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Workshop - Santa Ana 4/3/1977 - Page 3 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 2 .......

it around anyway, it makes your pockets bulge out and get all out of shape while you haul it around.   And besides you can use it all, you know—if I had all the money in the world, I couldn’t enjoy that mountain any more.  If I owned the mountain, I wouldn’t enjoy it any more than I do.  I live at the bottom of a mountain down in El Paso, and I don’t own the mountain or the house I live in or anything else, but I enjoy the mountain every day. 

So I’m a privileged, invited guest where?—at a beautiful estate called earth where Life is the host.   Now what’s going on here?

Obviously it’s a big party because there’s so many games being played around and any time you see an accumulation of people and they’re playing a lot of games at the party, I think—is that right?  It’s a party.  So they’re playing games.  They play the romance game.  They play the work game.  They play the education game.  They play the movie game.  They play thousands and thousands of games.  Life doesn’t insist that we play any game, but we can play any game that we want to.  You quit when you want to and you can go back and play it again if you want to.  So there’s gobs of these big games going on; and of course, there is a tremendous number of guests besides me here. 

Now, the host invited me and the other guests apparently because he finds us interesting.  If you invite somebody to your home it’s because you find them interesting in one way or another.  So the host must have found everybody interesting and he gave me all the privileges of being at the party but he didn’t ask me to check out the guest list.  So I don’t have any grounds to find any fault with the host for having invited you to the party.  You’re here, so the host must have found you interesting.  Now if I like to visit with you while we’re at the party, or I like to play certain games with you while at the party, that’s fine; but if I don’t want to, that’s fine too.  But there’s nothing wrong with you for having been at the party—the host finds you interesting and he invited you.  And as long as he finds you interesting, apparently you get to stay at the party.  When you cease to be interesting, you get to be playing that same role over and over of being a victim for 50, 60, or 70 years, he might get tired of you and send you back where you came from.  Your invitation runs out after a while. 

So if I can see that I’m a privileged invited guest at this beautiful estate called earth where Life is the host and that there’s millions of other guests and the host must find them all interesting and that there is thousands of interesting games that I can play and with various interesting other guests, then I have a pretty delightful situation.  I don’t see anything to fight about that—it’s one big party.

And so then I can choose, “What can I do?”  All right, simply it’s easy to me.  It gives me a little guideline of whatever acts and roles I want to play is that being a guest here at this beautiful estate called earth with all these other guests, I can be what, to me, is a good guest.  If you invite me to your house, I’m going to be a good guest while I’m there. 

Now, this being a guest, there would be three things that I would consider that would be worthy.  One, I would be considerate—considerate of the host, considerate of the other guests that the host had invited and considerate of the estate where the party is being held—that’s being considerate which means I would consider whether it would be messy or anything else.  I’d also be considerate that I wouldn’t go in and nose in the host’s dresser drawers—desk drawers and stuff.  I wouldn’t do that.  That’s when we say, “Why did this happen?”  “Why did that happen?”  That’s when we’re trying to nose into the host’s drawers.  So, I don’t have to be bothered with all that.  The host has been running the show and been doing a good job before I came and I’m sure he’ll keep on doing a good job after I’ve left the party if I ever do.  (Laughter.)  Being a good guest, I haven’t been run off yet.    So maybe I can stay a little longer. 

And I could be harmless.  Harmless to the other guests and harmless to the estate and certainly if have to be, of necessity, harmless to the host.  So then being harmless simply means that I won’t commit any physical violence on anybody—the other guests; and that I won’t try to convince you that you’re a victim.  That I feel would be harmful, ok? 

And the third thing that I could do as a good guest - which is to me being a good guest - would be to make some little contribution to the party.  It’s simply some insignificant contribution because the party got along fine before I got here and it’s going along fine now and if I make some little contribution—it’s not expected of me or not required of me—it’s simply my way of saying, “Thank you for having been invited to the party.”  So I want to make some little contribution and one contribution I find I can always make is a contribution to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I may be.  And I find that’s a pretty good little contribution to make. 

So no matter where I am, I want to make some little contribution to a pleasant, harmonious mood—that way I can’t get involved in all these real heavy discussions that straighten people out—getting everything settled and getting it all finalized and all that.  I just make a contribution to a pleasant, harmonious mood wherever I am.  I did not say I can make it, I just make a little contribution to it. 

So that gives me some guideline if anything I want to do, any role I want to play, it would also include those that no matter what role I was playing in this world at this given moment.  I want it so that during playing that role, I would be considerate of each and every and all guests that I may come in contact with.  I would be harmless and that I would be at the same time making some insignificant little contribution.  That’s my way of saying thank you.

(I have a question.)

Ok.

(If you were invited to the party presumably you were invited by your host for the way you are….)

That’s correct. 

(Now if you were invited for what you are, why should you feel a need for consideration, contribution for harmlessness…………..)

I said very decidedly, Doctor, that I did not feel any obligation to do it; it was my way of saying thank you.  And I like to say thank you for having been invited to the party.  I feel no obligation, nor need to do it whatsoever.

(And Life doesn’t require you to.)

No requirement of it.  I could be the worst so and so that ever come along, made no contribution or anything else and still be invited to the party, but it’s simply that I want to say thank you.  If you do something nice for me I always like to say thank you—not because I should or ought to—simply that I want to show that I appreciate it, ok?  And I’m very thankful to have been invited to the party and I simply want to say thank you.  No need, no requirements, no necessity and no feeling of being required to.  But as a gentleman, I like to say thank you.

So then we can get down to a more simple way of saying this.  “What am I?”  I’m a human being.  “What can I do?”  You can leave out the middle two if you want to.  I can play some role.  Now along with my role-playing I want to add in one guideline that would be being a good guest while I play the role.  Because you’re at the party, too, and I don’t want to upset your party.  You got here and the host invited you and found you interesting, so I wouldn’t want to play any role that would be inconsiderate of you or harmful and it’s my simple way to make a contribution to a pleasant, harmonious mood.  That lets you enjoy the party a little bit more at that moment.  So then that is a contribution to Life as I see it.  Because every time we’re having a pleasant, harmonious mood there is a little more life and not a heavy, draggy one. 

So can you simply say that, “What am I?”  I’m a human being.  “What can I do?”  I can play a role.  Now whether you want to say thank you or not is your business.  I said I have a little guideline I want to add into it.  You may want to put another one in.  You may not want to put any in at all, and you’d be just as welcome at the party because you are interesting and of course, if you play roles, you are adding something to the party, right?  If you want to play the role of a victim, it makes the party most interesting—it’s a joy to watch you if you catch on to it.

If you don’t want to play any role, you’ll at least have to play the role of a victim.  You got to play some role while you’re at the party because that’s the way the thing’s set up.  And so you’re going to play some role and I’d rather play something else once in a while besides the victim role. 

Now I practiced that role for a number of years and was extremely proficient.  I possibly only ran into one person that was more proficient at playing the victim role than me—no, Cheryl, you can’t keep up.  Jeannine’s got you beat a country mile.  Jeannine is entitled to at least the best award put out for that role.  Now the other role she can play once in a while, but she goes back to that other one very easily, right?  It comes very natural and you couldn’t even get an Emmy because you’re not even a good supporting actor on it—you just play it up once in a while.  But Miss Jeannine should win the top prize of all for the victimizing—she’s the most victimized human being that’s ever been on this planet, right Jeannine?

(Right.)

You don’t believe it, you can see it.  The first time I told her that, she said, “Now you’re beginning to see it like it is.”  (Laughter.)  I’m still seeing it like it is, Honey—right on down the line—I know how it is—that Jeannine is the most victimized of all human beings that’s ever lived on the planet.  So she deserves an Emmy at least for her beautiful acting of the role.  I don’t think it’s intentional.  I think she was just born with a natural talent for it.  (Laughter.)  And I would think that she could use that same talent in playing other roles that would be just as good; because she is an excellent performer and very dedicated one when she sets out to it.  Would you like to play some other role for a while Jeannine?

(Why not.)

Why not.  I don’t see any reason not to because you’re excellent at it and you might as well play something else.  You have demonstrated so there’s no more encores for this one.  What can you do for an encore?  You might as well pull another one out, ok? 

Now if I simply see that I’m a human being, therefore can play innumerable roles, and I begin to consciously play those roles, now this is all I have to remember.  This is called Self-Remembering.  The other stuff we talked about today would basically be called Self-Knowing.  This is called Self-Remembering.  Remembering what I am, and what I can do.  And when one is working at Self-Remembering, one opens the door to intuition. 

Now, intuition is where all the wisdom that is written in literature in this world came from.  Today there seems to be a popular idea of much writing that all real wisdom on this planet came from another planet, way of a flying saucer or something like that.  But that’s only begging the question, where did that joker get it before he came?  You know it comes out the same way.  You still have to go back, that somewheres some being had some intuition.  In other words he got some inner teaching from Life itself who gave him some material.  And what everybody tries to work for—they call it ‘learning’ and etc.—is really only to get out of the way so that that material may be made available to you.  And it is always available if our heads are reasonably quiet. 

Our heads are quiet when we’re paying attention.  When I’m asking “What should I do?”, “Why did this happen to me?” and on and on and on, the head’s very noisy—you get two answers—the bunch of stuff ‘A’ had on here and ‘B’ gives its noise trying to crown ‘A’ out.  It just rattles and rattles and rattles and tells you—gives you all kinds of answers and the head is noisy.  But when you are acting out a role, you’re apt to be paying attention and get on the ball and see what you’re doing—play out the role.  That’s the only role is just the victim.  You don’t have to work on that.  That just happens. 

This intuition is there and intuition is truly wisdom.  And man says that the only thing you can really ask for in the idea of prayer is wisdom and understanding.  And wisdom and understanding only come by way of intuition.  So if you ask for something, you’d be asking for intuition.  And the way we ask is the way we act and live.  And the way we live, of course, for intuition is that I chose the role and am responsible for how it works out.  And my friend said a while ago, there will be some of it that’s a little unpleasant maybe at times.  So what?  It’ll be gone.  It only comes to pass.  And in a few minutes it’s gone anyway and then there is intuition.  Now nobody else can give you intuition; it has by definition to come from within.  But the only thing we can do is that we can put ourselves in the position to have intuition is to experience it and we experience that when we are consciously, intentionally acting out a role knowing that we’re a human being and can act out a role.  We choose a role, act it out—therefore we’re responsible.  We’re not a victim of anything.  We’ve acted out a role.  And if I was acting out a role of a very sick old man, I could do that.  And I’d have to work at it a little bit, but nevertheless, it would be as good as any other role as far as something I was intentionally, consciously doing.  It doesn’t have to be a “goody good” role or “pretty-pretty” role; it is only that it is conscious.  And we’re only conscious when we’re doing something that we intended to do.

Now, Self-Remembering is as easy as remembering your cosmetics, your cigarettes, your fountain pen, your keys, your driver’s license, your purse or anything else because you have to value what you’re doing or you will forget.  And when you forget you will immediately begin to play the role of a victim.  But if I value it at all, I won’t forget it.  I value having my little 30-cent comb in my pocket and I never forget it.  I value having a cigarette with me and I never forget it.  Do you smoke cigarettes?  Do you ever forget it?  No way. 

Now if we’d hook it together… and so I’m thinking of my cigarettes, or my comb, or my pen, or my pants if nothing else; you at least wear those when you go out and I’m going to pick up and remember my role for today—whatever it is.  You don’t even have to play it all day, either. You can play it for a few minutes and for no other purpose than I’m going to be conscious.  That’s the only reason.  Not to help me get successful and win a million dollar contract or any of these things.  You’re doing it to be conscious.  In other words, you’re being what to you is a good guest.  You’re just playing a role that looks like it could be played at this party and you go out and play it.  And that’s really not all that hard, is it?  First you don’t ever forget your jewelry, your little necklace, so you put that on.  And you remember you’re going to play a role.  So you can go play that.   Now if you act it out you have to, of necessity, be paying attention—just a little bit.  And when you are paying attention, you are open to intuition and intuition is all that’s really worthwhile. 

The material we have talked about today, somebody at least, received by intuition.  I didn’t say it was me.  But at least it opened the door for me so that I could receive intuition.  And that’s what the whole idea of all the Teaching is about is that we could be in a position that inner teaching comes to us, which is for the moment and is like a flash of light.  You know exactly what to do at that moment.  That’s all you need.  You don’t need it for tomorrow or the next week or next month—just for this moment.  Now if you have that, you’re doing fine.  If you know how to handle this moment, you’re doing all right.  You don’t have to worry about next week, next month or next year and all those things.  And that is the whole idea of the Teaching.

Now we could talk for weeks and weeks and never exactly repeat ourselves, but we would be repeating the same fundamentals.  There’s thousands of ways of saying it—so we say it slightly different every once in a while; but it still has this purpose and only this purpose in mind - that you would be open to instant inner teaching which fills you like a flash of light.  Clearly you see, “This is it.”  I have no way of putting it into words because all words are conditioned and that’s unconditioned material; but it’s been variously described as a flash of light and it merely means I see clearly for a moment—something like that.

Now we’re going to take another little break for about 10 minutes while you collect your ideas in your head or your thoughts, whatever you like, and we’ll be here and discuss whatever you want to discuss.  I’ve talked about whatever needs to be talked about today.  And now you will come up with questions, comments, whatever you want discussed, and the next session will be entirely what you ask about.  If you want to tell us something, why we will listen as carefully as we can.  Everybody will be interested in it.  If you want to ask something, we will discuss it to the best of our ability. 

Ok, we’ll start off with the first topic or what-have-you. 

(What happens when one plays the role of victim and becomes aware of it and is conscious of it and continues to play the role consciously?)

Well, then you have a lot of fun.  It would be a conscious act if you really did it consciously.  The only thing is, it is so habitual for the years that we’re apt to forget it because we’re real good at it.  But if you can consciously play the role of a victim, it would work just as well as long as you could do it consciously.  But the trouble is that we’re so good at it that we can do it in our sleep.  It’s easy to fall off.  But it would work just as well if you played it all the time—consciously.  It’s just as good as any other role; but don’t kid yourself that you can do it consciously because you’ll go to sleep and play it better than ever.

(I’m a reader of Idries Shah and in one of his books it stated—if the father cannot suddenly come to a conclusion…………)

I don’t interpret anything.  So it says that the father cannot complete something but the son may.  So suppose someone was building a house and he kicked off—the son could build the house all right, couldn’t he?  If a man planted an orchard and he had a heart attack, his kids come along and keep the orchard going.  They might complete it and get it into production after while.  By the same token on the inner state of man, maybe I would come along and say something that you might hear.  And you would start to act upon it.  I couldn’t bring it to fruition, but you could.

(I see.)

I could only bring the idea; you could act upon it.  So by the same token let’s say you had a flash of intuition.  Intuition told you all about it, but you would have to be the one to bring it into intuition of whatever continuation you want to do.  That fair enough?

(Would that have to do with us being the function of awareness of God?)

That is correct also.  Man is the awareness function and the motor function.  So the Awareness couldn’t bring anything into completion—you have to have all of it—all working together.

(What meaning does the Chapter of Revelation have for you?)

I never read the book.  No, I had a young man that stayed down at Fabens last fall for about three months and he read Revelations every day.   I’ll try to get him in touch with you.  He wanted to interpret it and I didn’t, ok? 

(In regard to Self-Remembering, paying attention would mean such as for many people you hear so much now about methods like getting yourself really quiet or meditation, or …)

No, no, no we’re not talking about going to sleep now.  We’re talking about being awake.  You see there are many ways to get yourself into a state of hypnosis.  Anytime you would repeat a given phrase over a number of times, you are in a state of hypnosis.

(Right.)

And you could be very quiet in that state, but you’re asleep.  We’re talking about consciously going out and playing a role doing something that you intend to do and doing it.  We’re not talking about any of these wild ideas.  I have nothing to do with it.  It’s just as long as you know what you’re doing. 

Now all those states of various stages of hypnosis are very interesting, ok?  They are very quiet and you may relax and feel very good and you may get rested a little bit while you’re doing it, but there is no enlightenment or anything because you are putting yourself out of that enlightened state rather than anything.  And there’s no objections to doing it.  Understand, but don’t confuse the two, ok?

(I’m confused with reporting to X and going passive.)

Ok, I will try to demonstrate.  (Laugher.)  Now you reported and he’s not going to do it, right?  You reported and he’s not going to throw it; and X didn’t do anything about it—and then he did throw it and then he did hit at it, ok? 

(Ok, forget the eraser.  Let’s say someone is in an argument and they’re mobilizing how they feel.)

They’re sound asleep, they’re victims.  Then they’re fighting with each other.

(They’re pushing buttons.)

Yeah, all those.

(How do you report to X and go past that so you don’t react?)

Uh, somebody comes up and gives me a hard way to go—is that what your saying?

(Yes.)

Somebody’s picking on you—calling me dirty names and implying that I should be different and so forth and going decidedly against my picture of me.  What do you do?  Well the first place is you recognize that the person cannot disapprove of you; they can only tell you how they feel when they’re in your presence.  Maybe you remind them of their great Aunt Susie who was always picking on them, see?  You look a certain way and you have certain little mannerisms, so you remind them of her. 

So number one, do you have to defend yourself? 

(Well, the way I’ve been functioning, I usually would defend myself.)

That would be defending; but we talked about that today, so there really is no reason to defend yourself because you could just agree that whatever they said you were (“no good, lazy bum”) that you could say you were the prettiest no good lazy bum and all in Southern California, huh?  Maybe the entire western hemisphere.  That’d be passive to it, you wouldn’t be defending yourself, right?  And then you could start having a little fun with them and the fight’s over with in about a second.  One person can’t fight with themselves.

(I’ll have to work on that.)

Do you have to defend yourself?

(No.  How is it if I’m passive, I’m not giving you energy?)

Well, that’s just saying, “So what?”  You’re telling me anything you want to.  Now unless I start defending, I have no energy injected into the argument, right?  You call me a dirty name for instance. 

(She’s speechless.)

I would demonstrate to you then, so what.  So do you have to go on and defend every time somebody says something to you?

(Well, there’s certain people that do……….)

Especially mothers and people like that, yes.  Now Darlene you can tolerate. 

( __ unintelligible __ )

Well but not as much as Mother does, is that right?  After all, you have to defend yourself and stick up for your rights around Mother with things like that.  Do you have any rights that you have to stick up for?

(No.)

Well then there’s nothing to fight about.  Maybe you don’t have any rights.  You’re an intruder as far as mother is concerned.  She was made your servant against her wishes when you arrived in this world.  She had a whole bunch of other things in mind and you showed up.  You tied her down in no uncertain terms.  She hasn’t had a happy moment since you were born.  I’ve talked to her.  (Laughter.)  She’s still worrying about you—afraid you will embarrass the family.

(It’s a good example of motion meeting motion-arguing and fighting. Could I avoid defending by changing the subject?)

That would be one, wouldn’t it?

(Going in a different direction?)

Somebody’s talking about giving her a big noise and you start talking about something else.   Don’t tell them they’re wrong about her, that’s very upsetting; so you start talking about “Oh did you know…” 

(Can you give an example of destroying motion?)

Well, I would also be destroying motion.  So if somebody comes up and starts a good set of gossip and you fought it—you are concerned for somebody.  But if you just start talking about something else, you just drop that subject, you broke it on the floor right there.  And if you do get all ticked off before you do that, instead of having to go tell them off or mumble to yourself all night long all the nice ways you’re going to get revenge—why you could set a stick of dynamite under them in your imagination and blow them up.  When you do that, you’ll start laughing pretty quick—that’s destroying the motion in you, ok?  Get it over with.  They tell me there’s a plan over in Japan where they have pictures of all the bosses on punching bags and any employee can go in there and punch the bag.  (Laughter.)  That’s destroying motion now, ok?  Steiner?

(One of the things that keeps coming to me is no matter how much I attempt to work at the Teaching, I still end up falling asleep—no matter how much I want to or desire to play the role of a conscious guest, I can’t manage to maintain that for any length of time.)

That’s according to how much we value and as we said, what is something that you never leave the house without?  It’s something you never forget Steiner.

(Well, maybe I never forget, but I forget I didn’t forget it.)

(Laughter.)  How about something you always have with you that you never forget to take along? 

(Well, I’ve got the example and I understand what…)

You got cigarettes Steiner.

(A whole bunch of them.)

Every once in a while.  Ok, when you pick up a pack of cigarettes, you’re picking up your consciousness now—you’re going to use it.  Every time you light a cigarette, put it together.  So get it hooked up with something that you know you’re not going to forget—something you really value.  Now you really don’t work at not forgetting your cigarettes, Steiner, is that right?  You don’t tell me that it’s hard not to forget my cigarettes.  I go off and forget my cigarettes, but you don’t ever do that because that’s what you value.  So you see when we discover what we value (and it’s usually something that has little monetary cost) then we hook it together with being conscious and so you always put it together—just do that a time or two, ok?

(One question on the same thing is like the example in Headlines about the Romans about Paul “wretched man that I am”)

Yes, Paul’s picture of self, go ahead.

(…and he said that only by the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in this condition can I receive that state of grace.)

We have been trying to talk about that all day.  (Laughter.)  That you open the door to that, shall we say, ‘intuition’, blessing, whatever it is you talk about and that the way one does that is one puts enough value on being conscious as much as to do something that you don’t ever forget like some of the ladies said they never forget their make up when they go out—their cosmetic kit, right?  One lady says she never forgets her jewelry.  You don’t forget your cigarettes.  So hook those together and practice a little bit.

Now I don’t think you had to practice very long to not forget your cigarettes.  Did you have to practice to not forget your jewelry?

(No.)

You see, it all comes down to what we value and we talk of what we value very much; but what we value is the things we never forget.  And most of the things we never forget have very little monetary value—very little monetary cost.  Some people never forget their pills.  Some people never forget their glasses. 

(I remember my purse and my keys, but I don’t think about them.)

Naturally.  I wouldn’t think about playing a role, but I remembered to put it on and start it, and if I couldn’t start it, that’s the end of it.  Origination is the whole bit.  The man said that the journey of ten thousand miles starts with the first step and getting started is it.  So if you grab ahold of your purse, you don’t forget and drop it out on the street, do you?

(No.  I just forget.)

No, you don’t forget.  You don’t value it.

(You originate the role, you’re paying attention when you originate, but you don’t have to think every two seconds.)

Of course, you get the role started.  It’s just like you remember your purse and you go out.  Now if you forgot your purse, you just drop it on the street somewhere—you forgot you had it along.  You don’t forget it; you hang onto it.  You go back home with it.  

(As long as I don’t fall into the victim role, then I can play the other role that I chose.)

You are practicing Self-Remembering.  You don’t forget it.  Now you don’t forget and lay your purse down on the sidewalk and walk off and leave it, do you?  You don’t forget to hang onto it. 

(So it’s maintaining enthusiasm.  Some people don’t maintain enthusiasm.)

Well, if they value it, they would.  If they didn’t value it they wouldn’t, would they? 

(They could be playing the role to some extent without…)

So that’s only again when you forgot it and you don’t walk out and forget you got your purse in your hand and let it fall out, do you?

(That’s automatic.  I don’t maintain any enthusiasm.) 

Unless somebody tried to take it away from you—you’d find it then.

(Well if anyone tried to lift the teaching out of my hand, I would do that.)

So the point is about valuing.  So we put no value on it, little value on it.  Now I like to hook it up with what’s most valuable to me—the things I never forget.  You associate things.  So I associate the teachings with cigarettes, a comb and things like that. Ok? 

(Do you ever get where you don’t hook it to anything?)

Why don’t you find out?

[other side of tape breaks in with…]

It doesn’t have to be a thought at all, the thought probably wouldn’t get very far—it’s how you act.   The origination goes here and next is the act.  

(So we’re not aware of the initiation part.)

Most of the time you’re not, right?  Because we only initiate what’s most habitual to do and we’ve got that down so pat that we do it all the time. 

(So before you do an action, you can do actions without thinking about or you can think about it and do it.  So obviously, the thing that initiates is not thought.)

No, it’s usually a feeling.  It’s a feeling or thought—either one that initiates.  And most people let feeling initiate, which is a very poor way to get it done.  Feeling is to be the end result, not the initiator. 

(I feel like you’re telling me, but not quite telling me.)

No, I’m telling you very exactly that you have two ways of initiating:  the source of initiation - feeling or thought.  Awareness in other words; awareness or feeling.   And most people let feeling do the initiating and they’re never aware of it.

(But you can think about things………..)

And never initiate them.

(Yes.)

Right.  So the thought is not doing it.  It is a feeling or awareness.  Awareness and thought are two different processes.

(Ok.  Then what I’m saying is we can’t be aware of awareness then.)

Oh yes, sure can.

(I guess I’m just not.)

You can be though.  You can be aware you’re being aware.  You’re aware that there’s a bunch of this stuff.

(If I’m aware I want to move or get up and walk, I just report to X what I want to do and X acts appropriately.)

That’s right.

(Can I report to X that I would like to play a certain role and let X….)

As long as you initiate the first step of it.  The rest of it X will do.  So I got up here this morning and said I was going to play the role of speaking, ok?  And I picked the subject and X did the rest of it, but I had to pick the subject.  Because if I said, “Well, no subject X”, he wouldn’t.   I’ve been standing here, yet I had to pick the subject, ok?

(You have to initiate that constantly?)

The subject?

(Yes.)

Well, not constantly; I only initiated it once every hour or so.  Once an hour I initiated a subject and X did all the talking about it.  I didn’t have to be concerned with what was said about it.  Thank goodness, because with all the interruptions we had, I’da lost my place.  X didn’t ever seem to lose his place; he could pick up and go on with it.  But I had to initiate the subject, ok?  That was my job.

Number one I’m going to play the role of speaking and Number 2, I will choose the subject.  X did all the work then.  So you can blame it or play with it, whatever you like.

(When you’re playing a role, is that…the insight that you gain while you’re consciously playing a role about that role or could it be about……)

It could be about anything.  You find out about that - don’t ask me.

(You have one role that you play……….)

And you might have all kinds of comprehension about a lot of things.  The point is that you’re conscious is all that really counts. 

(You said that a host invited the guests to the party because he found them interesting.  It seems to me he went to a great deal of trouble for something he found simply interesting.)

Well, I don’t know.  It seems to me that what interests me most delights me.  If I thought you were important I wouldn’t bother with you, but as long as you’re very interesting, I’m very delighted with you.

(Do you think it’s possible that he wanted something from…..)

No, I don’t think so.  He just put on the party and hoped they would enjoy it.  If you had a party, would you hope they enjoyed it?

(Well, I’d only invite the people that I found interesting.)

That’s correct.  So I’d only invite those I found interesting and maybe some being’s interest can be a little expansive than yours and mine.  Maybe you and I could only find a few hundred people interesting and maybe some other being could find billions of people interesting, ok?

(Is that enough reason for going through all that?)

I wouldn’t find any better reason for doing anything other than I found it very interesting, would you?  I can see nothing practical about creation.  This mud ball would be getting along just fine if there was nobody on it.  There’s nothing practical about it, but isn’t it interesting?  Now I can think of no other reason to create and have life on this planet other than it was interesting because there’s sure nothing practical about it, right?  So I could see that the least practical thing in the world is Life; but the most interesting.

(……keep it simple.)

That seems to be a pretty good reasonable way.  Yes Miss Vi.

(I was thinking about semantics on the word interesting.  This one has been doing some work in designing workshops and they have the word interesting and it can mean anything.)

Oh yes, but it’s not important anyway.  But what interests me or attracts my attention is interesting to me, and that keeps enough reason to do about anything.  After all, I’m sure that no gentleman has found you important or necessary or practical; but, man, how interesting you’ve been found, huh?  Which would you rather be described as?  Practical or interesting?

(Interesting.)

There is nothing practical about you, but you sure are interesting.

(I’ll go with that.)

Having a pretty lady around is the most impractical thing I’ve ever accomplished in my life, but very interesting, ok?

(If I’m used to a lifetime of wishful thinking, will I know real intuition when I get it?)

Oh it has nothing to do with wishful thinking.  No, you would be very aware of it because it don’t taste like anything else you’ve ever run into.  It doesn’t feel like wishful thinking.  It’s not giving you some idea that you ought to do so and so and all this kind of stuff.  No, it’s altogether different.  It doesn’t taste like anything you’ve ever run into.

(Would I have a tendency to compare to coincidence?)

No.  Why don’t you find out? Tthen you can tell me the next time I meet you, ok?  We gave you the way of opening the door.  Now that doesn’t mean that there’s a constant flow, but it happens quite frequently when the door’s opened.  The door’s open when you are consciously playing a role as long as you’re a human being.  That doesn’t mean you got to repeat it over and over like a parrot.  You know generally what you’re going to do today, don’t you?  And you will know the difference decidedly between wisdom and all the other stuff we have running through our heads.  It’s in a different category completely.

(Would you define a role again………..)

Well, you told me that you had practiced the craft of being an actor.  An actor always plays a role, is that right?  You act out a role and the more convincing the act of the role, the more applause it gets.  If you’re playing the mean guy and can make me hate you, then you’re pretty good, is that right?  If you’re just putting it on, why you’re not very good.  Now isn’t that a role? 

(Yes.)

So everybody in a play or a story that acts out before the screen or on the stage is playing a role.  Acting out a role, is that right?  Did you ever go out and stop a fight or something like that?

(Yes, but I considered that I didn’t want to get out of bed.  I never thought of that as a role.)

You played the lazy role—the victim role—you mustn’t get up because the world was terrible. 

(For instance if you wanted to be a Richard Burton, I don’t think that would be accurate.  That would be very challenging.)

Oh, I don’t know, it shouldn’t be too hard.  Of course, I wouldn’t want to be a Richard Burdon—I’d rather be a Bob Gibson.

(Then setting an image for yourself.)

Ok, you can set any one you want.

(The quality.)

Ok.  You have to write the script.

(Do you actually script it out for yourself?)

Oh if it was a real complicated one, I probably would.  Whether I quote it on paper at least, you’d have it run through your head, wouldn’t you?  Get it out on paper.  It would be kind of worthwhile to put on paper.  Write it down.  And then it would make you really conscious to be sure you were fulfilling the script, is that right? 

(It seems to me……….)

Well, that’s what I do, I improvise and rearrange, but originally I used to write them down until I got in the habit of doing it and then when you get so you can do it, why I kind of write them as I go—in my head, I don’t write them on paper anymore.  Very seldom.

(If you got the script written one way and then life comes along and introduces some resistance to your script, your script’s got to change.)

No, no, no resistance’s got to change.   (Laughter.)

(Run that one past me.)

Ok, so most of us when the resistance comes along, we don’t follow the script then; we jump off.  With the resistance, I immediately say, “Oh my God, I’m a victim, it ruined my whole play.”  No, I’m going to play the part and the resistance has got to go around me.  You know the old story what happens when an irresistible force meets and immoveable object.  Well, I found out what happens there - it produces X-rays.  But when some of these resistances which are never irresistible, they’re just resistances meet me, they got to go around.  That’s all there is to it because I’m going on.  I’m going to play the role.

Moses played a little role of a deliverer one time umpteen ages ago and he run into a whole bunch of resistances, but if you’ll notice, the resistances all went on.  I think they had a little movie on television about that not very long ago of all the Pharaoh put up; Moses just kept going.  He didn’t change.  He had a lot of resistance, but the resistance had to go around him.  He didn’t give into it.  So he didn’t change his role one iota, he kept on playing the role of the deliverer and he got the job done real well.  So when you really set out to play a role, resistance is not going to change it—it’s the one that has to give. 

Now if we’re playing the role of a victim, oh man, every one of those resistances come upon me and completely change, misdirect and everything, and I have to go in a different direction, right?  But that’s not the case when one is going to play the role and you’ve got your script and you’re going through it—no matter what.  Then all the resistance has to get out of the way.  You watch it.  So if you’re playing the role of a victim,oh we thrive on all the resistances.  Steiner?

(It seems to me we if you’re that headstrong, then you got to get ____ other people, right?  You’re forced into an automatic pattern you can never……….)

No, I don’t ever control other people.

(They do what they do because they’re …)

If I see a perfectly good vehicle rambling around, I try to control it a little bit.  I control machines quite frequently, Steiner.

(Oh.)  (laughter.)

If I see a one dollar bill laying down on the street, man I pick it and put it to use.  I don’t just leave it laying there and say, “Well, I must control that.”  I see a perfectly good human being laying around and nobody using it, I’ll probably pick it up and use it a little while.  I won’t abuse it, but I’ll use it. 

(I know some people that do that.)

I won’t abuse it, but I’ll use it. 

(Thank you for clarifying.)

I won’t abuse it.  I respect it and won’t abuse it. 

(I thought that as a result of this resistance or second force (or am I confused?) another action is initiated.)

You could do it if you wanted to—if you’re going to respond to it, you can just sit there and look at it and make it go away.  Who’s in charge, you or the resistance?  That’s the whole question here.  Are you in charge or is the resistance in charge? 

Now if you go out and plant a bean out in the back yard or in a pot somewheres and put a bunch of water around over it, the bean will start sprouting and come up through all that.  Did you ever notice who’s in charge—the clod or the bean?   You watch it.  So I’d rather be a bean than the clod, ok? 

(If the bean doesn’t take charge __ unintelligible __ )

It doesn’t get up.  So it takes charge.  So life is to take charge and all resistances is only to give me more energy so that I can generate more energy rather than giving up and going in a different direction.  If the bean met a clod and said, “Oh that’s too rough,” and turned around and headed back down, it’d never get through the ground, right?  He just knocks the durn clod of the way and goes on.  It’s got to get over. 

A little tree lives near where I do and he’s growing out of solid rock and that rock is getting cracked apart.   It’s coming right through the crack in the rock.  It’s cracking it up.  It’s not sitting there and saying, “Well, I better turn around and go back down—it’s too hard this way.  It’s just pushing that rock out of the way—moving it on over.  It may take it a day or two longer, but it’s moving that rock—breaking it apart.

(Ok, what’s the difference in that and you’re doing a  -unintelligible-)

A what?

(__ unintelligible __ )

Pull a Hank Snow. 

(You’re talking on two different levels.)

Oh yes, very decidedly.  She said it was a role she didn’t want to play.  Now if a bean doesn’t want to sprout—I didn’t say it should, did I?  But if it wants to grow and be a bean, it gets with it and knocks everything out of the way.  So if this lady pulled a Hank Snow, she’s in effect knocking a rock out of the way.  She’s taking charge. 

(Is it necessary if it’s hard to remain conscious, to report moment to moment until it does become automatic?)

Oh I wouldn’t say it’s necessary, I would say I’d hook it up with something I really value—associate it with something you really value.  You’ll find something you value.  I don’t know what you value, but maybe you don’t, but you can find out.  You’re Awareness is always based upon what you really value. 

Somewheres long ago some man wrote down that where your treasure is there also is your attention—he wrote it in those days as your ‘heart’.  So wherever your treasure is…  Now maybe my treasure is a little 30-cent comb in my pocket.  My pocket is not here, but that’s where my attention is when I’m leaving the house anyway.  So once I pick it up, I get with it. 

(You mentioned earlier about the idea of having a short aim rather than a longer aim possible, that it keeps you closer to the now and also limits the possibility ……)

Well long aims are kind of dreamy anyway, aren’t they?

(That’s not true Bob.)

Oh you’re going to complicate the question, ok?  I’ll sit down. 

(Ok, the beans is maybe the difference in the short one.  And the long one would be to keep the short aim that conditioning isn’t tempted to make it into an ideal then.  Is that part of the …..)

Yes because the long aim is usually shooting at an ideal anyway, right?  Short ones you can do it right now without the ideal.  I don’t know about these long-range plans.

(It doesn’t stay the same anyway.)

It never does happen that way.  So the only thing I know is short ones. Yes Doctor?

(Don’t’ sometimes the beans go around that resistance?  They don’t just charge right through it.)

That’s right, they’ll bend over a little bit, they don’t mind, but they’re still going on; and as you observe when it goes around, it straightens up a little bit, then the clod rolls over.  It still moves it out of the way.  It may take a circuitous route, but it will knock it over.  And it will come up and bend over to the side of it and it will knock the thing over.  It’s got to get up there and get the strength.  But it doesn’t get diverted from its occupation.  So it’s still playing its role---going on and doing its thing, and the obstructions have to get out of the way.  The resistance sooner or later gives, not the other way around.

(Sometimes in order to complete that role or to continue it, it’s necessary to adopt some other roles.)

Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s another role, just a little different modification of that one.  You’re still going on up to grow the bean up, but it may go the circuitous route and twist over to the side rather than straight ahead.  The only thing with any resistance is that we either go under it, over it, around it, or push it out of the way.  It really doesn’t change my role at all.  I’m either going around it, I’m going under it, push it over to the side, or go by it.  In no way would it change what I was going to do.  If it changes, then I became a victim of it.

(That would be like water, like a river, I’m going around it.  Sometimes a river is diverted.)

Yes.

(And it’s changed.)

Now the river really doesn’t have an intention and you do.  (Laughter.)
You and the river is a little bit different.

(Does a bean have more attention than the river?)

Oh, you better believe it does.  It’s alive.  X is running that show.

(But water flows, life flows.)

That’s only a parallel and they’re not the same because that river’s not alive.  The fact we name it and all that kind of stuff doesn’t make it a being.  You can initiate, the river is used only as an analogy, but analogy is never the thing.  Life flows on, the river seemingly moves but it’s really not, the water’s pouring downhill.

(If you choose a role consciously, do you have to know the game in which the role you choose to carry out?)

Oh I wouldn’t know, but you’re caught up in a game, so you see the game and then you see which role you want to play in that game.  It’s like we’ll say that the someone over here wanted to put on a show and he calls you down and said, “I’ve got three parts available, which one do you want?  I think so much of your ability, I’ll let you have any one of the three.”  You would then choose your role in the play, is that right? 

(I have this barrier about games.)

Naturally, because you were brought up to be practical and role- playing in games sounds very frivolous, doesn’t it? 

(Yes, it does.)

And mother told you that you should be serious, right?

(Yes.)

After all you weren’t supposed to just go around just playing in things, you got to be sincere, right?

(Yes.) 

So she taught you to play the role of being a very sincere person.  Steiner?

(It seems that all the writings, that I’ve read anyway, regarding about achieving a conscious union or whatever you want to call it—all the writers refer to a lot of pain, anguish, suffering, sacrifice and all.  It didn’t paint a very pretty picture of the role.)

It’s very deliberately done so that the people who are thrill seekers and dabblers won’t bother with it.  Most of them are looking for, “I want pleasure and to escape all pain.”  And they tell you that it is the very antithesis of that so you must really be wanting something or you wouldn’t study.  They tell you that for a very good reason.  It weeds out the sensation seekers, the curiosity seekers, etc.  It’s like ages ago, there was schools and they called it Alchemy and the name of the game was to make gold out of base metal.  Well, as long as the person was really interested in making gold out of base metal, they let him boil and whatever he wanted to do.  They found some that saw the joke in that and went on to make a real man—an intuitive man out of the base man.  So there’s always this story that if you pursue this, you will go through all sorts of difficulties and so forth and so on which really it doesn’t mean that.

(I find that when I’m playing a role, all of a sudden I see that I am in the middle of the game—is that insight?)

Why sure, there’s always a game going on.  You’re playing a role; you got a part in it.

(It’s usually at that point when I see the game, and I don’t want to play that game.)

Then you go back playing your victim role.

(Well, I observe the role I’m playing.  Is that the conditioned me that’s playing that role?)

No, if you chose the role.

(I see.)

The only role that the conditioning plays is the victim role.  You’re a victim and you must complain, stick up for your rights, blame, or you must please people, or you must do what you’re told or you ought to be different; so you’re a victim—pulled into the role.  That one you can do without any conscious effort and the conditioning plays that and tries to convince you that that’s real.  You can play any other you want to.  The others all have to be conscious.  But you can play the victim role with sound sleep.  Another question—Miss Esther?

(Would you clarify something about associating?  You said that there were two ways we could initiate and it was thought and feeling.)

There’s two ways to initiate, two things that bring about initiation: thought or feeling.

(Originally, decisions were made with feeling and then created our conditioning.)

So that feeling kicks off and most people’s initiation into action is usually by feeling which is probably conditioning, correct. 

(Now, then is thought….is this called abilities or is this just simply the not-i’s associating?)

Thoughts are as such or the not-i’s associating.  We corrected the word over here when we were talking to Miss Michelle about awareness and not thought.  Awareness is when you consciously choose something.  You exercise that gift that all of us have and so seldom use—free agency, ok?  Most of us don’t have it because feelings run the show. But if we take charge, then you do have free agency and you have free agency as to the role you will choose to play and how you will play it—how you will act it out.

(And that’s very possible.)

(At any one moment, is one finding more than one role…)

Oh, usually you’re caught up in two or three, yes.  Most of us do, yes, if we’re busy people, we have two or three.  Maybe you go home and you play the role of romance and maybe you go to work and you play the role of business or doctoring or whatever the case may be, and then you got out on the road and you play some other role and you go to another place and you play another one.  Now, we’re not saying at the same time, but more or less during the same day we can play several.

(At any one instance though…)

It’s usually one role at any given instance, but then we’re subject to change it over to another one because we’re usually involved in more than one show. 

(Is it necessary that this role-playing be done in connection or conjunction with another person—can it done when you’re alone?)

Whatever - with another person, by yourself, or wherever.  You can play a role of feeling like a million dollars and walking down the desert all by yourself.  Or you could play the role of a poor lost soul while walking around out in the desert.  That’s all by yourself or with others.

(If I choose not to be a victim then, I’d like to choose the role, does the definition have to come first as to what that role is going to put…)

I’d say you’d have to choose what the role’s going to be.  You can’t just assume not to be something because that makes you more of a victim.

(The intuition doesn’t give you a role to play……)

Oh no, no, no, no.    That’s something that happens while you are playing the role.  That just opens the door.  It doesn’t tell you what roles to play.  Nobody’s going to tell you that, but you do have some understanding that you never get otherwise, ok?  Question? Comment?

Ok, we’re going to quit for today and will start another workshop at 10:00 am in the morning, so remember to set your clocks forward 1 hour. 

[next tape-side 7]

Today we’re going to talk about various subjects that all says the same thing but in a little different way; and we did take some people that came by and said they wanted this discussed and certain other things.  So, we’re going to discuss all by request today.  So if you want to add a request in, please feel free to break in at any time and when you want to talk about something, we’ll get that one too. 

First thing we’re going to talk about is expectations today.  Now it would be impossible for any of us to do anything—to initiate any act unless we had some expectation that something would come of it.  In other words, I wouldn’t put the key in the door and give it a turn unless I expected the door to open. 

I wouldn’t get in the car and go through the motion of turning on the key and stepping on the accelerator and pushing the starter button and so forth unless I expected that car to start.

Now, as long as our expectations are based on fact, we get along just beautifully; but most of us do a lot of expecting without having any consideration of what the fact really is.  So we’re going to talk about what we could consciously and with full realization, we approximately might expect. 

So we will consider what we can base our expectation on.  Now, if the expectation is based on fact everything goes fine; but if our expectation is based on an ideal—and most of us have considerable ideals set up and about our expectations.  So one of the things we expect most is about other people.  So I’m going to draw a person here—I’m a very accomplished artist as you can see.  So we got a person here.  Now we got another one over here.

So these two people usually meet up here somewhere along the way and they form something they frequently refer to as a “relationship” which is usually about the furtherest definition it could be.  It’s kind of an association of some sort; but they generally refer to it as a “relationship” with quotes around it—real pretty one.

And so this one expects the other one to make them happy.  Now that’s all I really want—I just want him/her to make me happy.  This is a ‘her’ over here and this is the ‘him.’  That’s a boy and that’s a girl.  So the girl has only one little expectation—that he will make me happy.  And he only has one little expectation—she will make me happy.  And of course, they start to work on that.  And so this one has a bunch of little buttons here that if you push them, he does certain things.  Now there is one button over here in the corner that says, “responsibility”.  Now it’s colored red—I don’t have any red chalk.  And she has a bunch of pretty little buttons up here and it has a little red one down in the corner that says, “responsibility”.

So now the bit gets started if I walked up when I meet this one here and I pushed this little button that says “romance”, she will get along and she’s pretty and everything’s going fine.  And if I push one over here that says “date” and I push the “gifty” button and I give a few little gifts over here, that comes up pretty good.  And I give her some pretty talk and that all turns on and lights flow and everything goes along beautiful.  But one day I get tired doing this all myself, you understand. And I think, “Well, she ought to do a little something for me.”  So I walk over and push that “responsibility” button; and the bells ring, the lights flash, sparks fly and says, “Tilt!”  The whole thing’s over with and the relationship’s busted up because she doesn’t want to be responsible for making me happy.  After all, she started this whole deal to have me at least part of the time make her happy.  And of course when I’m expecting somebody else to make me happy, I’m denying that this button should ever be pushed and so when she gets very miserable, she walks over and pushes this “responsibility” button and again the bells ring, the lights flash, the sparks fly and it reads, “Tilt”—the whole thing went off.  And that’s called the break-up of a relationship and it’s terrible.  

So when we have an expectation which is not fact, we’re frequently disappointed.  Now, when we feel disappointed, we feel hurt.  Did you ever feel hurt in the relationships and etc.?  Did you ever try to get them to make you happy and they didn’t do it and you felt so hurt—did everything hurt?  Have you ever been hurt?  How about you, have you ever been hurt?  Finally sometime we decide we just won’t ever get those things again. 

So we feel hurt.  Now whenever any of us feel hurt the next thing we do is look for blame.  And of course it’s very easy to see who’s to blame in this situation, isn’t it?

(Of course.)

She’s to blame when I hear it from him; and she comes in and talks to me after while and he’s to blame.  I’ve been through this a number of times by listening to people talk and always discovered who is to blame—that helps everything straighten out real well, according to who I’m listening to.  So we look for blame and then I find something to blame.  Most often I would find that it is the other.  And then of course I feel anger—most of us have experienced a little feeling of anger here in our lifetime, is that right?

(Very little.)

Very little.  Have you ever been angry?  And it was because someone didn’t do what you expected them to do and it was all their fault, isn’t that right?  And of course, once in a while we find that it was my fault and then I feel guilty.  Now of course, this one’s favorite occupation after pushing the responsibility button and the thing went into “tilt” over here was to push the guilt button—that’s the next one up there.  That’s the guilt one.  After all, I loved you and therefore you were obligated to me to always do exactly what I wanted you to and whenever I wanted you to.  So therefore I was hurt and I cried and it’s all your fault and, “So there!”  

That the rest of those words -- “I love you,” that’s the rest of it -- they usually stop there, but the rest of it is, “Therefore you’re obligated to me and must do exactly as I want you to whenever I want you to or else I will be disappointed and then I will feel hurt and it’s all your fault, so there.”  That would make you feel guilty, wouldn’t it?  “You made me fall in love with you and now look what you’ve done.  It’s all your fault!”  So then we push the guilt button.  Now this one’s feeling guilty will kind of get some guilt going on over here.  And so I will be angry and make you guilty and this one over here will try to make me feel guilty—is that right? 

Now when we don’t know what to blame it on, the whole thing’s just broke up; then of course, we experience fear.  That’s frequently.  And if we’ve been by this way many times, we begin to feel insecure or incapable.  We just don’t know how to “cope” with this world.  Just can’t cope.  Now all of those we refer to as stress.  Because the human being was never designed to have these things called ‘emotions.’  We’re designed to experience feelings, but we were never designed to have false expectations; therefore in having false expectations we wound up having anger, guilt, fear and insecurity and those we were not equipped to handle.  We can’t afford them really; and so we are in a state of a bit of inner turmoil and nowhere to go with it—really.  So in a state of stress, which is experienced as chemical imbalance and neuro-muscular tension (now you would probably call it being nervous or being anxious or whatever) but really we just had a bunch of emotions that we’re never equipped to have.  

That requires an adaptation to get rid of, burn it up and return some semblance of balance to the inner state and there’s two ways to do it.  We looked at these yesterday---unusual cellular activity, unusual sensation, tissue cell alteration or a breakdown.  Or we could adapt by unusual behavior.  And then of course these are considered to be problems and we expect a cure.  “Somebody ought to do some magical something and make me well so I don’t have to bother with it.  After all, I’m a victim.  Somebody victimized me.”  So we go to the doctor and he gives us a something or other; but we don’t’ want to change our lifestyle because we’re very busy in this little game of pushing each other’s buttons and always wanting to have it exactly like I want it.  “Now, I don’t mind treating you nice once in a while, but you have a little responsibility to take over and treat me nice and then I don’t have to work at it anymore.” 

Now we looked yesterday that the inner man was a certain bunch of ideas.  The idea that the whole purpose of living was to be non-disturbed, that the ideal way to get it was to complain, then stick up for our rights and blame; and later that we would please everybody and quote the proper authorities and live by them and be different -- which is a conflict.

Now, as long as this is there, would it be reasonable to say that this person is an infant?  Those are all infant conclusions.  Now, they got a grown, beautiful body here with a button board on it that you can walk up and push for control.  Now, would you say then that if I were to expect—now this sounds horrible—but let’s get it straight—I like to live peacefully and clearly and we’re not putting anybody down including me, ok? 

But if you had any of these things called relationships, would you probably be in a much better position if you said, “Well, what I expect out of him is that he will be an infant with a grown body and a little technical education of some sort or other.”  That’s what you’d expect sooner or later to start all these.  So if you wanted the relationship to run well, who’s responsible for it?  If you say that 100% on your part then you could have it any way you want it.  “Well, I don’t want it that way, I want him to be…”  But I’m expecting something that the ordinary person in the world will never do. 

So if I were to expect that everybody I associated with was going to behave sooner or later (usually sooner) as an infant with a grown body and a technical education, would I ever be disappointed?  Now I would have a number of pleasant surprises in a lifetime—not too many of a week—but in a lifetime I’m liable to come up with a few pleasant surprises.

Now, I never objected to having a pleasant surprise, did you?  Now, it’s nice to meet one that didn’t have all this arrangement and was not an infant; I would be pleasantly surprised,

(Right.)

But I have no grounds to expect that.  Now, I can take one of these over here and if I see what it is and I enjoy pleasant, harmonious surroundings, I can add it.  But who’s responsible for having it?  I take care of it and I can have that all the time.  But you see, sooner or later most of us get up and say, “Well, I’m just tired of taking care of it all the time.  I don’t see why he doesn’t do it part of the time anyway.”  But you’re wasting your “why doesn’t he” because they’re not going to do it.  Because if you push that “responsibility” button I’m telling you there is a mighty noise goes up out of that machinery.  It goes “bing, bang, boom, boom”, wheels clank, sparks fly and it reads, “Tilt” in one big hurry.  Did you ever play a pinball machine—the old ones?  Do you know what happens when you hit the wrong button? 

Continued............

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