Workshop - “Whitney ‘88” – Lake Whitney, TX 1988 - Part 3
Verbatim Transcript: 6 CDs
The following is as close a verbatim transcript as is possible.
Dr. Bob’s laid-back “Kentucky-ese” is retained –
we have neither corrected his grammar, dialect, pronunciation
nor taken it upon ourselves to change his words.
Audience (laughter) is noted; he was a master at keeping the mood up!
Audience participation is (parenthesized) and separated from his words.
Emphasized words by the speaker are in italics.
If the words were unintelligible, there’s a blank: “_________.”
[Anything that offers clarity to the reader is italicized inside brackets.]
CD 5 of 6 “Lake Whitney, TX 1988”
...wonderful and do. So, do we have to go around assigning cause or blame, which is only a way to escape responsibility? Now, you don't escape it; you only kid yourself that you are not responsible. Hmm?
So somethin' happened to me 10 years ago. Is that affecting me today? Not unless I wanna sit and dwell on it as a way to prove I'm not responsible. I'm responsible for how I feel today and whatever happened to me 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years ago has nothin' to do with it. Hmm? I could a went on further and said 70 and 80 years ago. It has nothin' to do with it – nothin'. Whatever's happened is history, it's dead and gone. But do you have to assign blame? Okay, Lela?
(How do I forget about Raymond going out with Gloria Savala 25 years ago?) (laughter)
Well, I would say it probably doesn't matter who he went out with 25 years ago. Is he goin' out with her now?
(No, he's not. But you know that I have a brain cell impression of that!)
Well naturally, then you pamper it every day of the world, keepin' it around.
(How do I erase it?)
I'm glad he went out with somebody before he went with you. He wouldn't appreciate you near as much. (laughter) See, if he hadn't ever went out with another girl and knew nothin' about another girl, could he appreciate you?
(No.)
Well, good, I'm glad he went, honey, so let's be thankful he went out with… what was her name, Gloria?
(How do I erase it?)
Oh, you don't erase it unless you get old and have Alzheimer's disease (laughter) and I don't wanna wish that on nobody. Thank goodness I have a memory. Thank goodness I can remember when I was a kid; but all it does is that I can read a history book. So you read a history book and be thankful that he went out with other girls and found you the most desirable, okay? So he's kept you for all these 25 years.
(But I think well, what if...)
What if, what if, what if. What if he decides today, “Well, I better have kept old Gloria and he heads off for her?”
(Right!)
Well, in a case like that, I guess he's demonstrated pretty well so far he likes you better, Amelia, huh? And if he’d a wanted Gloria, he'd a went after her. Maybe Gloria wouldn't have him. (laughter) I don't know. Maybe you got him by default. So what. (laughter) But, anyway you got him, huh? And he's been around for umpteen years takin’ good care of you, treatin' you like a princess.
(Right.)
Well I think...I'm thankful he had somebody to compare you to, Amelia. You know I'd rather have you than Amelia obviously, okay? Aren't you glad he had somebody to compare you to and see how more wonderful you were?
(I don't know.) (laughter)
If he hadn't a ever had anybody… What if he runs into Gloria, he probably thinks she's prettier than I am.
(I worry about that.)
Right. Amelia, when we want somethin' to worry about and make ourselves miserable, nobody can keep us from it. (laughter). You have my permission to make yourself miserable any day of the week. I'll give you permission to do it even. I sure wouldn't try to erase your memory. I have run into a few of those folks that don't have a memory. Have you?
(No.)
Well I have – literally! They used to call it senility, now that's a dirty word because senior citizens are super so now it's called Alzheimer's disease. We got a guy to blame it on. Old Alzheimer described it and so everybody's gettin' it now. Okay? So at any rate, I wouldn't wish that on you for nothin'. Is that right? So I don't want you to erase nothin' off of your pretty little brain, nor forget it. I just want you to reevaluate it as to how nice it is that he picked you instead of old Gloria, okay? Where's Gloria now?
(Gloria.)
Where is she now?
(In Odessa, Texas.)
Well good. She's stuck in Odessa and you live in Dallas. So good deal, you're doin' all right, honey. So everything's in good shape. Huh?
(I know it's ridiculous.)
Well then, but honey, you gotta have some ridiculous things to do, so do that one. (laughter) That shows that you're not all too serious, okay? So I’d fret over that a lot if I were you. First thing I got up of a mornin' I would go through the Gloria soap opera script for a few minutes. That's just a script in a soap opera you got there. So ever mornin' when you get up, do the Gloria script for a few minutes so you're free to do it. Don't sit around and try to make it go away. You're free to think of old Gloria anytime you want to, okay? What's she doin' these days?
(Havin' a wonderful life of her own.)
And I doubt if she's worryin' because Amelia got that guy either. Huh? She could care less. Okay, so you go ahead and fret yourself; but be free to do it. You have never been free to think about Gloria.
(No.)
Well let's do it freely and on purpose and then you'll find out what happens. You see, when you quit blamin', you quit givin' Gloria power. But, you've been givin' her power over you because you blamed her for goin' out with your husband one time years ago, is that right?
(Lots of times.) (laughter)
I don't care if it was five years and he went with her every day, okay?
(Okay.)
I tell pretty ladies, look I'm not interested in bein' first in your life, but it’s nice to be last. Okay, that's a good line, honey. Okay? Huh?
(I'm free to.)
Think about Gloria all you like to and you're glad you're last instead of first, okay? Good.
(Okay.)
Good, not we got that straightened around. You can have that. You're perfectly free to do it and you don't have to try to run from it. You've been tryin' to run from that thought for years and it pursues you over and over and over, is that right? Okay. Okay, now we'll have questions about assigning blame or cause to something and thereby giving it power over you. You assign that this one little episode that he was out with Gloria has sure interfered with your life and you have given it tremendous power by tryin' to forget it, is that right? It was the fly in the ointment that upset your life a bit. Is that right? And you blamed it, assigned it “cause” of you havin' these terrible thoughts. And therefore you have given it power.
And Gloria has never thought of givin' it power, so she's forgotten all about it and Raymond's forgotten all about it. Only you are fiddlin' around with it, givin' it power every day. Now if you get up every mornin' and say come on we're gonna think about Gloria, we're gonna paint us some terrible pictures in my head – every mornin' you're gonna do that – pretty soon you will cease to give it power and you can't even find it. But you won't forget it, thank goodness, until you have Alzheimer's disease, which we pray you never do, Amelia. Okay?
(Mexicans don't get that.)
No. (laughter) Somebody said you don't get “malo en la cabeza” or nothin', okay? That right? Okay, let's have another question now that Amelia has entertained us all well with a nice soap opera that she's been runnin' privately every year for 25 years. And it has no season. It's not just a few months a year, it's the whole year, is that right? That's her private soap opera, okay? Now she's gonna run it until she gets bored with it. Okay? All right next question, comment? Okay let's all go to lunch. [someone raises their hand] You're too late. (laughter) I beat you to it. Okay, go ahead, I'll...
(Well, how about the reverse when someone tries to lay blame on you?)
I say thank you. I didn't know I had all that power. Thank you.
Anybody wants to give me power, I'll take it. So, lay all your blame on me,
cause I'll accept it with the greatest of ease
because I like having power.
(In other words we don't have to worry about processing it and going through all...)
Aw, I wouldn't give it a thought. Somebody says, “You made me angry.”
I say, “Boy, I got power, haven't I? I can control you. That's wonderful. I like it! (laughter) What else you gonna give me? Blame me some more.”
(What if they say they’re afraid of you?)
Well, I hear that every day of the world and I say thank goodness. Scared to death of me. They think I'll bite or somethin', but that's all right, I don't care what it is, if they're afraid of me, they're giving me power. They're saying I'm a powerful individual. I never turn it down. I'll take anything you wanna offer – power, money, fame, whatever. Whatever you got, I'll take it. Okay? Next question, comment? Yes, doctor?
(Does it have to be about blame. Let's say....)
No, it can be about anything.
(Let's say for instance that we follow your instructions about giving freedom and everything and by the way when we ask a question, do we get on the tape also?)
Oh, yeah.
(Good.) (laughter)
You're on here, front and center.
(So, if we follow your instructions and we get free of all our blame and we take responsibility and we get freedom, do you have another program that tells us how to enjoy this freedom?)
Along with the resistance you're gonna continue to get day in and day out. Well, if I can't enjoy freedom, I don't know what it would take to get me to have enjoyment unless by insisting that this world is a veil of tears. And I'm only passin' through. Thank God I'll get out before long.
(Is there a program whereby we can, for instance, set up a community of people whereby we can all agree to enjoy this freedom very nicely and is there any....)
Aw, you're being idealistic and forget about communes and all those things. And don't try to save the world. It don't need any savin'. It's a wonderful school room and I have no programs. Somebody starts talkin' to me about a program and I say let's forget the programs. Those are political terms. Now, all the politicians has got a program to build a utopia if you'll just elect me. Course, what that utopia turns out to be is increased taxes and more repression. Okay? And that's what any commune turns out to be. Somebody's gotta be in charge of it and they get there and now we got an arrogant boss. They had one up in Oregon not too long ago you probably heard about and arrogance got all over the place and blowed the whole thing up. I will not help you.
I told you I would work with you on gettin' sick people to enjoy themselves; but I won't help you start any commune, okay? Period. And there's not gonna be no community of elect.
I want to live here with all the folks that's on the planet Earth
cause they're either a teacher or they're a student – every one of em.
I will describe to you in detail sometime how teaching is done; and part of the teaching is you have a degree team and they go around and do like most of the people in the world are, so they're all the “D Team” and I wouldn't wanna run off somewheres where we didn't have a D Team. We're only tryin' to be non-disturbed again and you're not gonna be non-disturbed on planet Earth. I said that's the one point I want to get across. You're not gonna have to be miserable; but you're gonna have some discomfort, okay?
Misery is when you're trying to escape discomfort.
That's really where misery comes from. When we're trying to avoid a little discomfort, then we make ourselves miserable. Okay? One more question? Okay. Now we'll go to lunch. I will see you at 2 o'clock. We will try to have somethin' to talk about. (clapping.)
[after lunch]
Let's have a little word this afternoon. Gonna have a word. We said we'd talk about “Initiation”. I've never talked about Initiation in a group before. I have to a few individuals. So you’re gettin' a number one.
So first off we're gonna see what kind of people populate the world pretty well. So, we will draw our favorite picture, the Picture of Man, first. There is always four aspects of the things. So we're always doin' somethin', so that's Function stickin' off down there. Always doin' somethin' – eatin', sleepin', sittin' still, movin' about, doin' all the things, whatever you wanna do, but you're always doin' somethin' – there's always a Function, okay? When you quit functioning, they call that bein' dead. Totally. That's it. We also know that everybody has a Physical Body. We can see that sittin' around everwheres, all over the place, no two of which are alike, but they're all wonderful. And everyone of us has some sort of Awareness. In technical books it's called “irritability”. You can irritate you a little bit and you notice it. You feel that, okay? So you're aware that you're irritable.
And there is somethin' we call Life. Now whatever that is, nobody can give us a good description, I don't believe… definition, but we can all tell when it's there and when it's not, whether it's in human, or animal, or plant or whatever, you can tell when it's dead. Is that right? Don't have to have any technical education tell you when somethin's dead, do you? So you can see a plant and it's dead and another one over there and you say it's alive. Now, whatever that is we refer to as X. They told me when I was goin' to school somewheres that if you knew somethin' existed, but didn't know what it was yet, that was X – in math. So, we'll just use it here.
Now we all live in an Environment and we receive various impressions from the environment and everything we have in the awareness of the environment we have a Feeling about. Feeling may be I like, I dislike, comfortable, uncomfortable, whatever. Life function, X, whatever it may be does the appropriate thing. It gives the proper information to the physical body to do a certain thing. And that is the Function. And this is the way the whole thing works. It's not very complicated, it works real easy.
If I stick a finger up here, say I want to wiggle it, I haven’t the foggiest which little muscles I'm usin' to do that, but it just does it real fine – there’s no sweat. If I wanna say I'm gonna stand here – now that’s practically an impossible thing from one of these loose jointed things all the way up and down that it’ll stand up, but here I am standing. I don't know how I'm doin' it. But if this should take a walk [refers to X], it's movin' on and left this body, I'll guarantee you it won't stand up. It'd go pluup right on down there. And suddenly, no fiddlin' around about it, it's gone. And there's no way you're gonna prop it up. It won't stand there.
So, we have all those little functions. And most of us went out and got a little bite to eat a while ago, okay? Now then it's being converted into human flesh and blood. That's pretty good stuff. I don't know what you eat and it doesn't matter. But it wasn't human flesh and blood, I'll guarantee you that – nobody in town is sellin' that today. And it's gonna be that before very long in human energy. X knows what to do with it. You had a feeling about the food, you eat it. You had a feeling about that. X does the appropriate thing down here in the physical body and the function of digestion and the assimilation is already goin' on. And you don't have to give it a thought one, right?
Now, all this would work just wonderful if it was left like that. But in the process of being born we screwed it up. We decided that the whole purpose of living was to regain that non-disturbed state we had a little while ‘fore we got born. That would be wonderful. So that become the prime mover over here. So then we decided that first, of course, all we wanted to do was be non-disturbed, just be comfortable and that is it. But once we got here, we found that being comfortable wasn't quite enough. We needed to have a few sensations to give us pleasure. We found one or two of those right quick that was pleasurable sensations.
So we wanted more and better and different. And then we found out that if not only on the physical level did I need pleasure and comfort and escape those unpleasant sensations I didn't like called pain – that's what disturbed us, you know – that I wanted attention and I wanted to escape being ignored. Now you notice that somewheres you may go, maybe you go in a restaurant and sit down and they ignore you. They don't bring you a menu nor a glass of water or anything else. They just ignore you. How do you feel about that? Your husband comes home and sticks his nose in the paper or turns on the boob tube and doesn't look at you. That don't go over very well either does it, Barbara? No, cause you're being ignored.
Now, first you can say anything to a child, you can call it about anything, just give it attention. But pretty soon you better say the proper thing or it will cry again. So you must have approval and escape all disapproval. Just sayin' no sometimes is a disapproval and the child doesn't like that. So now we have three ways to gain pleasure and three ways to escape pain. Then as we get a little older, we want a certain amount of appreciation – a lot more than we get – and to escape feeling inferior because nobody gives me any appreciation. I hear an awful lot of people come in and tell me they have an inferiority feeling or an insecurity feeling. Did you ever have one of those?
(Oh, yes.)
You have? Okay. You're more honest than the people here this mornin'. They all said they didn't have it. So once we got that set up, then we found ways to try to obtain it – infantile ways to try to obtain the Four Dual Basic Urges, okay? The first one we found out about, which the baby found out very quickly, was to complain. Now complainin' worked pretty well for about a couple years. You know a baby cries, everybody drops everything to try to get it to stop cause that's the most unpleasant sound in the world, is that right? Makes sirens sound comfortable or anything else. So if a baby cries, you do what? Try to make it quiet, hmm? You try to get it to shut up, is that right? Cause you wanna be comfortable and that's an uncomfortable feelin' so the baby found out it works real well. Now that's an infantile approach to bein' comfortable. Now, I could ask the question here, which I won't be so rude as to do, how many of you complained in the last 24 hours? Now, you answer it to yourself. I won't ask you to em-bare-ass yourself by sayin' I have been. Okay? So we got that one.
Now there's some people are habitual complainers, as you well know. You've been around em, is that right? They never quit. You say, it's a beautiful day and "Yeah if it wasn't quite so damn much wind." That was a nice rain we had last week. "Well I guess you could say that; but my hay was out so it wasn't any nice to me." And it goes on and on and on. You could carry it any way you want to. You could say that was a nice restaurant we went to. "Yeah, but it sure was expensive." And we can go on.
So then the next one we come up with is you started stickin’ up for your rights. Now, little Heather's four, but she kinda sticks up for her rights and her rights is to do what she very well pleases right now. Is that right, Bekki? She's got that goin' and I could say how many of you've been a little ticked off because things wasn't just like you wanted it. I won't ask that question either, but you can answer it.
And then, of course, as we got about two or three years old, our folks got about all they could do with that so they started demanding that we please them instead of just doin' everything we wanted to do, so we got into the state that I'd better please em, cause it's damned uncomfortable if I don't. So okay, so we decided it's important to please them. So you all know pleasers, but they don't like doin' it; they just do it 'cause they're afraid not to, hmm? Ever see that workin'? You never tried it, but I know… you've seen other folks do it, right?
(Few times.)
Few times. Now that brings a split into the Awareness. It done broke it up now, split it apart. When you got a split, you gotta have a Chooser. So now we got a fragmented Awareness. It's not a nice one thing anymore, it's fragmented. So if I come along and the Chooser says well let's give it to the Complainer, this is really bad today. So we bitch and this guy comes up in a minute and makes you feel guilty. Well that's an unpleasant feelin', so I decide I'll do it this way the next time. So I try to please the people even though that's not what I wanna do; and then I feel sorry for myself because I don't ever get to do anything I want to do. I just have to do what they want me to do all the time. I hear that little sound quite frequently. Somebody says I don't ever get to do anything I want to do, I just have to do what the family wants me to do all the time and I slave my fingers to the bone over a hot stove all day and nobody appreciates it and blah, blah, blah, blah. It's okay. So now we’ve got a fragmented thing and everybody tries to train us up in the way we ought to go, you know, so we won’t embarrass the family.
So now they take us down and show us the policeman and show us the schoolteacher and they show us the preacher and they show us all these other people that says you gotta do as they say or you're not very good. So we decide to believe and do as we are told by our authorities – my authorities. Mine might be quite different from what yours are. Okay? So we got that.
And again this goes on tryin' to either do as authorities said or stick up for my rights. Now we got this goin’ – we feel in conflict all the time. So then we decide by listenin' to the authorities that we ought to improve ourselves. Now, I don't know how you improve a human being. Maybe you put another arm on em or maybe you put another leg on somewheres if you can find a place that'll fit. Maybe another head would do; but you know you look kind of funny with two heads. So we're stuck in… so we just try to improve our behavior accordin' to what this one said. But how do you improve your behavior? Do you know? You can read Miss Manners’ column. That'll do all right for one day, but you forget it the next. People in the self-improvement business, that's the greatest selling set of books there is, is self-improvement. If you wanna make money in the book business write self-improvement books, not pretties. Okay? Forget about the pretties. There's very few customers buy those and everybody buys the self-improvement books.
And then we find the blamers. They're constantly sittin' out and tellin' you what caused all the difficulty. It's the national debt, it's the IRS, it's the Republicans, it's the Democrats, it's oh, who knows. It's somethin' out there, you know. So they know what's to blame for everything. Now there's people hung in each one of those.
Now we'll talk about what the “Initiation” is now. This is necessary to see what we're gonna talk about a little bit. So all of you are very familiar with this picture and so obviously you'll have no trouble recalling it. So the Initiation deal is that in a concentrated area, say this room, we close off all the windows and everything, got it dark in here, got drapes on there, and then we start in to tell you about all the wonderful things you're gonna do in this world. So you're gonna be a Teacher now, you're gonna demonstrate to people....Life. Okay? Now it is a demonstration and that's all it is. It's the demonstration that we have a perfect school goin' on around us at all time. Now, most people think a school is somethin' that you get off here in the woods somewheres and get a very isolated place and you got a bunch of dedicated students – students I said – and you're goin' out there and you're gonna teach em and we're gonna live happily ever afterwards like fairy tales.
But here's what the Initiation is. It says you won’t look at the whole world and see that it's a great school, so we're gonna give you a concentrated school. So we set you up one. Now first thing is necessary in the school is that there is somebody who knows what it's all about. So we'll call that person a Teacher just for funnies. Might as well call him somethin' else; but you could call him an “Initiator” – he or she or whatever it is, doesn't matter. But we'll call it a Teacher here, okay?
So now the Teacher has to have certain people available in order to operate a school. Number A) under this thing is a Student – a student. You may have two, but more than likely the whole show is put on for the benefit of one person – a person who is no longer carried away with tryin' to complain, stick up for their rights. They've kinda caught on that the Four Dual Basic Urges don't work. They just kinda caught on to it, okay? So this person is gonna be a great big show put on for this. It may go on for five years, it may go on for five hours, doesn't matter; but this is a demonstration that's gonna be put on. So first you gotta have a student or you can't have a school. Okay? Teacher's gonna run a school. So in the first things is a student – one or more, but two or three would be unusual. So it's usually one. Sometimes two, three.
Next you're gonna have a representation of the world. Now remember we're gonna take this big number out here and bring it down into a small size so that you can pay attention to it.
Some things are too big to pay attention to and some things are too small to see,
is that right? You gotta get a microscope or somethin' in order to see it. Now we want one that's concentrated down into a size that you can observe it workin', okay? So one, you got the student. That's nobody but the Teacher knows which one that is.
You gotta have some people around. Now we're gonna call this first one that's down here a B) Patient – that's the Complainer. So we got Complainers – one or more. Gotta have a full time Complainer. That's what a patient is, somebody that's complainin', isn't it? And they're very patiently waiting for it to get over with. So we call em Patients, but they're really just a Complainer of some sort or other. So you got that one there.
C) You gotta have some Clients. Now clients are people who come around and pay you for doing certain things for em, is that right? You got clients that want an airplane suddenly for some foreign place, is that right? They're clients. Couldn't operate your business without the clients, is that right? So every one of us, you gotta have clients, huh?
(You bet.)
I gotta have clients somewheres. I got all kinds of different ones, but I've gotta have a client or I can't get along. So maybe we'll have several Clients – that's people who buy services.
And D) you've got to have some Curiosity Seekers. They're people who go to meetings (lots of laughter) and they wanna find out some great secret that's supposed to be hidden away and that only I will know it and then I can go tell it that I got something you don't have. So you gotta have a few of these folks around.
And (E) you gotta have a Team. Now the Team is the one that goes around and tells you what won't work and what will work and what won't work and they find fault with about everything that's bein' done. It couldn't be done better and if they were allowed to run it... You've been around those, haven't you? No matter what they are. You can open you up a restaurant and you hire a bunch of people. There's one in there that says you don't know anything about it, you oughta have different on the menu. It oughta be this, it oughta be a different price and we oughta have a different cook and the food oughta be cooked different and blup, blup, blup, blup. They're trying to knock down whatever the operator is tryin' to do – whatever it is. It's just their nature. They are the world out here.
You say well, you're gonna start a certain kind of a... make a certain product. They'll tell you nobody on earth won't need that. Is that right? And it is very few people want beaded up shoes; but if they did, they can't afford em. And you wouldn't make 10 cents an hour by makin' em anyway. Blah blah blah blah blah, here they go.
Now, the only thing that's different here than the everyday world, is that we concentrated it so you can begin to see it. We put it in size. Now you know that if you're tryin' to look at a virus, you haven't got a microscope powerful enough to find it today, is that right? You can peer in there until your eyes cross and you won't see one, huh? You might see a bacteria, but the little viruses is plup plup, “I'm invisible.” But he can show you he can do some great things.
So in order to look at things, we have to get the idea of scale. So now we'll put it all in this room. I've made a model of the world. I didn't say the Earth. I said the world. That's a bunch of people in it okay? I've made me a model, I've put it all here in this room or I've put it in a group of buildings and we call it a school and we get as many of theseas we can. We get quite a number of these. They don't matter. And one or more of these, and this one here we gotta have the Curiosity Seekers around. We charge them, too. They come around. And the Team.
Now, the Team we usually don't have to pay because they're just doin' their own thing. They don't even know what's goin' on. They're just gettin' free food and free meals and a place to sleep or somethin’ there; but they're there doin' their number, which they do no matter where. Now the only thing, we chose em out for their particular skills. Some bitchers are better than others, you know. And they bitch all day and they bitch about this and this school isn't any good, you know, we should be goin' to that place over in India. And we should really have a commune so we can get out and do somethin' here and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera this goes on. Now we have made a scale model of the world. That's all we've done.
Now, the Teacher don't have to do much of anything except act like he's around. Everybody's doin' his number for em. And finally when you've had em there long enough, you begin to let one or two in on it – that's the students only. They're the only ones that gets to know about it. Now they're called “Initiated” then because they can see how the world works. Certain times you begin to see no matter how big this is, you can live in this village of 40 people or we can get you into a town of 500 or we can get you into a ten thousand little town or we can get you in a 20,000 town or you can go to New York City into the millions. It's still exactly the same thing goin' on. Okay? Now, you wouldn't change it for nothin' on Earth.
I wouldn't run from it cause nobody would learn anything if you took everbody out and got nothin' but lovely people who never acted up in one iota, didn't act out the Picture of Man and be the Team or the Curiosity Seekers or the Clients or Patients and the Complainers. Or you could have a Student now and then. Now then, you wouldn't change anything. You just realize that this world is workin' just lovely, like it was designed to do because it's an overgrown Initiation Ceremony goin' on at all times – out here, everywheres goin'. And so the only thing is, you can't see it usually when it's too big to see, hmm? You can't see the whole Earth. You just see little spatches of it here and there. You can't get a picture of the whole thing in your head. But if you get it off into a proper size or you get back far enough from it to look at it, you're gonna see it's the blue planet, or you shrink it down to a globe about so big around and you can get a good look at it.
Now, all the school is, is takin' out a workable sample of everything and puttin' it in a scale model that you can stand and look at the whole thing all at one time. Now we can start doin' that right now. We can look at the whole thing. Would you find all of these people today before you get through the day? You'll find them all. Maybe you wouldn't recognize the student; but you could be that if you begin to recognize all these people out here doin' their number in the everyday world, you have become a student right then and there.
Now, as long as you're just goin' along with these, you're not. You're just bein' one of these actors in this Initiation Ceremony. Nobody's gonna pay you for it. I'll guarantee you that. But you can be an actor or a part of it or you can be the student because now you're seeing what's goin' on out here. Now you have any trouble convertin' that back to full size from this scale model? Hmm? I can take you to downtown Lake Whitney. Bonanza Station, isn't it? It's goin' on down there. I can take you to Whitney which is a little bit bigger. It's goin' on there. We can go over to Hillsboro, which is still a little bit bigger. It's goin' on there. Take you to Waco, it's a little bigger. It's goin' on there and take you to San Antone. It's goin' on there. We'll go back up to Dallas, Fort Worth area. It's goin' on there, full tilt. We can go to Houston. We can go to New York City, it's doin' the same thing. If you catch on the glimpse of it, you can see it no matter where you go and you realize
I don't need to save the world.
It is the most glamorous, well-put-together Initiation Ceremony goin' on anywhere
and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
Okay? Any questions? Clear as mud, huh? Okay.
(Can one person play several roles on that? Like there can be a complainer who's also a client and also –)
Oh yeah, they might act it out, but at any given moment, they're doin' their thing. And if I just look around a little bit to gather up my crew, I'll get the ones that stay pretty close into their own thing all the time. It takes a little effort to gather my crew. Okay? And I have gathered several crews and it's not real hard, but it takes a little time and a little considerin' to get the whole crew to put on an Initiation. And you never tell anybody what you're doin'. You just go ahead and do it. Yes?
(I guess what I wanted to just go a little further about what you were saying, at some point can you move up the scale? I mean, hopefully you don’t be at that same level forever and ever and ever.)
Well then, more than likely you change if you begin to see what's goin' on, you become a Student. You don't jump around amongst these, but you can go from any one of those to bein' a Student – a real student because when you begin to see what's goin' on, you have started being a Student. Okay. Now you've started to learn. Before then you were just reacting, okay? But when you can see this is what's goin' on, on planet Earth you have then become a Student. And somebody'll help you put on a whole show for your benefit so that you can see it all, okay? Does that answer your question? Yes. Yes, sir….
(What's the....other than me making money, what would be the point of it changing hands?)
What's the point of money changin' hands? So I get some of it once in a while. (laughter)
(Is that the only point?)
More or less. No, I'm taking care of clients. I'm givin' a service and basically only reason that I would get any funds comin' my way is because I've given a service. Is that right?....product or a service. And the product is of course for the service to somebody. So the only reason for doin' that is that you are giving a human service. I don't know much else reason for livin' ever' day is less you're providing a little human service. Most any of those are doin' a good job. They all deserve to receive a certain income. Yes?
(Did I understand you to say you don't jump around between “B”, “C”, “D”, and “E”? That you're basically one –)
Most of the time you stay in one, pretty habitually, yeah. Most of the time I ....the people I'm lookin' for when I want to put on the demonstration don't jump much. They're pretty consistent. Even in the every day world out here when it's in the big size, they do a little up and down into the other one a wee bit; but basically they have a habitual home base. Complainers complain, honey, no matter what. The people is always tryin' to put everything down, put it down. That's all there is to it. They're puttin' anything and everything down – doesn't matter what. You say this is a beautiful building and they say, well it should a had a ceiling in it. You say I'm enjoying this and they say, well it's too simplistic, and it really should have some deeper stuff in it. And you say well what'd you consider to be deeper? Well, different from what it is. One walked up to me down in L.A. the other day and said, “I teach this kind of stuff, but mine is on a deeper level.” I said, “How deep is it?” (laughter) Yeah.
(If you're a client that means you're always looking for something or ...)
Oh yeah, you're buyin' if you're curious, you're pretty there. Now I'm sayin' this one here I'm pickin' these people. I can pick those you know. Now, in the everyday world on a much bigger scale that we're tryin' to make a model of, people will vary a little bit. But basically the client is always feelin’ they'd be much happier if they had whatever.
You see we have Four Great Professions in the world, okay? We have Theology, Healing Arts, Power Politics and Big Business. Now ever one of em got somethin' to sell you. Is that right? And you can buy it.
[End of CD 5]
CD 6 of 6: Whitney, TX 1988
....the appropriate thing, why you're “in” if you buy from the Power Politics ideas. You are “normal” if you purchase enough of the Healing Art. You're “good” if you purchase enough Theology to that particular group. And if you buy all the things you're supposed to buy, then you'll be pretty – your car is the newest one off the line. Eighty-eights are already gettin' kind of shabby. Eighty-nine's are pretty, right? Fiddle around and buy clothes that's two-years old – for goodness sakes, how silly can you get! You gotta have the proper furniture, you gotta have the proper cosmetics, you gotta have the proper hair style in order to be pretty. So yes, there's a lot of people that will buy every bit of that right down the line, okay? And basically you don't have to look very hard.
So first off let's go out and look and see if you can't see these things goin' on in the everyday world, okay? Yes ma'am?
(The client then would say, “I’ll be happy when”?)
Yeah. If you'll do so and so for me. If you'll make me rich and famous. There's a book down on the desk downstairs I notice is somethin' about makin' money or whatever and that's probably the best sellin' book you got in the house. Is that right? Anybody in here...how 'bout that? What's the name of the book?
(“How to Make Money”)
“How to Make Money.” I'll bet you sell more of those than any other book you got in the house.
(We just started circulating it.)
Okay. It’s goin' around. Everybody wants to know how to do that.
(The Student is the one who has become aware and has _____.)
Who?
(The Student is the one who has become aware.)
None of these are workable, but don't know what is. So now they can begin to learn when they begin to see it, yes. When you can see these things goin' on and recognize each of these categories of performers in this performance as being celebrations being put on, they begin to recognize. Then they're really a Student, yes. They begin to understand the world and what's in it. And they develop a far different attitude than somebody who wants to contend with each one of these or be one of em, okay? This is Initiation. Yes, sir.
(I didn't quite get what the Team was.)
You didn't get what?
(What is the Team?)
The Team is the ones that puts everything down. They write newspapers. They put on colleges and universities. They put on all sorts of things. The Team is those which goes around and tells you that whatever you come up with it won't work. Did you ever meet one of those?
(Yeah. Whereas, the Complainers just complain about everything?)
Oh, the Complainer just complains about all things that's happenin’ to him or her. They all complain about what you're doin' and about your deal – they’re just complainin' about how unfortunate they are. You know… so good old self-pity, what-have-you, okay? If you can recognize all this, then you change from bein' one of those. You’ve stepped out of the category there and moved into being a Student, okay? And if you’re a Student you'll be at it for the rest of your life far as I know. I've been at it 50 some odd years and I'm still busy at it everyday; but I do recognize what's goin' on a little bit, okay? That's simple enough. I don't find fault with Complainers. I don't find fault with the Team. I don't find fault with the Clients. I don't find...in fact I'm thankful for all of em. I make a fairly good livin' by havin' em, okay? If I didn't have em, I’d be up a tough way, scared along. Okay? Comment? Fault find it, knock it down, cut it over. Some of the Team’s here, so goodness sake (laughter) get with your job, lads, get with it. Tell me that's too shallow. You oughta get it on a deeper level.
(Is the Teacher X?)
It plays the part of...but he's not...but he plays the part of X. Yes, Bobbie.
(We didn’t ask for a definition of what Curiosity Seekers were versus Students.)
Who wanted to know what?
(What's the difference between a Curiosity...)
Oh, Curiosity Seekers wants to have a conversation subject. They really could care less what about what's goin' on, they just wanna have some new material to talk about. You know there's certain objects sold in stores that's called conversation pieces like you couldn't have nothin' to talk about unless you had one of em? (laughter) Haven't you seen those? They bring a good price – conversation pieces. They're nice, okay? So the Curiosity Seeker is lookin' for somethin' to talk about or somethin' to be better that you are. If I could just have that, then I would be the rooster that got on top and crowed, not the one that was down, okay? The Student is open to learn.
The Student has to say, “I don't know.”
The Curiosity Seeker knows if they could find so-and-so, a good subject to talk about, they'd be all right. So the Student is far different. They say I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. Okay? Simple enough. You can't teach anything by demonstration, words, or any other wise to a person who already knows – cup’s full; you can't put anymore in there, it runs out. That all right, Bobby? You can't teach anybody that knows everything. I know a bunch of those. Anymore questions on this, I'll take it all. Yes.
(Dr. Bob, you say you’re a student?)
Huh?
(You’re a student.)
Oh yeah, I'm a Student and gonna remain that way from now on.
(Who's the Teacher?)
Well, we'll find him one of these days. (laughter) It's who put it together, okay? Who put this together. So if I should want to play the role, I can play that role, but even then I'm still learnin', okay? I played the role of puttin' all this together a number of times in different places. But I don't consider myself beyond anything else except I've been studying it long enough I know what I oughta put it on, okay? So at that moment I'm playin' the role of a Teacher; but playin' the role of somethin' doesn't make me that. See, I like to cook, but that don't make me a cook, okay? I like to drive a car; but that doesn't make me a driver. I do gobs of things. I sleep every once in a while. That don't mean I'm a sleeper and so on down the line. So you can play a role of a certain thing. When I'm cookin' I'm playin' the role of cook; but that doesn't mean I'm a cook, okay? Does that help answer your question?
(So, when you’re playing one of these [refers to “B” through “E” on the board] this is playing a role, too.)
Well only thing, all of em are unconscious except the first one up at the top. That's the only conscious role there. You gotta have one conscious person who knows what role they're playin'.
(The Student.)
No.
(Teacher.)
Yeah. Student don't even have to know. They just know they're willin' to find out. They don't know and they wanna know and they know they don't know. But the only person that has to be conscious there is the Teacher cause he knows what he's doin' and he's not a Teacher, he's a person who's playin' the role of a Teacher in this particular situation, okay? That answer all right?
(Mm-hmm.)
Okay. That answer yours all right, back there?
(Yes.)
Back there...okay, we'll mark it off. Take this one away. Now we’ve looked into that a wee bit. So, we're gonna put four questions up here that I would like for everybody to take with em wherever they go. You can do whatever you want to with em. Leave em here if you want. [writes on board]
(What is that __)
Okay. That's it.
Four Questions
and they're all valid questions and we don't usually ask those questions. We say why this, why that, why the other thing, huh? Why am I gettin' old? Why am I tired? Why can't I make as much money as she does? I'm smarter that she is. Why does this happen to people? Why do some people get sick and some old reprobates go on and feel good all their life and etceteras. We ask thousands of why questions, none of which has an answer – a valid answer – cause no matter how we answer it, the next question is, “Well, why that?” And that's called a “serial why.” So here's some valid questions.
Now, I think it would be appropriate if we all looked at these questions a few minutes and we took a break for about 10 minutes. And then we come back and our next session is gonna be all your questions about these four questions. They're gonna be your questions about it. Now we'll discuss it until you run out of questions, if it's 10 o'clock tonight or if it's 10 minutes after you get back. But that's the next session is that you're going to ask questions about four valid questions, okay?
[after break]
Questions on these four questions. So start rattlin' your brain together to make a question out of it, okay? Who's got the first one?
(What's the answer to the first one?) (laughter)
You'll have to tell me. I don't know. [he laughs]
What am I?
Well, what do you think you are? You think you're a body? They're not very good usually. They can get disposed of. But I think you're still around when you don't have a body. I think you was there to build one in the first place. Okay? So, what am I? We had a picture of man up there a while ago with things. So one, we said was Essence or whatever is that if it's not here the body don't do nothin' but fall over, is that right? You not aware of anything and so forth; stick pins, needles in it. So we could say that what am I, I am an Essence. Essence could be called Spirit. It can be called a number of things; but let's say that it is the Essence or the Essentials. Now Essence has two functions as I can observe. I think all the rest of us can. It has Motor Function and it has Awareness Function. That right? Correct, Richard?
Now, I'm not the Awareness Function and I'm not the Motor Function. They're things I have. I have Awareness Function that I can tell what's goin' on when I'm payin' attention to it. Right? And I have a Motor Function, which can move and do things, wiggle fingers, or move mountains, or whatever you wanna do. Now, so obviously we are Essence or Spirit and Spirit has a couple of functions. Now you've never seen Spirit runnin' around without a body, I don't think. Have you? Has any of you done that or have you hallucinated that way properly. Hmm? How about you, Barbara?
(Haven't seen one.)
Haven't seen one, have you? Okay. But neither have you seen a body runnin' around without a Spirit. Is that right?
There was a man one time who bought three pounds of lamb to serve to a guest that night. He'd saved up his money and bought this very expensive lamb because it was probably a rack of lamb or somethin' like that. He was going to serve a guest for dinner. His wife who was rather a gluttonous person picked it up through the day, cooked it up and eat it all. There was nothin' for the guest. And when the husband came home to see about preparing dinner for the guest, he said, “Where's the meat?”
She said, “The cat ate it up. The cat got it all.”
So he went and got the cat and he got a pair of scales and weighed the cat. The cat weighed three pounds. And he said, "Now the meat weighed three pounds and one ounces. If this is the cat, where's the meat? And if this is the meat, where the hell’s the cat?” (laughter)
So, you haven't seen Spirit without a body, okay. So Spirit seems to function better with or behave better with its functions. It has two functions – Motor Function and Awareness Function. And I've seen people without much of Awareness Function; you have, too. Maybe been in that state. Maybe somebody give you an anesthetic and you went out. Maybe you drank a lot of booze and went out, or whatever, but, nevertheless you could be a body there with very little, if any, Awareness, right? But the Essence is still showin' there.
So, we haven't seen any Awareness without an Essence. We have not seen a body without Spirit. We've seen em but they're just dead bodies, is that right? So we haven't seen Spirit without a body. But anyway, those are functions. So you all have two functions, as all of us here do. We have Awareness Function and Motor Function. And I like to be in charge of who's gonna use both of those, don't you? I don't think it's appropriate for those actions to take charge of Essence. I think it's supposed to be the other way around. Some man wrote in this book a long time ago. It said it saddened him to see the master in the place of the servant. So Awareness and Motor Function are both servants. But frequently we see they act like the master. Okay? Now we got “what am I?” out there. Now, you talk about “what am I?” I've made all the comment I'm gonna make on it. Okay? Yes sir.
(I am a spiritual being trying to learn how to be human.)
Bein' what?
(Trying to learn how to be human.)
Okay. So that's good. You're a spiritual being trying to function as you think is possible for a human being to function, is that right? I doubt if we've any of us have discovered how a human being could really be, but let's work at it. Okay? All right, yes, Hon.
(I heard a lot of tapes once by some guy and I read a lot of books that said that we were the Awareness Function of X.)
Well, that's just fair enough. That's one thing of sayin' ‘I am’. That's ‘I’ with a… there's two ways to write ‘I’, okay? [grunts] That was a long step. [refers to a couple steps up to the speaker’s platform]
So, I this way answers this word up here. I, like this, answers the tape you’re listening to, okay? Now, we said we hadn't seen Spirit without a Motor Function or an Awareness Function, right? So “I” with quotation marks around it is the Awareness Function of X. “Body” with quotation marks around it is the Motor Function of X – they're both there. And as far as I'm concerned the whole thing is “I” because we can't see these little pieces. If the meat is… if this three pounds is the meat, where's the cat? If this cat is the cat, where's the meat? So, [chuckles] that's the way it works, okay?
(Bob?)
Yeah.
(It seems to me the answers to those you answered in quotes, they’re very elusive to talk about but you can never get it right.)
Well, I expect you're pretty close to right; but at least it's somethin' very intelligent to think about. Okay?
One of the things we wanna know is that we are spiritual creatures, okay, and that the spiritual part of it built an Awareness Function and a Motor Function in order to operate on planet Earth. I don't know anywheres else what takes there: but I do know on planet Earth takes all three of em to do fairly good job. Okay? And the three… or two of em are not things. One is a thing and the other two are functions. Okay, got words to go on yet? Yes, ma'am.
(Am I thought and mind and knowledge?)
Huh?
(Am I thought and mind and knowledge?)
No, I think those are all functions, don't you? I've heard a lot of words like mind and etcetera and I don't know what it means, can you? Can you tell me what it means? And thought – I know about those – those are usually just rattlin', just a lot of things runnin' through. It's like [refers to example in CD 5] “thinkin'” about Gloria. (laughter)
(Now see what you did!) (more laughter)
Brought it all up for you. I said you're perfectly free to think about it. You're free to talk about it, is that right? Free to run it through your head. So what. Now we still goin' I'm just gonna see that it does it every now and then so that you're free to do it. I didn't do nothin’ to you .
(__)
Get everything goin there. Okay? All right take the second question. Seems there's none on the first. Let's try the second one.
What's Goin' on Here?
Well, we're all at a big school where we can learn by observing what's going on when we catch on to what's goin' on. There is a story in the scripture that tells about a great man decided to put on a big feast for his friends. You know he was puttin' on a big party one day. Havin' a big dinner party. So, he had invited all of his equals out there to come to the dinner party. So, when he got the dinner all cooked, the oxen was barbequed and the beans were cooked and the chili was on the stove and everything, he sent his servants out to go tell everybody the dinner is served. Come on over, party's on.
So the first guy one of the servants went to said, "Well I can't come, I just bought a farm and have to go see about it, I gotta check it out. Tell the old man I can't come today."
So the next one he went to said, "I just bought a new John Deere tractor and I got to go try it out." So he took off, he couldn't come.
And another one said, "My dad just died and I gotta go bury the old man, so he'll have to excuse me."
And the next one said. "Well, I just got married. I gotta take my bride on a honeymoon, so you'll have to excuse me." And this went on through a whole series of people. And so they came back, these runners, and said nobody's comin'. They all got excuses.
And it said that the man who was puttin' on the party got wrought up; that means he really got ticked off. And he said, "Look, you cats, go out into the villages and into the byways and down the lanes and bring all those bums in here. They're sleepin' under trees.” You know, the homeless – they've been around a long time. It's not a new phenomena; round for thousands of years. “So go get the homeless and drop them in here. Get the crippled ones. Get the lame ones, get everybody and get em in here cause I'm gonna have this party and we're gonna have it tonight and I wanna have the house full.”
So they went out and brought all these folks in. Now those were our ancestors. We weren't invited to the party because we're not equals. But our ancestors were. They's the ones that got drug in off of the street against their will. They didn't know what was goin' on. Did you ever think how it would be if you were picked up on the street some night and taken to some kind of a party you'd never been to and there was people playin games you didn't know anything about. You'd be in a mess.
One of the games they play is pin the tail on the donkey, only they use a different set of rules. You know the one you've had for the kids to play with, don't you? They blindfold one kid and give him a pin and a donkey tail and all the other kids stand around and gigglin' at how he's huntin' around here and there and can't find the donkey. The way they do it in the big party is they blindfold everybody and give em all a tail and a pin and turn em loose. So those that get poked blame somebody for pokin' em and those that were doin' the pokin' blamin' you for bein in the way. Now if you were settin' up there on one of those rafters and watchin' that, on one of those beams up there and watchin’ this, wouldn't you have a ball? (laughter) Huh? That's where the fun starts. You got em all blindfolded.
Now that's the shape we are on planet Earth. We're all blindfolded and didn't know what's goin' on. We're here and so you get in my way and I get in your way and we can just stew up a storm. So, really what's goin' on here is a big party called “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” where everybody is blindfolded and everybody's got a pin and a tail tryin' to find it. Okay? Hope to get the prize – that's the way it is. Okay now, I've told you the answer to the second one. You're just not doin' very good here today. (laughter)
(What's the third one?)
What's the third one say.
(That's what you asked.)
Well that's all right, we got up on the third one. Now the back one is Where are you? You're at the party. I answered that. I put em both together. You're at a big party and they're playin Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Now the next question is
What Can I Do?
Is that right? That's what's up there. Pull the damn blindfold off and then you can see! (laughter) And you never had such a party in all your life. Just cause somebody stuck a blindfold on you don't mean you gotta leave it there, does it?
Pull it off. You got two hands. You got arms, you can pull it off; but nobody gave you permission to pull it off, huh? Pull it off. That simple enough or do you have to have somebody to tell you that now you can take your blindfold off, huh? If I'm stumblin' around in the dark I'm goin' to take the blindfold off. Is that all right? Now would you have a ball watchin' all the rest of em that didn't get permission? Somebody didn't give em permission so they didn't think they could take the blindfold off till somebody tells em. Some official says you can take it off now, huh? You kinda saw the joke, didn't you? [chuckling] In other words I used to tell people that if you really wanna get along in this world, you gotta see the joke. So I just laid the joke out and nobody laughed. You all got a blindfold on, can't see what's goin' on; but nobody told you you can take it off. You're gettin' poked and you're pokin'. You're pokin other people and they get upset with you and you get poked and that hurts. Is that right, Amelia?
(Yes.)
You can take your blindfold off, honey, it's all right. Then you can see what's goin' on here. So we can go at it another while. I'll give you another version of the same story if you'd like. I'm a privileged invited guest – regardless of which part of me is talkin', okay? I'm a privileged invited guest on planet Earth where Life is the Host. Anybody got any complaint with that part of the answer? Hmm? I'm a privileged invited guest on planet Earth where Life is the Host.
Next question is “Where am I?” I'm on beautiful planet Earth and I find it beautiful no matter where I've looked unless I'm comparin' it to some mythical picture on the top of my head. Okay? Otherwise it's all good. It's a beautiful place. And a fantastic Host must have prepared it for us cause when I arrived here I found it well equipped for me, a little human. There was food brought from all corners of the earth here. There was means of transportation. There was shelter for me. There was food for me. There was interesting things to do as soon as I could look at them – I've always had interesting things to do. I've had a place to live in of some sort or other at all times. Have you? Right. And for the first few years of my life, I had a couple of slaves to look after me. Huh? And so forth. So you had everything you'd want; it was well equipped for you. So, obviously it's a party and you were invited to it and it had everything prepared for you to be there like the man that was puttin' on the big feast. Okay? Had the food all prepared, just come on over kids. But they all had other things to do. So I'm a privileged invited guest at the beautiful planet Earth which was set up as a party for me to enjoy.
Next question is
What's Goin' on Here?
Okay, we're havin' a party. When you go somewhere, you see a bunch of different people runnin' around, they're all playin' games – it's a natural conclusion to assume that it's a party, isn't it? So we're playing all sorts of games. We're playin' business game, marriage game, traffic game, entertainment game – you can go on and on and on – politickin' game. We got all these things goin' on. All these different games. Everybody's playin' em. Very few know what they're doin'. They've been cast in that role; but they gotta play the game because somebody hasn't given em permission to quit if they wanted to. Okay? You've been provided with everything that the Host could provide for you: food, clothing, shelter, transportation, interesting things to do, interesting other people to be around, other guests, huh? But he didn't ask you to check out the guest list. Most of us think we have that occupation. We can find where this guest is not up to par, that one's not up to par. This one – why in the hell did he invite that one for? But nevertheless the Host didn't ask us to take care of that, He just said that it's possible.
So the next question. What can I do? Well simply I can behave as what to me is a good guest. How much simpler could it be? Now, if I play the role of a good guest, I'm doin' fairly well, hmm? I'm not gonna harm you because I never found it to be to my advantage to harm anyone, so I'm not gonna harm you. I'm not gonna try to control you because I have too many other things to do to bother lookin' after you. Okay? I'll be your friend. I will be your companion or whatever; but I'm not gonna try to control you or take charge of you in any way because you are a guest here just like I am. And I'm going to try to make some little contribution to the party, not because I should or ought to but simply as my way of sayin' thank you for bein' here. I'm glad I got invited, aren't you?
Now I'm gonna make some little contribution just simply as a way of saying thank you for inviting me. Okay? Now I've run through the four questions two ways and you still haven't asked a question. Okay?
(Let’s say this is a big classroom and that I am a Student. Am I being a Student just for the joy of being a Student or is there an aim that Life has?)
I don't know what Life had in mind. I know that the only reason I work at it is because I can see I have a privilege and I'm gonna take advantage of it, okay? I have a very great privilege. So it's a great gift and I frequently say, “Why neglect so great a gift?” If I have the opportunity I'm gonna take it, okay? That to me is a great privilege and I like all the privileges I have. I'm gonna do the best to my ability to maintain them, enhance them, and get some more. Okay? Not because I'm entitled to it. Because it's a gift, I can do it. Okay, Richard?
(Okay… If a person is tired of playing “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”…)
Okay.
(…tired of all the other games…)
Then pull the blindfold off and go up there and sit and watch it.
(Okay. But I can sit there for a while and I’ll just kind of watch it happen.)
Then I can go somewheres else. A man said long ago when he wrote in a great book, he said when he was tired, he sit down to rest a little while. When he was thirsty, he went to get a drink. When he was sleepy, he took a nap. When he was restless, he took a walk or some other activity. When he felt romantic, he attempted to find an appropriate partner. And that's kinda livin'. Okay, Richard? You don't have to stay at the Pin the Tail on the Donkey game. We're talkin' about growin’ up so we can leave that room and go to another one where we can do somethin' else. Okay? There's all sorts of things to do. That's just one that's goin' on that most people don't know is goin' on. They're just involved in it. And somebody told em now we're gonna blindfold you and they didn't tell em to take it off, so they still got it on. Okay?
(Okay. The question is what can I do?)
Yeah.
(If I’m just sitting and I’m observing and I’m not playing any of the games, then I’m _____ )
That's what I agreed to and I said a while ago that I would be what to me is a good guest and make some little contribution. Maybe I'll go tell one of those kids they can take the blindfold off. Who knows. I'm gonna make some contribution to the party. Okay? Not because I should or ought to, but simply because I want to make a little contribution as a way of saying thank you for havin' invited me to the party. Okay?
All right somebody else had a finger up back here. They forgot the question.
Okay. I guess we've covered everything. Folks, it has indeed been a pleasure to be here and we hope we see you some fine day somewheres, okay. Our paths will cross somewheres. Have a wonderful, wonderful evening. (clapping) Thank you much.
[End of CD 6 of 6; End of Whitney, Texas 1988 Workshop]