Workshop - Santa Ana 4/3/1977 - Page 2 of 4
Since this Workshop transcription (even in this edited form where I have included relevant materials) still came out to over 50,000 words, it is included here in four continuing parts for the facility of loading these pages. There is no particulat relevance or topic to each page as it just continues from one page to the next via the links at the end. As always I have edited minimally in some instances for clarification. Much appreciation goes to Tian who has joined me in the transcription and proofreading of some of the vintage teaching tapes from Dr. Bob - Marsha
Continued from Part 1 .......
(Yes.)
So if you have simply seen no reason to having an ideal, you could stop immediately; but if you make an ideal you can make a problem out of anything, right? That is called a philosophical discussion, and we don’t involve ourselves in them.
(I haven’t heard about the man who stepped in the mud puddle twice.) (Laughter.)
Well they said that a man can’t step in the same mud puddle twice because the second time he stepped in the mud puddle, he was a man who had just stepped in a mud puddle before; and the first time he was not such a man. And besides that, the mud puddle had just been stepped in before and the first time it was not such a mud puddle. (Laughter.) So that’s like not making an ideal out of not making an ideal. I know people who are angry because they get angry so much. I know people worry because they worry so much.
(In The Book of Mirdad the only blessing on earth is to learn to love.)
Well, straighten that around a little bit. Those are some pretty words and I’m a country boy. But if I’m going to learn to love, I can’t have an ideal. You see if I have an ideal for you, I couldn’t like you at all. So if I don’t have any ideal, I already have love. So the only way you will ever learn to love is to get rid of your ideals.
(To gain understanding?)
What do you mean ‘gain understanding?’ When you understand that an ideal is fiction—you don’t have one. So if I don’t have an ideal for this lady, I love her. If I had an ideal for her, I couldn’t even like her. She’d have to change a whole bunch of things before I could like her—to fit the ideal. So in order to learn to love, the method which Mirdad didn’t have, was to get rid of your ideal so you could see what is and ‘what is’ is marvelous. You see I look around here and I know this lady here and I know the gentleman there and the other man there and every one of them—I don’t want them to be different, I like them just like they are. I have no ideal for them, so I love them dearly. Ok? Now if I hadn’t gotten rid of the ideals, then I haven’t learned to love; I’ve only learned to say, “Well, I’d like you if you were different.” “Now if you would just quit this so and so, we’d get along all right” or “If you’d just start doing so and so…” So possibly man’s only lesson is to learn to love. Fini.
Now let me ask you how you learn to love? You can’t love as long as you have ideals because you’re a fault finder because nothing fits the ideal, right? So you learn to love when you can see the fallacy of ideals.
(Can you extend this to the point you will like one color as well as another?)
No, that’s just a matter of taste.
(How do you relate rationalizing what you want out of life out of what you find in your environment? To be satisfied with yourself.)
Well, I like myself, and the environment. I can’t make it over; but I can have a great amount of ingenuity to make things around like I like them. It’s not because it ought to be—it’s simply because I like it that way.
(If I like it that way, that’s the way it ought to be, isn’t it?)
Not in my book. I just like it that way for me, but you can still have it any way you want. You see when we say it ought to be…
(You must inflict that on yourself, though. Is that the way you want it to be?)
Well, I just like things. But I don’t know if they ‘ought to be’ except you can’t make them that way then. You see, ‘ought to be’ implies that it should already be that way—I’m entitled for it to be that way.
So if I find the environment where I happen to be is very windy and the dust blows and it’s my preference that it doesn’t blow in the front door, so I build a windbreak. Now it’s not because it ought to be. It’s because I like it that way. And I don’t have to justify my likes.
(Is it possible that the windbreak may infringe on somebody else’s?)
No, I’m just going to build something I want. I’m sure not going to cross his way.
(I’m trying to be pragmatic.)
Well, that’s very true and I like ___unintelligible___ because people can make all sorts of problems. Glad you brought it up. There’s a difference between “I like it” and then in order to justify it—say “it ought to be that way”. Now that’s usually a good justification. Very few people seemingly can just simply admit that I like something without giving a justification for it. Now the justification, then, is that it ought to be that way.
Can you simply say you wanted something and not have to go into a justification?
(I’m trying to today.)
It’s very selfdom that you can do that. I heard a man say, “Well, I want a new car.” And he starts all the justifications; the old one has this and this and this. And he’s got it justified, buying a new car. If he wants a new car what’s wrong with going and getting it? He doesn’t have to justify it. Sure, it’s going to cost money. But he justifies it, “Well the old one needs a new set of tires and it’s got 38,000 miles and it’s going to start “dollaring” me to death; so I should get the new car.” In other words it’s a form of justification. So, it’s simply what one likes. What it should be and ought to be is “I’m entitled to it.” What I want, I can go work for it.
(Are one’s likes ___ unintelligible ___.)
I don’t know, you’d have to check it out. What if it is? It wouldn’t make any difference, would it? You’d still like it, right? Did you ever try to not like something you like or like something you don’t like? (Laughter.) You know, something you eat or anything else?
(So when I wasn’t working, I didn’t feel like I had any aims and I didn’t like that. So then I just decided to start working so I’d have something to do—to have some aims. So now I got the aims, but is that an illusion?)
I don’t know.
(I didn’t like the other way.)
You didn’t like the other one so you’re doing something different and you like it better?
(Yes, I like it a lot better.)
Then I’d keep on doing what I like. I prefer to do what I like, don’t you? I don’t go out and look for something I don’t like to do and do it. (Laughter.) Now if it needs to be done, I’ll do it because I like to get those out of the way, which is possible. Then I can start doing what I like to do. I’m not going out and work at something because I didn’t want to. So if you like it in your work, I think that’s marvelous—it keeps you off the streets.
(You just said you like to get those things out of the way. I think most of us spend our whole life getting things out of the way until we can get to do what we like to do.)
Oh, I can do what I like to do all day except when the dirt gets around, I’ll shove it out for five minutes. I just shove it just as far as I have to. And it’s like the lady that wants to go into business for herself and do what she wants to do; but she’s got to get all the other situations straightened out. That’s building a lot of conditions. It’s very seldom any little conditions that you work on matter much, but that’s doing what I want to do because I’m getting the plate clean so I can do what I want to do. I don’t spend a lifetime getting things out of the way. I think you’re probably referring to people that have to get the family raised and then they’re going to do what they like to do. And then they got to get the wife taken care of in their old age and then they’ll do what they want to. And then they’ll get moved to the proper climate. So these are just justifications for not doing what they want to do.
In other words we’ve got to justify very strongly to remain victims. You’ll notice that most people you listen to tell you about how they’re victimized. We’ll talk to somebody like you and I talked just now and I say, “You don’t have to keep that up.” And they’ll say, “Well, that’s hard to remember. It’s hard because I keep forgetting it.” But you know, I’ve noticed that people who smoke never do forget them. (Laughter.) I get “health food store cigarettes” for a quarter a pack down the street and that makes them approximately a penny apiece, but I don’t ever go out and forget them. Now if I can’t value being aware and living a conscious life as much as I value a penny cigarette, I’m in bad shape.
What’s some of the things you never leave the house without? Do you drive a car?
(Well, my keys.)
How about your driver’s license?
(Sometimes I forget.)
But you don’t forget the keys.
How many of you girls forget your makeup and leave it at home? (Laughter.) Then surely, remembering to be conscious and knowing “I want to pick up being aware of what I am doing and where I’m going and what’s the purpose of things” would be as easy to recall as the makeup—your lipstick. What do you always take with you?
(My purse.)
Ok, you never forget your purse. What do you never forget?
(My pants.) (Laughter.)
Do you ever forget your cigarettes?
(Never.)
If you do, you surely remember in a hurry, is that right? So now if you hooked up that, you would remember what you are and what you can do and what you’re about today as much as you would value one cigarette. You’d never forget. So now is that hard? You didn’t have to fight hard to remember your cigarettes—no way.
So you see that we say we put great value on teaching material and we spend great hours looking at it, listening to tapes and reading books and doing all kinds of hard work, but when we walk out the door, we forget it. Now if I valued it as much as I value one cigarette, I’d never forget it. Did you ever get out and have a cigarette and not have a light? That’s more frustrating.
So you see it’s a matter of valuing. So, people tell me they value the teaching and find it of great value to them. Well, it is—it gives them something to do with their spare time—they read, but when they walk out the door, they forget it. Do you?
(I try to remember.)
Well, let’s don’t try. Let’s say you valued it as much as you do your shirt. What is something you don’t forget? I bet you don’t forget your jewelry?
(That’s true.)
Ok. Now it doesn’t have great monetary value, but you value it, is that right? And you don’t go out without your earrings, do you?
(That’s no big deal.)
But that’s on purpose, not because you forgot it.
(That’s right.)
Now, could you put just as much value on remembering what you are and what you can do today? When you put your necklace on you could say, “I’m putting on my consciousness so I remember what I am and I’m a human being and I can play a certain role today and I’m going to choose the role”, strictly because I like to -- not because I should or ought to or have to or any other durn thing. It’s because you want to. There’s two or three things I don’t forget. One, I don’t forget my comb—it costs 30 cents. And I don’t forget a pack of cigarettes which costs a quarter, ok?
(A quarter? Where do you buy them at?)
Now, I don’t forget those and I put it on at the same time. I’m a human being and I can play any role today and I’m going to play a pleasant one. Now, I put it on at the same time and I don’t forget it. Now, I don’t talk about valuing it in a big way—it’s just as much as a pack of cigarettes of a comb or your fountain pen. I don’t ever go out and leave my felt-point pen. I may forget the Cross pen laying around, but the felt pen goes with me, ok? And I won’t forget very often, even if I have a shirt without a pocket. Shirts don’t have pockets anymore. They should—that’s one ideal.
Now, what do you not forget? You don’t forget your cosmetics, so could you put on what you want? I’m going out and play the role of the lady who puts everybody at ease. Everybody you meet today is usually in a state of not-at-ease or dis-ease and you can put them at ease, can’t you?
(I can try.)
You can just work at it a bit. Or you can make them damn uncomfortable.
(Right.)
So could you play a role one day of making everybody you meet more uncomfortable and the next day you can make everybody more at ease? You may not be able to make them totally at ease but they could be more at ease, couldn’t they? Anybody can make them more at ease. Maybe not get them over all their turmoil, but you can make everybody more at ease, can’t you? That would be a nice role to play some morning wouldn’t it? Go into the coffee shop and put the little waitress more at ease because she’s usually uptight early in the morning. And anybody you meet on the street. Of course down where I live, you wave at people in cars. Out here you’d probably get picked up for that? (Laugher.) What would happen if I went down the street waving at everybody? They wave back too? Question?
(When you’ve gone through the six decisions and you know you’re disintegrating, is there anything can be done about it?)
About what?
(You know you’re in conflict and struggle, and you realize you’re disintegrating.)
Well, you can just look at your ideals you’re holding and drop them like we talked here today; you drop them immediately. You don’t have to carry the thing around. You can see that immediately. You don’t need that ideal, do you?
(Is there a way of checking whether someone is disintegrating or is it just the emotional response?)
Well, you can tell pretty well whether people are disintegrating over a little period of time. Probably not in one minute. So the point is not whether you’re disintegrating or not is - (unintelligible) - like our friend brought up about some book he read about learning to love. In other words if you’re going to live without ideals, you’d love everything because everything’s all right, but you don’t have ideals. I don’t have any ideals for Warren; he’s just wonderful. If I got an ideal, he’s so full of faults, it’s unbelievable to me! Now I couldn’t possibly like anybody that’s full of faults.
(It seems to me what she’s talking about is not having any direction is, like, a comfortable thing. It seems to be easier to deal with the now, what is.)
She finds herself—some days. But every once in a while she gets…
(Oh I’m happy to be – unintelligible -)
Everything we do in this world is unimportant anyway. But most of us make some contribution to life, but you’re all insignificant because if we hadn’t made it, life would have gone on anyway.
(When I found out I didn’t have to work, I became very open.)
It works pretty nice when you know you don’t have to. You’re doing it because you like to. If you had to, it was a mess. Did you ever just do anything and say, “Well I have to do so and so” and see how miserable you feel? And then after a while, say, “I’m going to do something,” and see how nice it feels?
You see we’re born to be free agents; and when you say you have to, you’re implying you’re a victim and something is forcing you to go work or whatever it is. Nobody makes me go to work, so I don’t work for nobody. But I go to work early in the morning and work until late at night and there’s manual work some days—most every day. But I do it because I want to. Nobody’s making me—I don’t have to. If I felt I had to be here, I wouldn’t be here. Somebody invited me and I like to do this, so I want to.
You see we all get caught up in the bit that we’re a victim and, “I have to go to work. I have to cook dinner. I have to wash the dishes. I have to do the laundry. I have to go to the store. I have to call Aunt Mary.” And all of those we resent. But you don’t have to do anything. You can sit under a shade tree and breathe, I guess. Then you can freely do whatever you want to after you find out you don’t have to do anything, right? Ok? Yes.
(Is there a difference in the meaning of disintegrate and dis-identifying?)
Yes, disintegration is falling apart. Dis-identify is to no longer identify yourself as anything other than a human being. You could identify yourself as a housewife or you could identify yourself as a sick lady or you could identify yourself as an unfortunate person and when you dis-identify from all those identifications, what would be left? You’re a human being and that’s about as far as we can go and really be truthful. We don’t become something because we play a role. So I could act out the role of a fisher, but that doesn’t make me a fisherman. I was just a human being acting out the role of fishing that day.
(I’m thinking of dis-identifying from preconceptions.)
That’s right. Get away from them because all of those say you are so and so like, “I’m a victim. I’m a miserable person. I’m not coordinated. I’ve been miserable all my life. I had an unhappy childhood so I’m an unhappy person.” Those would be the things you dis-identify from, which might be part of the end of disintegration because you’re getting away from the ideal. When you identify yourself as one of those, you are always implying the ideal that you should be something else, is that right?
Next we’re going to talk about motion. Now one obvious aspect of Life is there is motion—some sort of motion is going on in any phase of Life, right? Now we talked this morning, somewhat, that most of us feel we’re a victim and there’s a victimizer out there somewhere that’s doing it. So the victim has two things they can do with motion--and only two. They can return it and they can hold it.
If you walk up to a person who always feels that to some extent they’re being victimized, that they’re not in charge of their own existence, that other people are, and they say something to you that is unkind, what do you do?
(Nothing.)
And so you held the motion; and of course, held motion has to be released some way or other. So you had a bellyache and various and sundry other aches and feel bad for three or four days.
And then there are other people that when they receive an unpleasant motion from someone, they return it right quick, huh? Bop him one. So if somebody rejects you, you can reject them right quick like. If they hit you, why, you can hit them. Now that of course is one way of existence, but that is not very adequate - returning and holding motion. If you return it constantly, sooner or later you meet somebody larger than you are and if you return motion, they return it back to you and you find yourself on the floor. And that’s not very pleasant. If you keep holding it, you get ulcers and headaches and arthritis and a lot of other uncomfortable symptoms that you can talk about.
Now, there are a couple of other things that maybe one could do with motion if one ceased to be a victim. One might originate some motion. Initiate or originate some motion. Now when you’re originating, it doesn’t matter what other people are putting out. You can do your own originating. And most people are going to return what you send out, right. So if you originated putting people at ease, do you know what they’ll do? They’ll put you at ease—they’re returning. And some of them hold it, so that’s all right; they don’t bug you with it. Now there’s nothing wrong with holding some motion. If a pretty lady came along and kissed me, I’d hold it for a second.
So there’s nothing wrong with it, but there are certain kinds of motions that I don’t want to return and certain of them I sure don’t want to hold. So there is another thing one can do is to destroy motion. You don’t have to hold it. You don’t have to return it; you can destroy it.
So if someone comes up and says something real obnoxious to you or nasty to you, would it be just as easy to destroy that motion?
(Yes.)
It’d be very easy. If someone comes up and says, “You are a……” So you agree yes that you are probably the best one in the country. (Laughter.) If they say you’re an S.O.B., we’ll you’ve always prided yourself on being the highest grade one around, and that pretty well destroys the motion right there. And then you can originate motion. Then you can originate something else—start a whole new cycle.
Now, you said you’d like to be a success. No doubt that most of your life you have returned various motions and you held some, right? But how much have you originated and how much have you destroyed? Now if you want to have what the world calls success—be well known—all that good stuff. If you originate certain motions we’d simply say down in our part of the world—“we get in motion”—which means you’re originating something, not waiting around to return one or to hold it. But you originate motion.
You can go out and start any kind of business or about anything else if you go out and get in motion and begin to do something we said on the first board up there—and begin to do something. Then you are originating motion.
Now, most people in the world only do two things with motion, they return it or hold it. So you can have about any kind of return you want. But if you don’t ever originate, you’re waiting for somebody to give one that you could return the way you wanted to and you may have to wait a long time. But can’t you go out and originate any kind of motion you want to and doesn’t it usually come back to you in like return?
So if you go out and get busy—just busy, not much of anything, just busy—you’re in motion, moving around, something’s going to happen. Somebody will start returning that motion to you.
So if you want to start a business, well you start getting into activity—get in motion without somebody telling you to or asking you to. Most of our life we’ve only waited to return or hold motion and those are both, in the long run, kind of dangerous. Now sometimes you get nice ones and you can hold it; but it wears out in a little while and then you got to wait for someone else to come along.
So we can originate motion. So what kind of things do you want to experience? I’m not saying that you “ought to” experience them or that you “should” experience them—what do you want to experience? What kinds of things do you like?
(I don’t know.)
Well, if you went out and originated a little activity, what do you think might return to you?
(I don’t’ know.)
Some of the same kind. Is there anything to keep you from it—to keep you from doing it every day? What do you want to experience?
(Seeing new people and academics.)
Ok, is there anything to keep you from originating that motion?
(Not at all.)
Not at all, so you can do it any day of the week.
(I already do.)
Some of them are going to return it. A few of them will hold it but most of them will return it. What do you want to experience?
(Whatever is along?)
In other words whatever comes by that you can return or hold motion to, is that what your saying? If you want something, can’t you go out and originate some direction towards it. Is there anything wrong in wanting something?
(No.)
Ok, why not do it then? Otherwise, you told me you wanted to be a success, whatever that may mean to you.
(Right.)
And it’s not going to happen to you some morning. You’re either going to originate an action or you will wait. What have you been doing mostly today?
(Waiting.)
Ok, and not a whole lot has happened. So how about starting a little originating. Now we always run into people who say unpleasant things to us, right? They ignore you, reject you (and various and sundry other things that don’t count) that you don’t like. Now what do we do with those? So when we can destroy motion we have nothing to defend and nothing to prove about ourselves—nothing to prove nor nothing to defend. Now if I have something to prove about me or something to defend, I will have to be in the business of constantly returning or holding motion. If I identify myself as all sorts of unusual things, then I have to prove and defend that. But if I’m a human being, is there anything I have to prove or defend on it? Not a thing. So if we stop to look at what is called vanity, it is having a false picture of self.
Now, a false picture of self is any false picture of self other than simply a human being. If you define yourself as an actor, for instance, now that is a false picture of self.
(Oh Jesus.) (Laughter.)
And therefore you would have to defend anybody that said anything derogatory about actors, wouldn’t you? And you’d have to prove things. So then one is in the business of returning and holding motion. If one came along and said “I’m no good, you know, I’m just a nothing”—that is a false picture of self. If you say that you are constantly being in a state of confusion—that is a false picture of self. You know a lot of us are in the business of putting ourselves down. Did you ever notice that? Did you ever work on that little score? I’m worthless. I’m no good. I’m always lying. I’m always doing this—I’m just a liar, I can’t help it. I’m a forgetful person and so forth. That’s a false picture of self just as much as if you said, “I’m the top of the walk.” The point is, I’m a human being therefore capable of playing innumerable roles and I can play the confused role all day long.
(You could play the actor role as long as you have it straight in your mind.)
Oh sure, you can play any role, but that doesn’t make you the role, does it? So you have nothing to prove when you are a human being and know that’s it. And nothing to prove nor nothing to defend—the two things that keep people most in difficulty - vanity and pride. Pride is defending the false picture of self and vanity is having a false picture of self. Now it doesn’t matter if you come up and said, “I’m a sinner.” That’s a false picture of self. Now you might have been playing a role of sinning lately. I’m not sure what that may mean, but that wouldn’t make you whatever role you acted out. Because acting a role doesn’t change the fact that you’re what? A human being.
Now if you acted out the role of teaching for a few days in a school system, would that make you a teacher, or is that a human being that acts out the role of teaching once in a while? You’re still a human being, is that right?
(That’s right.)
And if I acted out the role of being a great “do-gooder” (God forbid) that wouldn’t make me a “do-gooder” would it? That would be that I was just acting out the role of being a “do-gooder” and getting in everybody’s hair for a few days. Acting out a role doesn’t change the fact that what we are is a human being, right? So if I acted out the role for a few days of cutting up pieces of wood and putting them back together, that would be carpentry, but that would not make me a carpenter, would it?
And if I went through all of these and went on and on and on and all the things we can find about our character and so forth, then what would you have to prove or defend? You have nothing to prove or defend. And then all vanity and pride has departed along with all your returning and holding motion which keeps us constantly in some kind of a turmoil with everybody around us.
If one of the kids comes in and says something, we have to defend that and prove to them that they’re wrong; we got a fight on our hands, huh? But if I’m just a human being then the kid can say anything and it’ll all go away in a few minutes. Do you have children? Does any one of them want to say, “I hate you”?
(Giggle.)
And if they did, does it matter? Ten minutes later they think you’re wonderful, is that right because Mama gave him $5.00. (Laughter.) So when one sees that you have at your command “motion”, all we can do is set into motion. Now do we originate it, or do we allow other people to originate and you only return and hold? You know somebody bigger than you are and calls you dirty names - you hold that. And if he’s a little guy, you can push him over. Simple. But we return and hold motion.
Now that, of course, is the victim role. The person who knows that they are a human being—they can originate motion. They can destroy motion from uncouth people or anybody else that comes along and says they don’t like you. And then you don’t have all these hassles and fights. Frequently I’m involved in somebody else’s fights. They ask me about it. And it’s usually when they sit down to straighten everything out. They say, “Let’s sit down and talk this out.” That’s when it gets all heavy, you know. And that starts all kinds of commotion and of course my usual approach is, “Well, let’s forget the whole thing and have a cup of coffee.” And then it’ll all be gone in a few minutes anyway, won’t it?
You know when you sit down to straighten someone out, the only time you feel you got it done is when they’re in a box. They have to. That’s when they’re really straightened out isn’t it? It’s the only time they’re really straightened out—they’re out of motion at all. It starts all kinds of hassles when we’re going to do that.
Now most people tell me in their private discussions that they want to make money, they want to be successful, they want to accomplish things they want to accomplish, they want to achieve. And I can give you reasonably accurate direction on that—that you originate motion. Originating motion is to put into motion and act. What kind of act is it? It’s the one that somebody will return a motion to. Because if you’re going to act a certain way, somebody is going to respond pretty well to that.
If you were sitting somewhere and you wanted company and you act a certain way, somebody will come over and ask if they can sit with you. Is that right? And you act another way and they all walk around you, is that correct? You know how to do that pretty good.
So as one acts, one feels. This is a two-way street; it’s got an arrow going either way. If you feel a certain way, you will have a tendency to act that way unless you originate motion. Now if you’re simply returning motion, you’re dealing with it and you feel a certain way—something said to you that was somewhat insulting. And then you would feel hurt, we’ll say. Could anybody take even a little look at you and see that you were feeling hurt, down, and all that? Did you ever complain that somebody is always putting you down?
(Sure.)
They say something that put you down. They said something that didn’t fit your view of yourself, your false picture of self. And you felt a certain way; then you had to act a certain way. Now, you didn’t think about the act because you just spontaneously let it go. You said, “wait and see what happens.” So if you feel a certain way, then you would act that way.
But suppose you didn’t want to continue feeling that way? I don’t like those kinds of feelings, do you? So then if you begin to act in an entirely different manor, what would happen to you? You begin to feel like you’re acting, you can go that way now. Now, one is an originator and one is simply a holder and returner. People tell me a lot of times, “I’ve been studying these things and I’ve worked on it for a few years, and nothing happened.”
Well, basically they have studied on it, but they haven’t worked on it, ok? They’ve listened to it, talked about it; but that’s of no value. You have to put into action, or it has no value to you—it’s entertainment otherwise. It’s simply entertainment.
But now if you…unintelligible…or is there anything that prevents any of us from acting any way that you might choose to act right today? Now you can’t just turn on feeling the way you want to like you turn on a water faucet. But you can turn on how you act—that’s under your control—that’s your control of action. You can originate a motion to act any way you want to, right? And as you act a certain way, you will get the feeling that goes with it, ok?
So there are two functions that we do. Number 1, we hear about an idea and then we would experiment with it which means that we acted upon it. There’s no way to experiment unless you act. Then you can feel any way you would like. Now, if you want to feel sad and beautiful, all you got to do is start acting that way. (Laughter.) So which one would you prefer to work with? What we’re trying to do is get you to commit yourself to act upon something for a little bit—not because it’s any value to me, but you’re here to spend all day. You might as well get something out of it, right? And if you don’t act upon it, you’re not going to get something out of it—period. You might have something to talk to somebody about next week, but you won’t get anything.
So if you want to feel any way you want… (I don’t know what anybody wants to feel. I only know how I like to feel. And there certainly is no should or ought to with it)… but if you want to feel vital, delightful, you may. All you got to do is act upon it. But if you don’t act upon it, it’s kind of worthless.
Now, I read the story that a man said that the people who only heard his words and didn’t act upon them were like a foolish man who built his house on sand and everything was just nice until a little wind and a little rain came down and then the house fell down because it wasn’t built on anything. And he said that a wise man was one who heard the words and went and acted upon them and he was like a man who built his house on a rock—it had a firm foundation under it.
In other words, if I get somewhat in that habit, if you want to call it that (a habit means merely something I value), that I would value always being in charge of how I feel, then I would begin to practice watching how I acted. And if I practice upon it a little bit, then it will become spontaneous. I’ll do it all the time without having to make an issue out of it. It just becomes spontaneous. And once it becomes spontaneous, then I have completed some sort of a transformation in self. I have a new way of responding to situations.
Now, you told me you wanted to be an actor. There is absolutely nothing that prevents you from acting this moment, right?
(Right.)
And that you can act any part you so choose this moment, is that right?
(That’s right.)
And you will begin to feel and experience as you are acting. Now, we don’t have to pay each other to act.
(We don’t anyway. We’re all acting all the time.)
They’re all acting, so most of them are acting victim roles. (Laughter.) Which is kind of fun to watch, not to play. So you can have that role or you can have any other one. You want to be an actor and you’ve worked on it a bit, so you can do it.
Now then, let’s you tell me an act you would like to do—a part you would like to play.
(A president.)
You want to play a president. (Laughter.)
(He is already. It’s a Neil Simon role.)
I’m not acquainted with all those things, I’m too busy looking at all these freak shows I go to all day rather than watch anybody act. I see all the free acting and they’re good. So what does he do in this role?
(He goes crazy.) (More laughter.)
That’s easy. I have a friend that does that every few days. He goes around for a few days and everything’s real nice and then he decides to play crazy a few days. He winds up in a hospital and everything. He has a lot of fun with it. He stays there a few days, puts on another role and they send him home and say he’s cured. He’s just having a ball with it. They’re even paying him well for it, believe it or not—he doesn’t have to work or anything else, he just puts on an act. (Laughter.)
So put on your act right now and play the role—we’ll all applaud appropriately, ok?
Now the only thing we’re saying is: do we think enough of our own inner state that we will take charge to originate the action that goes with the inner state we like, ok? Now if you go around looking sad and woebegone and complaining and sticking up for rights and blaming, would you expect to suddenly wake up feeling very delightful? (More laughter.) So what did you do it for? But now that you’ve looked at it and very gently, is there anything in the world that prevents you from putting on any act that you would like? And you got it here, you can prove it; you don’t have to take anything I say as being true. In fact we always tell everybody not to. And the best way I know to do it is to try to prove it wrong. Put on an act of feeling wonderful and prove me wrong. See if you can keep on feeling sad. Try to prove me wrong. There’s nothing we ever say in any of these talks that you can’t check up on by acting on them. You can’t check up on them by reading another book or going to somebody else to see what he has to say about it or quoting some of your favorite authorities; but you can act upon it and always check it out.
Now of course, that requires that we originate some motion and that also makes me what? When I originate some motion I am responsible because I originated it. Now as long as I never originate any motion, I’m not responsible, am I?
(No.)
You see this is the thing everyone fears is being responsible. “But I would like to be free. I like to feel good, but I want somebody to give it to me. I want it to just happen.” And it will never just happen and nobody can give it to you. No matter who that person may be, they cannot give it to you.
Now, there’s a story that most of the people are somewhat familiar with of a man who lived many hundreds of years ago. In fact some 2,000 years ago, I think. He read an extract from a script one morning in what you would ordinarily call church, I suppose, and said, ‘I’m going to act out this role.” Now people have been waiting for somebody to come that would be the role for ages and nobody had come. The man said, “I’m going to act it out starting right now.” And he took on the job of acting, ok? And he acted the whole role out and many things and minor little details that the script could be fulfilled—right down to the last little thing on it.
Now, could you write a script and then act the role out? Or could you find one lying around and act it out?
( - unintelligible -)
What?
(Finding a role and acting it out.)
Yep, you’re acting out a role of a nice victim. (Laughter.) But you didn’t write the script, you found it when you were born. That’s not originating; that’s just reacting or just returning motion, which is what reacting is. I’m talking about writing the script. Let’s get something original going on—let’s get something interesting. And then you can find out what way you want to feel.
How would you like to feel?
(Delighted.)
Is there anybody to control how you act besides you?
(X.)
No, X doesn’t tell you how to control. X always does what you say you want to do.
(That’s right.)
You’re the only one. Now is there anything to prevent you from originating motion constantly—that means you’re in control, right? Now otherwise we wait and say, “I hope the kids don’t do this and embarrass me.” And, “I hope this don’t happen.” And, “I hope that don’t happen.” And we worry what if it does happen. But that’s not taking charge, is it? That’s only sit and listen to the little not-i’s running the show. That’s only returning or holding the motion or even anticipating motion, which is daydreaming about it.
So you can have whatever you want to have, which is your inner state, isn’t it? All the little possessions we have can take wings and fly away at any moment. What we have is our inner state. It’s really only yours. And isn’t that why we make such an issue out of having such great numbers of possessions is that we think they will produce a given inner state? If I have that inner state without all that clutter, why, I don’t have to bother with it. Then I don’t have to carry all that stuff around and I still have that same inner state. In other words if I had a million dollars, I can only wear one suit at a time comfortably. (Laughter.) I can only ride in one vehicle at a time. I can only sleep in one bed at a time comfortably. I got all that. Don’t have to bother with the million dollars—don’t even have to bother with it at all.
Steiner asked me to give something that was new and different so I don’t know anything new and different…
(A lot of times I can tell somebody else how to initiate or act; but I very often cannot see for myself how to initiate. How do I go about achieving…… unintelligible……)
Naturally, we all have different “gifties” don’t’ we? I don’t have yours and you don’t have mine and that doesn’t make any one of us better than the others, does it? But when we’re talking about originating motion, I don’t know of a specific motion of any kind to originate for anything. But you could always originate the motion that starts a pleasant harmonious mood around you. The next one will show itself. But if you tell somebody and you got very heavy with it to go do this and then that would happen, I don’t know that; and only once in a while are we correct on it anyway. So I wouldn’t even consider that kind. But originating motion is originating some enthusiasm—could you do that? Ok, that will get you anything. Now that you could do.
So suppose that starting today—now—not tomorrow anytime, you begin to act out enthusiasm and it would be very soon that you would feel enthusiastic. And an enthusiastic person has tremendous power. Just about anything you touch will do and about anything you say happens. Would you like to experiment with that one? That’s the easy way to go about it. Then you don’t have to figure out how to do that.
(I’ve experimented with that.)
So you experimented with, you found out it worked and you quit, huh? (Laughter)
(Enthusiasm doesn’t always get you what you want.)
Well I didn’t say that, I said it was an awful good start on it. And then it opens the door to something called “intuition”. And you never get intuition in some of these moods like “What’s the use?” or fear or anger or worry. There’s no intuition which means inner teaching and that’s when sometimes X will give us information; but it never gives that unless you’re at least enthusiastic or a little above. In other words it won’t come in with all that heavy stuff. And then you will have intuition that will give you the inkling for the next move, ok?
So we said that Steiner asked me to do something new. Now of course, the ones that we put out all the time have thousands of ways of saying it. I only say it the easy way. I can say it in very complicated methods and then it would be hard to see; it would be very deep and heavy and all that, but I’m not a very heavy person.
Sometime ago I heard or read some man say the reason angels could fly was because they took themselves so lightly, so I’m working at being like the angels—I take myself kind of lightly.
But we will take something—how to originate—how to open the door to intuition. Intuition means inner teaching and it comes from X and we’re not talking about all the whims and the not-i’s that run through that give you two opposing ideas. It’s something one sees instantly and acts upon instantly, not something one thinks about or wonders to do. It is another way of saying very spontaneous, creative activity.
Now, there are many stories that have traveled around the world. I have suggested certain books to certain people here and there. Not too long ago one I suggested was a bunch of books called the 1001 Knights or the Arabian Knights, and one translation of it was Richard Burton which happened to be a fair translation of it. Now all these stories have many things. There’s also stories that are called Sufi stories that been somewhat widely published by Idries Shah in the last few years. I meet all kinds of people that attempt to interpret these stories. When you attempt to interpret something, you always take it back to your preconceived viewpoint—that’s what interpretation is—that gets it back to where I’m comfortable with it. So any interpretation is a total waste of time. So throw the books away and forget it because all you do with that is go through some mental gymnastics to force it back to where you already feel comfortable with and agreed to. That’s what interpretation is - to get it around to where it fits my preconceived opinions.
Now I will fudge a little bit—I’m not supposed to do this, but I will spread it out that the nature of all these stories shows people playing roles and what happens to them in these roles. There’s nothing to interpret—absolutely nothing. It’s a total waste of time to interpret. You read the story and see that this person played a certain role, and that person played a certain role, and this one played a certain role. And that most of them were unconscious roles and that they were playing the victim role. You don’t have to interpret a bit; it’s there, wide open in front of you except nobody ever looked at it that way.
Now, there’s one bunch of those stories called Nasrudin stories. Nasrudin plays the role of the usual human being who is always being a victim and he acts them out to a “fare-you-well”. It sounds pretty familiar to most of us and in all these other stories come the same way.
Now, there is a story told, a Sufi type story, that a man met the teacher of all teachers who is referred to with some peculiar name. We might as well call him Kenneth and be done with it. (Laughter.) And Kenneth said, “You have three possibilities—go jump in the river.” So the man went down and jumped in the river. Now all of his life up to this time, he’s been a solid citizen doing sensible things. He was in charge of weights and measures at the village where he lived. He was a little bureaucrat; but he did have certain possibilities and this man, which we will call Kenneth, looked at him and said, “Go jump in the river.” So he went and jumped in the river and he floated down the river quite a ways and finally caught on to a log as he couldn’t get to shore. But after quite some time a man came out, a fisherman, and dragged him in. He said, “What are you doing in the river.” The man said, “Well, I jumped in the river.” The fisherman said, “You’re nuts!” But he at least took him in and got him some dry clothes and asked him what he had to do. And the man said, “Nothing.” The fisherman said, “Well, you can fish with me.” So the man stayed with him and fished for several months and worked with the fisherman in every way and stayed in his house. Then one day, this Kenneth character showed up again and said, “You’ve been here long enough—leave here tomorrow and go toward the town and take the first job that’s offered to you.” So the man started walking towards town and a farmer met him and asked if he wanted a ride. And the man said that’d be all right. The farmer said, “What are you doing?” and the man said, “Nothing.” The farmer said, “I need somebody to help me with loading supplies.” The man said, “Fine, I’ll do that.” The farmer also said, “I need somebody to work on the farm.” The man said, “Ok, I’ll do that.” So he went and worked on the farm. He was playing the role of farming. He had previously been playing the role of fisherman. Before that he played the role of jumping in the river.
And this character showed up again after some months and said, “Leave here, give me your money and go into a certain town and be a leather merchant.” So the man goes into town and he plays the role of being a leather merchant. He’s buying and selling and he made a lot of money. He bought him a house and this character showed up and said, “Give me your money and leave here and go to another town and see what happens.” The man went over there and got a job working in a grocery store, so he played the grocery role for a little while. And about this time people began to notice that he had considerable insight into many different things that everybody else that worked hard, and struggled, and read books, and listened to teachers and all this stuff didn’t have. They began to see him as a great teacher who had “insight” into things and could transmit it to other people.
And so they began to ask him where he came by all the great learning and he said, “I don’t know.” And they said, “Well tell us about your past.” He said, “There’s not much to tell—I was in charge of weights and measures for several years and I met a man who told me to jump in the river and I jumped in the river and a fisherman pulled me out and I fished for a while; and the man showed up and told me to leave there and I farmed for a while and then he told me to leave there and be a merchant so I bought and sold leather for a while and then he told me to leave there and I’m here being a grocer and I don’t know how all this came about.”
Now the point is that he practiced playing roles consciously. The man told him to do something—not that we need to be told what to do, but ordinarily we don’t originate until somebody comes along and tells us to play a certain role.
Now, it takes conscious attention to play any role well, right? I don’t care what it is. You pay attention, you got to get your role, you got to get your act together and play it. And when you do that, intuition begins to come in because you are paying attention.
Now ordinarily we don’t pay attention. A thousand thoughts run this way and 10 more run this way and 15 run back that way and we’re in a turmoil all day long listening to all this traffic and getting involved with the thoughts—daydreaming here and daydreaming off there and cogitating this and cogitating that. We never really get down to doing anything.
Now if we really want to experience the teaching that X can give, we assume a role. Now, I don’t see you playing it two years, three years or whatever. The story just told it that way—that you play a role. It doesn’t matter if you change and play six of them in a day—as long as you are consciously playing a role and know what you’re doing and the only role you can play unconsciously is the victim role. Now, that you can do sound asleep.
[next tape]
Do you want to play some other role? Have fun. It’s immaterial—they’re all necessary, they’re all useful—delightful. They’re not all necessary, but they’re delightful. Do you want to play the role or not? Why not?
And you are then paying attention. Now, when you’re paying attention, then you have the door open, you’re not trying to do the right thing—not trying to do the best thing. That’s a good one to keep us sitting down and never originate motion and not be responsible. “Now I want to do the best thing and who’s going to tell me what it is?” (Laughter.)
In order for me to know what the best thing is, I’d have to know the future for the next two thousand years at least; from this action, this action, this action, this action, this action—at least that many. And I would have to know for at least two thousand years before I could know what the best thing to do was. All I know is what I want to do. I don’t know how long I’m going to do it—just a little bit maybe. I’m not stuck with it. Would you ever know which one of these to do, Darlene? The best thing to do? You’ve shed a many a tear over it though, haven’t you? Wantin’ to know the best thing to do. And then there’s others that want you to do the right thing. And then there’s some that come along and say what’s the best thing for everybody. (Laughter.) So that keeps you sitting on your can for the rest of the night. “The best for all concerned.” Did you ever have that?
(Oh yes.)
Oh, it was marvelous wasn’t it? You feel very holy and righteous because you had only the best interest of everybody. That’s the biggest joke of all. So what do I want to do?
Now I have a little guideline for what I want to do and we’ll talk about that at the next session. As we talk here is that there’s a little guideline if you want it, but you don’t have to use it. That is a guideline that I feel I want to do whatever I want to do with what guideline.
(Bob, what if you don’t know what you want to do—and something else comes along that defines what you do.)
__ unintelligible __ Well, I really don’t want anything. I can tell you what I want. I want everything but one at a time. (Laughter.)
(Does it matter which comes first?)
No, but I want everything.
(I’m fine with that. I won’t say another word.) (Laughter.)
Most people wouldn’t want to say that out loud.
(Well, really everyone wants everything.)
Why sure, but I just want it one at a time, ok? I want everything.
(You’re not selfish?)
No, not even particular, too much. I just want everything. But you see most of us wouldn’t allow ourselves to say that so we say, “I really don’t want anything” or, “One thing is as good as another.” The fact is you want everything, don’t you? But not all at once.
(No.)
So we’ve got to stick around a while to get it all.
(You mean everything or everything – unintelligible - )
Well, don’t you want everything? I’ve never seen anything you didn’t want. (Laughter.)
(I got it all.)
Well, no, there’s still some things you’re digging after I notice.
(When you say everything, you mean I’m uncomfortable or do you mean everything?)
Oh no, some things I don’t want very long at a time. People want bitter things, don’t you know that? Bitter things sound real good. See, I want to borrow, sometimes, and many people drink awful bitter stuff. Tonic water sells good—the stuff tastes horrible, but they like it.
(I like it.)
Try it all. Ok any other questions, comments.
(Some people talk about “Baraka”. What is that?)
Baraka is a Hebrew or Arabic word that means ‘blessing’ as an English word. Blessing means when everything is just copacetic. Everything’s like you want it for a few minutes. When you feel delightful it’s called Baraka. You go around certain people and you feel real good around them. There’s other people you feel very uncomfortable around, right? The ones that you feel real good around have a little supply of Baraka and it means blessing in the closest translation you can give of it. And you only get that when you are consciously playing a role. Other people can come around those same people and get nothing anyway.
Now you can play the role of doctoring—that doesn’t make you a doctor. You’re just playing a role, but it’s a good role. I used to play that. And I can play a lot of other roles. Right now I’m playing the role of manufacturing, but that doesn’t make a manufacturer—that just leaves me Bob, a human being and I’m playing a role of manufacturing. And I know it’s a role because I don’t know anything about it. (Laughter.) There must be some intuition involved in that or it’d fall down, I’ll tell you.
(Do you go for a role you’re not suited for like being a concert pianist?)
Well, that’s not a role. But you could go through the role of playing consistently, but that wouldn’t make you a musician. It just says you’re playing the role. But if you took on the role of playing consistently for a while, I’ll bet you’d be pretty good. I never took up playing that role. So that wouldn’t make you musician. If you played the role of acting, it would not make you an actor. You’re still just a human being which is the highest form of existence on this planet.
(There is the danger of playing a role and then being immersed in playing the victim role.)
Oh, you could get immersed in the role if you forgot what you’re doing. You can do that all the time. But that usually turns out to be the victim role then. That’s about the only role you can play unconsciously. So you forget the role you’re playing and fall into the victim role.
(Some roles may have disagreeable aspects.)
Oh yes, but who cares if I’m a little disagreeable. I want to play the whole role. Some of them assures a little unpleasantness. A role can get one nailed to a tree once in a while, so what?
(We’re only existing in an environment. I want to separate the self from the environment.)
Well, the self is the one which chooses what role to play and the environment is the stage on which one plays the role. So I’m playing a role. But if I really start playing a role and it gets too unpleasant and I didn’t like it, I’d quit playing that role and pick me up another one right quick. But if you really said, “I’m going to play this one all the way through,” it may have some unpleasant aspects in it. I find the one I’m playing most of the day is just as I said—manufacturing. It’s got a lot of unpleasantness—it’s got work in it, if anything is unpleasant. It’s not a lot of that work in it. I’m getting tired, but still I want to play the role on out.
(I don’t quite understand the difference between playing the role of a pianist and being a concert pianist.)
Well, you see the concert pianist is the ideal, but you don’t want to start at the top and work down like Michael.
(In other words if you want to be a concert pianist you’ll have to spend a brief period of time – unintelligible -)
You’d have to practice the role a lot longer, wouldn’t you? Dr. Dan has a book “How to Play Piano in Spite of Years of Lessons.” Isn’t that the name of the book Dan?
(Right.)
So if you want to take that one on, inquire about his book. “How to Play the Piano in Spite of Years of Lessons.” So if you’ve had many years of lessons maybe you’re ahead of the game, ok?
(You talk about enthusiasm, and I was wondering that if you have enthusiasm you say it happens.)
Yes, did you ever notice that?
(I’ve noticed it, but I don’t understand how it works.)
I don’t either. (Laughter.) “How” is really none of my concern.
(Oh, does it happen all the time?)
Oh yes, all the time. There’s certain people who work in healing the sick; and if you’re enthusiastic and tell somebody __unintelligible__
without them even knowing it—just say they’re all right, they’ll get all right. If you’re going around, “Well, I hope they do” then they never do. Whenever you’re very enthusiastic—really feel it now, and you have to act it a little while to get the feeling—there’s tremendous power. And whatever you say in that state happens. You have observed that. I don’t know how it works, don’t ask me.
(That is observing and reporting…)
That it works and so first off you would get enthusiastic before you try any reporting because X doesn’t listen to all that junk—hopes. “I hope…” When I was a doctor, I used to tell people as they went out the door, “Well, you’ll be feeling better by morning.” And they sigh and say, “I hope so,” which means “I know damn well I won’t.” First you got to get them up before they’ll go along. You got to be enthusiastic before anybody gets any. If you got 100%, they may get 1%.
(Is it necessary for their healing?)
Yes, it seems that they better be in a little better mood because they can stop anything, ok?
(Anything?)
Just about it, because if you don’t want something to happen to you, it wouldn’t work.
(That’s true.)
Somebody ever walked up and tell you how beautiful you were? (Laughter.)
(Occasionally.)
And what did you say?
(Nothing.)
You know if you walk up and tell most people (it’s not as bad as it used to be 20 years ago), walk up and tell a lady, “Your hair sure looks pretty,” they get all flustered and babble. Some say, “Thank you” but not very many. But it used to be that would have been impossible to expect because that would have been vain. If there’s anything you shouldn’t be, it is vain.
(Right, you seem to be vain then.)
Yes, it’s seen to be vain - you tend to like yourself a little bit. But you used to must never. If somebody said, “That’s a beautiful dress,” you hear, “Oh, it’s all so old.” Because otherwise, that was vain.
(There’s a couple of roles in my life that if I can play them my life would be a whole lot more peaceful.)
Well. Why can’t you play them?
(I just………)
You don’t like those roles.
(No.)
Well, I’d hunt up another one and see if I couldn’t play another one that would be peaceful and fun too.
(Well, there’s only one.)
Oh I bet there’s more. I would have to say there’s more than one before for you, lovely lady. You’re too beautiful a lady to just have one that would work. You might have to move…
(I couldn’t play this particular one if …)
But you don’t like that role.
(No.)
Aw, I wouldn’t play any role if I didn’t like it. I’d move first. (Laughter.) I don’t ever see the use in that when my other roles can be appreciated, ok? I don’t want to play the role of a doormat only just three or four minutes at a time—that’s long enough. I’ll just move along.
There used to be a singer, a country singer named Hank Snow and his theme song is “I’m A’ Movin’ On.” So I would pull a Hank Snow on him. I play the role of “a’ movin’ on” for a while, ok? If only one role gets me by, I wouldn’t want that one. I wouldn’t like that. I like a variety. Any other questions, comments?
(How long have you been living this work?)
Just long enough. As long as I’m doing it at this moment, it’s all right. I used to be an old man when I was about 20. I was a very anxious old man at 20. At 29 I was about out of the picture because it didn’t work that way and that was several days ago.
So if one would see, there are four questions that one might put to oneself. The first one is “What Am I?” The second one is “Where Am I?” The third one is “What’s Going On Here?” (Laughter.) The fourth one is “What Can I Do?”
They used to have a test for sanity and these were the questions that were asked and I don’t think they’re used anymore. So they couldn’t find anybody that could answer it now, and you can’t lock everybody up. So we don’t use these questions anymore; but they are reasonable questions for each of us to consider for a few moments. And if we like, we no longer need be a victim. And that’s from this moment on, not after you learn it or anything of the sort—but from this moment on. I said if you like. Now, you can certainly agree to play the victim role any moment you like. That way you can feel totally non-responsible—victimized—and totally at the mercy of all these certain people you’re around.
We will answer these questions as simple as we can and then we have simplified further. Now we want to make it very, very simple so that it’s no strain for anybody to carry it around with them.
Now the first one is “What Am I?” Well, obviously as we look, Life must have invited us here and so I’m a privileged, invited guest. Now certainly we have all kinds of privileges. We found a world completely equipped where we were born. People had already arranged or something had arranged for there to be all kinds of food supplies, transportation, clothing. You didn’t have to bring a thing with you as you recall when you came to this planet, is that right? You didn’t bring a thing one—not even a stitch of clothes. You had clothes already provided for you, somebody to look after you. You had servants immediately. Right? (Laughter.) Some of us, of course, have been servants for some of the newer ones’ arrivals. So they had little things that gave us information into us. We learned the language so we could talk to the other folks around. We didn’t even know a language when we got here. And so we might say very decidedly that we’re privileged, invited guests.
Now where? We’re at a beautiful estate called the earth. I happen to like it. Do you? Do you? I’ve traveled over quite a bit of it and I’ve found it beautiful everywhere I went. And it is a beautiful estate, no matter where you stop; it’s pretty. Somewhere’s is a little different than others, but all a very beautiful estate. And so we can see that.
And we can also see that Life is the host. Life did invite us and Life does support us and Life does care for us while we’re here. I’ve noticed also that it lets us use everything at the estate. We have it all to our use wherever you want to use it. We have food to use, clothing to use. You have highways to use. You have the mountains to use, the lakes, the oceans—everything is for your use.
Now I’ve noticed that some of the guests attempt to accumulate quite a bit of the things around the party. I’ve also noticed sometimes that they get to leave the party, and you get to leave the party with the same thing you brought—nothing.
If I came to your house and I walked around and gathered up the silverware and put it in my pocket, you might wonder what kind of peculiar behavior is that? He can use the silverware any time he needs it; but what’s he putting it in his pocket for? And you might let me do that for a few hours, but if I started to leave the party, you’d say, “You can put the silverware over there.” You wouldn’t accuse me of stealing it.
And I’ve noticed that people who accumulate great gobs of things do leave the party and when they leave they get to take nothing with them. In the last couple of years, three of the supposedly most wealthy men in the world—H. L. Hunt, Howard Hughes, and J. Paul Getty all got invited to leave the party; and you know not a one of them got to take a thing with them. That right? So it does look like such a waste of time going around accumulating silverware and you’re going to have to leave it anyway. Why burden yourself totingContinued............