Exercises - Doing the work - (the value of) plus - Workers's Tools
Newport Beach--10-14-80
(*Audience participation is in parentheses--notations in brackets have been added for clarification )
Levels of Consciousness
[Though the Levels of Consciousness are covered already in the "Basics" section of this web page, I have transcribed it again in this workshop because only once did he go into the higher levels of consciousness. He always told us that he would go into the higher states of being when we were able to stay in vital interest. Of course, that rarely happens. Anyway, the states of consciousness are helpful to the subject of this tape of "doing the work" and the value of it. Here we go as Dr. Bob says............]
We will try to talk a bit about consciousness. Somebody says there is more than one level of it; and that nothing really works well until one has higher levels of consciousness. Was that what you read?
(I heard that.)
I heard that too, so we're going to talk about it a little bit, and see if that is probably it. So, I'm going to write some levels on the board.
Most people are rather acquainted with some of the lower levels of consciousness; however, they didn't recognize them as such. So we will start with the lower level one which is called apathy.
APATHY - (subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
In apathy one really doesn't care too much about "what's going on" and one thinks, "Oh well, it doesn't make any difference." One assumes that things will never be any different--it's terrible now and it's going to remain that way.
Most of us are not in apathy tonight. We're at least all looking around and holding up something--but it is still only a subdivision of this one called the lower inner states. So we'll put 2. These are all subdivisions of this one level of consciousness which is called the ordinary waking, walking consciousness, which to some people says you are at least half asleep all the time, meaning you only run into half of "what's going on."
FEAR - (subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
The second one is fear. Now I think most people have experienced fear a little bit--they probably didn't call it fear most of the time, probably called it worry, or anxiety, or some of those little things; but nevertheless, let's say the person is fearful. Now the usual thing one is "fearful of" is a picture one has painted for themselves. We paint a little picture called "what if" in the head, and then forget that it's a picture. We forget that it's a "what if" and it becomes very real in a matter of minutes and then you have a big problem.
I know because that earns my living; and of course, I'm very happy for people to continue that; but we're going to let you "in on it". I said what I'm trying to do is work myself out of an occupation. I've been wanting to retire for years and it doesn't seem to be very effective because people keep on generating these "what if" pictures.
HELD RESENTMENT - (subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
Now the third one is called held resentment. Now, of course, I think most people can recognized that. We resent a little something--we called it at times that we have "accounts against people". They owe us a debt because they mistreated me back in 1941 or somewhere back there. Somebody did something, "they rejected me" or "they ignored me" or "they said something nasty to me"--or they failed to pay me the $22 that I loaned them--or we went out for lunch 3 times and they left me with the check each time. We just got lots of those heavy loads against a lot of people out there. So we call that held resentment.
ANGER - (subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
The next level of this would be anger; and of course, we all know about that. We've been ticked off at somebody because "they didn't do the right thing", or we were upset with them in one form or another--a little bit of anger.
BOREDOM - (subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
The next one is boredom. We know about that one also.
These are all aspects of the lower levels of consciousness. Now people live in theses levels of consciousness. They're go up and down through here. Now another word for apathy would be "self-pity". I think that would be the closest word I could think of as a synonym for it. Did you ever feel sorry for yourself?
(No.)
No, never! Nobody else here ever does, but you know people who do, is that right? You know people who feel sorry for themselves, don't you? So these are the lower levels of consciousness; and folks vary up and down through here more or less all the time. And, of course, they hope to have good health while they're doing this; and that happens to be an impossibility. So one says: "One never knows when illness will strike."
So they go from doctor to doctor, and clinic to clinic, and counselor to counselor, and from one thing to another trying to feel good while they live in these lower levels of consciousness. Now that's all one variety of consciousness--the usual everyday variety. It can vary from one to the other. We could say everybody was in the state of apathy and then there's apathy plus one, apathy plus two and so on.
CONTENTMENT (highest subdivision of the Lower Inner States)
Now there is one level of consciousness which is a borderline--it's a no man's land between the lower and higher states of being and that is contentment. Now contentment is a very rare state for people to be in on this planet for one reason or another. Very few are really contented; and if they are, it's a very short length of time. Furthermore, it's usually due to circumstances that just happened that way. Circumstances don't last very long, so the person is soon out of contentment. So most everybody has had a chance, at least, of feeling contented--now and then. Ever try that?
(Yes.)
And the person was in contentment because everything was going pretty much "his" way at that moment. It does do that--just due to circumstances once in a while--it just happens that way.
In that state--when a person can get there, or if they can maneuver into some situation to get there--they could begin to look at the levels of higher consciousness. Now this #2 up here starts with Vital Interest. Now anything above contentment will be vital interest plus one, plus two, plus three like these down here.
VITAL INTEREST - (beginning the Higher Inner States)
Vital interest is when the person is consciously decided to be truly interested in something--picked up their own inner state and was "in charge".
Recently we put out a little tiny book that said "Who is in Charge if My Inner State." Obviously in all of the lower levels of consciousness, the environment, other people, circumstances, and situations are in charge of your inner state.
The person is in whatever inner state the last person they met left them in, basically. If somebody was real nice to you, you might be way up here to contentment; but if they were insulting, or hard to get along with, or complaining about something you had done or failed to do, then you might be in one of the lower states. This is not a joke, it is really an honest evaluation of "what goes on". People come in and tell me what somebody said to them--some of them are in a fear lower state, or an anger lower state; but they're all in these lower levels of consciousness.
So now with the vital interest, the person could begin to enjoy health. They might even be able to handle the worldly situation, or the economic situation until they could get along pretty well in that without any bother. They could do it time in and time out regardless of inflation, depression, democratic elections--it wouldn't make any difference, You could still go on and function quite well with all these different situations.. You might even have an interpersonal relationship--a love relationship that could get along very well.
In the lower states, you can figure how long a love affair is going to last, couldn't you? It's fairly easy to figure out--about as long as the proverbial June frost. It's not going to hang together very long because one of these lower state not "i's" is going to pop up. Can you imagine feeling very romantic while you are expressing one of those lower state not "i's"--it just doesn't work. You don't feel very romantic in that situation. Up here in the higher states, you might be getting there. Very seldom do you get there with the lower state. You might get to contentment as long as everything is going just right, everybody's saying the right things to you, everything's happening pretty much like you want it. But let the least little thing go--(Murphy's law goes into effect--whenever anything can possibly go wrong, it will at the worst possible moment)--and down here they go.
Now they're going to feel sick and have upsets in their domestic situation. They're going to have difficulty with the money situation and etc.
EXHILERATION - (Second level of the Higher Inner States)
Now #8 is called exhilaration. Remember, that's vital interest plus 1. That can also be called enthusiasm and the word enthusiasm means the "Fire of the Gods". It can also be called bliss along with several other states that could go beyond this. And these states can occur only when the person is at least "in charge of their inner state" and decides to go a little further.
ARTIST - (Third level of the Higher Inner States)
#9 is called Artist and it doesn't mean that that person could paint a picture or make a sculpture or even design a house. It merely means they see relationships that other people don't usually see. It could be in any field of endeavor from cooking to engineering to art or whatever else. They see a relationship that other people don't see. So they see how things work--how things fit together. They see how come this is happening--how come that is happening--"what's going on in the world".
CLEAR SEEING - (Fourth level of the Higher Inner States)
#10 we could call Clear Seeing. I have a word that says that's clairvoyant, but that's been so twisted around, so let's say clear seeing. It's seeing "what's going on" and seeing pretty much "what's going to happen" from given set of things that are going on now; unless there's a new factor gets added into it.
Now any of these states a person can function far better than they could even in contentment. They can handle most any situation that comes along because they recognize situations and that most people have lower states of consciousness. They certainly don't expect people to do any different than what they're already doing.
So that is called agape or love. You begin to understand people with this level of consciousness. Now people don't know that there can be another one.
So we're trying to point out that another level of consciousness. a higher state of consciousness is available--and is highly useful. It can be used at any time you really decide you're going to do it. There's a few requirements, and I think we have laid these requirements out a number of times.
One is to understand the picture of man and all the conditioning factors which go to make up these states of being. Number one--that there is a state of being, a purpose that the person started in infancy. That is that the whole purpose of living is to regain the non-disturbed state experienced before birth. Before you were born, you were in a the non-disturbed state. Now what you want to gain in the non-disturbed state is to gain pleasure and comfort--100% at all times with no effort. Now you can have a lot of pleasure and comfort as a by-product, but you do have to put out a little bit of effort for it.
So the lower consciousness person, unknowingly, feels entitled to be in a total non-disturbed state, have lots of pleasure and comfort, and no pain at all times. They want all this with no effort on their part. It's just simply because "I'm entitled to it and you better well know it." I'm entitled to it.
I'm also entitled to have attention, and approval and never to be ignored or rejected, no matter what I do. And I'm entitled to it--just though the fact that I'm alive--I'm here. And it's also that I should feel very important and never have any sense of inferiority or unnecessary existence--and I want everybody else to notice that.
Now all this is felt that one is entitled to it. That's a basic purpose there. And then, of course, there is complaining in order to get it. When you don't have pleasure and comfort, the appropriate way to get it is to start complaining. How many of you have complained sometime or other today? All that haven't please stand. Well, two that says they didn't complain any today. So that complaining was not necessary because evidently you both had all these things down here--maybe. There wasn't any use complaining.
The second one is that they "stick up for their rights". Now when you "stick up for your rights" is when you get up in this area of feeling a bit of anger or resentment. Now I imagine most people have had occasion some time or other today to feel they were "sticking up for their rights"--not everybody, but some--and if it wasn't today, how about yesterday or Saturday, or Monday.
And then of course there's "blaming" goes on. Now blaming goes on considerably more. Every little thing that goes wrong, somebody's got to be to blame for it. If two cars bump together on the street you got to find out who's to blame. An airplane crashes, what was to blame for it. In the whole political scene, each one is "blaming" the other for having caused it all.
And then of course we all have to be "pleasing people". Now I don't want to, you understand, but it's necessary to keep peace. I'm obligated to do so or Mama will get upset with me--or the kids will get upset with me, or my mate will get upset with me; so I have to please them even though I really don't want to.
And then, of course, we have to "believe and do as we're told by our authorities", and who likes authorities--nobody. But we have to do as they say.
And then we ought to improve ourselves.
Now when one is aware of this [emotional turmoil within], and that these [thoughts] are simply bits of conditioning. One, then, doesn't need to put any more value on all the rattling--that's all these thoughts that run through our head at the most inopportune time such as "If it hadn't a been for you, everything would have been all right." They talk morning, noon, and night.
When you see that, and you know "them" for what "they" are--that "they're" simply old childhood bits of conditioning and are not worthy of paying attention to--one has gained something we refer to as
SELF KNOWING - (teaching subject)
We know "that self" and "that self" is of the lower consciousness; and is the one that functions about 99% of the time in 99% of the people. So it's pretty consistent; and it more or less makes up what we know as the "world". It is "society"--it is the people we run into--it is everything that is organized and put together--it is called the "world".
So we become acquainted with all that stuff; and, to me, that is a limited time of study. I think you could get acquainted with it in a day; but there are so many subtle ways of doing "it's" bit. Probably six months would be more like an adequate course of study in self knowing--about six months you ought to catch on to all "their" tricks because "they" are very boring. "They" do the same things and "they" say the same things year in and year out. Surely we could catch on to "them". Now "they" do get into a subtle way of saying it sometimes.
Now everything they say is derogatory about you, or another, or circumstance--and it's always a lie.
So we got one start on it--that "they're" always derogatory--that's easy enough to keep up with, I think. It's either about me, another, or circumstance. Now the way "they" get a little subtle sometimes; "they'll" say well you better not tell Mary or she won't understand and get mad at you. That says something derogatory about Mary. [I think there is a value, in this case, to decide for oneself what one wants to tell others. I've found it of value to keep some things to myself. For instance not "i's" from others about some others--in other words, gossip. Telling doesn't serve any purpose and just makes everyone feel bad, including self.]
It says she's very shallow at understanding, and is very intolerant; and she couldn't stand to hear about it. So I'll have to tell her a fib so she won't be upset. Now that's a not "I". That's the way these little "cats" work. That may not sound horribly derogatory the way it came out, but it is, isn't it?
So that's when they get a little subtle. They take night lessons--they go to classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday--not just on Tuesday. "They" go every night and learn how to be derogatory in a nice way--like saying you must not tell Mary this because she will not understand and she would get upset and be angry with you--so you tell her a fib. Now that is saying something very derogatory about you, is that correct? It says you are a very shallow--have no understanding.
So maybe you better spend six months on this subject of catching up on "self knowing" which is to know the whole content of the lower levels of consciousness.
Now when one would do that, one could begin to ignore these bits of conditioning, and one might find themselves in vital interest; and you could take up one more subject .
SELF REMEMBERING - (teaching subject)
This subject is called self-remembering. Now there are the only two subjects covered; and these two subjects are required in this type of study--self knowing and self remembering.
Self-remembering is a subject which you probably couldn't do until you were at least in a state of contentment. It can, however, be induced by someone else. If you took one person down here in about any of lower the states; and they were around some person in a very high level of consciousness, they will feel a lot better--any of us will--just being around them. We don't know what happened, we might be off up there and be very ecstatic for a while. But as soon as the person in the higher state of consciousness gets up and walks away, or you got up and walked away, you'll go right back down there anyway--so not much has been accomplished except you've discovered another "state of being" does exist.
So in self-remembering you go there yourself without somebody else taking you or anything of the sort. In self-remembering, there is four questions:
What Am I?--not who am I? I was in Salt Lake City over the weekend and they give you a definition of knowing about "who you are". That's when you have your genealogy completed all the way back to Adam. Now you know "who you are" and I'm not interested. So I don' t want to know "who I am", I could care less.
What I am very interested in is What am I? What I am. And I'm also interested in remembering Where am I?
And third I've very interested in knowing What's going on Here?--and it is a lot of fun.
And the fourth one, I want to know What I can do?
In the last week or so we spent some time in what you can see in self-remembering.
So let's take them very quickly again. I can see, without any stretch, that
What I am is a privileged invited guest
Where am I?--this beautiful estate called Earth.
What's going on here? is obviously one big party.
What I can do? is to be what to me is being a good guest--and I said, TO ME; and I'm not going to ASK YOU what I should do.
When one gets to that state, one recognizes one has everything. One can do anything. One is then, at least, in vital interest. One has moved into a total new level of consciousness. And, of course, the more you play around with those questions here, there, and elsewhere in the upper levels of consciousness beginning with vital interest, things become very delightful.
Now if you're a person in this level of consciousness you're very healthy because you aren't tearing yourself up all the time. This one down there is obviously not healthy because you're forever "stressing the body" and 'tearing it up" with all kinds of peculiar inner feelings.
Obviously you know how to make a living up here because you're vitally interested, you're exhilarated and people just love to be around you. When you have enough people around you they leave a little money on you. I've found that. If I can keep enough people coming around, I'll get a few bucks from somewhere and get along all right.
And obviously you can have love and romance and all those things in vital interest because who could put up with you down here [in the lower levels of consciousness]-- much less love you. So the lower states create all the fights and scraps and carrying on. The upper states create romance and caring and growth for everything concerned.
DOING THE WORK
Now the teaching is not difficult. There are two simple subjects:
self knowing which we can give you a road map for; and
self remembering which we can furnish a road map but I can't take the trip for you. I can only do that for myself.
If you have a road map and it is reasonably accurate, you can get about anywhere. If you have a map of LA you can find anywhere around there, is that right? Same for New York? You got a map, you can get there; but you can't say that you're going to sit in your chair and read the map and say:
"I bet that museum over there is really lovely."
"I bet that restaurant out there on that street would be delightful."
Meanwhile, you sit at home. You're not going to experience any of it until you experiment with it.
So unless a person does self knowing and does self remembering, they will never get anywhere--only they have read about it, they have talked about it. I know people down here that can recite every esoteric book in the country to you. They have studied them all. They are graduate of every course of study around--if they allow graduates. I never allow any of us to graduate from anything. But these certain people can come and talk teaching, listen to teachings, and they can talk teachings to other people. They can write all sorts of episodes on teachings, but they have never done so much as one hour of real study of self knowing. They haven't observed that "what's going on in themselves" is what we refer to as not "i's"--just old conditioned thoughts running through. They immediately have a problem every time one of the not "i's" runs through.
When this goes on, they have never "exercised the least little bit" to put out any study and experimentation. Now if you wanted to take up engineering, could you have just kinda skimmed through the books a little bit and got to become an engineer, or did you have to do a lot of work.
(I had to do a lot bit of work.)
There was a little work involved. If you want to be a musician, you don't just wake up some morning and decide, "Well, I'm going to play trumpet."--run down to the music store, buy you a trumpet, and become a great trumpeter. You have pounded that piano quite a bit in order to have some proficiency with it, is that right?
(Right.)
Neil did you just wake up one morning and be able to do refraction's and so forth or did you have to beat around and work at it a little bit.
(I had to work at it a little bit)
God pity the first few that you had to work on in clinic. That's what I thought about the brave souls that came to me many years ago when I was just learning; but you know, they came for free, so they deserved what they got--lot of them still doing that.
So it took a little effort, you had to practice on somebody, didn't you. I did too, but they were brave. We had to work at actualizing any proficiency we have in any field of endeavor--no matter what it is.
You're a pilot somewhere along the way. Did you just walk out one morning and get into the airplane and go flying or did you have to work at it a little.
(It was just natural ability)
Yes, it was just natural born. You went out there and got in it and zipped off, is that right? Beth's didn't come out that easy. You had to work at it a little bit.
So with the teachings there is a little effort and work; but both subjects are very short and simple if one applies oneself. They are both very simple subjects. We didn't say they were very easy to practice; but even I will maintain they are easy. I will even grant that it's difficult for some people. We'll even say that. But nevertheless, the subject is extremely simple. So if you have a simple subject, even though it takes a little effort to practice it--it wouldn't be all that bad, is that right. Any of us can hack it.
So I can lay it out and say here is a possibility of you--an absolute certainty that you can work at it to live in an entirely different state of consciousness. Now this does not mean just going through life year in and year out down here in the lower states of consciousness until mercifully death liberates you somewhere between 60 and 70 years old--if your lucky. Death happens earlier sometimes if you're not so lucky. All I can say is we were wonderfully put together to even last that long. We really got a wonderful mechanism to make it hold together that long. I can see that it would be quite a relief to get your last breath if the lower states of being is what you lived in all your days--it would be a great liberation. And it's about the only liberation people know. You can die to this stuff and live here [in vital interest and above]; and then you don't have to tear yourself up so quick.
Ok lets have questions and comments, I've talked my usual allotted time on the minute.
(Now if you are in the process of actualizing something you want to do, do you have to have a particular talent for it or.............)
End of tape--question was cut off
In some things you probably would need a talent. In this one [of the teachings] we all have the talent for it, ok?
(Right)
Now it would probably take me 100 years longer to develop musical ability than it did you; because I don't know one thing about it. Furthermore, you could play the same piece over five times in a row, and I'd think you were doing something different every time. But now I'd enjoy it each time, ok?
Next question?
(......[could only hear last two words of the question]...........accurate reporting?)
That's one of the ways of saying it. You see accurately what you want and say it accurate; or see what somebody else wants. That would be one of the ways of accurate reporting . That would be one of the attributes; at least you could report clearly if you could see clearly. If you can't see clearly, you can't report very accurately. That's why most people say their reporting did not work for them--they were trying to report from down here in the lower states somewhere and it, flat, won't work. I tell people not to try reporting until they get up there to vital interest; but, of course, a lot try it down here and it doesn't work. Then, naturally, they say there's something wrong with the whole idea.
(When you report something do you say "This will be" or .......)
Oh it wouldn't make any particular difference. I'd probably say "Well, I guess it will be that way in a day or two."
(So there's no such thing as saying kinda like.......
No formulas, no, no, no.......it's just that's the way it is. Just like I'd say, "That's a chair you're sitting in."
(Hmm)
(Earlier you made the statement about fear--that it is usually due to a picture that we create in the head. Now would you agree that ______[couldn't hear full question]_____ can be created with pictures that we created in our own head..........)
No.
(You wouldn't say that?)
No, I won't agree to that. No.
(I can relate to my experience of creating a picture in my head that gets me into states of enthusiasm.)
You probably could, but you did something besides the picture. You might have carried the picture along with you; but you had to do something. You had to start acting a little enthusiastic too.
(A little bit.)
Ok, you go ahead and make the pictures and live with them, I won't contend with you. I just said I wouldn't agree with it. You asked me if I would and I said, "No."--in no uncertain terms, because I know too many people that try to work it that way. They are always winding up in difficulty.
Yes, I know that you could probably dream you up a picture and feel a certain enthusiasm about it, but it won't last long enough for you to put it into effect--and it wouldn't be a higher state of consciousness. It's dependent upon a picture, and not on you.
You can be around somebody that's in a very high state of consciousness up here somewhere, and you would probably feel more fantastic that you've ever felt in your life--maybe. But that was something other than you put you in a higher state of consciousness--you were just experiencing it on the outside--you weren't' doing it yourself.
We're talking about doing it yourself. I don't doubt that you could feel one of these feelings up here, or a reasonable facsimile of it. There is an awful lot of facsimiles of it, you know. But it won't create it and keep it there. That only comes from having self-knowing and self remembering and staying there for a bit with it.
But you could experience most any kind of state of being--I will agree to that. You could experience being very ecstatic without any real higher state of consciousness. It's only there because you're around it--or it was induced. That doesn't count in my book.
(You had a lady come to you with polio and a man that couldn't walk. What happened? What brought about the change?)
I don't know. That's in my "I don't know" department. I just know what to do first to get it to happen, but I don't know what happens in them. I can tell you, they went up this way. It wasn't due to their efforts, it was due to taking them there. Now if they went back down below there sometime or another, they would probably have, at least, part of their condition return.
If you take a person, today, and they're very apathetic; and you work with them, you can watch them, if you're working in a proper way. [This is talking about taking a person up through the levels of consciousness] You can see them next get fearful of you. They can resent you, hate you for a bit. They can be very angry at you. They can get so bored they yawn all over the place; which incidentally, the lady I was telling you about did--and then they get very contented. Then you get them very vitally interested and all the conditions disappear. Now that is not their effort. They were merely taken there; and it's up to them as to whether they stay or not; because without this, I doubt if they could stay there very long. But at least you can get all the condition gone, ok? It's what corresponds to the state of consciousness the person experiences at the moment; and if you could upset them enough and get them them back into fear and apathy, the conditions would probably return instantly, ok. But I'm not in the business of upsetting people--much.
(Does the state of consciousness and the state of being mean two different things or the same thing.)
Well they probably would be equivalent. You have to have the state of consciousness to experience the state of being. If you had the state of being, the state of consciousness would probably go with it.
(Would you talk about the effort to_____________________)
We defined it as we went by.
(I know)
You were out for lunch. A person in a higher state has the ability to see relationships that ordinary states of consciousness down here would never see. Clear seeing is to see a whole bunch of things and how they relate to "What's going on here." There are two plusses instead of one plus.
(What you are aware of......)
Why don't you try it and find out, honey; it would be a lot more useful to you than if I sat here and tried to give you definitions? Go up here and find out? It would make a lot more sense to you. I could tell you something, now, and you only have something that you could repeat and write down and so forth--try it out?
(When we're in vital interest, aren't you still susceptible to sensations of like "boredom" or "anger".)
No, nope, that's all gone. You dun left that world and gone to another one.
(You don't even pick it up?)
Oh, I can see out there that somebody else is "bored" or "angry" or something; but I'm not going to have it. That's their feelings, not mine; I don't want their damn feelings--they can have them in their "states of being". No, I don't want to have any part of it. I can recognize it in somebody else, but I'm not going to feel it or sense it, ok? That's theirs. I'm very careful! This is my feeling [which I'm in charge of]--That's yours, ok?
(When one's in vital interest do thoughts still happen.)
Do thoughts still happen?
(Thoughts that might occur that are against oneself, another or circumstance?)
You mean would you have the derogatory stuff out of the conditioning come up?
(Yes, thoughts.)
Well, I don't know what you mean by thought. To me there are many mental activities--you could probably see creative pictures of things that you could create, design---courses of action. To me, thought is the argument between this one and this one--this one says stick up for your rights and this one says "You better not do that because so and so will get upset with you" That is always conflict--and you're not in the world of conflict from here on up, no. So not "i's" come to an end. In other words, not "i's" live in the lower level. Let's build us an analogy. We say "they" live or in the basement of this building. Now as long as I was down there with "them", that's all I can experience. But if I leave there and come to the 4th floor, "they" can't get up here, and I'm not listening to anything "they're" saying. So it's like if you meet people that have voices in their head. Do you have those kind of people around?
I have one delightful young man who calls me three to five times a day about his voices. Now a few times I've gotten this young man to get up into at least contentment. Now it took super-human effort--it's a hard sell. I got him up there for a little bit, and he heard no voices. But as soon as he went back down here, then all the voices began talking to him again. Now there's two voices that's always after him--one's a man's voice and one's a woman. The woman is this side--she's always tempting him to do something; and as soon as he does it, this one--the man's voice--gives him hell for it. So there goes the hassle in him all the time. That's why my poor little friend is in such a mess as he is.
But as long as we stay in the basement, we're going to experience the things of the basement--you know cockroaches and black widow spiders and creepy salamanders and all those things down there where there is a little seepage and what-have-you When we leave that and come up here on the main floor we don't experience "what's going on in the basement". So it's a matter of going upstairs shall we say. Is that clear enough?
(So up in the upper levels then is good health......)
Good health, prosperity and all the things that goes with the upper levels of consciousness; and it includes romance and joyful friendships and inner feelings and so forth--it's all up there, it doesn't have that other junk of the basement down here.
(Do those things in the upper atmosphere become manifest through created........)
You're asking me the "how to" again like our friend. I don't know how it works and furthermore I don't care.
(I heard once that what one "carries around in one's head" is generally "what happens out here". I also thought you said that "what one carries around in one's head" is "what is reflected in what happens".......)
If you go around full of "anger" all the time; then sooner or later the body's going to be sick. I don't know which way it's going to be sick, it could do it any number of different ways. I can't decide that, I can only watch it.
(What happens if one is joyous?)
You'd be pleasant and you'd probably feel better than you've ever felt in your life. It would be easier to earn a living or income; and it would certainly be easier to get along with all the people near and dear and around you--that's obvious. Cause the higher states of consciousness is one world and this lower state of consciousness is another world--totally different worlds--it's like leaving one world and going to another. It's like you died to planet earth and went to some other glorious planet -- Colob is the right place.
(_[couldn't hear the question, but I think it was asking if the not "i"s are always within]_]
Oh yes, "they're" just so far off, but you don't bother to pay attention. Pay about as much attention as if it's a bird whistling out there about five miles away.
(They're always there.)
Oh they probably could be heard if you stopped to listen to "them". If you don't stop to listen to "them", "they" probably--as far as you're concerned--are not there.
Ok? Next question?
(Creativity? People who are artists, painters, writers and so forth, where do they live?)
Well, they live all the way from here up [don't know which level he pointed to] in the states of consciousness. We said that this higher state called artist is not concerned with a painter of pictures. I know some pretty good painters that live down here in the lower states; and I know some pretty good artists that travel all up and down here in the different states. I know some sculptors that are all up and down here. One of the most accurate sculptors I know, a man who sculpts, is an extreme alcoholic--about three fourths of the time. About one-fourth of the time he is a whiz at making beautiful things. So he usually fiddles around in here [again, not knowing which level he pointed to]--having known him quite a while.
(You hear stories about them and it's like they're all down at the bottom......)
Oh yes, they like it down there--chopping their hands off. Yeah, well that's the picture, you know, to be great, you got to be starving--living in an attic somewhere and all that kind of stuff. So that's just a conditioned picture; but what they do for a living, whether they are an artist or an engineer or a salesman or whatever, has nothing to do with where they are on the tone scale. If he is a very wonderful artist in the lower states, can you imagine what he would be if he was in the higher inner states? He'd make that old stuff look like junk. He'd be better at whatever his occupation was with regard to the higher he goes with the states of being. If he is an engineer, he'll be a better one up here than down here. If he paints pictures, he'll paint better pictures in the higher states of being than the lower states of being. If he hauls firewood, he'd be better up here than down here.
One man said (that after enlightenment, which means he found out something up here) that before enlightenment he chopped wood and carried water; and after enlightenment, he chopped wood and carried water; but he did it much nicer up here.
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[In my young schooling, the teacher gave me facts to learn and I then produced the same facts back to her on a test or essay. I had an association that this is what learning was all about; and from observing, see others thinking that way. The spiritual work, however, is quite different. My Teacher often said that he is describing "what's going on". It's up to us to decide what experiments we want to run. I observe that most people, including self, fall in to routines they do every day. Those routines also show up in conversations and interaction with others. When we begin to see things differently, those conversations and interactions can then change and bring about different results that are perhaps more to our advantage. I've often wondered what experiments I could run. In this article there are several little exercises one can run. I did work with a few and found them hard to do because it broke my normal pattern. I particularly loved the one of listening to what I can hear as I go to sleep at night. Anyway, I share these with you so that you can have new ways to experiment. ……Marsha]
WORKER'S TOOL BOX
from the Awareness Journal
Vol. 1, No. 2 Winter 1993
Very few people are really dedicated to the Work--apparently they don't see the value of it. They have other values. Those who do see the Work as valuable Work at it every day, as often as possible. One of the most popular articles I ever wrote contained a few dozen ways to approach Working in a practical everyday manner. Here's some more, by request. Although it is infinitely better that you take the trouble to design your own.
*When you hear a loud noise, don't look toward it, at least for a moment. Put forth the effort to hold your head in its current position. Hesitate even a moment, then look if you wish.
*On a long drive, pick out the letters of the alphabet in the first word, in order, on the signs you pass. If it's a drive you take often, change it one day to blue signs only, another time multi-colored signs, and so forth. "E" is easy on the freeway (Exit) and "X" is not quite impossible—there is Xing. Devise "rules" to compensate for this. (If you are actively engaged in this seemingly fruitless exercise, you will not be listening to Not-I's, you will not be replaying or rehearsing conversations from the past and future--your brain will be thoroughly engaged, and you will be bearing fruit!)
*When you are introduced to someone, make a point to note the color of his or her eyes. (From a book by Roger Dawson.)
*At the end of the day, retrace your every move. Do it in your mind or on paper. For instance, 1, Got up at 7:12.
2. Went to the bathroom; got dressed.
3. Ate breakfast.
4. Drove to work.
5. Stopped at dry-cleaner's.
6. Greeted guard at work. And so forth, in all its tedious detail. Are there gaps in what you remember?
*Listen
*When you are falling asleep at night, try to maintain that in-between stage between wakefulness and sleep for as long as you can. Listen to what you might hear there.
*Wear something you normally wouldn't be caught dead in. A wig, or a red garment, bell-bottoms. (Or do what someone yours truly did New Year's eve--she wore, before they were “in”--gasp--a tattoo, a small rose, of course, six inches above her knee so it showed when she danced. Did she get attention!) Allow the embarrassment you might feel. Don't explain or defend your new look.
*Order something you don't like from the lunch menu. Take at least one bite. Allow the resulting hunger (and feel free to stuff yourself at dinner if you want; or skip dinner, too). If, by allowing hunger, you dis-identify from it, you will learn an enormous lesson.
*If someone compliments you on something you secretly worry about, just say, "Thank you," and change the subject; don't give your usual disclaimer.
*If someone gives you a gift, just say, "Thank you," and don't send your usual return gift or note.
*When someone cuts you off in traffic or otherwise makes a stupid move, try to make eye contact and smile at them (this may be among the hardest things I have ever done; if looks could kill, half of L.A.'s drivers would be my dead victims by now.)
*Listen
*Stop playing your favorite music for a time. (I did this for a month once and actually felt physical withdrawal symptoms.)
*If such things embarrass you, ostentatiously buy all the tabloids at the check-out counter. Better yet, go in to buy only them, no groceries, and discuss them avidly with the checker.
*Do not discuss politics at all for a time. A week would be a pretty good challenge. No matter how interesting the conversation, or how ridiculous the speaker may be, ignore the topic and change the subject.
*Refuse to answer any "Why" question asked of you. If you are in a situation where some kind of answer is required (it seldom is actually required) think hard to work your response so that you are not answering "Why" but rather "What's going on."
*Seriously and sincerely watch for all the subtle little ways you try to control people. If you truly do this, you will be amazed. Interrupting them, "helping" them pick up an item, your tone of voice, touching them, giving "advice," finishing their sentences, picking off their plate ... there are a million ways we play the Control Game and aren't aware of it.
*Listen
*Make a point not to agree with people. (You don't need to disagree, just don't agree. See how this bungles the conversation.)
*Encore, but well worth the repetition: Assign the number of the Not-I when you hear them coming out of your mouth or another's.
Examples: "God, it's hot in here." (No. 1, the Complainer)
"How dare he say that!" (No. 2, the Sticker-Up-For Rights)
"I'll do it." (When you don't want to. No. 3, the Pleaser)
"We weren't raised that way!" or "They say that's harmful to your health. (No 4, Quoting Authorities)
"I'm sorry!" (No. 5, the Self Improver)
"It's not my fault" or "He should have done it." (No. 6, the Blamer)
Dr. Dan taught me this exercise. And it is a great piece of Work.
*Forgive yourself.
*Forgive your parents. (If you are still hung up on this one, like even some people I know who are pushing 50, make an inventory of all the awful things they did to you. Really go to Work analyzing each event; propose to yourself, as an observation, just how they might have justified the behavior. They did feel either right, or proper, or justified somehow, at the time. See if you can figure out precisely what their justification might have been. Then, after you have done this for a good while, see if you have ever used any similar justifications.)
*If you are fat, or too short, or have a nose you don't like, act for just one day in everything you do as if you were slim or tall, or gorgeous. Pretend that the "defect" has been corrected and go out and act like you would if it had been.
*Women: Make love as if you had a perfect body.
*Men: Make love as though no woman in the world existed except the one you're with, and you have been assigned by On High (!) to be her servant.
*Try to hear your voice as though you were a new baby listening, or a foreigner who doesn't speak English, i.e.., ignore the words, you can't understand them; you are just listening to the tone, the sounds. What is your tone telling everyone you talk to?
*See if you can rate your friends and others you meet throughout the day by their tone. (Apathy, Fear, Held Resentment, Anger, Boredom, Contentment, Vital Interest, Enthusiasm.)
*Call up someone you don't like, or a bore, just to chat. Or seek them out at the office, wherever. Give a gift of attention to someone you would rather never see again.
*When cornered by a bore, gaze into their eyes and look for the Spirit in there. Keep it up until you find It. (The bore will let you.) Try it with someone who's angry.
*Listen
*Read signs and billboards out loud when driving.
*When in conversation, listen for what the other person wants. What are they asking for by talking to you? Make an effort to accommodate them, unless it is harmful (agreeing with them they are a victim is harmful; loving attention is not).
*If you have some kind of minor pain, delay taking a pain-reliever for a while, or skip it altogether. Be hyper-aware of the pain, describing it, allowing it to be there (you don't need to go overboard--start small with this: you can work up to migraines and so forth with practice, but start small.)
*If you are in the habit of chatting up every clerk and waitress, say not one extra word to them beyond what is needed to do your business.
*Watch how often you say "my;" after some time watching this (a few days), train yourself to say "the" in place of "my." and that goes for everything--the car, the job, the husband, the baby, everything.
*Ditto for "have to." See if you can say "am going to" instead.
*Listen.
*Say "No" without defending or explaining or justifying.
*Say "Yes, I'd be happy to" to whatever you are asked to do for a week (as long as it is not illegal--not to your advantage--or agreeing with someone they are a victim).
*Make a list of all the people you have judged today. Write down your judgments and identify the standards you have set for others.
*Be late on purpose if you are never late. Don't apologize when you get there. (Or, you may apologize, but don't explain.) If you're always late, commit to being on time for a week.
*We are always playing a role of some kind: mother, father, spouse, employee, employer, driver, customer, etc. Most are unconscious. Identify and list all the roles you played today. See if you can play them on purpose. do this for a week or so and see if you can add some.
*See if you played the victim role today.
*Listen to how often you say "love" and "hate" objects and situations. See if you can change these words to "like" and "dislike." (Harder than you think.)
While typesetting this list, it occurred to me as I re-read it that it may look to new students, or to someone who has never met us*, like penance! It's not, really, but is hard Work with a definite purpose, and so maybe a more detailed description of what is going on here is warranted.
The natural state of human beings is probably sloth, until a suggestion comes along promising reward or threatening pain, which will move most people. This is reinforced continually through conditioning, both from within and without. This automatic state is called in the Work "waking or walking sleep". What the true student wants to do is first discover just how deeply entrenched he or she is in conditioning and reactive behavior, and learn to pause and respond, not react, to situations, ignore suggestion, and gain strength, and ultimately real power. These exercises get a change occurring.
Think of a rubber band just lying on a table. It is flaccid and useless, but you know that under certain conditions it has potential power that you could use if you needed it.
Now imagine picking up the rubber band and stretching it tight between your thumb and a finger. Every school child knows that it will move when released--the tension has created power.
These exercises can be compared to stretching the rubber band--your finger, say, is the way your conditioned self wants to go and your thumb is your new intention to oppose it with an unconditioned or conscious (chosen) aim in another direction. Rest assured, this will create tension--your conditioned self is very strong from years of practice; your intention needs to gain strength. The way to do this is to maintain the tension created by the opposing forces. (Tension is not the same as stress--stress is conflict; conscious tension is potential power.) Tension (and thus potential power) is maintained by Working every day on these little challenges, opposing the "natural" conditioned way the sleeper wants to go with a conscious intention to go in a new direction.
Anyone who Works at these seemingly petty things diligently will find considerable power at his or her disposal when it is needed--far more than the conditioned self could ever muster (outside a fit of rage, destructive power).
So no, the Work is not dreary, and certainly not penance, although I suspect the Wise Old Men of the distant past had this very type of exercise in mind before the idea of "penance" got crystallized by the institution.
If none of the above hints appeal, by all means make up your own, which is much more appropriate, anyway. The idea is just to observe how the Not-I and/or the physical body usually reacts to daily stimulus and intend to respond, instead, in a new direction, with the purpose of getting strong. The reason for a list is just to have some tools--if we have given it some thought beforehand, it is easier when the automatic reaction starts to have our list in mind. Have fun with it--the Work is, indeed, its own reward, you'll see.
*We really do like to have a good time, honest!