Workshop - Going Forward with Life (Lake Whitney 1982 - 8 CDs)- Page 4 of 4
The following is without commentary. It is as close to the original audio as possible. [Brackets are used for clarity.] Bold type is used for emphasis. (Audience participation is in parentheses.)
Audio: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bjsnni9menko397/AADKgtfgC6AUkN-q-yre2g2Ta/Going%20Forward%20with%20Life?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1
CD7
... so let's just say that sometimes you like a person and sometimes you don't, okay? Maybe one week you would like a piece of beef and the next week maybe you can't stand to look at the damn stuff, huh? All right. And the same way with people. And all your friends might say I don't see what you ever saw in him; and one day you're liable to say it. (laughter) I don't see what I ever saw in him in the first place. That sound familiar Susan, huh?
(Yes.) (laughter)
Sounds awful familiar, see. So, attraction is something that goes on once in a while; but don't get carried away with it. It's not a very reliable thing. Now we still maintain that if you would function according to your reason and ability, whatever it is, you'd figure out much better what a suitable companion for a long term would be. We go on all these things, that they wear off in a few days is that right, Sue? Huh?
(A minute.)
A matter of a few minutes. And all of a sudden, we have a whole bunch of things to go through with it to get out of it that really was totally unnecessary, okay? So, let's don't talk too much about attractions cause they are really... You see if I'm really hungry, maybe walking past a bakery might attract me very much. And if I'm not hungry I walk by the bakery and I don't even give it a second look. That right? Okay. That help that attraction bit?
(Right.)
One day that bakery was very attractive if I was very hungry. But if I wasn't hungry at all, that bakery... I didn't even see it there, huh? Okay. Okay got something else here you want to talk about – how about you? Did you have your finger up or were you just looking. Okay.
Okay I will talk about something. Let's take four questions that each of us could put to ourselves, I feel with a certain amount of benefit. And somebody told me they’re the only valid questions we can ask, so we'll try it. The first question is what am I? I didn’t' say anything about who.
What am I? Where am I? What's going on here? And What can I do?
Now we said that what we've been talking about this morning through the day and last evening and so forth was all concerned with self-Knowing. It was knowing about the not-I’s – how things work, what kind of things activate us, what kind ‘a motivates us and so forth. Now we're gonna talk about Self-Remembering. Now these four questions would be the minimum amount that if a person wasn't aware of the answer to any of 'em, couldn't tell you what they were or where they are or what's goin' on here and what they can do, you'd have to say they was suffering from a severe case of amnesia. Is that somewhere close to correct? Huh? A severe case of amnesia. I don't know what I am. I don't know where I am, and I don't know what's going on here and I don't know what I can do.
So, the minimal amount of saying that I would be a conscious being – not in a state of amnesia or not in a dream state or some mechanical state – I would have to be able to precisely answer these to myself at least, is that correct? If I don't know what I am, I may be a grasshopper sleeping somewhere, dreaming I'm a man sitting up talking. Could be just as easy, I guess, couldn’t it? Huh? Where am I? I think I'm sitting here in a building in Lake Whitney, Texas – or whatever the case may be on the planet earth, but I may be a grasshopper on the planet Mars – just green. What's going on here? Oh, you can hear all kinds of discussion of what's going on here; and you can hear a lot of 'em with very few of 'em bearing out any resemblance to the fact. And what can you do – and there’s precious little I'll guarantee you, but it may be very worthwhile what you can.
So, I will try to talk on these a little bit and if I seem to be sleeping and dreaming well will you try to wake me up, okay?
What am I?
Well let's consider the evidence for a minute. We said we arrived here broke, helpless, naked, mostly probably not particularly unwanted; but not overjoyed at the fact we were coming at this particular time. If it ‘a been later or earlier, it would ‘a been all right. But at this particular time, it probably wasn't anything to get all excited about. But anyway, we're here. So, I'm a privileged invited guest. Now I don't think you can get it any other way. You arrived here, found the world well equipped. It had transportation, hauling fruit, food, to you from all over. Think of all that; you can go down here to a little grocery store here in town and get oranges from Florida, California, tomatoes from Mexico from this. There's foods from all over and a transportation system that got it here, so it was pretty well set up when you arrived, is that right? You didn't even have to bring a toothbrush cause you didn't have a tooth then, huh?
(Yep.)
Didn't bring nothin' with you except “whaaa!” [crying baby sound]. So, we are bound to be a privileged invited guest any way you want to look at it, huh?
Where am I?
Well, we look around a bit, we'd have to say we're on the beautiful planet Earth. It's a great estate of Life. People have studied many of the other planets in the solar system and have yet to come up with one that would support life in any form that we even know of life. This one seems to be a very unique little nest. So, something or somebody or something prepared it for some guests and invited the guests and here we are. So, I'm a privileged invited quest at the beautiful planet Earth which is the estate of Life and I was invited to this estate and so far haven't been asked to leave. I'm sure that sometimes I behaved in as such, it was a wonder i didn't get asked to leave (laughter); but so far, I'm still here. Okay?
So, what's going on here?
Well, when you see lots of people around together and they're all playing games, you have to assume there's a big party going on, is that right? Huh? There's a lot of people together and they’re all playing games, why, what do you say? Party, is that right? Picnic, party, or something like that. So, there's a big party going on and I can play with any of the other guests I want to. I can ignore any of the other guests I want to. I can play any of the games at the party I want to or I can avoid playing any of the games at the party I want to, hmm? About right? So, I'm a privileged invited guest at a beautiful estate called Earth where Life is the host and there's a big party going on.
Now I think anybody that wants to go out and check up, I do my very best never to come up with something that you would have to take because I said so. You can certainly check on this. And have any of you ever checked on this a little bit? How about you? Have you checked on it? Did it seem to bear out that way? Have you checked on this, Miss Dinah? Kind ‘a look that way to you when you get checking it out? How about you, Suzy? It's about the way it is. I'm a privileged invited guest at this beautiful estate called Earth where life is the Host and there is a big party going on.
Now we all have our little places that the Host has provided for us to live – the food that we've had, we have interesting things to do, interesting other people to be around, huh? It didn't leave me sitting here bored to death. He provided me with very interesting things to do, interesting other people to be around, delightful companions. This – it's a real fine party.
Now when I see that, what other thing can I do other than being thankful? I already have everything, hmm? I'm a privileged invited guest at the beautiful estate called Earth, a big party's going on. And you know, the sad part of it is most people don't know what they are, they don't know where they are, and they sure don't know what's going on here because nobody told them. The party kind of reminds me of, you know, pin the tail on the donkey. Did your kids ever do that, or did you do it when you was a little kid, huh?
(Yes.)
Whoever got the tail closest to the donkey won a prize. Well, the only difference they only blindfolded one kid at a time and spun him around and he went out there and everybody stood and laughed. But this party's a little more realistic. They blindfolded everybody at the party (laughter) – all out there with their tails trying to find the donkey to get the prize called “happiness.” And they jam each other. (laughter) And one raises hell because somebody jammed them, and the ones that did the jamming holler at the others for getting in their way. So, everybody’s had a ball with not knowing what's going on. But can you imagine the fun the Host is having? (laughter)
Can you imagine the fun the Host is having? And can you imagine what fun it is when you catch on what's going on and you sit with the Host and watch the rest of 'em? (laughter) That's why you laugh so much, you see. You see the games are being played. So, here's everybody playing this game and nobody knows what's going on. They're all taking it dead serious, acting like it was very important and all it is – it’s easy, you can quit playing anytime you want to, go play another game. You don't like the person you're playing with, go play with some of the other guests. You know.
Then it gets down to
What can I do?
Now here comes the crux of the whole matter as far as I'm concerned. [aside] Soon as you get your notes caught up I will continue. You all caught up, huh? Go ahead, I'm waiting for you. I won't lose my place.
(I won’t either!) (laughter)
So then the question comes up, “What can I do?” Now, if I'm a privileged invited guest to the beautiful estate called Earth where Life is the host and where there's a big party going on with gobs of other guests, few of whom know what's happening to 'em – they just woke up and drug in there. I'll tell you about that in a minute. And so, what can I do? Well, if I'm a guest the only thing I can do is be what to me is a good guest, is that right?
So, a good guest to me would be
considerate, harmless,
and make some little contribution to the party.
Not because it should, or be helpful or anything, but simply as a way of saying thank you for having been invited. Like when somebody invites you to dinner, maybe you take a bottle of wine, or you take a cake or take a pie or you take a loaf of French bread. Not because you think they need it but it's your way of saying thank you because they invited you, is that right? Hmm? Just saying thank you.
So, if I make any contribution, it's not because I believe the Host needs it ‘cause I know durn well He don't. But I want to make a contribution as my way of saying thank you. So now let's be... first off, we said be considerate. I’d be considerate of the Host. I'd be considerate of the estate. I'd be considerate of the other guests and certainly considerate of me. I'm here too. Okay? So, I'd be considerate which means we observe what people are doing and why they're doing it, and we would understand Agape and what-have-you that we'd know what people are doing.
Next, I would be as harmless as possible. Now I only know two ways to be harmful. I know lots of ways to hurt you. I can hit you over the head or do lots of things to hurt you, but I only know two ways to be harmful. One is to commit physical violence on you – hit you with a hammer, shoot you, stick a knife in you or whatever. And the other one is to agree with you that you are a victim or suggest to you that you're a victim of anything. That's two ways I know of to be harmful. So, I don't want to do either one of those. I'm not gonna agree with you that you're a victim of anything or that you are gonna be a victim of anything; and I'm not gonna commit any physical violence on you, okay? That's two things you can be assured I won't do. Now that, to me, would be as harmless as possible.
The third thing we said we'd make some contribution as a way of saying thank you for having been at the party. Now the contribution that I can think of that would be the most delightful one is to contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I may be. It don't cost me any great amount of money and no effort – little effort and no money when I can contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I may be. That's making some little contribution to the party. It's my way of saying thank you for being here. Now the rest of the things, I don't know whether I consider those much a contribution. But when you're contributing to a pleasant harmonious mood, that's a decided contribution, huh? And I can contribute being as consciously as possible and that's my way of saying thank you for being part of the big experimental parties being run here. Okay?
How We Got Invited
Now I read in a book called the New Testament that the way we all got invited to the party was by a peculiar turn of events. It said that a great man or the being, the host of this big party invited his peers – his friends, his equals. And when he got the feast all prepared, he sent his runners out to tell these friends that the dinner is prepared, come over. And it said that almost as with one accord, they all found an excuse. One said his father just died and he had to go bury him, and he couldn't come. Please excuse me. Another one said I just got married, I gotta take my bride on a honeymoon. Please excuse me. Another one said I just bought a field out here, a farm. I got to go check it out and see what I'm going to make my plans what I'm going to do with it. Please excuse me. Anther one said I just bought me a new John Deere 4-wheel drive, I got to go check the tractor out and see what it'll do – that day he said oxen – same difference. Gotta get his John Deere running.
And so, when this went on and all of 'em had an excuse and when the runners came in and told the man nobody was coming because they all had these terribly important things to take care of and couldn't come to his dinner, he got real ticked off, it said. He was wrought up which means he was really ticked. And he said you go out in the alleys and hedgerows and the lanes and the backroads and skid row and you bring in everybody you can find because my house is gonna be filled tonight. I'm gonna fill it up.
Why, that's us folks. That's how come we got here. We weren’t even supposed to be invited to this party. We weren’t even supposed to have been here in the first place. And so we were extremely lucky. So, we have every reason of saying thank you because we got to come instead of all those gods that went off and did funny things like bury the old man, and takin’ the wife on a honeymoon, and all those. They were the ones that that were intended to come. And because they goofed off, they got us out of skid row and what-have-you and brought us in, and if that isn't enough to be thankful about, I don't know what it takes, do you?
(No. That's marvelous.)
Out of skid rows, back alleys, lanes – that's what it says. You can read it the same as I did. Now I don't know that that's a fact, but it's at least a very good story and from the looks of us, I think – (laughter drowns out words) I think that was a real history. So now we are completely fortunate to have been invited to this party. We weren't even supposed to have been invited to no intentions except these others joked off. So, let's take advantage of it in no uncertain terms and really enjoy that we have been invited to the party.
Now we don't have to ask for anymore. When I’m at a party and they’ve supplied everything, I don't go around and around say, “Hey have you got any peanut butter? You make me a peanut butter sandwich and then feed me turkey and dressing and all this stuff?” You don't run around and say, "Look I'd like a pig knuckle." You take what they give you and that's enough. Neither would you go around and try to gather up the silverware and get it in your pocket. And you'd see all sorts of good things and you run grab that up and put it in your pocket.
Well, one day they have a tendency to send those people away from the party after a while. And they can't take it with 'em. They say, “Well we sure appreciate you carrying the silverware around, but you can lay it here on this table as you go out.” You know, you don't get to take a thing in the world with you, so why tote it around? If you keep up with such trivia, in the last two years, four or five of the wealthiest men in the world left the party: Howard Hughes, John McCormick, John Arthur... something...
(J. Paul Getty.)
J. Paul Getty. Three, four more of 'em and they all left and not a one of 'em got to take any of the silverware with 'em. Even they had accumulated great tons of it they couldn't take it with 'em. So why tote it around? You know I can enjoy looking out over the ocean just as much as if I owned it. I look at a sunset and I don't have to have title to do it. The sun comes up over the mountain in the morning looks just beautiful. I look out here across the lake and I couldn't enjoy it anymore if I had a title to it, you know? It's just beautiful.
So, I'm a privileged invited guest at this party and I don't see any use of burdening myself down trying to carry all the silverware around. So far since I've been at the party – and it's been several years – I have been provided with food, clothing, shelter, transportation, interesting things to do, interesting other guests to be associated with and some delightful companions. Now what more could I please ask for? Anybody got anything you can tell me?
I get my clothes. Sometimes I get big boxes full of them and it doesn't cost me a dime. Some guy sends 'em to me owns a store. He just packs me up. I had to tell him the other day to change the size of the pants. Starting to pull em in a little bit, boy. So, what do you need to get? What do you need to struggle for? What do you need to work after other than make your contribution to the party?
Now I feel that I contribute several things. Not only a pleasant harmonious mood, I contribute various services to various things that goes on. But I'm doing all of it as my way of saying thank you for being at the party 'cause I don't know about you, but I'm very thankful that they drug me out of the hedgerow and got me here. Huh? I know I wasn't really intended to be invited. I was a total unknown and only by chance. And then somebody said nothing happens by chance, but I think it does. I think it's by chance I got to the party, and I'm very thankful to be here and I like to say thank you in as many ways as I can every day of the world.
Now is there any question that anybody wants to challenge with or what-have-you on what am I, where am I, what's going on here, and what can I do? Any question? We like any and all you want. I say this is four questions I want to remember, and really I only have to remember the last one to have the whole thing. What can I do? And that is called Self-Remembering. What can I do? I can do what to me is a good guest. Now that gets the whole thing and that keeps you very, very conscious. It keeps you on the ball when you remember what can I do – that is Self-Remembering.
And there’s two subjects that goes into the whole Teaching Idea that we work with: One is self-Knowing, which is to know about the not-I's, how they work, how they torment, how they twist, how we have misconceptions, etc. Self-Knowing is something that is a limited time study. I think that any of us ought to get it in six months. And some of us want six years, it's all right. If you want 20 years, it's all right. But then there comes a time when you're through with it – that subject is finished and you go to Self-Remembering, which as far as I'm concerned never ends. I want to remember that every day. What am I? Where am I? What's going' on here? And What can I do? Which I can sum it all – what can I do.
Well, the answer’s loud and clear – all I can do under the circumstance of the first three would be what to me is a good guest the best I can see it. I find that a very delightful thing to do and I'm not trying to gain a heaven or escape a hell with it. I'm thankful for what I already have, okay? And I already have it and you know that makes you a pretty heavenly existence almost immediately if you notice it. If you hadn't noticed it before, it does, okay? Okay, any questions? Any comments? Now Marci, see I told you when I do this one, there's nothing else more to say. It's all been said.
(Thank you. We can say thank you!)
It's all been said, okay? Can we get a question, comment? Somebody challenge it. Somebody knock it down, say that's stupid or something.
(She said can we come back tonight?) (laughter)
Oh yeah, you can come back. We'll sit here and chit chat.
(We'll think up some by tonight.)
All right, we'll have one. Okay suppose that... I don't know, my watch went broke and I think I've covered enough. Five or thereabouts, isn’t it? Close enough – and there's gonna be dinner served at 6:30 pm. Well, that gives everybody time to go home and get a shower, put on some new fu-fu and everything and get all dressed up and smelling good and 6:30 we'll have a lovely dinner. Is there any more people have private appointment for me to tell them it's not important? (laughter) You got one? Okay, I already have two. Okay, I will proceed downstairs and when I get through with one cup of coffee I'll be ready to tell you how it's not important, okay?
[after dinner]
Okay we're ready to proceed with whatever the subject that – as long as it's about people – that we can talk about, okay? I said when I have finished with the big party story, why I pretty well got everything said that needs to be said and after that we just talk. Now, what would you like to talk about a minute? We talked about this afternoon what you are, what we are, where we are, what's going on here, and what we can do. And we finally wound up that about the only thing I can do is be what to me is a good guest and that seems to be good enough to keep me busy and keeps me out of mischief and all that good stuff, still have a great time. And I like to live it that way, okay? What do you like, young lady?
(Okay, at one time I heard you talk about regeneration, and you could reverse the process. I would like to know that in detail.)
You want to know about how to?
(Uh-huh. How to in detail.)
I don't ever talk about “how to's” in detail or in generalities. “How To” books are sold by other people and I don't want to compete with 'em. I think that's all I have really talked about today.
(Okay.)
Okay?
(I thought that's the .... We need to hear that though.)
So, regeneration is when you cease destroying the body or the mind or the state of being, it spontaneously regenerates. There is really no effort to regeneration. What you want to stop is the disintegrating process.
When disintegration comes to an end, integration is.
In other words the natural state of you, me, or anybody else is to be in a state of integration. Now basically we get to work with conditioning, and etcetera, and conflict and struggle and resistance and working to have everything like it ought to be – and that is a constant degeneration, disintegration going on. And degeneration is what we generally call that you're going to... [points to whiteboard] this is about mental and psychic phenomenon. And this is about the body – degeneration.
The same statement comes along: When degeneration comes to an end, regeneration is.
The natural state of each of us is to continually regenerate each day what was used up today, okay? So, if a certain number of cells go out of existence today, so what; we generate a whole bunch more tonight. But if we are constantly in a state of stress, which is anxiety and worry and fretting and anger and etc., the body degenerates faster than it can regenerate. Remarkably well-made – you can stand to degenerate; you can be in the state of degeneration somewhere around 70 years before you usually call it quits. That's just all it’ll take. In other words, no matter how hard you are working at degenerating, regeneration enough is taking place that it usually takes you 65, 70, 80 years to knock it out. But if you stop degenerating, regeneration is as spontaneous as can be. You don't have to have any how to. Now we have talked at considerable length today about stopping degeneration or disintegration, is that right?
(Yes.)
In other words, we said anybody could do it now if they wanted to, but more than likely we'd rather take our time with it you know. So, we could today begin to ask ourselves and remember that: what we are, where we are, what's going on here, and what we can do. And if we started really taking that with a certain amount of enthusiasm to do it, degeneration would end very quickly and regeneration is the automatic process. You don't have anything to do with that – that's the nature of life is to continue to rebuild and grow. And death is not a part of life; it is going against it. And, of course, man has taken his time to learn that, and we have learned our lessons very slowly. And we can still learn it that there really isn't any need to disintegrate or degenerate.
You do not have to be at all concerned about being integration; you don't have to work at that. You just stop all disintegration, okay? You don't have to worry about what makes regeneration because that's the natural direction of Life is to continually regenerate. Genesis is always being born every day of the world. Creation is to generate, right? I think that's why you call the first book in the Bible, Genesis because it talks about generating Life and so forth – what's going on. Genesis or the starting of Life. So that is the nature of Life is to always continually regenerate what is used up and destroyed us today. But it cannot keep ahead of intense degeneration and most people get more and more degenerated as they go along. They get more and more aggravated, more and more crochety, I believe that's a good word – if Billy was here, she'd know what I meant by that word; but the rest of you probably wouldn't. But did you ever hear that word?
(Hm-hmm.)
Crochety? It means, you know, you're hard to get along with. You know more and more of what ought to be.
(Yeah.)
The older they get the more they know what ought to be. So, the faster the degeneration goes on and eventually they fall totally apart. Now no, you need nothing – know nothing about regeneration, you need know nothing about it because if you stop disintegrating, regenerating will take place spontaneously, automatic. That's the nature of Life, okay? So, you don't have to be concerned. But one thing we can do is stop degenerating or disintegrating, okay?
(I was wondering, that word you used – something “crastic”... what is that word?)
What?
(The word you used; you asked if we ever heard it?)
Crochety.
(Crochety. How do you spell it?)
I haven't the foggiest. (laughter) It's an Appalachian word, and we don't know how to spell in Appalachian. If you lived in eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee or West Virginia or western part of Virginia or West Virginia, you would know the word. But who can spell it, nobody knows.
(It's the Greek word "crotch".) (laughter)
He always knows all these little things... (more laughter)
(That’s good, man!)
I've never seen the printed word of it. Okay, does that aid and abet your comprehension of regeneration which is the natural state of the being? The unnatural state is the disintegrating that goes on or the disintegration. That is not natural. That is going against life. Miss Donna asked me what I was gonna talk about one day and of course I never know that because I want to talk about what comes up at the moment, so I told her we'd go with Life would be as good a word as any, cause that's we're either going or we're knocking ourselves off and I don't prefer to go against Life, okay? And that's all we've talked about today is the ending of disintegration.
The struggle towards an illusion is the disintegrating factor in man.
Now there's many kinds of illusion. The illusion is that if I get myself insensible for a while, why everything will be fine. That's an illusion. A lot of people around you know have tried to make themselves unconscious by consuming great quantities of alcohol, drugs, etc. and of course that's an illusion. It only offers an illusion.
I worked with a young lady one time who was in the throes of heavy alcoholism, and she said the first time she had a drink she felt so bubbly and so bright and she'd been trying to get that state ever since. But either she got too little, and she had to get another one... and by the time she got that one it was too much. So, she could never quite find that one spot again. But she was still looking for it. And the same with all sorts of other things.
So, there's many kinds of illusions that we can chase, but the struggle towards an illusion is the disintegrating factor. The illusion that I can control circumstances is one that many people struggle at and work at. I can respond to the circumstance at hand; but I cannot always choose the circumstance – usually can't. That's another one of the big illusions that people work – they're gonna try to make circumstance like they want it instead of seeing that they can respond to whatever circumstance is there – and anyway you choose to see fit. Otherwise, you only react, okay? And we have the illusion that happiness is a state that I can bring into being if I had enough things.
One time we were running an experiment out in Newport Beach of letting people get some of the things they wanted. You know they come in and they just had to have this and they'd be happy. Well, I did my little efforts to arrange that they had those things. Well, of course, they didn't make 'em happy, so that was what I was trying to demonstrate: that if you think if you had x number of dollars you'd be happy. If you had this, you'd be happy. If you had a new car...
One night a girl came in and she brought me four yellow pages out of a legal-size pad. You know, four ripped off the legal-size pad and there was line after line after line. She wanted all these things and if I would just get 'em for her why she'd be a very happy lady. One, she wanted to have an affair with Warner Earhart and one of 'em she wanted a yellow Corvette. The rest of 'em was unbelievable. She wanted to get married to a very wealthy man, a man that had at least ten million dollars and who would treat her very wonderfully etc., etc., and take her on all trips. But first she wanted to have an affair with Warner Earhart. (laughter)
I gave up on trying to produce things for people that night. It would just be overwhelming; I didn't want to bother with it. But if she'd ‘a had ‘em, she wouldn't have been any happier that she was without any of 'em, you know. So, I don't know whether she ever succeeded in coming up with any of 'em or not, but I haven't checked up and really not interested. But she had an idea now if she had all these things she had dreamed up, she'd be a very happy lady, and most of the things she had was utterly in conflict with each other anyway. But one was a yellow Corvette – I remember that, brand new one. And one was an affair with Warner Earhart. So, I quit trying to get things for people because that doesn't get it. I ran that experiment into the ground (laughter); we didn't want to run that one any further.
So, there's a jillion ways that we can dream up to disintegrate ourselves. Mostly they could all be summed up in struggling towards an illusion – an illusion that if I had this, I would then be happy. Now that is strictly an illusion, okay? Because if you can't be happy with what you got now, you couldn't be happy with everything else you could get. Did you know that? Can't be happy with the present circumstance, you couldn't be happy with anything.
(That’s right.)
Huh?
(That’s right.)
One never knows how lucky one is.
(One is learning.) (laughter)
Good. Okay? Wonderful. My time hasn't been wasted then, okay. If there's one thing I don’t want to do is waste. Okay, who else has something we'd like to talk about a minute or two before we go home and go to bed? All right I'm listening.
(Seems to me that we have a tendency to self-destruction.)
That seems to be accurate.
(Where did this come from and ...)
In the effort to try to be non-disturbed and happy.
(That's right.)
I'm not kidding – that's where it comes from. In the effort to be non-disturbed and happy we destroy ourselves. We're on a self-destruct course when we start out on that.
(I gonna ask a simple thing then. Why couldn’t turnip greens taste as good as ice cream?)
Well, they do to me. (laughter) I like turnip greens better than I do ice cream.
(And I’ve got a lot of friends here that quit destroying their body with alcohol...)
And turning something–
(... and now they’re smoking it to death.)
Well, that's true. But sometimes, you know, you don't have to destroy it with alcohol or cigarettes or anything else. If you don't use it for a means to try to be happy or non-disturbed, why it does pretty well – it won't hurt you. But if you're using anything – doesn't matter what it is, including turnip greens – to be non-disturbed or to make you happy, they will destroy you, whatever it is. Man's on the destruct course only because he has convinced himself that the whole purpose in living is to be non-disturbed, therefore happy. And he sets out with four ways to be non-disturbed. We might put that down, remind you again. When man decides that the whole purpose of living is to regain the non-disturbed state which he decided before he was very old, probably in the process of being born. So, the first way that he set up was to have pleasure and comfort. He wanted to gain that [writing on the board] and he wanted to escape over here, and escape pain.
Now pain is not man's enemy, regardless of the fact that there is a great profession built upon trying to get rid of pain, controlling pain, numbing pain, etc. and billions of dollars still spend for it. Tylenol as you may have heard got a bad name not long ago 'cause a few people got some cyanide mixed in with it and that seems to be rather fatal. The company in two months had sales loss of a hundred million dollars. That's a whole bunch of cash, a hundred million dollars lost in sales because Tylenol Super Strength – you know, that real strong stuff; I got to get easy in a hurry, I gotta have the strong stuff – was off the market for two months. So that one product alone which is only one of several that's over-the-counter pain killers, not counting all the ones that you can get with prescription which most often comes along. over 50 million dollars a month in sales in one brand of over-the-counter pain reliever, okay? So, we must think pain is awful bad.
Now pain is your friend.
It is X's way, Life's way of telling you you're goofing off.
It doesn't tell you how you're goofing off;
it says you're goofing.
Now if I listen to that and start getting the environment, inner feeling, activity, nutrition a little more towards optimum, the pain ceases because I don't need it any longer. But as long as I need it, it's going to be there trying to tell me. And if I take a bunch of toxic chemicals in the body to relieve that pain right quick because I know pain is bad –that's one of those things you know, ought never to have pain – something’s not working very well. Okay? You're not listening to the signal.
People says Oh, Lord tell me the thing to do – give me advise. And it tries to tell you you're goofing and you try to kill it. You shoot it in the head so you can't hear it anymore. Right? Now that's really getting your prayers answered and knocking 'em out because you don't like the answer, okay? So, it says, look you're goofing, you didn't have to ask it to tell you. It told you. You're doing something that's not working right. So, it produces horrific pain.
You got your hand up, down, or you're just stretching, okay, Okay? I said I watch hands go up. I earn a living being an auctioneer, so when you stick your hand up, I’m gonna charge you for it, you know. You took the prize.
So, comfort is big. Now we can destroy ourselves in trying to be comfortable...
[End of CD 7 of 8]
CD 8
.... and comfort can be very deadly. Now whether you drink a lot to be [for] pleasure and comfort or to escape pain – doesn't matter. You could use a lot of it, but sometimes you even drink your eyes I heard a gentleman tell me one time. You drink these contact lenses right on down – (laughter) _____ and had a slight hangover anyway. Hangovers hurt too. Then you have to do something else to get rid of the hangover and pretty soon we're so chemicalized we don't know what's going on.
Now that's the first step in the way to be non-disturbed, right?
Now, the next one is to gain attention and to avoid being ignored or rejected.
So, we go through great efforts to keep from experiencing any rejection. And we go through great efforts to get attention. I know people who kill themselves to get attention. I know people who do all sorts of weird things just to get attention – and very destructive in many cases. So that if you look at what he's doing, he's trying to gain pleasure and comfort and attention – may hurt, and bad, make get all your bones broken – it may do a whole bunch of weird things, but you're getting attention though. All right.
And the next thing that we try is to have approval.
And we can sure kill ourselves trying to do that. Now we want to escape any disapproval.
And man, they're on the defensive right quick before you even said you disapproved of them – they assumed you was going to. Did you ever work pretty hard to gain those three so far, hon? Huh?
(I... that's part of my pattern.)
Then you killed yourself at it.
(I guess so.)
Well don't kid yourself, those are patterns of everybody else around here. Now my friend asked why man is on a self-destruct course. It isn't because he wants to, but it's because he wants these and the struggle to have these in 100% is a very destruct course if anybody wants to ask about it. It's headed toward the abyss where the crocodile awaits down in the bottom of it. And he hit a lot of bumps and rocks and tree stumps on the way. When you're trying to constantly avoid all pain and gain pleasure and comfort.
Now, how much pleasure and comfort does it take? If your conscious about it, just a little'll do. But if you're unconscious there's never enough. So, you know you want to be conscious, yes, I would like to have some pleasure and comfort every day, but I'm only gonna spend so much time, effort, money, and life on it. I'm not gonna spend too much. But if you're not conscious of it then 100% is not enough; you gotta have it all – plus. Huh? So yes, we all like to have some pleasure and comfort. I like to be comfortable. I like to have a little pleasure, but I have a very limited price I will pay for it. Hmm?
I would like to have some attention, but I know how to get that. But if I wasn't aware that I wanted a little attention every day, I could probably kill myself trying to get it. Okay? And I need a little approval. I don't know as I need it, but I like a little approval. Well, I can get that pretty well. About all I gotta do is dish out a little of it. Hmm? Just a little bit. I don't need a lot; I can get by on a small amount every day.
And then we want to feel important, and we want to escape the feeling of inferiority.
I know a whole bunch of people – who's killing themselves trying to get over a sense of inferiority – that deny they have the sense of inferiority and they're really killing themselves. I mean literally, factually, they're doing it very rapidly.
Now, if we want to stop to think about it a minute, aren't we all inferior to somebody? I came over here on a jet, one of those big wide-bodied jets. Now I don't know how to fly that thing and I have a lot of respect for that guy that can. So, I'm inferior to the guy that can fly the airplane, but I can do a lot of things he can't do too, okay? Now I'm inferior to somebody who can take a pencil or a piece of crayon or some paint brushes and paint a beautiful picture. Mine looks terrible no matter what I do to it. Okay? Now I’m inferior to that person. So what? I can do things that artist can't do, hmm?
And we can go on endlessly – things that you can do, many things I can't do. Maybe you could sew up a shirt. I can't, I go buy mine. But the point is that we're all inferior in some aspect of being but we're not in every way. So, we're all different. But so I'm inferior? If I'm free to be inferior; it don't bother me a bit in the world, hmm? Right? I'm inferior, so what? Big deal. But I know people who won't even admit that they have this inferiority feeling, but they're killing themselves – literally killing themselves trying to avoid this sense of inferiority feeling.
So here is the destruct course that man is on, totally unknown to himself that he is still working on the first decision that the whole purpose of living is to regain the non-disturbed state. He doesn't even know that. And he doesn't know that he is knocking himself out to gain pleasure and comfort and escape a little discomfort. And you know when you get it all boiled down, most of us had a little discomfort, but none of us have had any deadly things, you know, or we wouldn't be here.
We all would like to have some attention and I'm gonna get a little bit. It's not hard, no great effort, don't cost anything, just give a little bit here and there and you'll get some, right? I like to have a little approval, but I don't have to have great gobs of it. But if you know this is what you want, you can go get it with a minimum amount of effort. But if you don't know it, you'll knock yourself out trying to get it. So, let's say all right – all these are all right, nothing wrong with 'em. I want 'em to be conscious and know how much I will pay for each one of 'em.
Now, you can pay with a tremendous price to try to have total comfort and not have any pain. But you see, we're promoted to believe that pain is so bad and really all it is, is life talking to you saying you're goofing; you're goofing up here somewhere. And surely to goodness we could listen a few minutes and take over. If nothing else you can get yourself too tired, you can get a headache. Sure, you can take some Super Strength Tylenol and get over it. Those seven in Chicago, they won’t ever have another pain. They really got a permanent relief.
(Would you talk a little bit about when we get into an emotion, then within 24 to 72–)
...to 72 hours usually we have some kind of little reaction to it.
(...and so we need to look back and see...)
Well, you don't need to, but you can easily see. So, it'd be simpler just to say you can't afford emotions and don't have 'em in the first place, wouldn't it?)
(Well, I really...)
...or do you still think you can afford 'em?
(No! No!)
Well, then don’t have them.
(But I've felt like that would help us to be aware and–)
Oh, it might, but it seems to me that we're all intelligent enough people to be aware of it without having to go through it anymore and just say, “Look, I can't afford that stuff.”
(I know that, but I thought I needed to see what it was.)
Oh no, you don't need to see it. Just let it alone, you don't need to look at it. Wouldn’t help a bit in the world. You just can't afford 'em, okay? Yes, sir.
(I heard you say at different times that the ability to make up the mind singly is magic.)
No, you heard me say it was faith.
(Faith?)
Faith is the ability to make up the mind singly. In other words, faith is not magic as far as I'm concerned. I don't go for magic. Faith is the ability to make up the mind singly. It says the single-minded [corrects himself] double-minded man need expect nothing 'cause he's just in a state of conflict. He can't make up his mind so life's not gonna do it, okay? Doesn't know which way to go. But
the ability to make up the mind singly is called Faith, or that's the way faith is.
Somebody said if you have faith you can move mountains. So, if you make up your mind singly to chop down a mountain, why it may take you a year or two, but you can get it chopped down, okay? I didn't know it would blow away in the night – storms or anything. No magic, but you can get it down. I know guys who move 'em – you do too – can literally move mountains because they made up their mind to do so. They didn't get in a conflict about it.
And so, the ability to make up the mind singly is what is called Faith.
And faith is a great power.
Somebody's made up their mind to do something, you better get out of the way 'cause it's gonna happen – it's coming on, okay, cause your mind has to be made up singly. You can't be hoping, wishing, so forth and so on. My dear old mother who was fairly wise in the Appalachian way told me one time when I was wishing I had something, she said, “Well, you wish in one hand and spit in the other one and see which one gets full the quickest.” (laugher) Might remember that and try it. (laughter) Which one do you think gets full the quickest? The wishing hand, the one you wished in, or the one you spit in. (laughter)
(I’ve just been sitting here, being awe-struck because you’ve read my mind – all day. Ever since I’ve been here...)
That's what you got here for sitting up in the front row. (laughter)
(All day! All I have to do is pop in here a question mark and you answer it.)
Well, I said that's what you're up here for. [Bob chuckling] So now let's have another subject we want to talk about. Yes, sir.
(In life I've noticed certain people get things – you know, like new possessions or whatever, or wives or whatever....) (laughter)
Yeah.
(... and now these are friends, and a pretty significant group there, it’s that they're not satisfied...)
They don't like it.
(... so they’re different.)
Well, naturally. I want that and I don't like this. This is what I already have and that's what I'm gonna get, huh?
(And then you get over here...)
But as soon as I get it, it becomes this and everybody knows I don't like this. I want that. (laughter)
(___ and they keep on doing it.)
Well naturally, and they will keep on doing it because they don't like this, but they want that. Now what you don't have looks very desirable, but as soon as you get it, it's this. Nobody likes this. (laughter) I don't care whether it's a wife or whatever it may be, okay? They'll keep on doing that. I know people who get a new house, they just want that house over there so bad and they finally scrape up enough first, second, third and fourth mortgages and they get it. Soon as they get it, they don't like it. And they get rid of this gal, and they get another one and they gotta have another wife because this one has got all manner of flaws, (laughter) you know. But soon as they get that other one, it blows up walls all over the place too, you know.
In other words, they believe in the ideal that it exists, and the ideal is always an illusion. The ideal is that. This I have is what is. We talked about what is and what ought to be today, right? So, what I don't have is what ought to be. What I do have is what is; and of course, when you get something it becomes what is and it's there and of course you don't like it then so well... you know. That's simple. So, I happen to like what is and not what ought to be, so you know I don't have to worry about all those things. Fairly easy to like what is. I think “what is” is pretty wonderful. What ought to be is strictly an illusion.
Again, it's the struggle towards an illusion is the disintegrating factor.
Huh? I had a man that was all aggravated at his wife. And you know... not aggravated at her, he just... some cutie, younger, had come along and made a pass at him and it kind of thrilled him. He was way on up in years. So, he was telling me how wonderful that was and how he was going to get rid of her. But I knew one of his more weak spots was that anything gonna cost him very much is pretty bad. Now I said, “Aw, I think that'd be wonderful, but it sure will be expensive.” That killed the whole romance. (laughter) That ended it. You might try that on next time they're looking for something new and different. You say, “It's gonna be expensive.” It's like it's very expensive to move, so why not stay in the same place, right? Besides that, it's a big bother, isn't it, Bill?
(Yep.)
I don't want that bother so I'd rather stay where I am, okay? Yes, sir?
(When you've been in the process of self-observation for a couple of years, it gets to be really, deeply ingrained. How do you get out of that and into–) (laughter)
Well, I’d say I did that for a while. I said today six months ought to be long enough.
(I don't ever do anything for the amount....)
Well, I know. You do it four times longer, so you've done it four times long enough, so how about starting in now that you get in the habit of Self-Remembering – what can I do? Just put one question. That makes it a lot simpler; you don't have to watch so many things and just go with that. What can I do? I can be what to me is a good guest. That's all there is, and Lucy would be very pleased if you started doing that. (laughter)
One time Mack went in the refrigerator poking around and he likes one kind of lettuce to put on a sandwich and another kind to make a salad out of and lo and behold to make a salad – that leaf lettuce, you know, they call it salad bowl lettuce, I think, in the market – that he was gonna put on his sandwich, he was out of. And he threw a mighty fit. (laughter) Lucy brought him back down to earth again pretty well.
(You're not supposed to tell those on me.)
(We all know it anyway.)
Huh?
(We all know that.)
Do you?
(About him.)
Well, Lucy's a smart girl.
(They belong to us.)
She's a smart lady. She's a very bright lady. If he just was always being a good guest it would please her very much.
(Aww.)
Now, how would you like to get in the habit of doing that, Mack? Forget this self-Knowing. You've done that four times long enough, okay, I'll guarantee you – four times long enough. Six months is a Lord’s plenty for anybody. You've done it for two years. So now let's start in – which I said never ends – Self-Remembering you can do it the rest of your life without making a bore out of it. “What can I do? I can be a good guest today.” You never get bored with that, never gets old. So, you can start on that today. Okay?
All right who else has a subject we'd like to talk about for a second or two here... hour, whatever, we've got time. My boss says I gotta keep on working here so I'm doing it. Got a boss out here. Anywhere else I would 'a already been long gone, I will assure you of that. Would have said this is it, folks – see you later. But I got a boss here, so we'll keep on working till the boss says you can go. What'd you say?
(I was about to ask a question.)
Good, let's have it.
(In the commentary, is there a chapter on Self-Remembering?)
In what commentary?
(Um...)
I don't know anything about commentary.
(The commentaries written by Nicole and....)
I don't know.
(You don't know?)
That looks awful thick-looking book. There’s five volumes. [both talk]
(Well, I haven’t read them myself, but I would read a chapter in em if there was one on ...)
If somebody’d tell you where it was... go through those five, long volumes [laughter blocks words] ...I don't know. It probably is. I don't know where it is. I told you what you need to know about it. You don’t have to do...
Self-Remembering has got four questions involved:
What am I?
Where am I?
What's going on here? and
What can I do?
That's only four. That's easy. You don't have to read, you don' t have to do anything, the last one is the only one you need to remember. It's very simple – “what can I do?” Well, if I'm a privileged invited guest here they drug in from skid row somewhere, and that wasn't even supposed to have been invited, and I'm here at the Big Party and I see it's going on. Life is the Host, and I can do what I want to, then I can remember that what I would like to do is to be, to me, a good guest, okay? Huh?
So that's simple and easy. I don't have to read five volumes of books to see if somebody mentioned anything about it or anything, It's simple, it’s easy, to the point and can't be much simpler than that. What can you do under your situation? You're a privileged invited guest here. You were drug in from skid row totally because the man wanted the house filled. And man, it's getting fuller every day ___, is that right? ____, did you have your hand up back there, sir? Yes, sir.
(Bob the 48 Tapes, The Science of Man?)
Yeah.
(Now the six months of self-Knowing, it comes after the 48 Tapes or is this part of it?)
That's the 48 tapes. The first half of 'em are about self-Knowing, the last half are about Self-Remembering. We didn't lay it in a big sign and stick it up and say that's the way it is, but that's the way the subject material goes. Okay?
(lady laughing) (I’ll go back to my page.)
First half of it is about self-Knowing. The last half is about Self-Remembering, okay?
(Well, I'm still passing out the sheets for them to write about this and I didn't want to recommend something you were no longer asking be–)
Oh, I don't advocate nothin', but it's all straight stuff, okay? It's straight material. I haven't found it necessary to recall and rewrite, okay? If I find it necessary, I'll recall it, but I don't think that'll happen, okay? I don't want to recall it like a Ford with a front end out of alignment or something. (laughter)
Okay, who else has got something they want to talk about for a minute or two or three or four or five, huh? Is there anything you don't want to talk about? (laughter) I'll start talking about some things I know of that I don't think you want me to talk about. (laughter)
(You know more what you know to teach us than we know what you’ve got hidden away.)
I haven't got anything hidden away. I done laid it all out today. Now I'm trying to see if you can make a comment about it – then we can work on with it, okay?
(Four years ago, you were asking us the question what did we want to do. We were talking about Purpose and Will. Of course, none of us knew what we wanted to do. But the question was asked – and I may have been the one that asked it – that if we did what we want to do, who’s going to pay the bills? And your answer at that time to that was if you are doing what you want to do, the bills will get paid.)
That’s right. You pay the bills.
(Is that still... good?)
That's still good. You’re doing what you want to do, you pay the bill. I pay the bills every month, ___. Sure, you can pay the bills. You’ll pay em. Doing what you want to do, you like to pay for the bills, all right? Okay? Sure, there's a price for everything; everything’s got a little price tag stuck on it somewhere, even for doing what I want to do. There's a little price tag tagged on it, okay? But the price tag is really relatively easy if we are doing what one can, want to do. What do you want to do? I want to be what to me is a good guest. I pay a little price for it, but it's reasonable. And I never thought I was overcharged for it. Got a little price for it, sure. Yes, ma'am?
Sex
(Well, uh, you know what you’ve been talking about, what you think about marriage. What do you think about sex?) (laughter)
I think it’s here to stay. (more laughter)
[someone different calls out] (That’s a good subject!)
That's always a good subject. I think it's here to stay. What else do you want 'em to know what I think about it?
(Anything... just anything.)
I think it's here to stay. I think it has probably been overrated at times by making it important. I think it's very interesting but not important, okay? And I think whenever we make it important, we made a problem out of it and I could run a very lucrative practice only talking about sex problems to people. And it's only because they've made it important because when you leave it alone, it's natural, it's beautiful, and lovely. And it’s not important, but very interesting. But the minute we make it important, man we got problems then. And then the more you make it important, the bigger the problem is and pretty soon people go ape over it.
I worked in a mental hospital. I interned in a mental institution with a lot of people in it and the biggest part of 'em were there because they had been taught that sex was bad, dirty, and etcetera. And they had their religious kick on one side – their preacher's kick, not the real stuff – and on the other side they had their natural urges. And the conflict was so extreme that they blowed up and wound up in mental institutions, okay? And I think that that is rather a disgrace that people are taught that about a perfectly natural function.
Now, you see, but when people want to control others, they always have to get you where you will feel guilty, bad, ugly, abnormal, and out. So they tell you the things that they know you will go ahead and do are bad, okay? And then you will feel guilty and all that and then you will need their services, okay?
Now, if you didn't do that now... you know we pick up a pack of cigarettes and a few other things around these days and you see a sign on it that says, "The Surgeon General's determined it may be harmful to your health," okay? Right? Now the Surgeon General I'm sure is extremely interested in your well-being. But I've noticed that people who eat rocks – and I have seen a few – got very bad teeth in a hurry. Real bad ones. But have you seen any signs around lately (laughter) that says, “The Surgeon General has determined that eating rocks is dangerous to your health”? But it is. Huh? And there's people who do it.
(They really do?)
Oh yeah. It's got a name, it’s like everything else. It's got a diagnostic name – _____ [Pica]. (laughter) And they eat rocks and watches and forks and a fourth of 'em swallows it and all sorts of things, you know. So, but you know nobody tries to prevent, prohibit that. Nobody says that. I was over on the East Coast one day where I have a boat parked and there is a sign over there that says, “Please don't walk on the water. (laughter) It contaminates the marine life.” Does that help answer your question all right?
(What question was that?!) (laughter)
You brought up the subject of sex. I said I thought it was here to stay. You asked me what I thought about it and that's what I think. It's here to stay and I think it's been misused very decidedly by people who have made most of the people feel guilty about it in one way or another, you know. And I don't think there's anything to feel guilty about it __.
(___)
Well, all right. Whether it was or wasn’t, that's what I did. Okay, any other comments, questions, points before we adjourn for the night? Yes, ma'am?
(When our will and our purpose are in harmony....)
In union.
(...in union and there's no conflict...)
Well, there wouldn't be any conflict or there wouldn’t be any union.
(It's like what if my purpose was to get another involved with me and my will, you know....)
...would go along with it...
(...would be in unity then, and that other person did not want to get involved, then....)
Well in that case we would say, number one, you probably wouldn't be. But will and purpose we said... didn't say you'd get everything you wanted. We said that there would be a real I there, is that right?
(Okay.)
Huh?
(Yeah, I got it.)
Didn't say it was the way to get anything and everything you want to get. Now we said if what I want to do is be a good guest, that's a pretty good purpose and will together; and then I would maybe admire somebody else, but I wouldn't have any designs on 'em. If they want to come along, fine, if they didn't want to that'd be fine, I'd still think the world of 'em, okay?
(Okay.)
Now. You.
(This afternoon you talked with Susan on the subject I love you, and how you finish the sentence. Would you talk about someone __. Would you elaborate on like, with your parents?)
Oh well if there was the parents said that, why I know they was doing their duty and say it's because they thought they should anyway, so I'd agree with it. The one we're talking about is Eros – that we said people hadn't finished the sentence: I love you therefore you're obligated to me. And parents use that little game on you too. They tell you how much they love you and therefore you're obligated to 'em and must do exactly what they want you to. I make a little recommendation in those areas where it's parents and so forth.
I suggest that when a child is about 14 that they cease being parent and child,
and that they become friends.
Okay? I think you play that parent/child game long enough. I think about 14 years ought to be a large ___ for it, don't you? Hmm? After that you can be friends with 'em. And friends are the people who like you like you are. People who love you like you like they want you to be. Huh?
(I got that.)
You heard that one – okay. You see, if somebody comes up and likes you just like you are, you got a buddy around, huh? But if they like you only when you're doing certain things or not doing certain other things and then that's the people that love you. Your mother loves you as long as you're being good and don't ‘em-bare-ass’ her, huh? Right? But if you did something that embarrassed her, she wouldn't love you very well. She'd be telling you, you were obligated to her and ought to be always being good. Like I asked you what you taught your kids – to be good or to be conscious. And which one did you teach them? To be good. And that's what your mother wants you to do. And she's had lots of troubles with you. (laughter) Right?
(Right.) (woman chuckling)
She was deathly frightened from the day you were about 14 on that you were gonna horribly embarrass her, is that right?
(I guess. I guess I’d need it!)
You probably did, but she agonized a lot over it and gave you lots of discussion cause she was horribly frightened that you were gonna embarrass her by some of your unusual things you did, right? Okay? Okay, let's have another subject we'd like to talk about for a minute or two. Yes, sir.
(On this business of “ought to” I’ve been doing that a long.... uh... all my life. (laughter) And so I come here Friday night and then I leave tonight, or whatever, and see, even if I thought telling them off, what they ought to do, their other half... see I got to _______, I got what they gotta do and they got what I ought to do, and it’s been working... where we’re all living.)
They’re still alive.
(Now I go in there and you know... and I don't have their ‘ought to’, they're going to have their ‘ought to’ back for me that they’ve always had.)
Right.
(That’s going to annoy the–)
Why should it annoy you? You just know what's going on. Sure, they're gonna tell you what you ought to do, and you say, “Certainly, I know. I'll do that, but I probably won't.” (laughter) You'll be surprised at how quick it all comes to an end. Usually comes to an end pretty quick. You say, “Well I know I ought to, but I don't know, I don’t know... I probably won't. (laughter continues) I don't do what I ought to. (laughter)
So, we're only talking about ourselves. We're not talking about getting everybody else straightened around, you know. Somebody says, “Well if you make the old man quit drinking, why I will quit nagging.” That's called “on condition I will do so-and-so.” Now we have not been setting any conditions. They're fine, they're lovely, and in all probability if you quit should-ing them all the time, they'll quit should-ing you quite as much, okay? I think one of the last times I was down here some sweet little lady told me, “If you don't should on me, I won't should on you.” (laughter) Yes, ma'am.
(You have not talked very much about us being 99 point 8 uh–)
Percent. Right. I haven't talked about anything else much. I didn't just use those particular words.
(Is there anything else you can tell us about not buying the suggestions of others?)
Well, that's what I've been talking about all day is that we do our own reasoning, and I don't happen to have an authority. You see, as long as you're going to need an authority to tell you what you ought to do, you're gonna be highly suggestible. You can read a newspaper article and it'll say blup blup blup blup blup because we have a great tendency to accept the printed page as an authority because we went to school and we read the printed page. And somebody asks us some questions about it. If we replayed it back just right, we got an A and if we didn't play it back real good we got a B or something. And if we didn't play it back very well at all we got an F.
So, we accept the printed page as an authority. We've crabbed about everything instead of seeing we are responsible for choosing what I'm going to do. Then I don't need an authority. I don't have to go down and ask somebody else if I can do it. So, the way out of suggestion is quit needing an authority.
As long as you need an authority to reassure you, you will be
100% suggestible, 100% of the time.
Okay? And of course, as long as suggestion comes along and always offers you this if you do what he's suggesting and that over there if you don't do it, is that right? Now one of the common suggestions is if you do so-and-so, “you won't need to worry.” You hear that on television almost every day if you happen to turn it on and listen to it. That's the heavyweight in the commercial area.
If you do so-and-so then you won't need to worry, implying that worry is a very necessary thing and you got a need to worry an awful lot unless you buy the right insurance policy and buy the right smoke detector and you buy the right pain killer pill and so forth, then you better do a lot of worry, hmm?
And so most people buy that suggestion because they accept all these things as authoritative, okay?
So, if you don't need an authority, then you are no longer suggestible.
But if you do keep on needing an authority and you've gotta have somebody to tell you what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad, what you should do, what you ought not to do, then you're going to be 100% subject to suggestion. Responsibility is the way out because responsibility is the other side of the coin that has freedom on it, okay? No matter which way you flip it, it comes up freedom or responsibility. Okay? I cover that one all right, Miss Marce?
(Yes. Thank you.)
Okay. Next point you want a little discussion on if anything? Yes, sir? Louis.
Evil
(Does evil exist?)
Does what?
(Evil exist.)
Evil Knievel does I think if he hasn’t knocked himself out trying to get attention. (laughter) Does evil... that's something very bad and so forth.
Ignorance is probably the only evil there really is.
Lack of information and misinformation would be classified as ignorance.
And ignorance I suppose would result in a lot of evils, anyway. But I wouldn't think there's such a thing as there is evil, good and evil. It's good if I agree with it and evil if I don't. You know I'm sure that if we use Dracula as our sign, and the other people around said he was evil, that right? I'm sure he thought he was pretty good, [chuckling] you know, doing what he wanted to do and so forth. So, I think that's another one of those opposites that's only, be qualified to me, okay?
Now it's like certain food is good to me. Somebody else it may not be at all desirable to them, but it’s good to me. So, I like to take all these things like opposites of good and evil, right and wrong, and everything and qualify it with “to me,” okay? Then I've told you something about me, not about whatever it was we were talking about. I told you it don't agree with me if I said it's bad. If I'd ‘a said it was good, I've told you that it only appealed to me, and I want to make that clear – it's to me. Okay? Now I don't know about evil and good and all those things. I don’t know about that. I would not want to be the one that set up and said it was, okay? Yes, Ma'am
(Several times in the last few days you have talked about don't make anything important, make it interesting–)
I didn't say not to make it important, I said when you make it important, you're anxious.
(When you make it important, you’re anxious.)
Right. And I said that everything was interesting.
(I didn't write it down and I been asking Marce about it to remind me cause I forgot–)
Okay, got it reminded now and you can write it down that:
Whenever I make anything important, I am anxious about it.
Okay? If I don't make it important, obviously I'm not anxious about it, is that right?
(That’s... Thank you.)
And the other side of the coin you just used was what now, was make it ....)
(Make it interesting.)
Interesting. I can't make it interesting; it already is.
(Oh.)
Anything that’s out here is interesting. Now I may or may not be interested at the given minute, but it's interesting, okay?
(Thank you.)
Okay, another comment. Huh? Yes, ma'am.
Freedom To, not Freedom From
(___ there’s some of these and I haven’t heard it before – the freedom to and the freedom from.)
Okay.
(I understand the freedom to and I love it and ___ , so would you express your thoughts–)
Okay, we'll talk about the only freedom there is, is freedom to. Now if you wanted to be free from something, you are constantly in a hassle about it if it's gonna happen again because being free from it this minute doesn't mean it won't come back, is that right? We say you’re an asthmatic and you're breathing perfectly fine now, but you want to be “free from asthma.” Now you're in a dither that it’s going to another attack to occur and it's gonna be hard to breathe. But if you're free to have asthma, you have totally freedom and you don't bother about it and usually it would never happen again. Now we want to be free from pain. Well, at this given moment you don't have any pain, but you have made pain important and you're afraid you will have – no doubt you will some time or other – so we got all tangled on that.
Some people are afraid they're going to worry a lot and they want to be free from worry. So, if you're free to worry, you really can't be calling it worry. Did you ever sit down to worry deliberately, Miss Donna? Huh?
(Naw.) (laughter)
Huh? All you did was laugh about it, wasn't it? But when you're trying not to worry, man can you worry up a storm, really serious stuff, is that right? Really serious. Man, it can get with it and it's rough, tough, it's hard, it's bad stuff. So, the only freedom there is “free to.” Now if you wanted to get to Dallas from here and you followed signs that said “From Dallas,” how long do you think it’d take to get to Dallas? (laughter) Huh? But if you follow signs that say “To Dallas,” you'd get there pretty shortly, is that right? It won't take very long. So, freedom is an area, or a state of being. It's a state or a city like Dallas.
So, if you want freedom, then you're free to experience whatever may arise in your way today. You're going to experience it anyway;
you might as well do it gracefully.
No use kicking and screaming about it cause if it’s going to come your way today, you're going to experience it anyway. So, if you're perfectly free to experience whatever may arise in your way today you have very little to get upset. That is the utter utmost of freedom -- free to experience whatever may arise in your way today. Now if you want to be free from experiencing certain things, you're in a dither because even if you’re not now, you're afraid you're going to, so it goes on and on and on and on, okay? Is that all right, Miss Martha?
(That's right!)
Okay, we’ll stop right there then. Okay, anybody else want to comment about something here?
Okay, dear ones, we have sure enjoyed being in our sessions for the last couple of days – last night and today – and I hope you've tolerated it fairly well. You seem to be holding up passably. And we hope we're with you again one day cause I dearly love to sit and work with you, okay? And it has indeed been a joy and I suggest we all go have coffee and shoot the breeze a while and then do whatever you like, okay?
End of CD 8 of 8; End of Workshop
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