is coma which can be brought about by toxicity or injury. There is bed sleep without dreams. There is bed sleep with dreams and possibly the state of consciously being aware of being asleep, however, still physically asleep.
In the WALKING SLEEP there are several levels of being. The first is apathy. When one is totally under the control of suggestion and the particular type of suggestion that says, "What's the use! Everything will be miserable anyway." If any of you have ever seen a demonstration of the hypnotic technique, you will somewhat know a little more about this. A person can be hypnotized and brought into a certain level of sleep called somnambulistic which is not really easy and usually isn't accomplished in the first many attempts of an operator to hypnotize a given subject, but it can be accomplished, and the person looks for all appearances like everyone else around. However, they are totally under the control of one operator.
Whatever the operator suggests to the person, this is their state of being. If it is suggested he is paralyzed, he can't move. If it is suggested he is a very strong athlete, he can do unusual feats that are not possible to him in his usual waking state.
When there is a conflict of interest; there are several hypnotists, all the Not-I's, working on him. If a not "I" tells one he was in a very pitiful shape, he would sit down and be in a state of apathy, or a not "I" could say that he is terribly mistreated, that he must defend himself, and he would be very angry.
The Not-I's are hypnotists, and they have hypnotized I, kept it sound asleep. The not "I" reports to X whatever the "conditioning" has to say. As there are many families of not "I's", there are ever-changing states, so the first state of being in the walking sleep is the lowest one, called APATHY.
You may have seen people in apathy; you couldn't get a smile out of them no matter how hard you tried. You cannot get them to be enthused about anything or interested in anything. They just moan--even their flesh hangs. If they raise up an arm, the skin and the soft tissue hangs below the bone. Their whole face has dropped, their eyes look sad, and they are in a woebegone situation. Of course, the physical body is functioning at that level; very erratically, and nothing seems to be functioning normally in it.
The next level of being in the walking sleep is FEAR. The person has become under the control of a Not-I that is suggesting every conceivable dreaded thing is going to happen to him. This person believes that all sorts of catastrophes are going to occur. Earthquakes are going to destroy us, inflation is going to destroy us, illness is going to strike me, I am going to come down with cancer, diabetes, a brain tumor or some other dread disorder. I am afraid we'll be without a job and we won't have enough food to eat, I am afraid the house will burn down. A Not-I gets one frightened and can put one in a state of panic. You may have experienced it. You more than likely have. It tells you that something terrible is going to happen and all of a sudden you seem to believe it. The heart races, the palms perspire, and the person is in a state of anxiety from every direction. This is fear. The person who has been under the control of a fear producing Not-I for any length of time is usually considerably overweight. This is very simple because it is being reported to X that there is a great catastrophe going to happen very shortly, so the appropriate thing to do is store up food and water so every particle of nourishment that goes into the body is stored by X in response. It is the appropriate thing to do if one is going to be attacked, in a very severe situation, and unable to have food. It is stored inside the body. Generally these people are quite overweight. They are quite sick because all the many things are occurring in the adaptation, these states do not actually occur very frequently. As our entire society comes under the control of the suggestion of fear, we have more and more people decidedly overweight.
The next level of being in the walking sleep is HELD RESENTMENT. It really means HATE. It is a combination of fear and anger. The person is angry, feels he has been mistreated but is afraid to do anything about it. This is a state of being where one is continually seething within and one is constantly "fighting" in imagination. Sometimes there are violent killings in this imagination, or producing all manner of difficulties. It is"getting even" with them. In this state, of course, tremendous energy is being burned up in imaginary fights, but X does it from the information received from I that is hypnotized by the ideas of revenge and hate. This is continually drying up the body as it is burning all the excess. This person is usually rather skinny and somewhat wrinkled up. The face shows the signs of the attitudes that are working within; and, of course, they have all the symptoms that require adaptation from the continual state of preparing energy from the various hormones to prepare to fight or run, and it "the physical fighting" really isn't being done except in imagination, so they have their share of "adapting." These two states of being, fear and held resentment, make up most of the practice of any general practitioner physician. There are fat men and skinny men (men or women) that fill up the doctor's offices because they have the greatest number of ailments because in the imagination of the Not-I's that have I hypnotized, it is constantly being reported to X that they are in a very severe condition, a great emergency and X is preparing them constantly to fight or run and the adaptation takes place.
The fourth level of being in this walking state is ANGER. That is a state where they are constantly sticking up for their rights in imagination, constantly feel that they have been mistreated and that they are "entitled" to revenge. They have no fear of getting it. They are rather blunt and rude to most of the people around them. They are "angry" drivers and possibly "are" what the world calls successful. They have "signs and wonders" that they have succeeded in improving their situation. They may accumulate properties, run over everybody and are angry at everyone. Everything they do is easily justified by the Not-I's that say, "We have been mistreated and we have to stick up for our rights." Incidentally, the angry person usually has a pot belly. Otherwise, they are the usual size and shape and have somewhat more of a ruddy complexion than the general run of people. They are subject to heart attacks and kidney stones. They do not usually go to the doctor until forced because they are angry at doctors also; the same as they are angry at their wives, their children, their compadres, partners, customers or whatever.
Above the anger comes the fifth state of being of walking sleep, that state of consciousness is BOREDOM. This person has generally achieved a certain amount of comfort, pleasure,attention, approval, and has possibly had power over other people. But it did not gratify nor deliver what was promised by "mammon," so the person is quite bored. These people are really not very interested in anything and consequently do not do very much. They do not get into too much stress, but just enough because they are annoyed with things easily because "What's the use, it's all the same"; "I've heard all that before, I've done that before." They are looking for some specific excitement or something that will pull them out of this deplorable state. Sometimes they will turn to drugs, to alcohol or other excesses. They look like life is not very interesting; "Life's a big disappointment."
The sixth state of being in the walking sleep, the waking state of consciousness, is that of CONTENTMENT. The person has recently gained certain pleasures, comforts, some idea of security, and feels that everything is quite well. They look quite beautiful. They are not overly concerned with anything because they feel they have it made and, of course, they are not interested in being a student. They are not interested in anything except enjoying the wonderful state they have achieved. They are a "success" whether it is a "success" in worldly terms or "success" in having attention, approval or whatever. They are quite contented with their state so why do anything about it? Of course, all in the waking sleep feel they are 100% conscious and that they have 100% free agency. This is why it is a dream.
All are working toward an "ideal." Many times the person in contentment is there for a little while, then they get bored with it because always there is greed. It comes back and says we should have more, better and different, or they get angry because something happens and they begin to fall from that place. The highest point in the walking sleep is still an illusion even though it is called contentment and the person feels happy, it is a very "short-lived" affair.
SELF-AWARENESS, LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
There are three levels of being in the self-awareness level of consciousness. The lowest one is VITAL INTEREST and you are possibly beginning to discover what a vitally interested state of affairs it is to be able to observe self without identifying with it, without condemning it or justifying it. When we condemn or justify it is an indication that we have identified with it. But it is of such vital interest to be able to see it, to be able to see other people, without condemning or justifying; without judging, simply to be aware of them, to be aware that people are asleep. It is beginning to open untold vistas of understanding and being that one has never experienced.
The VITAL INTEREST "state of being" is the beginning of being a new person. It is the lowest level but it is like being a new person all over. The body begins to be alert, the face shines, one is vitally interested while one is in this state. Now admittedly, at first as one begins to be aware of the self without condemning or justifying, it is short-lived. It is a minute here and a few minutes there, a few seconds here, and quite blank spaces in between where one is caught in the identification process--one gets "identified" and falls back into apathy, fear, anger, held resentment, boredom or possibly contentment. It is very easy to fall into contentment because one feels one has accomplished so much because one has experienced a state of enthusiasm, being vitally interested in something that one has never seen before in one's life, with the old ideas of self-improvement. It is very easy to feel that "I have obtained a "sign and a wonder," or that "I did this. But I is only observing and X is bringing about the state of inner being.
The next level of being above vital interest in the state of self-awareness in the "levels of consciousness" is EXHILARATION. That is another word for bliss. A state of being where there is no conflict, no obstruction. These are very short-lived, generally speaking. If you experience it, you will know why it is short-lived. It is beyond description except it is a state of bliss wherein there is no obstruction. There is no sense of conflict within and one experiences a state of being that passes all understanding. Being short-lived, it comes in places and then maybe one goes back to vital interest and observing self. If one should identify with that state of being, one is apt to fall way back down the line because one makes it important to continue to have this state of bliss, or a Not-I gets up and says, "See, you goofed, you lost it, it is all your fault." You didn't lose it, you didn't find it. It happened! So the Not-I, as always, is a liar. If you accept that accusation from that self-improving Not-I, one identifies with the self-improving I and is already way back down the line, possibly even to apathy. We have seen such occur. Be aware that state of bliss and EXHILARATION do occur. They are not something one has done and when it's gone, one didn't lose it. It is just an experience of a certain state of being in a level of consciousness called self-awareness.
The next level of consciousness has been referred to as being an ARTIST, experiencing being artistic. It does not mean one will start to paint pictures, play or compose music, arrange things in a different way, be an interior decorator, or what have you. It means that one sees relationships that one has never seen before, possibly relationships no one has ever seen. It is something that one "experiences", not something one can do. It is seeing relationships of all manner of things one never saw before. This is what an artist works in--relationships. It is called the ARTISTIC state of being and it is the highest level of the self-awareness level of consciousness.
Beyond this level of consciousness is, of course, OBJECTIVE AWARENESS and there are several levels of consciousness which we will take up at a later date that we will not discuss at this time.
But all states of being one does not "do." They "happen as one is in a given state of consciousness and that includes the lowest one. Dreams happen in the states of consciousness called sleep.
Anger, guilt, fear, resentment, apathy, boredom, contentment occur in the state of consciousness called WALKING SLEEP where one is identified with an "ideal."
If one doesn't have the "ideal," one is apathetic and then one can never gain the "ideal."
One is fearful that one will not gain the "ideal," is resentful because the "ideal"
was in sight but you interfered.
One is angry because one does not have the "ideal."
One is bored when one has achieved a level of the "ideal." One is bored when one has achieved
a level of the "ideal" but no more, and one's greed then makes one bored with it.
One is contented when one is gaining some degree of the "ideal."
It is in "sleep" that one believes in the "ideal," the "ideal" of the four dual basic urges, the "ideal" of "mammon," the "ideal" of the world, and that one can self-improve to the level `of gaining these various things. That is a dream state. It is a waking dream. One might say that it is a day dream or a hypnotic dream because it comes from suggestion from within and from without and is being in a state of somnambulistic hypnosis.
Being aware and observing this from the point of I. I has awakened and risen from among the dead ideas and is observing the "self." You might write them all down and see how much of the time that one is in these states and what a small amount of time one is in the state of awareness of "self."
You might write them all down and see how much of the time that one is in these states and discover what a small amount of time one is in the state of awareness of "self." This gives one considerable material to work with.
Sooner or later you will begin to notice, without condemning or justifying, just simply, being aware of the states others are in, knowing that the way they behave in that state is the only way they could because they are in a hypnotic sleep from the hypnotic ideas of the world.
VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF LESSON 7 FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPE:
The 48 Tapes – Lesson 7
(Levels of Consciousness and Their Levels of Being)
We have been considering for the past several weeks the becoming acquainted with the self, with the mechanical conditioning. And recently we have been dis-identifying from the self to be aware of the self as object. And that I, as an observer, reporting to X that which is going on in the self so that the self does not report in the name of I directly to X and set off all manner of unnecessary, unpleasant situations that are destructive or disintegrating to the state of being.
Now, to further aid our observation we will consider some Levels of Consciousness and some Levels of Being. And as we observe these, we may be possible to make an aim.
Now, an aim is not a goal. A goal is to arrive at a certain place to achieve a certain result. An aim is a direction to go. So possibly we will consider that an aim might be to be able to see differently than we have heretofore seen in our conditioned state. And as we are observing we will see differently.
Now the greatest obstruction to man using the Teachings and possibly evolving into a different state of being, or having the ending of disintegration (which means exactly the same thing) is that the self-improvement concept, the self-improvement suggestion since the earliest days of one’s existence is very, very strong – the urge to be different. As we observe the self and begin to be acquainted with it and we see some of the things in the self, a self-improving “I” attempts very strongly to get I, the observer, to identify with it and then start on a program of self-improvement. This is to fall back into the world. If one should discover that one has done so, it is not anything to be ashamed of, to regret; it is to say, “I am awake and back on the job,” and to be aware of that particular bit of conditioning.
The Four Levels of Consciousness
The Teaching has that there are Four Basic Levels of Consciousness and many Levels of Being. So, we will consider first the four general Levels of Consciousness. The first is [1] SLEEP: when one is asleep in the bed, one is asleep under the influence of an anesthetic, one is asleep under the influence of toxicity in the body from adaptation and one is in a state of coma. Now in the state of sleep, obviously one is not responsible. One doesn’t do very much and only dreams go on, if anything, and some of the dreams are not recalled. Some are recalled. But they are merely the not-I’s playing that are totally in sleep. But I is asleep and I must sleep now and then. One finds that I uses tremendous amounts of energy in observing and must go to sleep now and then. However, it does not have to sleep for years. And it’s been in a hypnotic sleep for many years.
Which is the Second Level of Consciousness is called [2] WAKING SLEEP. In other words the person appears to be awake, walks about, does all the daily chores, writes books, teaches college courses, performs surgery, repairs automobiles, cooks meals, builds buildings, and all sorts of things. But this is a walking sleep or a waking sleep because one is in a conditioned state and responds to the same mechanical responses. Buttons can be pushed.
And the next state of consciousness is called Self Awareness or [3] AWARENESS OF THE SELF. It is paying, seeing attention, paying attention to the self as object. It is the one we have recently started on and it is a new state of consciousness. It is seeing self, or John or Mary, as object. It is not condemning or justifying. It is an observer, simply to be aware of the self. Now this is a new state of consciousness, a new state of looking at things, a new way of being, actually, from everything that we have ever known. We have always said “I” to everything. Now that is the third Level of Consciousness.
The fourth Level of Consciousness is called Objective Awareness or [4] OBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. It means one sees everything freely without identifying with anything, without having any ideal to compare it to, or to look through or anything. It is seeing everything objectively, reporting to X, and X does all the work. And this, of course, is a state of being that we may not experience, or a state of consciousness I should say, that we may not experience for some time. Now, these states of consciousness are not something one can “do”. They are something one experiences as the various not-I’s, the bits of conditioning, are rendered inoperative by X from the conscious paying attention to the self as an object. This is really the only thing one can do. The other states occur.
States of Being in the 1st Level of Consciousness called “SLEEP”
Now, in the States of Being, which are existent in each of these states of consciousness, there is more than one State of Being under each Level of Consciousness. Under the level of Sleep there is Coma, which can be brought about by toxicity or injury. There is Bed Sleep Without Dreams and there is Bed Sleep With Dreams. (And possibly the state of consciously being aware of being asleep, however still physically asleep.) So, there is 3 basic States of Being: Coma, Sleep Without Dreams, and Sleep With Dreams in the sleeping state of consciousness.
States of Being in the 2nd Level of Consciousness called “WALKING SLEEP”
Now in the Walking Sleep, there is several Levels of Being. The first one is APATHY, when one is totally under the control of suggestion and the particular type of suggestion that says, “What’s the use? Everything will be miserable, anyway.” Now if any of you have ever seen a demonstration of the hypnotic technique, you will somewhat know a little more about this. A person can be hypnotized and brought into a certain level of sleep called somnambulisticwhich is not real easy and usually isn’t accomplished in the first many attempts of an operator to hypnotize a given subject. But it can be accomplished and the person looks for all appearances as though everyone you see walking around, however totally under the control of one operator. And whatever the operator suggests to the person, this is their state of being. If he suggests that they’re paralyzed, they can’t move. If he suggests that they are a very strong athlete, they can do unusual feats that is not possible to ‘em in their usual wakin’ state. When there is a conflict of interest, there is several hypnotists (all the not-I’s) working on them. And as one could tell someone they were in very pitiful shape and they would sit down and be in a state of Apathy. Or one could say, “You’re being very terribly mistreated and you must defend yourself,” and they would be very angry.
Now the not-I’s are hypnotists and they have hypnotized I, kept it sound asleep and it reports to X whatever the hypnotist has to say. And as there are many, there is ever changing states. So, the first State of Being in the Walking Sleep, the lowest one, is called Apathy. You may have seen people in apathy – you couldn’t get a smile out of ‘em no matter how hard you try. You cannot get them to be enthused about anything or interested in anything. They just moan. Even their flesh hangs. If they raise up an arm, the skin and the soft tissue hangs below the bone. Their whole face has dropped, their eyes look sad and they’re in a woebegone situation. And, of course, the physical body is functioning at that level and very erratically and nothing seems to be functioning usually in it.
The next Level of Being in the Walking Sleep state is that of FEAR. In Fear the person has become under the control of a not-I that has suggested every conceivable kind of dread thing’s going to happen to it. This person believes that all sorts of catastrophes going to occur. “Earthquakes are going to destroy us. Inflation is going to destroy us. Illness is going to strike me. I will probably come down with cancer or diabetes or some brain tumor or some other dread disorder. I’m afraid that we will be without a job and we won’t have enough food to eat. I’m afraid the house will burn down.” A not-I gets one frightened and can put one in a state of panic. You may have experienced it. You more than likely have and where it tells you that some terrible something’s going to happen and all of a sudden you seem to believe it – the heart races, the palms perspire, the person’s in a state of anxiety from every direction. So this is fear. And the person who has been under the control of a fearful producing not-I over a period of time are usually generally considerable overweight. This is very simple because it’s being reported to X that there is a great catastrophe going to happen very shortly – soon. So the appropriate thing to be done when there is going to be a catastrophe is to store up food and water. So every particle of nourishment that goes into the body is stored by X, in response. And it is the appropriate thing to do if one is going to be attacked and in a very severe situation and unable to have food; so it is stored inside the body. Generally these people are quite overweight and they’re quite sick because all the many things are occurring that (in adaptation) because these terrible states do not occur very frequently. As an entire society becomes more under the control of suggestion of fear, we have more and more people decidedly overweight.
Now the next level of being in the Walking State [of Sleep] is called HELD RESENTMENT. It means, really – hate. It is a combination of fear and anger. A person is angry, feels they have been mistreated, but afraid to do anything about it. Now this is a state of being wherein one is in a continual seething with inside, that one is constantly fighting in imagination. Sometimes there is violent killings in this imagination. Sometimes there is producing people all manner of difficulties – it is getting even with them. And in this state, tremendous energy of course is being burned up in imaginary fights. But X does what the information it receives. And the information being received from I that is hypnotized by the ideas of revenge, of hate, is continually drying the body up. So, it has burned all the excess. So this person is usually rather skinny, somewhat wrinkled up and the face shows the signs of the attitude that is working within. And of course, they have all the symptoms that require adaptation from the continual state of the preparing energy from the various hormones to prepare to fight or run (and it really isn’t being done except in imagination). So they have their share.
Now, these two – “Fear” and “Held Resentment” – these two States of Being makes up most of the practice of any general practitioner or physician. There is “fat man and skinny man”, whether it’s man or a woman, that fills up the doctor’s offices because they have the greatest number of ailments of course, because in the imagination of the not-I’s that have I hypnotized, it is constantly being reported to X that they’re in a very severe condition, a great emergency, and X is preparing them constantly to fight or run. And the adaptation takes place and so they fill up the doctor’s office.
The fourth Level of Being in this Walking State is ANGER. Now that is the state where the one is constantly stickin’ up for their rights in imagination, constantly feel that they have been mistreated and that they are entitled to revenge. And they have no fear of getting it. And they’re usually rather blunt and rude to most of the people around them. They are quite drivers and possibly are what the world calls “successful.” They have signs and wonders that they have succeeded in improving their situation. They may accumulate properties because they run over everbody – they’re entitled to. And they’re angry at everone. And everthing they do is very easily justified by the not-I’s that says, “We have been very mistreated and we’ve got to stick up for our rights!” The next level above Anger…Incidentally the angry person usually has a potbelly and that is about it, otherwise they’re the usual size and shape – somewhat more ruddy complexion than the general run of people and are quite subject to heart attacks and kidney stones. They don’t usually go to the doctor until forced to it because they’re angry at doctors like everbody else – same as they’re angry at their wife, their children, their compadres, their partners, their customers or whatever.
So above the Anger comes the fifth State of Being in the state of Walking Sleep, that State of Consciousness. This is called BOREDOM. This person has generally achieved a certain amount of comfort, certain amount of pleasure, certain amount of attention, had a lot of approval and has possibly had power over other people. But it did not gratify, it did not deliver what was promised by Mammon. So the person is quite bored; they’re really not very interested in anything and consequently they don’t do very much. And they don’t get in too awful much stress – just enough because they’re annoyed with things easily because, “What’s the use? It’s all the same.” You’ll hear a bored person say, “Aw, it’s all the same thing. I’ve heard all that before. I’ve done that before.” So, he’s looking for some specific excitement or something that will pull him out of this deplorable state. Sometimes he turns to drugs, sometimes to alcohol, sometimes to other excesses. But, he just looks like, “It’s not very interesting – life is a big disappointment.”
The sixth State of Being in the Walking State of Sleep, the Waking State of Consciousness, is that of CONTENTMENT. The person has had recently gained certain pleasures, comforts, some idea of security and feels that everything is quite well. They look quite beautiful. They are not overly concerned with anything because they feel they have it made. And of course they are not interested in being a student. They are not interested in anything except enjoying their wonderful state they have achieved. They are a success, whether it is success in the worldly terms or success in having attention, approval, or whatever the term may be. They feel that they are quite contented with their state and why do anything about it? Why try to wake up? Of course all waking sleep feels they’re 100% conscious, 100% free agency. And, of course, this is why it is a dream. All are workin’ toward an ideal.
Now, many times the person in Contentment is there for a little while and then they get bored with it because always is greed that comes back and says, “We should have more, better, or different.” Or, they get angry because something happens and they begin to fall from that place. And the highest point in the Walking Sleep is still an illusion – even though it is called “Contentment” and the person feels they are happy, it is a very short-lived affair.
States of Being in the Level of Consciousness called “SELF-AWARENESS”
In the Awareness of Self, there is three Levels of Consciousness…Levels of Being, I should say – I’m sorry. In the Self-Awareness Level of Consciousness, there are three States of Being.
The lowest one is VITAL INTEREST. And you possibly are beginning to discover what a vitally interested state of affairs it is to be able to observe self without identifying with it, without condemning it or justifying. (And if you do condemn or justify, of course, that’s an indication that one is identified with it.) But it is such a vital interest to be able to see it, to be able to see other people without condemning or justifying, without judgin’ ‘em – simply to be aware of ‘em, to be aware that people are asleep. It is beginning to open untold vistas of understanding and being that one has never experienced. So the Vital Interest State of Being is the beginning of being a new person. It is the lowest level of it but it is like being a new person all over. The body begins to be alert, the face shines – one is vitally interested while one is in this state.
Now, admittedly, that at first as one begins to be aware of the self as an object without condemning or justifying, this is short-lived. It is a minute here and a few minutes there, and a few seconds here and quite blank spaces in between where one is caught in the identification process and gets identified and falls back into Apathy, Fear, Held Resentment, Anger, Boredom, or possibly Contentment. (It is very easy to fall into Contentment because one feels one has accomplished so much because one has experienced the state of enthusiasm, or being vitally interested in something that one has never seen before in one’s life. And with the old ideas of self-improvement it’s very easy to feel, “I have obtained a sign and a wonder and “I” have done this”.) But I is only observing. X is bringing about the state of the inner being.
The next Level of Being above Vital Interest in the state of Self-Awareness, in the Level of Consciousness of Self-Awareness, is EXHILARATION. Exhilaration is another word for “bliss”. One experiences a State of Bliss, a state of being where there is no conflict, no obstruction. These are very short-lived, generally speaking. If you experience it you will know why it’s short-lived. It is beyond description except it is in a state of bliss, a state wherein there is no obstruction, there is no sense of conflict within. And in this state, one experiences a State of Being that passes all understanding. It is short-lived. It comes in places and then maybe one goes back to Vital Interest and observing self. If one should identify with that State of Being one is apt to fall way back down the line because one makes it important to continue to have this State of Bliss. Or a not-I jumps up and says, “See, you lost it! You’ve goofed!” You didn’t lose it. You didn’t find it. It happened. So the not-I is, as always, a liar. But it will jump up and say to I, “See you goofed. You lost it. And it’s all your fault!” And if one accepts that accusation from that self-improving “I”, one identifies with the self-improving “I” and is already way back down the line, possibly even to Apathy. We have seen such occur. Be aware that states of Bliss or Exhilaration do occur. They are not something one has done. And when it’s gone, one didn’t lose it. It was just an experience of a certain State of Being in the Level of Consciousness called Self-Awareness.
The next Level of Consciousness [he meant Level of Being] has been referred to as being an ARTIST, experiencing artistic. It does not mean one will start to paint pictures, play music, compose music, or arrange things in a different way or be an interior decorator or what have you. It merely means that one sees relationships that one has never seen before, sees relationships that possibly no one has ever seen. Again, it is something one experiences, not something one can “do”. It is an experience of seeing relationships of all manner of things that one never saw before. And after all, this is what an artist works in is relationships. So, this is called the Artistic State of Being and it is the highest level of the Self-Awareness Level of Consciousness.
Level of Consciousness called “Objective Awareness”
Now beyond this Level of Consciousness comes, of course, Objective Awareness. And there is several Levels of Consciousness, which we will take up at a later date; we will not discuss at this time.
But all States of Being one does not “do”; they happen as one is in a given State of Consciousness. And that includes the lowest ones.
Dreams happen in the state of consciousness called Sleep. Anger, guilt, fears, resentments, apathies, boredom, contentment occurs in the State of Consciousness called Walking Sleep where one is identified with an ideal. And if the one doesn’t have the ideal, one is apathetic, feelin’ one can never gain the ideal. Or one is fearful that one will not gain the ideal. Or one is resentful because the ideal was in sight but you interfered. One is angry because one does not have the ideal. One is bored when one has achieved a level of the ideal but no more. And one’s greed then makes one bored with it. And one is contented when one is gaining some degree of the ideal. But it is Sleep that one believes in the ideal, the ideal of the Four Dual Basic Urges, the ideal of Mammon, the ideal of the world and that one can self-improve to the level of gaining these various things. That is a dream state. It’s a waking dream. One might say that it is a daydream or a hypnotic dream because it comes from suggestion from within and from without and is being in a state of somnambulistic hypnosis. And being aware and observing this from the point of I, I has awaked and arise from among the dead ideas and is observing the self as an object.
So we shall observe these States of Being in self. You might write them all down and see how much of the time that one is in these states and how small amount of the time one is in the state of Awareness of the Self. This gives one considerable material to work with. Sooner or later, you will begin to notice without condemning or justifying, just simply being aware of the states others are in and knowing that the way they behave in that state is the only way they could, because they are in a hypnotic sleep from the hypnotic ideas of the world.