Workshop - The Gift - Late '60's, Borrego Springs, CA
Audio available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bjsnni9menko397/AAAXm9X-MKTl3XGsaXmrSq08a?dl=0
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Nothing that one needs to achieve, nothing that one needs to gain, it is usually something that one gives up – lets go of – that is the obstruction to what has been referred to as “Integration” or wholeness, peace of mind, or any upper states…the state of non-division within oneself. So on this day we’ll try to talk a little bit more about the obstruction that prevents this situation [break in tape] alive. In talking with many people and listening to conversations and listening to questions, it appears that
The major obstruction that we have
to allowing ourselves
to use The Gift that we have
of peace of mind, or oneness, or completeness within ourselves
is the total, incomprehensible idea of
the idea of a “Gift.”
We simply cannot conceive of a Gift. We can conceive of unfair trading, exploitation, etcetera, but we cannot conceive of a Gift. It simply is beyond anything that we have ever conceived of, or thought up, or come about in any way in our conception. It is though someone walked up to you from the planet Mars and began to talk and you wouldn’t have the foggiest of what he was thinking, talking, or conceiving of. So when we say, “gift,” let’s see what we generally can think of.
Did you ever hear of the business method called “bait and switch”? Did you ever hear of it? Hmm? You never heard of it? Well, you’ll read a big ad. One of the most notorious ones is that you’ll read an ad in the newspaper that says you can, “Buy a half of a heavy beef for 29 cents a pound and along with it we’ll give you a bonus of 50 pounds of chicken, 50 pork chops,” and maybe a cookbook to go with it. So this is the bait. You’re gonna get all these goodies for free and this whole merchandise at an inconceivable price. So you rattle up through your head, “My freezer’ll hold 300 pounds of meat – 300…29 cents a pound, that’d be 29 dollars here…3x29…man, I can fill that whole box up for less than a hundred dollars and get all those chickens and pork chops just throwed in ‘cause they’re having a big sale!” So, you truckle down to the bait and switch operator to get ahold of your goodies.
And when you get there, you see this big 29 cent piece of beef hangin’ up there that you’re gonna get all the free gifts with. And you wouldn’t feed it to your dog – it is green, it’s black, and it’s nothin’ but a big gob of fat. And it’s about the most ungainly lookin’ piece of thing you’ve ever seen. But while you’re there, you notice some rather attractive pieces of meat over here and it’s all cut up and looks so nice. And before you know it, you have bought that stuff that costs about 89 cents a pound – and with it, of course, there is no bonuses. So the man can keep his 50 pounds of chickens, which he does have in stock. And he can keep his 50 pork chops, which – if you ever got ‘em – was made out of a piece a loin about this long. And they’re sliced very thin and then they’re frozen quick, and so you don’t count ‘em – there’s clearly about 12 in there. So, this you’ve got a “bait and switch.”
Now, basically all the ideas of gifts we have comes under the title of “bait and switch”. You receive a gift and immediately you begin to think what about it? What’cha gonna pay for it, what you gotta do for it, huh? You give one and you’re automatically thinkin’ what you’re going do to the person that you gave it to. Is that right? So instead of business dealing, it’s an unfair… it’s like catchin’ a fish, you know – you give him a beautiful shrimp on the end of a hook, huh? That’s a gift for the fish, isn’t it? If he bites it, he’s got a hook-mouth.
So, this is our idea of gifts. So, when we say that peace of mind, Integration, completeness is a Gift, immediately everybody begins to wonder what all they have to do to get the Gift.
So, on being born
you were given the most valuable Gift that the human being could ever have.
It was given to you – at that moment.
Gold, frankincense, myrrh – all of it –
it was given to you.
And it will produce everything you could ever be
if you can take it.
CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO OPEN THE GIFT
But instead first you’re a little kid, aren’t ya? So you can’t take the Gift then. And then, ‘fore long, you gotta get an education before you can take the Gift because you’d probably misuse it. So, as soon as you get your education, you’ll take the Gift. You think. But when you get the education then you want a job. And then when you get the job, you don’t have the proper place to put it – you wouldn’t wanna open it up in a little old apartment, you know. So you wait until you get you a mansion. By that time, you’re gonna wait until you get the kids through college – that puts it on down the road a ways. And by that time, you’re gonna wait until you feel good then. Because by that time, with all the stress and struggles, you’re beginnin’ to be rather decrepit, you know, around the edges. And so you’re gonna wait to open this Gift until you “feel good”. Soon as you get to feelin’ good, get the kids through college, and get the mortgage paid off, and get outta debt, and get all the bills paid – and, of course, they’re comin’ in faster than you can pay ‘em. But then we’re gonna open this great Gift that we’ve carried around with us all these years. So, so far all it’s been to me is I’ve toted it around with me. Huh? Just totin’ it around.
It’s a lovely box, beautiful chest, and they told me it was very valuable. But it’s so valuable, I refuse to take it until I get lots of conditions taken care of first, is that right? Because I wouldn’t want to just hack it out, you know, by usin’ it for everyday, huh? You wouldn’t want to do that, would you, Max? And so then you’ve gotta get yourself prepared to accept this Gift. Now, we read of a great personage who had these same Gifts that every one of the rest of us do. At the time of his birth, the three kings of the Orient came and brought Gifts. From all evidence, he used the Gifts and tried to tell everybody else about the Gift that they had. But we don’t take it because we gotta wait for a while. What you gotta wait for, Esther?
(Umm…I’ve gotta wait for a lot of things.) (laughter)
So, generally, we’re going to wait and finally we die and have never opened the Gift. Is that about the way it works? But we’ve longed for it all the days of our lives: “If I could but have peace of mind… if everything would be like I think it ought to be…if everything would be done…and if all my kids were raised up and none of ‘em got disrespectful and embarrassed me…” And all these good things that we set out in front of us, all of which would come into being without effort, struggle of any kind if we would but open the Gift – because the Gift has everything in it. It has the ability to get along with the kids, and how that they could be at peace around you. But as long as you’re all this struggle and static to get yourself ready to take the Gift, the kids are liable to be a little staticky, too.
And all our education does nothing, because we wouldn’t take the Gift with it. If we’d had it, we would have passed all the education with flyin’ colors, and been knowin’ how to use it for many, many purposes.
But we are so full of conflict in our efforts to get ready to open the Gift that was brought at birth, that we never get around to usin’ it. That right, Max? You’ve had it all your days – it was brought the day you were born, but you first couldn’t open it ‘cause you was a little brat, hmm? Then you had to get a proper education.
(‘Cause it was still frozen up in Canada!)
Oh well, it’s not so cold in Medicine Hat – I been there, that’s the Banana Belt [note: Medicine Hat is in Southeast Alberta, Canada]. [Unclear] is pretty warm, too…I’ve been there, also. So, when we refuse to accept the Gift for a while, then pretty soon when you got your education, you’d open the Gift, is that right? Then you got, “As soon as I get the business goin’ good.” And, of course, we get it goin’ good up and down the West coast and we decide, “As soon as I can be nationwide I’ll get ‘er goin’ good – you know, we’ll expand.” And as soon as we get it expanded, then somebody’s talkin’ about doin’ it in Europe, you know. So, “When we become international so we can take care of all the service men around the world – then I will open the Gift.” But in the meantime, “I’m too blankety-blank busy to open that Gift! And besides that, I’m not ready – I probably wouldn’t be in a position to use it.” Is that right? And then, “If I could get everbody to see things my way and agree with me, then I’ll open it and we’ll all use it together.” Isn’t that right? But they’ve all got the Gift, too, Max – they don’t really need yours.
(But yours is better than mine.)
I know it is. (laughter) But it didn’t mean to be. So, as we go along, we’ve got to get so many conditions set up because we cannot conceive of a Gift. Now, let’s see maybe what a Gift is.
A Gift
is something that is given by the Giver
because the Giver
loves the one he’s going to give it to.
Period.
Not because the receiver is worthy; not because they’re educated; not because they’re good; not because they’re smart; not because they have done all the things they should do… but maybe because they’re so blessed miserable, you know? Just give it – that’s when you really need a gift, isn’t it, dear?
(Right.)
Is when you’re miserable. You don’t need it when you’re doin’ fine. Right? So then…
The Gift is given
because the Giver
loves the one He gives it to.
Life loves every one of us and gave us a Gift when we were born –
the Gift of peace of mind,
the Gift of oneness,
the Gift of wholeness.
And we have never opened it
because we cannot conceive of a Gift.
What’s all gifts been to you, Miss Tilly? You’re gonna owe somethin’ right quick – somebody’s gonna be round to collect. You better believe it. So, all it is is a sneaky way of doin’ business, which is… some of my friends in this “bait and switch” business have been indicted for fraud, they have served prison terms, they have managed to get out of town just in front of the District Attorney about most of the time. ‘Cause they know about how long they can operate in a city – three months and they better be gone.
So this is the way that we think of a Gift. When you give somebody somethin’, you also expect somethin’, don’t you? After all, it was just bait and it had a hook in it, didn’t it? It’s just like catchin’ a fish – you put a shrimp on there, pull it up there, and the ole fish thinks, “What a beautiful gift somebody give me.” [Mimes pulling in a fish on a line:] Bluuup, up! Huh? And this is the way we think of Gifts. But a Gift is given by the Giver – not because you’re worthy, hmm? Not because you are pretty, not because you’re slender, not because you are chubby, not because you are good, not because you have even pleased the Giver. The Giver gives because he loves that which he gives it to. Life loves every one of these expressions, no matter what we are. Now…
We have no way to “earn” the Gift,
because a Gift,
a true Gift,
cannot be earned.
A sneaky way of doin’ business called “bait and switch” can be. It has to be paid for and paid very dearly, as most of us know because most of us have bit on the “bait & switch” teams, huh? In interpersonal relationships especially we have bit, hmm? And how many of us have felt sorry for ourselves because we’ve done something for somebody and they didn’t reciprocate by doin’ what they were supposed to do? Did you ever feel that way? After all, you’ve slaved your fingers to the bone over a hot stove for these kids, and what do they appreciate about it?
(Best years of our lives!)
“I’m givin’ you the best years of my life, and what do you do for me, huh?” So you see, this was the bait we threw out. And we cannot conceive of a Gift. But let’s see if we can begin to conceive of a Gift – not that we’d be able to give one at the moment. But could we see that we could open this Gift we have because it was given from love, not from something you earned.
After all, you was a tiny baby when you got it and you hadn’t done anything to get it – you’d just got here.
What had this great personage we read about done to deserve the Gifts that were laid down, Max? The three Kings of the Orient came bringin’ great valuable, priceless Gifts, huh? And apparently he opened it and used it. And he tried to teach the rest of us to and we said, “Well, he couldn’t know what he was talkin’ about, because a gift’s gotta be paid for and I’m not good enough to get that Gift yet. He said I could have this and this and this. But, man, I can’t take that because I still cuss, don’t I, Joan? I still swear every once in a while. I smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, and I have evil thoughts run through my mind, so obviously…I couldn’t do that.” Hmm?
(No, I’m not worthy.)
You couldn’t take the Gift, could you? But the Gift wasn’t given…a Gift is not based on “worthiness.” That is “commercial horse trading.” Now…
We are such a commercialized nation
that we cannot conceive
of a Gift.
Even in our interpersonal relationships, if you’re given somethin’, what do you expect for it, Doreen? You expect you’re gonna have to pay for it. And if you give something, they better well pay for it, hadn’t they?
(You’re damn right!) (laughter)
And if they don’t, you got full grounds to sit down and feel sorry for yourself for day in and day out, and moan and eat worms, hmm? You’d better believe it. So we cannot conceive of a Gift.
Now let’s start and see
if we can generate a new spot in this brain
that can see that
Love gives a Gift.
That it expects nothing,
gives nothing,
wants nothing,
demands nothing – nowhere.
It just is here.
It’s yours.
You wanna use it, Miss Tilly? You have the Gift – you’ve carried it around all your days. Have you ever opened it?
(No, I don’t think so.)
No, because you’re waitin’ until you get better; or ‘cause of your peace of mind; ‘til you can get everything straightened out; ‘til you get George raised. (lots of laughter) He hasn’t left there yet – George. You still have to fret about him and get his feathers all straightened out because the poor kid’s gonna get in all manner of troubles if you don’t stay up nights and worry about him, right? Huh? But if you had peace of mind – which you’ve had all these years – you could sure use it to take care of George right quick, do you see? Huh? You could spread a little peace over him and settle the troubled waters. But you got to wait until he’s all straightened up before you can use the Gift that you’ve had since the day you were born, right? You told yourself that you would do it when he got through school, hmm? He could be on his own then. But you didn’t let up one little bit, did you, Miss Tilly?
(Nope.)
Still had more worries. Now he’s got this crazy woman to look after; now he’s got a bunch of kids to fiddle with. (Laughter) Whenever you get all that all straightened out, then everything will be all right, right?
(That’ll be the day!) (Lots of laughter)
Then you can get it all straightened out, and get it done and you can settle it all, and smooth it out. But, you see, we have that which is the greatest value in all the world that we can do everything with; that everything works with no sweat, no bother, no struggle…except we won’t take it until I get this little condition taken care of. As soon as one almost gets out of the way, what do you do? Put two more up there, huh? Is that right? Sometimes four or six of ‘em, right? Then you begin to multiply. And so we carry around a big load on our shoulders – this box weighs a lot, you know, unless you’re using it.
So, we carry “Integration” with us wherever we go, but we refuse to use it. We carry peace of mind with us, but I’m not gonna hack it out for usin’ it for every day. You wouldn’t understand that.
One time many years ago – my mother was still living – and went down to see her and she was pokin’ at a needle and couldn’t find the needle nor the thread either one. So, my brother and I took her to an optometrist and got her some glasses. Boy, she could see the eye of the needle and poke it in there – and she was so glad about this set of glasses we got her. So, we both went on our way and a month or two or three later I dropped in to see how they were one Sunday afternoon and there she’s pokin’ away. I said, “Where’s your glasses, Mom? I thought we got you some glasses the other day.” “Well, you don’t think I’m gonna hack ‘em out by wearin’ ‘em for ever’ day, do you?” She was savin’ ‘em until she died. And that’s where they stayed – saved away.
She was the same lady that one time I went down and there was an ole torn up holey meal sack hangin’ up for a towel. So, I went to the town that we could get closest to that had a Penny’s store and I bought a great big stack of towels – this thick [indicates size with his hands] – put ‘em out there, some ones she’d use, and I hung one up there. Next time I came back, same old holey meal sack. I said, “Where’s those towels?” She said, “Well, I’m savin’ those in case somebody dies.” I said, “It’s gonna be you one of these days.” And so she used the old torn meal sack until she died and the towels were still left out – I don’t know who carried ‘em away. I didn’t go see about ‘em. So this is the same thing that we all approach ever’ gift – we’re not gonna use it because the time isn’t right now. Everything isn’t appropriate, is it? “I got things in a mess, so I can’t do it ‘til I get the mess cleaned out.”
(Right.)
Right. But you couldn’t have a Gift while you got things in a mess.
(Not this mess!)
No, not little messes I made. Well, I didn’t use it then either – I waited until I got ‘em in a big one. But you see the Gift is available now and it makes all those messes dissolve like nothing because with peace of mind there is no problem. All the problem is because I’m strugglin’ to change something. And when you have peace of mind – which is already yours, George; you’ve had it since the day you were born – but the time has never been right to go open the Gift yet, is that right? Now, you got the big beautiful home, hmm?
(Yeah, and what a burden that is!) (lots of laughter)
So, as soon as you can get rid of that house now – at a profit – huh? But then what are you gonna do with all the kids?
(But then what am I going to do with all that money that’s coming?)
Right – it’s got to be invested properly. As soon as I get that figured out, then I’ll open the Gift. But the Gift has the answer to all things in it. And we refuse to accept it because we simply cannot conceive that there is such a thing as a Gift, is that right? We simply can’t conceive of such a thing as a Gift.
So, let’s generate that conception
that there is a Gift –
that there is such a thing as “Love.”
And that that “Love” gives us a Gift
the day we were born.
We obviously are not entitled to anything, we haven’t done anything to gain it, huh? Just there – “I love you, I’ll give it to you – that’s it. Now, I don’t want to hear nothin’ out of you from now on – I mean, no concern – use it, have fun and go away.” And you carry the Gift around until you finally get out of the world because the time is never right to open it, is that right, Miss Tilly? Is that right, Miss Esther? You ever found the day to open it? You ever, or you got a whole bunch of things got to be done first?
(I got a whole bunch of things to get done first.)
Got to put the kids through college, and you gotta get ‘em all married properly. Huh?
(Yeah.)
...not just married, but properly. And then the grandkids come along and then you’ve got to start all over. So, you can’t open your Gift yet because… you carried it around though since the day you were born, right?
(Yup.)
But you’re not goin’ to open it yet?
(No.)
No. In other words, you’re not gonna hack it out, right?
(No, I’m not gonna hack it out.)
But it would straighten everything and all conceptions,
make everything live in a heaven –
better than any you could ever conceive of
if you will open the Gift
now.
What do you have to do? Just quit settin’ up conditions and saying, “I won’t open it until…” And this is what you’ve done. Hurry to get a certain mess straightened out – by that time you’ll have two more messes. You know, ‘cause the confused mind is busy makin’ messes, isn’t it?
(That’s all it does.)
That’s all it does. So it might as well open it then ‘cause the Giver don’t care whether you make messes or whether you paint pictures or whether you do anything or not. It gave you the Gift because it loves you as a person – not because of what you’d done or had not done, okay? Are you ready to open the box? All it does is… not tryin’ to change and get all these things accomplished, and say, “I’ll take it now.” And then all of your problems suddenly cease to exist instantaneously.
Now, that doesn’t mean that’s the end of it. Because after you get it, it starts growin’ – once you let it out of the box, it starts growin, you know?
It grows and it grows –
like the lotus flower
that opens and opens and opens a thousand petals…
like the tree
that starts as a little seed and grows rapidly.
But you got to open the box.
It’s got a seed in it that’ll do everything for you.
And it was a Gift to you from the time you were born. You didn’t earn it. You haven’t done anything to lose it. You just denied using it, wouldn’t open it so you bumped yourself into a lot of corners, right? Fell into a lot of holes. Some of ‘em have been used for cesspools in the past, some of ‘em present, huh? But what have you found? Nothin’ but one struggle after another. Once in a while you can anticipate a little fun and take off after it but it never quite materializes. And all the time you carried a Gift around with you, is that right?
It’s fully yours with no strings attached.
You don’t have to
behave a certain way or
believe any certain thing to have it.
You don’t have to quit believin’ anything to have it.
You don’t have to agree to anything
or disagree with anything.
You don’t have to set up agreement with a whole bunch of other people.
There is no strings attached
and this is the rather incomprehensible idea to it.
Can you conceive of that idea? Max, can you? That there is something that can be given that has no strings attached. You know, you give guys a trip to Hawaii or Europe or somewheres in the spring – but they’re obligated to you, huh? That’s not a gift, that’s a horse trade, isn’t it?
(No, it’s wages.)
Wages, okay – or somethin’ like that. In other words, obligation, right? But we call it what?
(Well, we could call that a gift.)
Yeah, we could call it a gift, but we don’t – you know, it’s the usual kind of worldly gift – you know, you owe for it, pay me. How about you, Miss Virginia – can you conceive of truly a Gift with no strings whatsoever attached in either direction – no line nor reel nor fisherman on the other end of it or anything, reelin’ it in? Then you have the Gift since the day you were born. Can you accept it or do you have to have certain conditions fulfilled before you will let go?
(No, I accept it.)
You accept it, fine. There’s nothin’ in your world that needs to be changed now, okay? Good, I’m proud of that. How about yours? What all’s gotta be changed? A whole bunch of things gotta be changed – most especially you. Soon as you get all right, why you’ll accept the Gift – this time – unless there’s somethin’ else comes along just to distract you before then, is that right? What has to be changed in your world?
(I was thinking – a lot of things!)
Okay, you’ll carry the Gift around – but you have it. So you cannot say, “Well if I could only achieve it, find it, so forth.” You already have it.
(Yeah…I’m huntin’ for it!)
Well, you already have it, but you’re huntin’ for a justification to open it and you won’t allow yourself to have the justification. You’re not “huntin’” for it.
(Yeah, I accept that.)
You’re really tryin’ to find when everything will be right to open it, isn’t that right, now?
(Yeah, that’s really what I’m trying to do.)
Your house is not nice enough to open it in.
(That’s right.)
You have to wait until you get a nicer house and then you will open it when you get the new house; except that it won’t be paid for and then you’ll have to get it paid for before you could open it because you wouldn’t want to open it in a house you might lose someday – you may have an inability to pay the mortgage off, wouldn’t you?
(No.)
What do you gotta wait on?
(I don’t have to wait anymore.)
You accept the Gift that was given you – little brat that you are – the day you were born, hmm?
Because Life loves that Expression it created
and had no reason to let you earn it.
And there’s no way you could earn it
because it’s more value than all the riches of this whole Earth.
And you don’t have to put up any more barriers
before you accept it.
Okay?
Good. George, what do you got to get done before you open the Gift?
(I just have to figure out how to open it.)
That’s all. Okay, well, fine. I wish I could say, “Well, I’ll take the Gift for you” but I have one, too, and I don’t need it, and I couldn’t use yours because it was tailor made for you. Tilly, how about you? You got some things that’s gotta be straightened out before you can open the Gift?
(I guess I really do.)
You do? Why? ‘Cause you’re not worthy to take it, is that it? Now, it was given to you because it loved you as you are – sloth that you are, lady. Not because you was gonna be different sometime – it’s not truth that says, “If you will do this, then I will let you have it.” This is the way you’ve always thought of it – that’s the commercial idea of a Gift, which is the only one we know. This is a Gift with no strings – you can have it like you are, hmm? But you have said what? “There must be a string on it – I’ll have to be good or better or somethin’ or other before I could open it.” But you already have it – all you have to do is pull the string.
(I feel that I’m not good enough to pull the string.)
Right. Isn’t that about right? But you see, you can’t think of a Gift – you say, “Well, they’re tradin’ with me. They’re payin’ me to be good.” That same story that your mother told you as a little girl. “If you be good, little Tilly, Santy Claus will bring you a gift.”
(But he didn’t.)
And if he did bring it, she’d take it away from you if you didn’t please her. So, this is our idea of a gift. Isn’t that about right? But this is not that kind of a gift. And this is why we say that the only obstruction we have to havin’ it is our total incomprehensible conception of an idea of a true Gift. That right, George? Can you think of a true Gift or is that just impossible for that brain of yours to work on? It’s got a string on it, hasn’t it? It’s got bait. A gift is a bait and somebody’s gonna catch me, and if I throw it out, I got a hook in there and I intend to reel in the fish pretty soon, is that right?
So this is why we go through agony and misery year after year, month after month, century after century, and age after age – mankind struggles. A few people have accepted it, and they have spent their days tryin’ to describe that Gift to others and nobody can believe that it was a Gift ‘cause they immediately say, “Well, he said that if I would do so and so I might get it.” Is that right, George? Huh?
And if you would look and see what the Teachers taught,
they said, “It’s yours now.”
Regardless of what you’ve done,
haven’t done,
what you might do,
what you think,
what you know,
whether you’re ignorant,
whether you’re highly educated,
whether you have slipped in the fleshpots,
or whether you’ve been a monk.
It doesn’t really make any difference.
It’s yours.
It was given to you without any strings or conditions.
But we set the conditions and said, “I refuse to open the Gift.” Is that right, Max? And then we taught everybody else that they had to go meet a whole bunch of conditions.
(Even more!)
More than the ones I’ve got, naturally. And we insist that I know what the conditions are before you can open it, is that right also, Max? So, you have hindered a lot of people from openin’ the Gift – wouldn’t open yours ‘cause you didn’t want them to grab it all, do you?
(Well, I let the kids open it.)
Right, I know – keep ‘em from using that Gift because they don’t want ‘em hackin’ it out by usin’ it for ever’ day, I know. Okay, we will stop there. Have you any questions, comments, discussion? Tony?
(When you’re talking about Gifts – if you’re doing it on a subconscious level I think…is it that you don’t take care of it?)
Oh, I would say we’re doin’ it pretty conscious; we just don’t pay much attention to it. And so, therefore, anything we don’t pay attention to, we fall from consciousness. Don’t we, Tony? [break in the tape] Somebody can come and assure you you’ll never lose it – but you take it now. But in case I’m still not smart enough not to take a chance on losin’ it, why I guess I just better not take it at all. I’ll leave it in the box and it’s safer there, right? Keep it in a safe deposit box; it’s safer there.
(Suppose – a lot can happen and I pick it up all the time…and then I close it. When I do open the box and leave it open, I’m hopin’ it will –)
I think you’ll find immediately it will start growin’.
(But [unclear] atmosphere – it’s hurt by my own making.)
Right, but it won’t hurt it. And it has a wonderful way of dissolving because of the atmosphere and making the atmosphere clean, it ends all pollution. You see, everything that we have looked for a solution to a problem is in the Gift. And we said we got to solve the problem so I can open the Gift – but it is the end of all problems anyway, okay? So would you be free to experiment with accepting the Gift even though you built a lot of adverse things around it?
It wasn’t given to you because
you had or had not built anything
or would or would not.
There’s no strings about it.
It’s yours – 100% yours.
No matter what you’ve done or haven’t done,
it’s still yours.
And there is no condition goes with the Gift
except those which I set up
and I can quit settin’ conditions
right this minute.
Can’t you, Linda? You’ve always wanted riches, and you’ve carried ‘em around in the chest all these days and wouldn’t open it until you had other kinds of riches, isn’t that right? And that is the source of riches. It is that which will change base metal into gold. It will heal a cracked diamond and all the other good things that man has known about. It’s yours. It’s not somethin’ you can get, or a reward that you are offered – it is given you as a Gift, which we cannot conceive of. We can conceive of rewards and we can conceive of punishments and we conceive of prices and payin’ – but not a Gift. Let’s start seein’ if we can conceive of a Gift, okay? Another question? Comment?
(About this box you say we’ve been carrying around – I haven’t been aware I’ve been carrying around a box.)
You haven’t? Don’t you feel that load that you’re always totin’?
(No.)
You’re not aware of a burden you carry?
(Oh yes, a great burden.)
Okay, you’re suppose to open it instead of tote it – it’s a burden if you just tote it around unused. You’ve always had a burden, haven’t you?
(Yes.)
Right. Okay, right there.
You always had a burden?
But soon as you open it,
it ceases to be a burden –
it lifts you up then.
If you carried an automobile around in a crate on your back, you’d have an awful burden, wouldn’t you? But if you ever took it out of the crate and turned it on, it’d carry you then, wouldn’t it? Okay, take it. Question, comment? That answer your comment?
(Yes, but I don’t see – I can do nothing to bring this about. I can’t even open the box.)
Can you – but you have been tryin’ to do what? The only thing you do to open the box is get off of it! (laughter) You been sittin’ on it tight – it’s been a great burden to hold the lid shut. Yeah, because you had all kinds of conditions that had to be met before you would accept it, is that right?
(Yeah, I had to learn a lot and get better and better every day.)
Okay, so when you quit all those, you get off the box and it’s already there, okay? There’s nothin’ you can do to open it – it’s yours, just quit keepin’ it closed. You’ve had to work every day of your life to keep it closed and it’s been a great burden, hasn’t it? ‘Cause the way you keep it closed…that you had to keep it closed until Charlie got better. And you had to keep it closed until you got a pretty home. You got a pretty home, and then you had to keep it closed until you could be a good enough housewife to take care of it properly – without leavin’ crumbs behind the door and bananas turnin’ green in the refrigerator. And you couldn’t take it, so all of this is the way we hold it shut. And if you just stop, that’s over. Okay?
(You just stop believin’ all these things and trying to change it.)
Quit tryin’ to change anything – it pops open. You’ve had to work so hard to keep the lid shut on it all these years – I see it. And you quit strugglin’ to hold the lid shut. There’s nothin’ you need do, just stop doin’ somethin’. Surely, it’s no trouble just to be a… stop.
(Right.)
Good. You’ve worked pretty hard to keep the lid shut, haven’t you? Been a very tiring existence hasn’t it, honey?
(At times, yes.)
Because sometimes it’s pushin’ so hard to get out of you and you [mimes slamming it shut:] “You can’t come out of here yet! ‘Cause things are not right and I’m not gonna let it open yet!” Hmm? It’s been told under many similes, so we’ll try to tell it under this one. But if we can see that our only obstruction is that we flat can’t conceive of a Gift – only bait; that’s what we call gift.
But this is not bait; it is a Gift –
a Gift given from Love for no reason.
The Love never does anything to be loved –
if it is, it isn’t love.
It’s just horse-tradin’.
Right? Fancy word for it’s called prostitution. That’s what it generally passes for. If you go to give me somethin’, I’ll be nice to you – if you’re not nice to me, I’m gonna give you somethin’, what is it? Hmm? Let’s call it its proper word. It’s not love. ‘Cause if you’ve done anything to deserve it – if I do something for you because you have earned it, we are horse tradin’, right?
(That’s right.)
And if I do it because you haven’t earned it – no way you could earn it – then of course, it may be Love, okay? No expectation of a return – those are few and far between anyway. So prostitution is generally called “love” – much prettier soundin’ word for it. Right, George? (laughter) George is stalling – not laughing. Okay, let’s take a few minutes break, we’ll start at 11 o’clock.
[Resuming after the break there is background talk about someone’s farm animals.]
The next major condition that we set up we will discuss – that first off, if we do accept the Gift, we think it should be full grown because we have an idea everything should be more, you know – more. So we check up every day or two to see if I’ve received the Gift – things must be in some fantastic state. There should be nothing less than a fireball fly out of the heavens or a comet – tellin’ me I have received it, right, Max?
(Right.)
Because otherwise how would I know – I don’t have more. But there has been many parables written that tells the nature of peace of mind when it is allowed to open the Gift, which is sometimes referred to as the “Kingdom of Heaven” or it can be “Integration.” It is described as something which starts as a seed and ever expands. But, of course, we wouldn’t want just a little old seed sproutin’ around, would we, Jeanine?
(I’ll take a seed today.)
Oh, it’s there – you don’t have to take it, it’s already yours. But the point is as soon as we see that we have peace of mind, “Well, where’s all the kicks that come with it, you know? Where’s all the kicks? I don’t have power. Where’s the power that I can do this? I been listenin’ to somebody…I haven’t heard what they’re thinkin’ yet so I must not have it – blup, blup, blup, I’m gone!”
(Right!)
That’s true. And I’m all mad, yes.
(Unclear comment)
Right, and all these things. But instead we’re told by those which describe it that it is an ever-expanding. It starts as something very small like the germ in the center of a little seed. You know, the seed’s small enough and the germ inside of it, which is the real thing, is sometimes microscopic. Each of us came from a tiny little germ cell which takes a microscope to see it. And we grew and expanded…sometimes to rather large proportion. And we’re still expanding sometimes. But at least we see that everything about it points out the truth that all starts as a very small something and expands – human beings, grass seed, the trees. The largest of trees start as a very small little seed and it grows.
So, peace of mind: when once we will accept the Gift, we’ve accepted it and allowed it to be planted in our existence then. We’ve had it all the time, but we just now opened the Gift and, of course, this seed is small and it will start expanding. How far does it expand? No one knows. It is endless expansion. But what do we want immediately or to see if we have it don’t we, George? We want to check up on it, right, Max? You want to check up to see if you have it, huh?
(Got it right, Bob.)
And immediately as soon as we have the seed, we want more. That is our final bit of conditioning that we have to look at, the condition I have set – it wasn’t added to me, nobody gave it to me, I made it myself – that I had to have more so I could be assured. So just to be peaceful, that’s fine for a few minutes and then we say, “Where’s the more?” you know, “Where’s the more?!” after about 20 minutes, you know, because by that length of time everybody gets bored just bein’ peaceful. There’s no big snags goin’ on, haven’t gained anything, I haven’t been able to create a problem in 20 minutes. Why, man, things have gone to pot for nothin’! So we’ve got to do some “more”.
This is our last set of conditioning that we set up – that “I always have to have it proven by having more.” But it grows if you’ll keep your fingers out of it. You know, if you go out here and plant a little seed, it’s going to grow a rose or some other flower. And if ever’ day we go poke in it to see how it’s gettin’ along, it don’t grow so well, does it? Right.
So Peace of Mind, the Kingdom of Heaven, Integration is the same way –
it starts as a little seed.
We’ve had it for years and we wouldn’t plant it.
But now today we can open it
and not hold any condition that keeps the thing from growin’, right?
But we don’t now set up the next condition that says,
“It’s got to grow instantaneously – it’s got to be an explosion.”
I heard people talk about, “Oh, I would love to have the ‘rebirth’ experience.” They’re thinkin’ about some explosion gonna happen, you know? Well all it is is first off, peace of mind – quit tryin’ to change anything. And that’s sure a new “birth,” isn’t it? ‘Cause you’ve been strugglin’ to change important stuff all your life. So, it’s got to be a new person that quits twistin’ and strugglin’ with it, huh? And then we can be – let it grow. And as it grows, all things come with it – without any effort again on our part, without any struggle, without any cultivation. But Max would have to cultivate it, wouldn’t you?
(Fertilize it.) (laughter)
Right – throw some water on it so it’ll grow faster so you can use it better. So, this is our next condition again that we put up. Our final piece of conditioning, the final condition I have set that I must be assured that this peace of mind is growin’ fast enough and obviously it won’t grow unless I do it. So, I’ll have to get my cotton-pickers in there and poke it a couple of times, huh?
(Yeah.)
And that’s the point – I’ve already set up a condition and I’ve shoved it back in the box and set on it again because it didn’t grow fast enough. “I put the seeds out here and it won’t grow. Now, I’ve got to get with it and do it myself.” So we’re back with our one big saying that, “There’s nothing can be done unless I do it.”
Somebody has called that Pride and Vanity – it’s probably as good a word as any – but we call it the “urge for more,” huh? So no matter what you have, you want more. Right, Jeannine? You got problems, we want more problems, don’t we? And I can usually generate those – really takes very little effort. ‘Cause all I gotta do is try to change a few more things; and I can make me some more big ones. But when we cease to change things and the seed is open and it starts to grow…and then we still continue not to change things to make it grow faster. So you see always our struggle is to change it so I will have what?
(More.)
More. And when we do, we are again trying to run it. And we have set a condition and we’re trying to change something and
We even attempt to change peace of mind into something bigger.
Now, it grows into something boundless
without boundary of any kind,
but it grows of its own,
not by our forceful effort.
Can you let it grow at its own rate?
(Why not!)
Why not – you wouldn’t know how to make it grow, anyway. You wouldn’t know the proper fertilizer for it. Max does, but better leave him out of it (laughter) ‘cause the fertilizer he’s usin’ messes things up, I’ve noticed. But he’s got a brand of fertilizer he tries to sell everbody. He says that’ll make it grow faster.
(Not many buyers!)
Thank goodness. (laughter) But he’ll give it away even. He will give it to you even, with no strings attached if you’ll just take it. Max will pay you to take his brand of fertilizer. And if you’ll leave it off, your plant will grow much better, okay?
So, when we are observing that we set conditions under which we will first accept the Gift and then if we do allow ourselves to accept it one day – when we’ve got ourselves in such a bind we don’t know which way is up. You know, we fall in the bottom of the well and pull the top in – full on – you don’t even know which way is up. So then you finally say, “Well, might as well take it because I don’t have nothin’ else to do.” So then you have the Gift and as soon as you have it, then you start, “Well, it’s not quite big enough, I got to get some more. So I’ll get some fertilizer from Max, and soon as I get it straightened out why then I’ll make this thing really work,” huh? “I’ve got it, now I’ll make it work.”
And, of course, that is goin’ down the tube again – we shut it back in the box and shut it up. Because…
Our struggle to change “what is,”
to change the nature of Peace of Mind,
of Integration,
of the Kingdom of Heaven, if you please –
is all based on our pride that we know what to do,
just like we knew the conditions to set
so it could come into being.
Didn’t we, Max? Okay? Does anything have to be changed, Max?
(No.)
Does anything have to be proven right or wrong in order for it to grow?
(No.)
No. In fact, it is so inconsequential, is it not, so we can leave all of that where it’s at – nothing has to be proven, nothing has to be defended, nothing has to be disproven. It simply is. And I don’t have to struggle. I don’t have to work for more because I have enough for me right now. And seemingly ever’ time there is a requirement, it is always there. So this wonderful thing grows as the requirements grow. But we don’t want it just for requirements, we want it to show off with it once in a while, don’t we? We like to make a pretty big splash and get some attention and some approval and show how important I am now and then, hmm? That would help, wouldn’t it? That help, Max? That’d show ‘em – really show off somethin’, wouldn’t it?
So if we do this, we discover that all of these things that we have struggled and strained with can just be left; that reality is – and it is always – grows as the seed if I have any ability to see Awareness or see a place for it. That’s how fast it grows. It is not for show-off purposes, but for whatever challenge may occur. And if we are in a place of challenge, we find that it has grown to that size – no larger, no smaller – what use would it be otherwise, okay? So when we are strugglin’ for the “more,” we have set up us another condition that says, “I won’t keep it unless it is more,” hmm?
Once we have it and open the Gift,
then we refuse to keep it unless it will be “more”
so I can show off
and attract attention
to me with it.
But as long as I will use it,
as the demands are made
somewheres the challenge is,
it’s always adequate to the challenge.
And of course, as we bump through the challenges, more of ‘em come around it seems like. So it’s not a way of getting rid of challenges, but that there is something here that always knows exactly what to do with ‘em. And it is never “more” so I can use it for a play toy – as a means of attracting attention unto self. It is there when required and it grows that fast – do you need any more? So can the whole concept of “more,” – that’s one we can get, you know? We can’t conceive of a Gift, but, boy, can we conceive of “more,” huh? And if we can drop that conception, then we can use what we have. It is not a condition that is set upon us; it’s a condition we demand, is it not? And all conditioning is never applied to us – we set it moment by moment, do we not?
(Yes.)
And one of the conditions we enjoy in is having “more,” isn’t it? Huh? We think. So we want to change things so I’ll have more. So it stills goes back to one thing – I have no desire to change anything because I see that all desire I would have wouldn’t know what it was doin’ anyway.
And when I see the fallacy of the desire,
the desire to change things
comes to an end
naturally.
Have you found that to be a fact?
(Yes.)
[Addressing another person:] Have you found that to be a fact?
(Yes.)
And so don’t get caught in the little trap of desiring “more”. Because one of our bits of conditioning that we set up so frequently is that I won’t accept I have anything until it is proven to be “more,” is that right? We always like provin’ and you can’t prove anything that you can use, hmm? You can’t even prove you’re alive.
(That’s right.)
You can’t prove she’s sittin’ there. She said she wasn’t a while ago – she was going to leave us. ‘Course she felt better after she took a walk there, but...[unclear].
Okay, we will reserve the rest of the time for notes, for questions. If you want to use it, we will discuss whatever you would like. I could struggle on, but I won’t try to add anything because I have described what I can. I could only re-describe it over again, hmm? And what would that do, George? Same difference. So, I’ve described it to the best that I know how at this moment. So, let’s take questions and we will see what else you would like described – because otherwise I wouldn’t know.
There will be a workshop wherever and whenever you request it where there’s enough people that can justify the expenses of going to wherever you want to have it. Or if you want to have it here, we’ll have it here, for a few people around. If you want a workshop somewheres, whistle – it will be put on for you. The only requirement is that you ask and that there is enough people with some interest that will be present. We’ll try not to make any commitments that prevent that from occurring, okay? Wherever and when you want it. Obviously, we can’t put on two in one day – so far. Maybe we will someday.
George said he was gonna “bi-locate” most any day – feels like he’s split apart most of the time. Send him to put on one one place and the “other George” can go somewheres else and put on one. And various other people will be available to put on workshops also. And it can be wherever you would like and when you like them – as close as possible. And ones here as frequently as you have for them to be here. ‘Course the weather is always like it is today – it’s no warmer this summer here so you can always be assured of having lovely weather in Borrego unless the winds blowin’ and the heat starts up. So, we have enjoyed you being here. We hope something has been said that made a little bit of clarity to you, okay?
(unclear) (…uncluttering my cluttered mind?)
Yes, we can quite well do that because sometimes there is one portion of mind that will arrange to have all the external uncluttered. But it makes quite a clutter in itself gettin’ it that way. Is that about right? Okay.
(I recognize that.)
Can really be a clutter there gettin’ it uncluttered, can’t it?
(You better believe it.)
Okay. Yes, Miss Penny?
(unclear) (…the people around you.)
I believe you will find if the person has peace of mind that everybody seems to recognize there is a peaceful area around and they try to get in it.
(Yeah, don’t we!) (laughter)
Experiment with it and see. So, find a place that’s peaceful where there is a peaceful being that happens to exist around it.
(unclear) (…automatically uncluttering the mind.)
Well, at least they will not be organized, but there will not be a great amount of clutter around, okay? Seems to straighten itself out without much bother. There is no pollution, in other words. It’s worthy of experimenting with, okay? Okay?
(unclear) (…to change things, change the future, your –)
…your inner feelings and etcetera.
(Okay, if every day you do a lot of things – walk the dog, the yard – Is the idea then that you just do it?)
Right.
Knowin’ that it wouldn’t make you happy
no matter how well you got it done,
but it’s there
so let’s do it, okay?
If the floor’s dirty, let’s sweep it –
not because it’ll make me happy.
If the dishes are dirty, let’s wash ‘em.
It’s time folks are gettin hungry, let’s go to dinner –
not because it’ll make me happy to cook dinner.
Yes, there’s always a number of things to do.
Right? The restaurant’s to be opened, the restaurant’s to be closed. It’s just there to do, but it’s not gonna make me happy either. It gets open and takes in a great sum of money.
And it don’t make me particularly unhappy when I throw the sausage on the griddle and it splatters in my mouth either, you know? (laughter) It smarts for a second, but who cares, it’ll heal up. Makes your tongue kind of smart just a little bit when you open ‘em up with your teeth, though. Keep your tongue in your mouth when you throw cold sausages on a hot grill. (laughter) That’d be a little piece of information – it smarts, bites. Now, I’m goin’ to get a warmin’ closet for the sausage and get ‘em warmed up before you throw ‘em on that grill. We got a new grill across the street and it’s quite warm and it does bring sting sometimes. I threw a pancake on it this morning and the pancake jumped about two inches off of the grill and then it went back down “whooo” and stayed there, but it jumped clear off the grill. I never saw that happen before, but it was like one big splutter come up that high. So I turned down the knob a little bit. (laughter) Fastest a cooked pancake ever hit a grill – it wanted to turn itself over and say “whoo!” Okay, other questions? Comments?
(I wanted to ask you about…) (unclear)
Okay, well, we’ll try to. We have remarked that many people worry that they are “judging” because they like or dislike certain things or people. Now, we gave a discussion one day not long ago on the idea of “taste.” Now, each person has “taste.” It’s perfect for you and not worth anything to anybody else – it’s what your particular taste may be. So, whether it is for a steak – one person wants it well done, one wants it rare, one wants it medium, one wants it medium-well, one wants it medium-rare, etcetera. And people – maybe you like people with long hair, short hair, medium hair, maybe you like some grey, maybe you like some “un-grey,” maybe you like some with long ear locks and maybe you want ‘em with a shaved head or what-have-you. This is all taste. You also like certain people that you come in contact with and there’s certain others you don’t like and a great many of ‘em just don’t matter.
Now, if you were to say the person you didn’t like was “bad” because you didn’t like ‘em, you’d probably be judging. But if you say, “I don’t like the person,” you’re not saying anything about the person – you’re only telling us something about your taste. You don’t feel… that person does not appeal to your taste. It has not judged them. It has not said they’re good, bad, or indifferent. It says they don’t appeal to my taste. Then there is somebody you like very much and if you say, “Oh, they’re a wonderful, good person because I like them,” then, of course, that is not necessarily fact at all, either. It is only that they appeal to your taste and your taste sometimes goes through changes, no doubt. But if you tried to like everbody in the world, you would find you were pounding yourself in the head, wouldn’t you?
(Right.)
You got lots of little kids in your classroom and some of ‘em you like very much, some you don’t like and most of ‘em don’t matter – “Comme Ci, Comme Ça,” right?
(Yeah.)
And there isn’t any way you can account for that except it’s taste, is that right?
[End of CD “The Gift”]