Workshop - Lake Whitney TX - 1994 - Part 1
Verbatim Transcript: “Not Important” – Lake Whitney, TX 1994: 4 CDs
The following is as close a verbatim transcript as is possible.
Dr. Bob’s laid-back“Kentucky-ese” is retained –
we have neither corrected his grammar, dialect, pronunciation
nor taken it upon ourselves to change his words.
Audience (laughter) is noted; he was a master at keeping the mood up!
Audience participation is (parenthesized) and separated from his words.
Emphasized words by the speaker are initalics.
If the words were unintelligible, there’s a blank: “_________.”
[Anything that offers clarity to the reader is italicized inside brackets.]
Audio: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bjsnni9menko397/AAAXm9X-MKTl3XGsaXmrSq08a?dl=0
CD 1 of 4: Not Important
So I'll talk about it even though I've talked about it before. You still don't remember it. (laughter) You don't; still make things important and you still get all agitated over things that don't matter a bit and so forth. So I'll talk about the Picture of Man again and let's see if you can live it this time, okay?
So first thing about the Picture of Man is that we make it very important to never be disturbed. Isn't that nice? Were you ever disturbed? Huh?
(A lot. I’ve worked real hard to be disturbed in my life.)
Well, that's all right; you can keep it up. So we'll put the little bit down here that that's the prime decision. The Picture of Man is made up out of a bunch of decisions and this is the one that says, "It's very important that I never be disturbed." And you are disturbed ever now and then, right? [he nods to others] You are disturbed every now and then. You're disturbed every now and then... and on and on and on we could go with everbody.
So we'll put that one there. And the next one then that we made when we were about two, three days old maybe was that, “It's important to have my way right now.” That way I would never be disturbed, would I, if I had my way right now? Or would you? Somebody said one time you better be careful what you ask for, you're liable to get it; and I have noticed that that does happen every now and then. And that usually people are very disturbed about it, make it very important. And this one says that it's important to have my way right now – everybody's gotta come up and do things like I want em to do right now. You ever have that circumstance in your life or is that always been over the hill a little bit for you. Huh?
(No… I don’t think that’s –)You've never had it. No. And then we decided that “I better please everybody else.” I wasn't doin' so good a job of gettin' myself pleased, maybe I better please them to see how it works. Did you ever try to please everybody around you? That sure didn't work, did it? No way. And then we decided that, “If we believed and do as we're told by our authorities, everthing would get along fine.” We got lots of authorities, you know – you got the police, you've got church, you’ve got the Sunday School, you've got school house down the road where you gotta go for so many years. And they all told you what you had to do. So you decided it was appropriate to “believe and do as I'm told by my authorities.” And that didn't work worth a durn. You know… you do what they tell you to do you're in a mess because one set of authorities tells you to do one thing and another one tells you do somethin' else. Besides that you couldn't live up to all of em anyway. Could you live entirely as the Sunday school teacher told you? No way. Could you live as the preacher told you? No way. Could you live as the sheriff's officers told you? No. Okay? It's impossible. So we found a bunch of stuff here that we couldn't make work.
Then we decided that, “If I would improve myself, everything would be fine.” It's important to improve myself and all we're, most of us, are off on a self-improvement gig. Did you notice that? You been tryin’ to improve yourself for years, haven't you? And where'd you get? “I still don't like me.” And that’s the way that winds out.
And then we finally came up with one that if we could get it, it'd really work. It said, “If he, she, they, it, them all did what they ought to do,I'd be fine.” But did you ever get em to do that? That just gives you good grounds to blame folks. You do that easy enough, can't you? Blame em? Yeah. It’s easy enough – you can blame em, can’t you? Hmm? Yep. You can blame em – say straighten up and fly right then I would be fine, hmm? So we got another one over here.
Now we'll kind of put a little picture on this so it looks all right. [draws on the board] Now that's pretty much our conditioned mind, this thing here that works. That’s the way it works. You check out everything it does in here, it'll be on there. And I don't think you'll find anything else. You know there was a great man named Buddha one time. He wasn't named Buddha then, he was named Siddhartha. And he left his family when he was about 26 years old and he set out to be enlightened; he made it very important to be enlightened. So he traveled all over India, went to ever holy man he heard of, he did without food, he fasted, and wore rags; and he was of the royal family – he could have had anything and everything he wanted but he didn't. He wanted it very important to be enlightened.
So he wandered for years and years. When he was gettin' to be about 68 or 70 years old, he sit down one day under a Bo Tree. You know what a Bo Tree is? It's a tree that sets out a limb that goes back to the ground and sets up another root and then it grows up and starts another one and then it grows and it covers acres – one tree, sometimes.So he was sittin' under a Bo Tree, very sad and depressed that he wasn't any more enlightened than he was when he left home, 20-some odd years old. And he suddenly realized it wasn't important to be enlightened or it wasn't important to be anything else. He was just sittin' under the Bo Tree. So he rose up under the Bo Tree and went off singin' to town and bought himself a good dinner and got him some nice clothes [chuckles] and rest up. He didn't have to be an ascete [ascetic] anymore that had nothin' and went around with a beggin' bowl to beg somebody to put a little food or somethin' in it in a day.
So he was enlightened. He found out what it was: don't make it important and everything will be all right! Won't ever be anxious, you won't be upset, you won't be miserable at all. Did you ever notice that you’re miserable, you made somethin' important you didn't get, hmm? That's right – that's all it is. So he was enlightened, he went off hummin’ a song and thing and since then they've built a great amounts of literature about him and all this kind of stuff so that he now is a great man. Been dead a long time, so he’s great. And but nobody caught on that he didn't make anything important was what got ____. And he didn't make it important to be enlightened anymore, so he was enlightened. He was very light-hearted then and went off singin' a little song, eatin' and drinkin' and doin' what is. Can you do that? Or do you gotta stick around to get enlightened? Hmm? That right? You gotta put it in a very important to be enlightened.
So we have up here is X. Down here we have the physical body and we have all these things that looks at the world as we see it out here and it gives a bit of information. It goes to X and X always does the appropriate thing for the information it receives – down here, physical body does the appropriate thing for the information it receives from X, which is the part of us we never see but the one that's real. You might call it Spirit or you might call it Intelligence or you might call it about anything you want to, but it's there anyway and it always does the appropriate thing down here.
You don't know how to wiggle your finger. You can wiggle it all right, but you don't know how, do you? Which muscles do you pull to wiggle a finger? You don't know. But it got the information from here that you wanted to wiggle a finger and so it's sent down here and you wiggle a finger with the greatest of ease, okay?
Says you're hungry. Do you know how to tell when you're hungry except you feel hungry, huh?
(That's all.)
That's all. And you go about the appropriate way to get something to eat pretty soon, is that right? Okay, so that does the appropriate thing. It does it about everything under the world. If you get very angry at a person, you'd like to smoke him, [chuckles] huh? And it'll do it ever once in a while if you allow it. If you put a stop to it, it won't; but nevertheless, that's what goes on. So you have here the Picture of Man – the picture of any one of us here in this room or anywheres else we've been in the last hundred years. It's a picture for everyone, you can see it all – that we have this one that says I won't be disturbed, it's very important I don’t be disturbed, and it's important to have my way, important to believe this, and important to stick up for my rights, important to please everybody we meet. It's important to believe and do as I'm told by my authority. It's important to improve myself and it's important if everybody else would straighten up and fly right. If I could get em to do it, then I'd be just fine.
So there sits the whole show that we're hagglin' with every day of the world. That what you work on, hon? Yep… hard… [chuckling] All right. Work at it every day, okay? And you get whenever you make anything important you feel anxious, ill at ease, ready to fight, what-have-you. Correct? And that's not a very pleasant way to live, so we can get over it and start livin’ wonderfully if we want to. Do you want to? Okay, then it's simple enough to do. Just don't make anything important. That easy enough or is that too simple?
(Sounds pretty easy to me.)
Well, you gonna try it? [chuckles] Try it for the next 24 hours. How's that? If you do it till this time tomorrow night you'll have a wonderful day tomorrow, okay?
(Harder to do than to say it.)
Huh?
(It’s harder to do than to say it.)
No, it's not any harder to do. It's just you don't want to. It's not hard to not make anything important. Good Lord. It's not important so why should we make it important? Hmm? It's not important at all, so why should we make it that way except we want to? So we want to make things important because that makes us an important person. We got lots of important things to do. And so we want to make things important and sure enough we get to with the greatest of ease. Nobody's gonna stop you from makin' it important is there? [there’s a thump] Some great thing fell.
So anybody wanna try to see if they can live by this Picture of Man for 24 hours? If you don't want to try it for 24, try it for one – one hour. Could you do that? Think you can do that, huh? One hour – not make a thing important. You can go along like the Buddha did when he left from under the Bo tree – hummin’ a little song and goin’ on about your business, ready to eat, ready to wear clothes; whatever you can find. Don't go around being a begger. Mm-hmm. That all right? Gerome, is that all right with you?
(That’s one of the most beautiful stories that I’ve ever heard. I never heard that one.)
Well that's the truth of one, the rest of em are just make believe. [chuckles] It’s the real story about Siddhartha. I have a friend who's makin’ a movie of Buddha. So he come along, was talkin' to me and I told him what Siddhatha discovered sittin' under the Bo Tree. He didn't like that at all. (laughter) So the movie won't be accurate, okay? But they're makin' it. So you'll see it one of these days; but it won't be accurate because they had him discover some great and wondrous event out here in the world that enlightened him. But it was all he did was discover that it wasn't important. It wasn't even important to be enlightened. And so immediately he was. Would you like to be enlightened? So don't make it important. It’s nice if it does and it’s nice if it don't and so pretty soon you're enlightened, okay? All right now then I've talked a sum total of 15 minutes. Let's have questions and answers until we're ready to go home tonight, okay?
(I’m going to ask that people talk into the mic when they ask questions. We’ve got a mic right here and somebody –)
Somebody will come runnin' with it.
(Yes.)
Okay, and now then you can be recorded for all eternity, okay? So if you're gonna ask a question, you gotta talk into the mic. Now, are we gonna have questions or are we all mic crazy? There's one over there that'll talk into the mic. Rob?
(I don't like to make it important but I have to get up in the morning and go to work at a certain time. And if I don't make it important, then I'm not able to fulfill some of the obligations I have. I just can't say well that isn't important today.)
To become irresponsible – no connection between the two. It's really not important whether you go to work or not because somebody'll take care of the job after a while, okay? (laughter) So there's no sweat on that. So you could do it with the greatest of ease or you can do it under duress. So which one do you do it?
(Duress.)
You do it under duress. So you make it very important that you don't get up and go to work in the mornin'; and I think it would be just as well if you just like to go to work in the mornin' and didn't make it important either. I don't make it important to go to work everyday and I get up and go to work ever day. I happen to do it at home, but I still get up and go to work. I answer the telephone all day… for people who are makin' things important. (laughter) So that's quite a chore and I happen to like it all right and go ahead and do it and I don't feel I have to; but I do it every day, okay? I didn't like to come down here but I did. So I'm here, havin’ a good time; intend to have it until I leave, okay? Huh? That help answer your question, sir?
(Yes.)
Just don't make it important but go ahead and take care of the chores you agreed to do, okay? Because you like to do it. You wouldn't a got the job unless you'd liked to have a job when you got it, that right? You were lookin' for it. And you found the job and you were delighted with it for a few days. Now you say, "I have to get up and go to work." Okay?
Okay the next person that has a question? Get a person there with a mic for you and instantly he'll tell you it didn't hurt a bit. Here's one right here – pretty lady from up Fort Worth way.
(The part about change under this “important,” you know – not making things important, but you want change.)
Okay, if you just wait a minute, you got change. Don't you?
(I don’t understand.)
Well everything changed in the last few minutes. A few minutes ago, you weren't listenin’ to me talk; now you are. So that's change, right? You did live in Odessa. Now you live in Fort Worth area.
(I moved to Dallas.)
You moved to Dallas now, so you change the whole time. It don't make any difference, okay?
(But what if I want change in my life?)
Then take it.
(But you know, with this “not making things important...”)
Don't make anything important, you got a big change in your life, haven't you? Cause you been makin' it very important. Now if you want a good change, just cease to make it important. It’s just take care of situations as they arise. Like the first thing Buddha had to do was go to town and get him somethin' to eat; he hadn't had anything to eat for days. He'd been bein' aesthetic, you know, tryin' to get enlightened by not eatin'. Okay? I know people who try to get enlightened by not havin' a cigarette. I know people who want to get enlightened by doin' without eating but it has nothing to do with it, okay? So you can have all the changes you want in your life, okay? Maybe not every one, but you can sure have a bunch of changes, okay? You ever try it?
(Well, what if I have one very important one?)
None of em's important, you just make it important, okay? It wasn't important unless you make it important. [aside] Be there in a minute. Huh?
(Don't make it important.)
No, it's not important.
(But when you're going through something and you really can feel that the thing is happening to you, and you wanna take control of it or… can we take control of situations?)
Yeah, you cannot make it important any longer. That's really taking control because right now it's controllin’ you to make everything important and you're agitated all day long, okay?
(You remember my little boy...)
Aw, yes, I remember the little boy.
(He still has seizures.)
Huh?
(He still has seizures.)
Right.
(Okay and when he's going through that, I'm right there with him.)
Mm-hmm. Right.
(And I don't wanna make it important...)
No.
(But you know, you see this little body floppin’ around and....)
So it does that, yes.
(Okay, so...)
And he gets up in a little while and goes on about his business. Okay, so it's not important.
(I'm very disturbed like this Picture of Man thing that you’re talking about.)
Yeah, because you made it important that he not have the seizure, but you don't know what's gonna… he has a seizure and it doesn't seem to hurt him cause he gets up and he's over it in a little bit and goes on, right?
(For him, he goes on. But what about me?)
Well, you can at least do it as well as he did. He had it and you didn't. You just looked at it and thought it important that he not have it.
(How can that be changed?)
You quit makin' it important.
(And that can change, if I quit making it important?)
You better believe it, sure. Sure it'll change.
(Oh… [she sighs and laughs] okay.)
Ready to try it? It's not important. He gets up. He'll be over it in a little while. He's havin' a seizure, you say, “He'll be over in a while,” okay? You're not havin' it – he is. (laughter) Wait a minute, there's a gentleman over here that's got his hand up long before you, then we'll be back to you. Okay, Bernie.
(Bob, I find I go through life making things important and then I see that I am making them important and maybe I go for a few seconds and not making them important. Is there a cumulative effect from this or something that is… or is there hope for people like me –) (laughter)
Oh yes, there's great hope for you. If you can do it for 5 seconds, you can do it for 5 hours. If you can do it for five hours, you can do it for five days. If you can do it for five days, you can do it five years. If you do it five years, you can do it for the rest of your life, okay?
(All right.)
You can; just keep workin' at it.
(All right.)
Okay, now we get back to the lady over here.
(I'm in a predicament where I'm like Amelia’s little boy – I have epilepsy and I have been lately just so disgusted with the doctors, my husband, my family – and especially the doctors. I never quit havin' the seizures but they keep wantin' to put this darn medicine… what would happen if I just quite tookin’ the darn stuff and had the seizures?)
If you didn't take the medicine?
(Yeah.)
You'd probably get all right.
(Would you advise –)
It wouldn't get any worse.
(–I stop the durn medicine and leave the doctors alone and out of my life? I am in that kind of mood right now.)
Well it'd be a good idea. I'm not gonna tell you to do it because I'm not supposed to do that. (laughter) But it'd be a good idea.
(A good idea.)
Yeah. Try it once just so you're on.
(Okay, I'm gonna try that.)
Okay, just say hang it up, I'm havin' a good time right now, okay? Not important that I have a seizure once in a while. You been havin' em a long time, haven't you?
(___)
Huh?
(___)
It hasn't killed you yet. Right?
(___)
Yeah, I know, a little thing but it was just a piece of metal.
(Yep.)
So what, it didn't kill you.
(Not yet.)
Not yet, maybe never will. At least you can say is not yet. So it's not important, okay? So you do what you want to do and you'll find you get along better, okay? Okay another question, comment? Here's one right there. Drop the microphone on him.
(Okay so we have the intention of not making things important and then five minutes from now or an hour from now –)
You do.
(– we’re making them important again. How does that mechanism come about?)
Well it's because that's your habit and nature is to make things important. And if you pay attention to it and don't make it important for a few minutes, you're a little stronger. You don't make it important for another few minutes a little later, you get a little stronger. And as I said to Bernie, you can pretty soon go five minutes and then five hours, and five days, five weeks and you can go forever without makin’ anything important. I can assure you of that because I'm livin' it. I'm doin' it, I don't know… I'm no better than anybody else. Now this lady with the green shirt on over here was next.
(Well it can be done because I just saw a movie about Aborigines and they don't make things important.)
That's right.
(And they live just wonderful lives.)
That's right. So's everybody else that don't make things important – even you and me, okay?
(I make things important!) [laughing]
Well, you don't live so hot.
Now… right there.
(Dr. Bob, would the first step be to remember to say that this is interesting? Is that the best way to –)
Well just say it's not important. This isn't important. You could say it was interesting, yeah, but pretty soon you'll use interest instead of importance and you'll go on doin' the same thing, thinkin’ you done somethin'.
(I got it.)
So it's just not important, okay?
(Okay.)
Simple and easy, 1, 2, 3, nothin' to it, okay? Okay, somebody else's question here, got a hand up? There's one over there. Lovely lady's got her hand way up there and she wants to be seen. Let's hear about it.
(The question I have is what if you say, okay, I’m not going to make this situation important...)
You're what?
(What do you do when you decide you're not going not to make a situation important and you have the authorities or your loved ones that come along and they keep rattling your cage…)
Oh they're busy tryin' to get you to make it important.
(...trying to make it important for you, telling me “You should make it important,” and it's over and over and over.)
Right. So you in charge of your existence, or your family? Who feels upset when you make anything important – you or the family? Probably all of you but they're makin' it important on their own and you're still makin' it important. So let's just don't make it important and see what happens to them. They won't slaughter you because you're not makin' it important, okay? They won't torture you or cut your arms off or anything like that. They'll just talk-talk. Huh?
(You don't know my mother.) (laughter)
Yeah, I know your mother, she just talk-talks like mine did when she lived. Okay? So how about just tryin' not to make it important for a few days and let mama make all the noise she wants to. When I was a kid they took me to a doctor who decided I had a dreadful heart disorder and he was givin' me a medication for it. The day I got outta high school, the next mornin' I got up and left home. My mother come runnin' after me down the road, “You forgot your medicine!” I said, “I didn't forget it, I left the damn stuff where it was and please leave it there.” And she had a fit and I went on about my way and I haven't made very many things important since then, okay? And she lived many years after that; but it didn't kill her either. She just was upset; but she was always upset – always – cause she was always makin' somethin' important.
One time I saw her sittin' on her front porch and she said, "I'm so uneasy somethin' terrible is gonna happen because everything's goin' so well." (laughter) She couldn't stand that, okay? It had to be somethin' very bad. Okay, another question? Seems like that's all the questions for tonight. No, there’s one more woke up there. Yeah – let's have it.
(It seems like if I'm practicing or trying to consciously practice not making things important, I'm not making that many decisions in my own life. I become more like jello or something and I have found that life wants to make all these decisions for me – particularly husband, children, etc.)
Yeah. In other words when you were not making things important, you were makin’ it very important.
(I guess, I don't know…)
You were.
(But it's like all the decisions are being made for me because I don't make it important.)
They're all makin’ things important, aren't they?
(And what?)
All these decisions are bein' made for you is bein' makin' something important.
(Well they may, I may have consequences to pay for a long time as a result of decisions that are made.)
You'll have consequences to pay for everything you do – especially if you make it important. If you don't make it important there isn't too many consequences to make and don't put it as you’re in a state of apathy if you don't make things important. You can have all sorts of interesting ideas and things to do while you're not makin’ a thing in the world important, honey. Okay?
(I can't.)
Well you can. Just try it. Start off by doin' one thing at a time. Don't try to do it all at once; you won't succeed, I'll assure you that, okay? Just make one thing unimportant that you're makin' important now. And after you got that down pat, then you do another one and then you got two goin'. And then you got three, four and so on. But don't try to change it all your whole being into making everything not important today because you've already got a bunch of em already made, okay? That all right? Okay, let's do it. I'll ask you tomorrow how many things you made important in the mornin' and you will have made some important, but maybe you could see one thing you weren't makin' important, okay? Work at it a little bit at a time. Okay? [someone enters late] Come in the house. Okay, you making things important tonight? She's gonna talk again or is she wavin'…
(I’m waving at Paul.)
Well good that's all right. Paul's fine. Okay, apparently we are all through
(Oh, no! __________.) (laughter)
Well that's not important and no matter how pushy you are it's not important. [chuckles] So everything got done we're supposed to do tonight, so we'll go home and rest a while and we'll be back in the mornin' and we start at 10 o'clock, right?
(Right.)
And we'll go until four, tomorrow afternoon. And then I heard that I'm supposed to make a little noise on Sunday mornin'. So I'll do that, if I can find a Douay version of the Bible so I can give you somethin’ to think about. And I have enjoyed the evening with you and I hope you’ve enjoyed it, too. And most especially I hope you've profited enough that you will at least work on not makin' anything important tomorrow. But you will make some. So if you get one of em down that you're not makin’ important, that'll be fine. And Marce, it’s not important that we work many hours longer. (laughter) Okay? I'll get it done even if I do it rapidly, okay? Okay folks, let's have a wonderful evening. (applause)
[Next Morning]
[talking to someone] Thought you put em on. Everybody here, Marce?
(_______.)
Okay, we'll wait till they get here. She's right. No we're not starting – we're takin' up some time. (laughter) You're here now, huh? Okay? Well this mornin' we'll start off and talk about the worlds that we all live in and don't know about. So we'll try to make em where you can recognize em, okay? So, I'll get around here and tear off this little page or turn it over or somethin’.
(Flip it back.)
Just flip it back over the back. There it is, got a nice clean one now. So we'll start off with The Two Worlds: On this side we'll put the Manmade and over here we'll put the Real World.
So let's cover the Manmade World first and as it's got more to it. The Manmade World is a world of standards, ideals, games, and a few other things we'll catch on to as we go along. So the world of the standards is that we all have standards. You wanna get a pair of shoes, you got a standard size that you get every year. Is that right? Same thing. So but there is no standards for a human being – we all look different. Did you notice that? Everybody here looks a little different. And if we had 10,000 people, they'd all look a little different. If we had 100,000, they'd look different. You could recognize em by the next time you see em cause they look different. If they all looked alike, you wouldn't know who was who, would you? If they all had a nice little standard for everybody and they all looked the same, why you'd never know unless you put some kind of a computer chip on em somewheres and that'd be another standard.
And there's a standard for the way… how high ceilings are and what kind of roof you put on a buildin’, what kind of car you drive, what kind of design it is. And it's got standards for sizes of tires and batteries and all the things you buy for it, okay? So it's very wonderful to have these standards. We couldn't get along without em very well. But they are not real. They are manmade and they are not something that we turn around and make a standard for the human being.
That's a very common thing. You make a standard for everybody and they don't fit it, they're not very nice are they? Huh? Correct? Right? You're not very nice if you don't fit the standards you set for em. Now maybe I'd set another standard for em. I don't care whether they live up to it or not – it gets along all right with me one way or the other. But you get all upset because people don't fit their standards always, right? And we could go on and on with this for an hour if you want to, but I guess we'll stop off there.
And the ideals that we have. We have an ideal as to how tall a person should be and how heavy they should be and etc., etc. We got standards for em or an ideal how they outta fit, okay? We got an ideal as to how the grounds outta be and how the buildings oughta be and how many angels you should have around it and so forth. (laughter) And we have these ideals and then we get carried away and think everbody oughta have the same ideal; but they don't. And that causes a lot of aggravation between people is because you don't have the same ideal as I do and mine is right and yours is wrong. So there! Okay? But ideals are just ideals; they're fine if you want em.
And then we have all these games, games that we play. So we'll get down here to it. [writes “Games” on the board] Games. So we have a game called “Marriage” and people get married expectin’ this game to go like they want it to, you know. They all have their ideal and their standard the way it should be. And they get in some of the most obnoxious arguments over that ideal and that game they're playin'. Now if you know it's a game you can go ahead and play – have a good time and enjoy it. Anytime you know it's just a game you're playin' you have a good time. But the minute you begin to think it's real you get upset. You know of people who go to a baseball game and they know how it oughta be and they get very upset when it isn't played that way. Did you ever notice that? Oh man, they get in fights, bop each other and all sorts of things.
And the same way with the game called “Business.” We have that one and people get all upset over the way other people are runnin' their business. Did you ever do that? Huh?
(Pretty often.)
Pretty often. So what. So it's just a game and if you don't wanna play the game with him, you quit! Play a game with somebody else that comes [break in tape] see how the game oughta be played, okay? You can find somebody that'll agree with you. Go play with them. And of course we have baseball and all that. We kind of recognize those as bein’ games, but not always. We get upset about the way other people are playin' that game; and we get real angry, and –
End of CD 1
CD 2 of 4: “Not Important” – Lake Whitney, TX 1994
......torn up on the inside – oh man, we give em a fit. Don't you? You go to basketball games? Huh? No, don't go to that kind. What kind of games you play?
(I’m usually making them.)
What?
(Usually making them; I play them on myself more than anybody else.)
Okay, well, that's all right. Now we'll look at for a minute – we'll come back to this side – we'll look at the Real World. The “Real World” is a world of real living beings [writing on the board], no two of which are alike. And you can't have an ideal for somethin' that you only have no two of em alike, could you? Couldn't very well have that. So here's all of us folks in here and we’re every one different in many ways – every way about us is different, isn't it? Hmm? You different from everybody else in here? Paul, you different from everybody else in here? Yep. Bailey, you different from everybody else? Okay? Barry, you different? So there's no standard – so there can be [he writes it on the board] “No standard is possible. No ideal is possible.”
Now, if we live with the Real World instead of assuming that we were all in the Man-Made World we would get along – have nothin' to fuss about. You’re a little different. You're a little different. You're a little different, so everybody takes that into consideration and goes on about their affairs, okay? Wouldn’t be nothin’ to fuss about, would it? But as soon as you set up the standard and that person doesn't fit it and you sit and find fault with them for an hour and then somebody else gets the subject of conversation and you find fault with them for the next two hours because they didn't fit the ideal that you were and they didn't fit the standard that you had set as though they were a mere robot or a machine. Now a machine with a program, you can set it up and make em all just alike, couldn't you? But would you like to live in a world of robots? I wouldn't, would you?
(I wouldn't mind sometimes.) (laughter)
Okay, order em up and get em made just like you want em.
(Get em to do what I want.)
Oh, yeah, they can all do just like you want; but you'd lose interest in it in a very few minutes because there was no fun, just no fun at all to deal with em. So there was no possibility in the Real World of havin' these over here. So we will look at it and say, [writing on the board] “I'm going to start living in the Real World.“ Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with this for standards for sizes, and parts for cars, and parts for airplanes, for clothes – we'll just leave those. So they're over here. You find they're useful; but you don't get upset about it for nothin' because it's not important that everybody's not a machine over here, okay? You see that all right? You? You, Marce?
(Yes.)
Okay, I won't spend any more time talkin' about it then. (laughter) We'll let you talk about it now, okay? So… huh? We'll let you talk about it. So you got a question, Bernie? Yes, sir.
(Are rules different than standards where you can –)
No, rules are the same thing.
(How about maybe If we make up a rule that I shouldn’t rob a bank and you catch me having robbed a bank and put me in jail. Is that all just a game we're playin'?)
That's a game but it's a pretty serious one, isn't it? (laughter) Sick game – there are sick games, too; but you see the people thought they were real so they go ahead and act like they're real and play em. And if they knew it was a game, why they would not indulge in that kind of activity. A friend of mine that used to come to all the workshops recently came out of his… and went and got in his new – let's see – Jaguar. He got in his new Jaguar and a couple of guys come up and said, "We're takin' the car." And he said "Like hell you are," and they started a bit of fight and he got stabbed 39 times in his head and his neck and he bled to death and they took the car. Drove it two blocks and decided that's too risky, we killed that guy. So they got out and left the white car sittin' by the side of the road, side of the street, and they departed and he died and nobody has found any trace of them since then, of course. So that was that. So he didn't play the game. He shoulda said, “Take the bleepin’ car,” and be done with it, but he had just bought it and he didn't want to do that. Yes?
[she starts to talk] Wait just a minute. The rules is that you talk in the microphone.
(Oh.) (laughter)
Huh?
(I don't wanna play this game. No.)
Okay.
(Did you say sick game? When he asked that question, you said there are sick games – is that what you said?)
Sick, s-i-c-k, sick, very sick.
(Like the one you just gave an example of.)
Yeah. It was sick.
(What are some other sick games?)
Huh?
(What are – how do you determine what a sick game is or how do you observe...?)
A sick game [laughter over someone’s unheard comment] is one that somebody gets hurt in.
(He said marriage.)
Somebody gets sick. So any game you could make it sick if you played it not accordin’ to the rules, okay? Any game you didn't play accordin’ to the rules would be sick. Okay? Okay – any other question?
(What rules?)
(Yeah, what rules?)
(Where are the rules?)
Where are the rules – they're written all over the place. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not do this and that and the other thing, okay? [Somebody enters the room] Come in, have a chair. Hi.
(Would you talk about the rules for a little bit?)
The rules. The rules are the ones that's generally been agreed upon by most decent people for the rules of average means of behavior. And some people that don't live that way. You've probably heard that “crime doesn't pay.” However it does – very well. Did you know that less than 20% of the people who commit a so-called crime, which is not playin' according to the rules, are never apprehended or caught? They make lots of money – not that I'm recommending that if you wanna make money, you become a criminal. But it does work.
Miss Marce.
(But it wouldn't work in the long run because of what it does to our inner being, is that correct?)
Does what?
(The crime that you don't get caught at doesn't work in the long run because of the effect it has on our inner being.)
Well that's true, but they're not thinking about their inner state of being. They're just thinking about the money they're makin’, okay?
No, she's goin' to another one, then she'll be back to you, Mary. (laughter) She can't go both at once.
(Dr. Bob, it seems like that sometimes in life you look at people and they can… there's a same set of rules but some people can get by with a lot of things that other people can't get by with.)
Yep.
(Some people get caught and some people don't get caught and some people – I guess is it the… is it whatever they really believe in their heart? If they believe in the rules, then you must follow them. If you don't, then you forget –)
Oh, forget it. They're just livin’ by em under duress for a few minutes and as soon as they think the duress is gone, they don't. If you really believe it, you follow the rules. Most of us live by the rules and we don't – not criminals, is that right? Most of us are not lookin' over our shoulders if there’s a cop behind us or anything. So we’re all livin' by the rules, we think it's appropriate, okay?
(Okay.)
That's the way it goes.
Now then, you bring it up here to Miss Mary.
(What would be the results of this living in the Real World?)
Of what?
(The results of living in the Real World.)
Oh, it's pretty peaceful – real peaceful.
(And how can we stay awake long enough to do that?)
Well, we practice at it. We practice stayin' awake 10 minutes and then 20 minutes and then 30 minutes and finally we can live that way all day long, okay? Just takes practice. [a man brings him something] Thank you, sir. You’re a gentleman and a scholar. Okay, next question? Anybody got a question here? Here's one up here.
(I wanted to ask about inaccurate reporting.)
About what?
(Inaccurate reporting.)
That we're going to talk about a little later. We're going to talk about reporting after while. I even anticipated somebody wantin” to talk about that.
(Well, the fact is all these things take practice – living in the Real World and not making things important – sort of indicates that they're not natural to us.)
Yeah, they are natural, but we have lived unnatural so long, it feels natural that way. That’s the natural state of being if they live that way.
(Dr. Bob, if two people are playing a game and one of them wakes up and realizes that it's a game and decides that he no longer wants to play, isn't there often times when he can't just jump out of the game? He has to take a gradual withdraw from the game in order to fulfill a law of harmlessness?)
That's probably about right. Do it gradually. Don't ever try to do anything all at once. It works bad when you try to do it all at once. So, works better to practice a little bit at a time until you get it down pat. So if too many people took it inaccurate, they'd say, “Well, this is grounds for divorce,” you know. Bout right? It don't work. So you practice at it, why probably both of em would get along real well, okay?
Another question, comment? Okay, come on over here.
(I got a question because everybody knows about the Old Testament, right? And the story of Moses, everybody's heard the story of Moses whether they go to church or not, they’ve heard the story of Moses.)
Yeah, probably.
(Okay. My question is, in those days – and the people that they haven't learned either – is when Moses went up on the mountain to get the commandments from god and was gone those 40 days, the people still had the cloud over them during the daytime, they had the light at night and they had the manna. So they had all the miracles still occurring even though Moses wasn't there. So they had all these miracles goin' on and they still did what they did!)
That's right.
(And people are still doing it! Why do people do that?)
They’re still doin’ it. Why not doin' it? That’s because they're a conditioned human being and we'll talk about a conditioned being and see that some condition is wonderful and some of it is very detrimental. And that was some of the detrimental part, okay?
(I want to know about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.)
The what?
(The blasphemy...)
Yep.
(Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?)
It means you called it a S.O.B. [chuckles]
(Well, it states it’s unforgiveable. I used to worry about that –)
That's right.
(– when I was a kid a lot. )
Well, I don't think you've managed to do it yet, but you probably could if you found fault in a big way and taught it to other people that Holy Spirit was nothin' but a scam. But I don't think you do that, do you?
(No.)
I don't think so. I don't think anybody here does. So I don't guess we've committed the unpardonable sin yet, okay? Okay?
Okay, next question. Comment? Anything you want. Okay, we'll take about a 15-minute break and we'll start again at 11 o'clock, okay?
[After the break]
...here, they're not here yet, no. No. [pause] Looks like they are now.
Suppose this time we talk about Reporting. That's something we have agreed to call somethin' we do. So I guess we call it reporting or you can call it somethin’ else. Don't make any difference, but we'll just call it reporting for today.
So somebody calls me up and says they're havin’ a difficulty, according to them, of some sort or other: lack of money, or lack of income, or romance has gone sour, or about anything and everything. So I do something and then they usually tell me in a few days that it's all disappeared – went away – all their difficulty got over with, okay? So what do you do in the meantime? How do you report it so that it works? Well, I will tell you mine if you want to. You wanna know?
(Yes.)
Okay. First off, I talk to Holy Spirit – within. So I make words to the effect that I very much love what It is and what It's doin' and so forth. So I tell it I love it, okay? Simple and easy. And then I'm thankful for whatever I want you to have so you say that your funds are runnin' low, so I’ll report that Joe's finances are improving decidedly, okay? Whatever the person's name is. I'm thankful for it. And then I go on about my business – I don't bother with it anymore.
I read one time in the Holy Scripture that said the good Lord said to somebody that he didn't pay any attention to their multitude of requests. “Do you think I'm hard of hearing?” It’s there. So I don't assume that Spirit is hard of hearing. I figure it's closer than a shirt is to me – it's within me or it’s round about somewheres. As far as I know it's within and that's what it takes to do reporting, okay? That sounds very simple, doesn't it?
Yes, ma'am? She hasn't time here, go ahead and say.
(You just do it one time and that’s it.)
Yeah, I do it real well one time – that's it, yep. Once is enough. Otherwise, Spirit says, “What's wrong with you, Robert? Do you think I'm hard of hearing?” (laughter) “What’s the matter with you, Robert? You think I’m hard of hearing?” And I don't think it is.
Yes, ma'am? Wait a minute. Girl’s coming with the thing [mic] here now. Here you are.
(Okay, what if the negative thoughts come back into your mind. What if I'm reporting for myself....)
Don't ever do that one.
(Just get someone else to report for me.)
For you. You report for other people; 'cause you'll make it important if you're trying to report for yourself.
(All right.)
And that screws it up.
(So I just always call somebody else to report for me and then I report for them.)
For you. And you report for other people, okay?
(If I'm reporting for somebody else, it's not necessary to do it but once. But if I was reporting for myself I'd have to do it every day.)
You'd just keep on doin' it and doin' it – you wanna be sure that he heard you.
(Yeah, okay.)
Next one here, then another one.
(How to you begin?)
I started with saying that I love Holy Spirit.
(Okay.)
Okay?
(Okay. Got it. Thank you.)
Then I say I'm thankful for it and then I go with that. And that’s it. Okay?
Now there's a gentleman over here that had his hand up.
(Yes. Dr. Bob, when we possibly report for ourself – you know, let's say we're feeling fear – wouldn't it be accurate to say, like, I observe that Rick is feeling fear and this has no value or....)
I wouldn't try to work for yourself. You'll find you fizzle every time.
(I mean if we’re feeling angry or you know, just report accurately, or maybe that’s just a way of recognizing our inner state?)
Don't try to report for yourself – period! You want me to say it again?
(Yeah, go ahead.)
Don't try to report for yourself.
(Thank you, Bob.)
Report for other people, but not for yourself.
Yes, ma'am, back here, pretty lady in the second row. Right back there, there ya are.
(Is it... is it what he was talking about or is there a difference between reporting and observing. We observe self?)
Oh, you can observe self – just don't try to improve things or change things or anything like that, okay? Okay.
(Dr. Bob, when you report for someone and that individual still continues to make things important, does that block Spirit?)
Well, it'd just start it all over again; then they’ll need to call again. Okay?
(What about in all these 12-Step Recovery Programs where you take inventories and you write all your bad stuff down and you report it to another person and you try to change yourself and get rid of your character defects and you spend a lifetime working on yourself. Is that making that too important?)
That's making it very important and I wouldn't do it.
(Ohhh. Okay.)
Okay?
(Thank you.)
I said don't work for yourself, period.
(Dr. Bob, are we really reporting all the time and is there a difference between – you know – making a conscious effort to report something and just are we actually reporting something all the time through our thoughts and our speaking.)
I don't think so. I think only when you intend to.
Miss Mary has her hand up here.
(Do you report for someone without their permission?)
Oh yeah – report wherever you want to – total stranger – if you want to.
(Well, I have found that I report even when I'm not trying to report. I had a thing with my husband once and I just simply told him something I desired – I wasn't praying for it and the next day I had it. So I was actually reporting by just stating what I wanted.)
Sure. You don't have to get it formal or anything. Sometimes I've had people call back in three or four minutes and say that it stopped the pain already. Other times they wait three weeks. So it doesn't make any difference – Spirit handles it as Spirit knows how to do it, not me, okay? I didn't work any different for the person who called back and said the pain all stopped instantaneously or than I do for somebody that it takes three to four weeks for it to stop, okay? Sometimes it won't ever stop.
Yes, ma'am. There you are.
(Forget my question by the time I get up here. Dr. Bob, you have told us to, like, report when we're playing the victim.)
Yeah.
(Is that not reporting for self?)
I just told you to quit playing a victim.
(Oh.)
That's easy to do. I didn't tell you to report it as such – you just cut it off, okay? Quit makin' yourself into a victim – that's a very poor pastime. Did you ever try it? Yes.
(Mm-hmm.)
And it didn't pay very well, did it?
(Well, I thought that in observing self that we were – we reported to X, Spirit: anger, fear, resentment, blah blah blah.)
Call somebody else and tell them to report it for you.
(Well, I’d be calling somebody else every five minues!)
Well, good, that's all right as long as you can stand the phone bill.
(Well, what does that have to do with being responsible to myself to clean up my own environment – so to speak.)
Well, all right, you do it just the way you want to.
(Well now, I wanna know what.....)
I just told you – don't report for yourself. You want me to resay it again? I'll say it again.
There’s some lady back there with words up. Hi, there.
(Explain to me what they mean when it said in the Scriptures “Ask and ye shall receive.”)
Yeah, you can ask. I said to ask somebody to work for you. Ask and you shall receive. It didn't say, “Do it for yourself and see if it happens.” No, it won't. If it would have been in Scripture, it would’a probably said,” Try to do it for yourself and it won't work.” It says, “If you ask, it will work,” okay?
Be back there in just a minute.
(Dr. Bob, where does this fit with – with making choices, choosing your mood?)
What?
(Where does this fit with choosing your mood.)
Choosing your mood – that's choosing your mood is a very simple act – has nothin’ to do with askin’ for anything or reporting anything – just change the way you’re doin’ it.
(Okay.)
Like if it says you get down in the dumpies this mornin' and you want to be up you say, “How would I like to feel today?” And you decide what you'd like to feel and you say, “How would I be acting if I already felt this way?” And you start acting that way and in 30 minutes, you will feel that way.
Okay, Bill.
(So seeing what is and placing your value on what is, is not the same as reporting?)
No, not the same.
Back one here.
(When someone asks you to report for them, is it okay just to do it? I mean unless something within you says, “This is not to anyone's advantage.” I mean what if they ask for something that's, to you, it doesn't seem to be to their advantage?)
That I wouldn't think to be to anyone's advantage? I’d just forget about it and go on about my business.
(Okay. If it's perfectly clear that what –I mean, they're asking – even if it's asking I want this –they say – I want this thing, whatever it is…)
Uh-huh.
(...and just go ahead and do it unless you think it's harmful?)
If I see it's harmful, I wouldn't do it. I’d just, “Well I'll think about it.”
(Okay.)
Go on about my business and don't even mention it, okay?
(Okay.)
Now there's – Miss White over here.
(Can you talk about the verse in the Bible, “Be true to thine own self first...”)
The what?
(The verse: Be true to thine own self first – that verse...)
To thine own self be true? Yep. Well, that'd be true, that's like wantin' to change your mood. How would you like? Would you like to feel fantastically wonderful today? How would you be acting if you already felt that way? Then act that way – then that's being true to yourself, okay?
Rick, over here.
(Um, I get a little confused, you know when we try to – you know, like– if you wanna feel happy, in a good mood and not make things important. Isn't this – for me I think I go back to the master decision of – when not wantin' to be disturbed on all levels. Can you talk a little bit about that?)
Yeah, that means about the same thing. So you'd say, “I don't wanna be disturbed today, but I probably will be,” so how would I like to feel? I'd like to feel wonderful today. I'd like to be enthusiastic and enjoy life. Then I would say how would I be acting if I already felt this way? Can you see how you would be acting? You start puttin' on that act for 30 minutes and you will feel that way. Then you can keep on, okay? Is that difficult?
(No sir…but I’m usually not wanting to be disturbed on all levels.)
Well, that's all right, put it on all levels or no level, it don't make any difference. Okay?
(Just a question about the Real World and the Man-Made World. Is the Real world, is that an inner state or is that some place that X resides in or is that...?)
Well, the Real World is a world of real living beings like all the people here. And they're not trying to fit any ideal or standard or anything – not trying to say I should be this and I should lose 20 pounds, or I should gain four pounds or what-have-you. Then they'd be workin’ it.
So basically that's still playin' with illusion, okay? But if they’re in the Real World, they're not playin’ with illusion, they're real. Okay? Just take it like it is. So ask yourself, “How would I like to feel today?” Okay? That's in the Real World. And then how would I be acting if I already felt this way? You know about how that'd be. And then you start doin' that 30 minutes at least and you will feel that way, okay? Simple.
Okay, now, Miss Tanya.
(Does the scripture where two or more, you’re gathered together, is that a relationship to reporting?)
That probably is all right. “When two or more are gathered together in my name,” it said. So in the name of Spirit, then things will work, okay? One of em reports for the other one and the other one reports for that one, okay?
Still got her hand up. She's got another one.
(It seems as though I remember – and this may not be accurate at all – but it seems as though many years ago I remember you talking about that scripture in relationship also to thinking, acting, and feeling.)
Think, act, feel.
(In relationship to that scripture.)
Mm-hmm.
(Same type of thing – it was something about the mental thought and the physical action.)
I don't know.
(You know what I’m talking about?)
No, I don't remember that. My short-term memory's gone. (laughter)
(Does that relate to that scripture?)
Probably does, I don't know.
(I remember it because it ended up if you talked backwards like we used to do, it ended up bad.)
Okay.
(That's why ____.)
Feel-Act-Think, that's the way you wanna do it. Okay?
(Okay, Dr. Bob, if support meetings aren’t the way to go but you need to ask for everything that you need, I guess you're familiar with, you know, Master Mind Meetings where you get into a group of people and I state my need, so to speak, and everyone else around the circle basically requests my need for me and is supportive of me, you know, to have a solution for that...)
Okay, I guess that'd be workable.
(That would be the kind of meeting to go to?)
That'd be workable. Somebody else is reporting – it doesn't matter who, what or how many. If you have 20 of em reporting for you is probably work just as good as if one’s reporting. Okay?
Here we are.
(In, like, the scripture that says two or three gathered in my name, is that reporting or is that something else?)
That's somethin’ else.
(Okay.)
Okay? You all agreed on something. You know it's very difficult to get three people to agree on anything. But if you get em to agree, it'll probably work right quick, okay?
[Begins writing on board] This time we'll talk about a couple of cycles that people live on. One's called the Vicious Cycle and the other is called the Living Cycle. Which one you want first? [Several talk in background] Well, I would do that but it won't work as well, okay? (laughter) So, we'll talk about the Vicious Cycle, then we'll talk about the Living Cycle. So both of em are simple and easy so I’ll get em over here and we'll talk about em a little bit. We'll do it in red this time. We’ll do that.
So we start off on the Vicious Cycle with makin’ something important or a misconception – which one do you want to call it? I guess it means the same thing. So we'll put misconception up there, which means I’ve made somethin’ important. And when I have that I will have a false feeling of emergency. Whenever you make anything important you're very anxious very quickly. That’s a false feeling of emergency; you think, “Somethin' terrible's gonna happen.”
(Why are you looking at me?) (laughter)
Cause it fits! (more laughter) Okay? And that leads to chemical imbalance and neuromuscular tension. In other words, you're all tightened up and nowheres to go. And that results in you havin' to have an adaptation. Adaptation’s when you feel it. You feel sick. You're adapting to burn up this stuff here and that takes a lot of energy and you feel, [big sigh] "I feel so terrible."
And of course there's two ways you can adapt. You can adapt physically and you can adapt mentally. And mentally you will be all uptight and you'll do things that’s probably called criminal, unwise, faulty, and so on. And when you do this one [physical adaptation] up here, first off you have unusual cellular activity. Unusual cellular activity gives you unusual sensation. And unusual sensation, you start lookin’ as to why and you get back up here and then you go down here then you go here, then you go here and you go here and that's why we call it the Vicious Cycle. It goes around and around and around and you can stay miserable for years, okay? Literally years – all your life.
Did you ever hear talkin' to somebody that's soundin' off says, "I haven't been well since the first baby was born." You ask how old it is, it’s now 37. (laughter). And so on down the line. And you can make it go on and on and on and on. "I haven't been well since I fell down. I haven't been well since then,” then since somewheres way back down the road.
And they're livin' on the Vicious Cycle day in and day out, day in and day out, they live this goin' around and around this thing here. After this misconception, it’s somethin' they made important – that gives you a false feeling of emergency – does that – that gives you chemical imbalance and neuromuscular tension and the adaptation has to take place cause that's the only way you could keep livin'. And they keep gettin' bigger. So this starts off with a chill and winds up 20, 30 years later with a cancer or somethin' just as serious – one thing or the other. So it goes on and on, so that's the Vicious Cycle.
Think anybody here lives with it? Hmm? Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. So – we’ll all look at it and see if we quit makin’ things important to have misconceptions – we won't have this, won't have this, won't have this. You quit adapting all the time. Now you've fret about the adapting. That's the only one you notice; but the adaptation goin' on is what's savin’ your life – it's keepin' you alive. Even though it's very uncomfortable, it's keepin' you alive until you look at this up here. So let's remember that one up at the top and see if we can remember it a little bit at a time, okay?
Now we'll draw the picture of the Living Cycle, then we'll sit down and let you tell me questions about it. This is the Living Cycle. So as a true concept you see what's goin' on here. That gives you a true feeling – whatever it may be – and that’ll result in chemical balance for the time, place, and circumstance, and neuromuscular tone. Tones you're supposed to have – tensions you’re not. This leaves up as creative action instead of adaptation to a false feeling of emergency. It’s creative action. You're doin' that – that feels good. You go back, you have a true situation – that leaves this with no bother. That leaves this one, you live around this one, you might make it till about 110, okay? Knew an old lady that died the other day that was 105. She got along all right. She said all of her friends had died so she guessed she might as well. So, that's what she did. All of her friends had died.
So now then, let's have questions, comments about this. You can take whichever one you want to or you can take em both. Here comes the lady with the speaker and there's the gentleman over there that's got the word for it.
(Dr. Bob, the misconception… could a misconception be a stress from the air, from the environment, could it be alcohol?)
Oh, you could use it but what did you drink alcohol except you had a misconception of makin’ something important, huh? And as far as the weather, we can usually get along with it. Now alcohol's a different problem. But would you be botherin' with the alcohol unless you was already bothered a little bit? I'm talkin’ about excessive use of it, okay? All right? It’s the way it works.
Okay, next comment, question? Somebody give me a word. Here's a gentleman over here with a word.
(See, I'm lookin' at anger, and I'm lookin' at this misconception and…)
Yeah.
(…definitely –)
End of CD 2