Lesson 5 (4 Aspects of Man, Dis-Identifying)
For the past several weeks we have been studying man as he is in his "conditioned state;" that we may be aware of the actual situation as it is within each of us, not with the idea of condemning or justifying, but simply being aware of what is. The whole idea of schools is for man to be aware of "what is" as it is.
The whole idea of the world is to set up "ideals" and ignore "what is" and struggle to change it into the "ideal" of "what ought to be."
Man thinks that he knows better of "what ought to be" rather than finding out "what is," and possibly something else would appear, resulting in a new man not just a patched-up one.
Somewhere it said that one cannot patch an old garment with a piece of new cloth lest the new cloth will rend the old garment and it will be worse. One cannot put new wine in old bottles because the new wine would break the old bottles and all is lost. We have been studying the old garment and the old bottles so that we will know something about it.
As a preliminary to begin another level of work which we will take up next week, we will start this week with understanding and observing for ourselves the function of each aspect of man. In the picture of man we have the physical body, awareness, X and function. Now if we can, we will take these four aspects of man and begin to see their function in relationship. No one of these aspects ever seems to function alone, it is an interrelation of four aspects or factors of one man.
The first thing we will attempt to study is X. We will try to see how X works. Now here is a guide or roadmap for observing, and you must do the observing. First, let's see if we can observe and see how X works. X always does the proper thing for the information received from awareness. Now it doesn't say that it always does the proper thing, but the proper thing for the information received from awareness.
Piano story of gas delusion
One time in a mental institution a young lady was observed who had a delusion that the room frequently filled with poison gas. She would begin to have this delusion from some association. The first thing she did was climb up on the piano stool. That got her head above where she thought the poison gas was. When the gas filled the room up to the level to where she would have to breath again, in her delusion, she climbed up on the cover of the keyboard of the piano. That got her still higher and when she felt that the poison gas was to her nose again, she got up on top of the piano with her head almost to the ceiling. When she felt the gas reached there, she passed out. The room was continually filling up with gas, to her, but the rest of the people were sitting around in chairs. She didn't take that into consideration; she was in a mental hospital. After a while she revived and would go on about her usual affairs until that particular delusion set in again. What she did (what X did for the being) was climb upon the piano stool, keyboard cover and the top; the appropriate thing to do for the information X received from this "deluded awareness."
Now this was an extreme case, possibly, but each of us sees that the way to get along in the world is by complaining, sticking up for rights, pleasing people, quoting authorities, being different and blaming and we might even see that the whole purpose of living is to be "non-disturbed." As long as this information goes on, X does the appropriate thing for the information received.
As we continue to study we may find that different information would go to X than that which has always gone. Then, of course, there would be an entirely different state of being. Further, X receives as "truth" all information furnished from the "awareness of man." Whatever the awareness says is truth, X operates upon it as "Truth." When the poor girl reported (with feeling) that the room was filling up with gas and that she was going to be poisoned or suffocated, X accepted that as true and did the appropriate action for the information (as it "seemed") and accepted it as being true. So if we say that the whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed, X operates upon it.
If we say the way to be non-disturbed is to kill someone, X kills them. If we were to say that the appropriate or the ultimate thing that the truth of the matter was that we should be dead in order to be better off, X pulls the trigger that blows the brains out.
The "AWARENESS FUNCTION" is a function not a thing. The "awareness" is simply a function of X, not a separate identity or thing. It has awareness and, therefore, can be deluded into believing "it is a thing." X generates the energy for any act that the "awareness function", I, says is valuable or good. If one sees something as being true but of no value to one, X does not operate on it. It is that we simply see it as no value or "awareness" sees it as being of no value, so no action is taken on it. The awareness function being 100% subject to suggestion 100% of the time accepts ideas that are false as being true, such as the ones we have been observing these past weeks. This establishes what we refer to as bits of conditioning or Not-I's--personalities that are really not true, but being conditioned to observe things in a false light.
All this conditioning has the effect of putting I into a hypnotic sleep in which it identifies with the Not-I's. To identify means "to treat the same as." In other words, these bits of information (conditioning) that goes to X is treated as though it is really awareness, and the real awareness identifies with the bits of conditioning and feels it is all the same.
It is as though an intelligence corps in an army were to identify with some fifth agents saying, "Well, they are the same as I. They are in the intelligence corps and, of course, they could all report to the general, and the general would act upon everything he received from the intelligence corps as being true.
Another little parallel:
It is as though there were burglars invading your home and they all used the telephone in your name. They could call up the store and have things sent out and charged to your account. They could cause you considerable difficulty without you knowing it because they could use the phone in your name.
When this is the state of existence, the I being identified with the Not-I's, X provides energy to the conditioning as though it were I. All human energy comes from X. It is all spiritual energy. The Not-I's, the bits of conditioning, would, of course, wither away and not have any power nor any energy to express except that I identifies with them and they receive energy from X.
As a parallel, suppose you had a son or daughter and that child fell in with a hypnotist. The hypnotist would have your child call up and tell you what the hypnotist wanted while he kept the child in a state of hypnotic sleep and only told him by suggestion, "Tell your parents thus and so and to send you money." But it would come and the hypnotist would use it. This is much the case of the Not-I's.
Now this conditioning of the Not-I's receiving energy from X and this accounts for the misery and the disintegration of man. The struggle toward the illusion of the "ideal," to the struggle for self-improvement, to the struggle of sticking up for rights, to the struggle of pleasing, to the struggle of complaining to the struggle of blaming. All this struggle results in wars, fights, etc. This never ending struggle results in and accounts for the disintegration of man.
We have been studying it to be acquainted with it. The way out is for I, the real awareness, to dis-identify from all that one possesses; from all that which one calls "my." "My" opinion, "my" thoughts, "my" feelings, "my" attitude, "my" house, "my" everything; everything that one possesses because that which we possess we depend on and we depend on it to give us the "ideals" and we are very disappointed when it doesn't. When disappointed, we feel hurt, look for blame, and then we have anger, guilt, fear, insecurity and a host of the subdivisions of those very unpleasant damaging emotions.
So the way out is for the awareness, I, to dis-identify from all that one claims to possess, everything that one says "my" to.
Now this results in a state of affairs wherein I observes the "self," as though you were a traveler on a spaceship from Mars and you had come in and were observing an "earthling named (whatever your name is). This observing is without condemning or justifying, but it is totally dis-identifying from this "conditioned self." Now you may see why we have been studying the "self." It is not really something one wants to identify with. It is in a state of conflict; it is somewhat missing the mark as to the whole purpose of living. It is using very infantile methods to attempt to gain those. It is disappointed when this ideal of the purpose of living of being non-disturbed is not achieved. So maybe it makes it a little easier for us to dis-identify from the "self." The "self" is that picture of man we drew with the basic decision at the bottom with three on one side going one way and three on the other side going the other way.
Now I is going to wake up" and observe these Not-I's in their work as to how they report to X. But one intercepts here. One says, (using the name of John for all men, and Mary for all women):
"Mary" is doing so and so, but I then is reporting to X and does not operate on nor give the energy to the Not-I.
I observe that "Mary" is mad.
I observe that "Mary" is jealous."
I observe that "Mary" is trying to have "her" way by complaining; "she's" putting on the tears."
I observe that "Mary" is trying to have her way by sticking up for her rights; "she" is rather belligerent."
I see that "Mary" is blaming John because "she" feels rough."
I see that "Mary" is blaming John for not having gotten home at 4:05 and, therefore, "she" is disappointed and feels hurt."
One begins to observe from a separate position all the things that this "conditioning" is doing.
We have been observing it, making some notes, so now we will dis-identify. No longer is it I am doing this, but
I is observing "John" or "Mary" doing this.
We begin to sense an entirely different sense of I. It is the beginning, and only the beginning, of a permanent state called I. I has been jumping from one that wants to complain to the one that wants to please, to the improver, to the blamer, back to the believer in authorities. There was no permanent I, it jumped all over.
Now this little thing of dis-identifying and beginning to observe the "self" will not be possible 100% of the time, but it can be done considerably, and every moment that is spent on it is accumulative and it weakens all of the Not-I's.
So we will start now on the first of the way out of the state of being conditioned and controlled, being mechanical, of having burdens and being loaded down with all the things from the past by starting to dis-identify from the "self." Therefore, the "self" owns things, but I does not.
The "self" has a dress or suit, a house, opinions.
"John" has an opinion and "he" is defending that opinion.
"Mary" has feelings and "her" feelings are hurt. I is reporting to X. I has taken up its rightful position. The Prodigal Son has arisen from the hog pen in Egypt, which all the "conditioning" represents, and has started home. He is still a long way off, but he has started back to be a servant in the Father's House.
So this is the beginning of I being real and observing the Not-I's in all their carrying on. And we will call it "self" (or your name). I observe "self" doing so and so, or I observe "John" doing so and so.
Now this results in I being simply an observer and a reporter without any condemnation or justification. I has taken up its chore of observing and seeing "what is going on," seeing "what is." It is not ready yet to start applying values, that will come a little later. Further, what I observes is "self," "John" or "Mary," or the "conditioning," or the "Not-I's."
There is a legion of them. They are in two parties and they fight with each other also. So I is observing all the Not-I's and I is observing "John" or "self." These are interchangeable terms and may be used in various discussions as we go along interchangeably. As I observes the Not-I's without condemnation or justification, X renders them inoperative, one by one.
In other words, you may have wondered, "What can I do about it?"
Many have been asking this when they observe these conflicts and these various bits of conditioning. All one can do is observe it and report it. X does the work of rendering "them" inoperative. How does it do it? I do not know! What does it do with them after rendering them inoperative? I do not know! We just know that they cease to be conditioning and "they" cease to take on and operate the body and the BEING.
It is impossible for I that has been asleep, dead, or blind (as so many stories and parables use it) for so long, to suddenly be 100% capable, so I will frequently go to sleep. But when I wakes up again, I merely say, I am back on the job and reporting to X."
Now there will be a host of accusing Not-I's, the self-improving "I's" that say, "You ought to believe and do as you are told by your authorities" (a very large family of them because there have been many authorities).
One says you "ought to be different," and "they" will all accuse I for having gone to sleep from time to time but I does not identify with them, does not accept their accusations or "their" condemning, and does not talk back to them. It merely reports that there are accusing "Not-I's" saying that the observer never should have gone to sleep, and X renders them inoperative. One does not contend with these "Not-I's." I is an observer and a reporter to X, and nothing else. It does not argue nor play the lawsuit part with the Not-I's. It only observes and reports.
We will talk on these many times, but do observe that a Not-I will jump up and try to give I a hard way to go because suddenly I wakes up and realizes that it has not been observing "self " for several hours or maybe even days, who knows!
The tricks of the Not-I's are many and very cunning and even seeming to be helping with the work of trying to straighten I out. Merely observe the many many Not-I's and totally dis-identify from the self.
I am observing "John." "John" is doing so and so. "John" is getting angry. "John" is dreaming up a story "he" is going to tell to put "himself" in a good light. "John" is blaming "Mary" for making "him" mad. I observe all of this going on within "self" as something entirely separate, and it really is something separate. It has been something that has been added on, it is not the real person at all. It is "conditioning." It is a group of "Pinocchios", and I is reporting them to X.
Now, what is the function of awareness? It is to be an observer first and report "what is." It reports what is true, without any condemning or justifying. It merely reports. The other thing the awareness function will do later is to begin to place relative values. It never judges. Only the "self" or "conditioning" judges.
Judging says that it is "good" or it is "bad" according to whether it made me comfortable or not or whether it produced pain. It says it is "true" or "false" according to how closely it agrees with a given opinion or a Not-I. The I, the real observer, the function of X, reports "what is" and later it will report its relative value. But right now it is merely reporting "what is."
The function of the physical body is an instrument of the expression of X. The body is a function of X as the awareness is a function of X. Its function is to express into physical activity that which awareness said was true and valuable. The body is the instrument of X as the awareness is. Its first function is to maintain the instrument in existence. X keeps it in a state of repair and prepares it for whatever. Awareness reports the actual circumstance.
If awareness reports there is great danger because someone disagrees with it, X prepares the body to fight or run and, as we have seen, it must adapt to that. If that adaptation is seen as a danger and not as the work of X, then again it is prepared to fight or run and gradually goes on into a deterioration and the body falls apart.
If I is awake and aware and reports that the body is functioning, the body is adapting to your adaptation, it is burning up the mobilized and unreleased energy that one time when I was asleep, one of the Not-I's reported to X that it was in danger, then I sees and all the physical symptoms are over with very quickly and very shortly the body is being completely renewed.
If correct information goes to X from I, and the conditioning is dis-identified from, the body undergoes a rejuvenation, the same as the awareness; it is a new man because it is no longer being used for purposes that no longer exist but which was reported by a Not-I in the name of I to X. Now, as we observe this, we will see how the body completely changes as I observes "self" and does not identify with "self." "Self" owns houses, cars, opinions, bank accounts, viewpoints and rights. But I only observes. I is a function of X and observes the "self," and X renders inoperative those various bits of conditioning one by one. One does not have to judge, condemn, or justify the Not-I's.
X knows what to do, the same as it knows what to do if the house is afire. One reports it and X gets the being out. If one hears from the body that water is needed and it is reported to X, it doesn't say it's "good" or "bad." X gets up, walks to the tap, or the refrigerator,drinks it, swallows it; all of which are miraculous happenings if one ever observes. Do you know how to walk? Or are you only aware that you want to go to the door?
You experience the walking, you are aware of the walking.
If it was left up to us to figure which one of the muscles to move in sequence in order to carry out the act of walking, there would be no walking.
Function is to bring about the play of X in awareness; to bring about the ever changing series of events that continually give man all the values and joys of living when we can report accurately.
When he has been taken over by usurpers and they are talking in his name, that function demonstrates very clearly that error is being reported to X, but X only accepts as fact everything that the awareness reports to it whether from a Not-I or an I. So we see very excellent reasons for observing the Not-I's. "They" are speaking in your name to the SOURCE OF ALL ENERGY.
BELOW IS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION OF LESSON 5 FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPE:
The 48 Tapes – Lesson 5
(The 4 Aspects of Man – Dis-identifying)
For the past several weeks we have been studying man as he is in his conditioned state that we may be aware of the actual situation as it is within each of us. Not with the idea of condemning it and not with the idea of justifying it, but simply being aware of what is. The whole idea of Schools is for man to be aware of what is, as it is. And the whole idea of the world is to set up ideals and ignore what is and struggle with what is to change it into the ideal of what ought to be, man thinking that he knows better of what ought to be rather than finding out what is. And possibly something would appear that would result in a New Man, not just a patched up one. Somewhere it’s said that one cannot patch an old garment with a new piece of cloth or else the new cloth will rend the old garment and it’ll be worse. Or that one puts new wine in old bottles because the new wine would break the old bottle and all is lost. So we have been studying the old garment and the old bottle so that we will know something about it.
And as a preliminary to begin another level of work, which we will take up next week, we will start this week with understanding and observing for ourselves the function of each aspect of Man. Now, in the Picture of Man we have the PHYSICAL BODY, we have AWARENESS, we have X and we have FUNCTION. Now if we can, we’ll take these four aspects of man and begin to see their function in relationship. Now no one of these aspects ever seems to function alone. It is an interrelation of four aspects or factor of one man.
X
Now the first thing we will attempt to study a bit is X. So we will try to see how X works. Now here is a guide or road map for observing and you must do the observing. But let’s see if we can observe how X works first:
X always does the proper thing for the information received from Awareness. Now it doesn’t say that it always does the proper thing; but the proper thing for the information received from Awareness.
One time in a mental institution a young lady who had a delusion that the room frequently filled full of poison gas was observed. She would begin to have this illusion from some association that the room was filling full of poison gas. The first thing she did was climb up on the piano stool. That got her head above where she felt the poison gas was. When the gas filled the room up to the level of where she would have to breathe again in her delusion, she climbed up on the cover of the keyboard of the piano. That got her still higher. And when she felt the poison gas was to her nose again she got up on top of the piano with her head almost to the ceiling. And when she felt the gas arrived there (the room continually filled up – to her, nobody else; the rest of the people were sitting around in chairs… this she didn’t take into consideration – she was in a mental hospital) with her head almost to the ceiling and she felt the room was filled full, she passed out. In a little while she revived, and then she’d go on about her usual affairs until this particular delusion set in again. Now what she did, what X did for the being (climb up on the piano stool, on the keyboard cover, and on top) was the appropriate thing to do for the information X received from this deluded Awareness.
Now this was an extreme case, possibly. But each of us sees that the way to get along well in the world is to be complaining, or stickin’ up for rights, or pleasing people and we might even see that the whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed. As long as this information goes to X, it does the appropriate thing for the information received. As we continue to study, we may find that different information would go to X than that which has always gone; and then of course there would be an entirely different state of being.
Further: X receives as truth all information furnished from Awareness of man. Whatever the Awareness says is truth, X operates upon it as truth. When the poor girl reported that the room was fillin’ full of poison gas and she was going to be poisoned or suffocated by this gas, X accepted that as true and did the appropriate action for that truthful information, as it seemed. It accepted it as being true. So if we say the whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed, X operates upon it. If we say the way to be non-disturbed is to kill someone, X kills ‘em. If we were to say that the appropriate or that the ultimate thing that the truth of the matter was that we should be dead in order to be better off, X pulls the trigger that blows the brains out.
Awareness Function of X
Third: Awareness Function – or I – is function, not thing. I is function, not thing. The Awareness is simply a function of X, not a separate identity or thing. It has awareness and therefore can be deluded into believing it is thing. X generates the energy for any act that the Awareness Function, I, says is valuable or good. If one sees something as being true but of no good, no value to one, X doesn’t operate upon it. It is simply we see it as no value. I, Awareness, sees something as being no value, no action is taken on it.
The Awareness Function, being 100% subject to suggestion 100% of the time, accepts ideas that are false as being true, such as the ones we have been observing for the past many weeks.
Identifying with Not-I’s
This establishes what we refer to as bits of conditioning, or as “not-I’s”, personalities that are really not true I, but conditioned to observe things in a false light. All this conditioning has the effect of putting I into a hypnotic sleep in which it identifies with the not-I’s. To identifies means “to treat the same as”. In other words, this bits of information and conditioning that goes to X is treated as though it is really Awareness, or I. And the real Awareness identifies with the bits of conditioning and feels it’s all the same. It is though an Intelligence Corps head in a army were to identify with some Fifth Agents and says, “Well, they’re the same as I; they’re in the Intelligence Corps.” And, of course they could all report to the general and the general would act upon everything he received from the Intelligence Corps as being true.
Another little parallel: it is as though there were a bunch of burglars invaded your home and they all used the telephone in your name. They could call up the store and have things sent out, charged to your account, and they could cause you considerable difficulty without you knowing it because they could use the phone in your name.
When this state is in existence of the I being identified with not-I’s, X provides energy to conditioning as though it were I. All human energy comes from X. It is all spiritual energy. The not-I’s, the bits of conditioning, would of course wither away and not have any power, any energy to express, except I identifies with them and treats them the ‘same as’ and they receive energy from X. As a parallel, suppose you had a son or a daughter and that son or daughter fell in with a hypnotist. And the hypnotist would have your son and daughter call up and tell you what the hypnotist wants while he kept the son or the daughter in a state of hypnosis, sleeping, but he only told them by suggestion, “Tell your parents thus and so. Send us money, send you money.” But it would come and the hypnotist would use it. This is much the case of the not-I’s.
Now this conditioning of not-I’s receiving energy from X accounts for the misery and the disintegration of man – the struggle towards the illusion of the ideal; the struggle towards the illusion of self-improvement; of blaming, which results in wars and fights and all the other things – results and accounts for the misery and the disintegration of man. We have been studying it to be acquainted with it.
I, the Real Awareness, Dis-identifies from Self
The way out is for I (I with a line drawn under it, the real Awareness) to dis-identify from all that one possesses, from all that which one calls “my”. Like “my” opinions, “my” thoughts, “my” feelings, “my” attitudes, “my” house, “my” everything – everything that one possesses. Because that which we possess we depend on, and we depend on it to give us the ideal and we’re very disappointed when it don’t. And when we’re disappointed, we feel hurt, we look for blame, then we have anger, guilt, fear, insecurity and a host of the subdivisions of those very unpleasant, damaging emotions. So the way out is for I, the Awareness, to dis-identify from all that one claims to possess, everything that one says “my” to.
Now this results in a state of affairs wherein I observe the self – I as though you were a traveler on a spaceship from Mars and you had come in and were observing an earthling named whatever your name is. This observing is without condemning or justifying – but it is totally dis-identifying from this conditioned self. Now you may see why we have been studying the self. It is not really something one wants to identify with. It’s in a state of conflict. It is somewhat missing the mark as to the whole purpose of living. It is using very infantile methods to attempt to gain those and it’s disappointed when this ideal of the purpose of living of being non-disturbed is not achieved. So maybe it makes it a little easier for us to dis-identify from the self. The self is that Picture of Man that we drew, with the basic decision at the bottom and three on one side goin’ one way and three on the other side goin’ the other way. Now I is going to wake up and observe these not-I’s in their work as to how they report to X.
But one intercepts here. One says, (we’ll use the name John for all men and Mary for all women) so if you’re a woman, Mary is doing so-and-so but I then is reporting to X and X doesn’t operate on nor give the energy to the not-I.) “I observe that Mary is mad.” Period. “I observe that Mary is jealous. I am observing that Mary is trying to have her way by complaining – she’s puttin’ on the tears. I observe that Mary is trying to have her way by sticking up for her rights. She is rather belligerent. I see that Mary is blaming John because she feels rough. I see that Mary is blaming John for not having gotten home at 4:05 and, therefore, she is disappointed and feels hurt.” One begins to observe from a separate position all the things that this conditioning is doing.
Now we have been observing it and making some notes – somewhat. Now we will dis-identify, no longer as “I” am doing this, but I am observing John or Mary doing this. And as we observe this, we begin to sense an entirely different sense of I. It is the beginning (and only the beginning) of a permanent state called I. “I” has been jumpin’ from the one that wants to complain to the one that wants to please, to the improver, to the blamer, back to the believe in authorities and there has been no permanent I. It jumped all over. Now this little thing of dis-identifying and beginning to observe the self will not be possible to do it 100% of the time, but it can be done considerable. And ever’ moment that is spent on it is accumulated and it weakens all the not-I’s.
So we will start now on the first of the way out of the state of being conditioned and controlled, being mechanical, having burdens, being loaded down with all the things from the past by starting to dis-identify from the self. And therefore, the self owns things; but I do not own anything. The self has a dress or a suit, the self has a house, the self has opinions. John has the opinion and he is defending that opinion. Mary has feelings and her feelings are hurt and I am reporting to X. I have taken up my rightful position – the prodigal son has arisen from the hog pen in Egypt (which all the conditioning represents) and has started home. He is still a long way off, but he has started back to be a servant in the Father’s house. So, this is the beginning of I being real and observing the not-I’s in all their little carrying on. And we will call it self or a name. I observe self as doing so-and-so. Or I observe John as doing so-and-so.
Now this results in I (with a line drawn under it) being simply an observer and a reporter without any condemnation or justification. This I is just takin’ up its chore of observing and seeing what is going on, seeing what is, and it is not ready yet to start applying values. That will come a little later.
Further, what I observes is self or John or Mary or the conditioning or the not-I’s – there’s a legion of ‘em and they’re in two parties and they fight with each other also. So I is observing all the “not-I’s”, or I is observing John, or I is observing self. These are interchangeable terms and they may be used in various discussions as we go along – interchangeably. As I (with a line drawn under it) observes the legion of not-I’s without condemnation or justification, X renders the not-I’s inoperative, one by one, as observed. In other words, you may have wondered what can be done about it. “What can I do about it?” – many have been asking when they observe these various conflicts and various bits of conditioning. All one can do is observe it and report it. X does the work of rendering them inoperative. How does it do it? I don’t know. What does it do with them after it’s rendered ‘em inoperative? I don’t know. We just know they cease to be conditioning and they cease to take on and operate the body and the being.
It is impossible for I (with a line drawn under it) that has been asleep, dead or blind (as so many parables and stories uses it) so long to suddenly be 100% capable. So I will frequently go to sleep. But when it wakes up again, I merely says, “I’m back on the job and reporting to X.” Now there will be a host of accusing not-I’s, the self-improving “I’s”, that says you ought to believe and do as you’re told by authority and that’s a very large family of ‘em ‘cause there’s been many authorities. The one says you ought to be different. They will all accuse I for having gone to sleep from time to time. But I does not identify with ‘em, does not accept their accusations or their condemning, and does not talk back to them. He merely reports there is accusing “not-I’s” saying that the observer should never have gone to sleep. And X renders them inoperative. One does not contend with these “not-I’s”. I is an observer and a reporter to X and nothing else. It does not argue or play the lawsuit part with the not-I’s – it only observes and reports. Now we will talk on these many times. So but do observe that a not-I will jump up and try to give I a hard way to go because suddenly I wakes up and realized it has not been observing self for several hours – or maybe even days, who knows?
The tricks of the not-I’s are many and very cunning, even seeming to be helping with the work of trying to straighten I out. Merely observe the many, many not-I’s and totally dis-identify from the self. “I am observing John and John is doing so and so. John is getting angry. John is dreamin’ up a story he’s going to tell to put himself in a good light. John is blaming Mary for making him mad.” And I observes all of this going on within self, in the self, as something entirely separate. And it really is something separate. It has been something that’s added on. It’s not the real person at all; it is conditioning. It is a group of Pinocchio’s and I is reporting the Pinocchio’s to X.
What is the Function of Awareness?
Now, what is the Function of Awareness? It is to be an observer first and report what is. It reports what is true without any condemning or justifying. It merely reports. And the other thing it will do later is begin to place relative value. It never judges. Only the self, or conditioning, judges. The judges says it’s good or it’s bad, accordin’ to whether it made me comfortable or not, or whether it produced pain. It says it’s true or false accordin’ to how close it agrees with a given opinion of a not-I. The I, the real observer (I with a line drawn under it) the Function of X, reports what is and later it will report its relative value. But right now it’s merely reporting what is.
What is the Function of the Physical Body?
The function of the physical body is an instrument of the expression of X. The body is a Function of X like Awareness is a Function of X. And its function is to express into physical activity that which Awareness said was true and valuable. And the body is the instrument of X like the Awareness is. Its first function is to maintain the instrument in existence; X keeps it in a state of repair. It prepares it for whatever Awareness said was the actual circumstance. If Awareness reports there’s great danger because someone disagreed with it, X prepares it to fight or run. And as we have seen, it must adapt to that. And if that adaptation is seen as a danger and not as the work of X, then again it is prepared to fight or run. And this gradually goes on into a deterioration and the body falls apart. But if I is awake and aware and reports, “The body is functioning, it is adapting to your adaptation. It is burning up the mobilized and unreleased energy that one time when I was asleep, one of the not-I’s reported to You it was in danger,” then you see all the physical symptoms are over with very quickly. And very shortly the body is being completely renewed. If correct information goes to X from I and the conditioning is dis-identified from, the body undergoes a rejuvenation the same as the Awareness is a “new man” because it’s no longer being used for purposes which does not exist but which was reported by a not-I in the name of I to X. Now as we observe this, we’ll see how the body completely changes – as I observe self and does not identify with self.
Self owns houses, cars, opinions, bank accounts, viewpoints, rights, and I only observes. I am a Function of X that observes the self and X renders inoperative those various bits of conditioning one by one as they are observed and reported to X. One does not have to judge, condemn or justify the not-I’s. X knows what to do, the same as it knows what to do if the house is afire and one reports it – X gets the being out. If one hears from the body that water is needed, one only reports to X water is needed. It doesn’t say it’s good or bad. And X gets the drink – gets up, walks to the tap or to the refrigerator, pours out a drink, swallows it, all of which are miraculous happenings if one ever observes.
Do you know how to walk? Or are you only aware you want to go to the door and all of it just takes place and you experience the walking, you are aware of the walking. But if it was left up to one of us to figure out which muscles to move in sequence first, second, third, fourth, fifth in order to bring about the act of walking, there would be no walking.
Function is to bring about the play of X in Awareness, bringing about the ever-changing series of events that continually gives man all the values and the joys of living when he can report accurately. When he has been taken over by usurpers and they’re talking in his name, that Function demonstrates very clearly that error is being reported to X. But X only accepts as fact everything that the Awareness reports to it, whether it be from a not-I or I. So we see very excellent reasons for observing the not-I’s. They're speaking in your turn, in your name… to the source of all energy.