A Marsha Summers Blog

Excerpt from Newport Beach 1980 Workshop

A participant asks:

(What’s the traveler and tripper story you tell regarding enlightenment which can also be applied to other areas of living?)

Travelers and trippers – – ok – – we’ll try to work on that one a little bit. A person who is free or is an integrated individual is called a traveler in some language. So is that all right? It doesn’t mean we’d always have to use that term; but it is used in some lingo. So a traveler is not going anywhere in particular, he’s traveling; and this is generally given as a symbol of the traveler; and it doesn’t matter whether he’s here or here or here or here or here or what’s going on there because he is “on the path” or “way” and he is living it, he’s not trying to get to an “end” somewheres. In other words he doesn’t have a goal – – you can check out anything we talk about here.

Now we’ve mentioned at times about the fourth wise man, huh? Now he was a traveler. So his compadres started at point A and went to point B, and then their chore was done. Now that’s a person on a trip, ok? Now the trip has a definite goal or something to accomplish; and so they were to see a certain person when they got there, and they did that.

There is no point A and B – – no start and no finish with the traveler – – so the fourth wise man had an aim to get from point A to point B, but he never got there. So as he went along, he found a poor old guy lying in the desert burning up with fever with nobody to look after him; so the traveler stopped, took care of him and that was it. He was just a traveler anyway. He continued on and found some little girl being sold into slavery, so he took some object that he had that would purchase her, bought her and set her free – – it doesn’t make any difference. Now he didn’t see any obstructions to his purpose.

Now if anything happened along here, the trippers would be very impatient or very upset about it – – would possibly say it was so necessary to get to point B over here and complete what they set out to do, that they would have ignored the sick old guy lying beside the road or the girl being sold into slavery or an animal being mistreated. The traveler even bought a donkey along the way because the man was beating the donkey and not feeding it. So the person on the trip or the “tripper” as we call him, couldn’t stop and be bothered with all that. He has to be on his way.

The traveler works with whatever’s here in the moment. So if he sees something that requires that he be here for three weeks – – so what, he is not intervened. He is a traveler at that particular place and he’s doing what seems “to be there to do”, ok? And so he is not coming from any one spot nor going to any other spot. There’s no point A and B. And I think this is a sign of infinity. He is a “completed man” and is a person no longer looking for a given destination or a goal. He is not trying to “gain something” or “get something”. He is “doing” something. So he’s traveling and whatever presents itself at any given spot, that’s what he does; and he knows no interference or second force, ok? That help answer it ok – – so far, so good? All right.

The world is full of trippers and very few travelers, ok? Lots of folks are on a little trip. They’re on a trip to be integrated or to be whole or complete. The traveler says, “Well, I’m doing alright, right here – – I can take care of what’s going on right here, right now – – that’s the person who truly is “on the path” as it’s commonly called. And he’s not headed anywhere.

Most people say they’re on the path – – they’re headed for a given accomplishment or some goal or some prize or some illusion that they’ve dreamed up; and those we call trippers. They are not travelers of “the way”.

It’s been around for a long time – – I have it written where it was transcribed out of a talk we gave 10 years ago or so – – so it’s been around a long time. Now are you a traveler? If you take care of whatever shows up here, then there’s no such thing as an interference, no such thing as second force – – nobody’s interfering with you – – that’s just what showed here.

You’ve all read the story about the Good Samaritan – – he was a traveler. The other guys mentioned in the story were all trippers. They were headed somewhere with many misconceptions and conclusions about the man in the ditch; and they couldn’t be bothered with a guy beat up and lying there in the ditch – – who’s got time to stop.

There is a Sufi story told of two guys were traveling and they came by an ant hill; and the traveler said he heard some of the ants down there that seemed to be struggling with a big rock – – maybe they ought to dig down and open it up. The tripper was in a hurry to get on with his trip, so he kept insisting – – “We can’t stop here and fiddle with a durn ant hill. We got to go on.”

Later they came to a tree and the traveler heard bees singing in it, and the traveler saw the bees had something going on wrong; and suggested if they opened it up, they could get a lot of honey and also be of assistance to the bees, but the tripper said, “Why bother with that.”

Finally at a teahouse one night – – another bunch of people caught up with them and they, too, had noticed the ants struggling there; so they dug down and found great gobs of gold that the ants couldn’t get around. And so the tripper was all upset because the traveler hadn’t had him stop, you know – – hadn’t insisted on it.

Same thing with the bees. So there was endless number of things that the tripper was in such a hurry that he ignored – – he refused to be in the present. The traveler kept saying, “Let’s do this – – it’s here at hand – – we don’t know what’s over there.” But the tripper never would stop – – so, yes, it’s a very common little story of the “travelers” and the “trippers’.

I just get it down where you don’t have to interpret it. I just figure – – you know – – that most people are not into seeing what the subtle point is. So the story is describing a traveler and a tripper setting off together. There are many versions of this little story.

But it is a most interesting idea to keep in mind as to “what am I doing?” Am I a traveler or am I just running on little spasmodic trips out here. The traveler has a great joy, and is a completed being and experiences no frustrations, has no obstructions to his way.

The tripper has nothing but obstructions and struggle to get to where he’s going; and he has nothing when he gets there.

Want to be a traveler?

So the traveler takes care of whatever presents itself at the moment – – I wasn’t going anywhere anyway, I was just traveling. And the traveler is on the road of infinity – – the other is on a very limited road – – the end’s right here, ok?

in·fin·i·ty – synonyms: endlessness, boundlessness, limitlessness;

There’s a story told that a man’s donkey wandered off in the middle of the night; and, therefore, he had to carry his knapsack down the road on his own shoulder.  He didn’t have his donkey to ride in the middle of the day. 

Then he met a stranger in the heat, and he told him how miserable everything was.  He was so unhappy because he lost the donkey and now he was having to walk and carry his knapsack on his back.  So the stranger that he was telling all this story to invited him to come sit under the shade with him.  The stranger said just leave your knapsack there – – we’ll sit over here under the shade and refresh ourselves.  I have some water with me in a canteen. 

So the stranger gave him a drink and the guy was carrying on, still just as miserable as he could be.  Suddenly, the stranger got up, grabbed the knapsack and ran off with it.  The guy, now, was in one terrible state. 

Meanwhile, the stranger slipped into the bushes and waited a little bit until he saw the guy coming.  Then he laid the knapsack out in the road; and when the guy found it there, he was very happy. 

So the stranger came out and said, “Now you were unhappy because you didn’t have a donkey.”  “Then you lost your knapsack, and now you’re happy because you found your knapsack, and you’re in the same boat you were in when the donkey wandered off, but now you’re happy.”

So you see, it’s really very simple to decide that we will have a different viewpoint, but if I choose to be a victim, I am obviously what the world calls unhappy, right? 

Now if I’m doing something, I don’t think about whether I’m happy or not., but I have a certain amount of satisfaction in doing or being on the way to doing.  I’m now in motive, and I quit thinking about being happy. 

So we tell people if you are trying to be happy, we’ll guarantee you’ll be miserable.  I don’t know whether you’ll ever be happy or not, but if you forget all about trying to be happy, you wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world. 

Happiness is that proverbial thing—the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that you can’t find.  It’s the bluebird saying that “you can have your wishes if you can sprinkle salt on the bluebird’s tail.”  So in other words, it’s an illusion.  It’s a joke played on mankind, and most of us have bought it.  We’re trying to be happy, and who knows what it means – – and why bother with it anyway.

If there is such a thing, I’m sure it’s a byproduct of not giving a ‘durn’ about being happy—if there is even such a thing.  Who wants it anyway, it may be that all you would do is sit under a shade tree and vegetate. 

(From Marsha) Sometimes as we go through our day, we concentrate on what we want and don’t have, what ought to be, and what’s wrong with this or that.  We forget to look at what we already have and can be thankful for.  The following couple of paragraphs from the Newport 1980 workshop give some insight as to how we might look at these daily circumstances a little differently.  Here it is:

Grace is to recognize we have all kinds of undeserved goods.  In other words, I didn’t do anything to be here at the party.  That was pure unadulterated gifty, ok?  So we have reasonably good health and we can be thankful for about every other thing we have.  There are interesting people around and there are interesting things to do.  If we just think of all the things that were here when we were born, we have to say we have a lot of things we didn’t earn.  In fact, I about got to the point we don’t earn anything, we just all make little contributions to things operating. 

I tried to figure out one time that if one loaf of bread were made just for one of us through the commercial channels, that the thing would cost billions of dollars.  So none of us could buy a loaf of bread – – as it is, we all contribute a little bit to the farmer, we all contribute a little bit to the transportation, we all contribute a little bit to the miller, we all contribute a little bit to the baker, and we all contribute a little bit to the yeast grower.  We contribute a little bit, and we can then go over and buy a loaf of bread for less than a dollar even with inflation. (Well with inflation it’s more now.) So I would say that we don’t ever earn anything – – that about everything I have I consider is “undeserved goods” or “grace” that has just simply been laid on me. 

So I have, certainly, a very decided sense of being very thankful for all these undeserved goods and I believe maybe being thankful is truly an action of one sort or another.  

(From Marsha) And the experiment might be:  How do I feel inside when I re-evaluate all that I already have; and when the inner state sees this, the feeling can be radiated throughout our day to others.

Hi, All~

Happy New Year, New Day, New Moment!

We had so many requests to do the Mushkil Gusha Experiment again, that we’re going to start it up again tomorrow and do it for the next three months.  The feedback has been that it was a very powerful endeavor when we were all doing it collectively on the same evening each week. 

So tomorrow begins week 1 of 13 weeks.  Below is the story.  Or you may read it in “Caravan of Dreams” by Idries Shah.  And don’t forget the beautiful paintings of the story that Bonnie Bernhard made that can be found, along with a pdf file of the story, at: ftp://marshasummers.com/

As is the way of men, sometimes we forget and a wee reminder is appreciated.  So we’ll send a little shout out to everyone weekly.

Enjoy the experiment and we look forward to hearing from you.  You can post comments, ideas, observations on Marsha’s blog at:  https://marshasummers.com/wordpress/

Be well!

                         The Story of Mushkil Gusha

                             from Caravan of Dreams by Idries Shaw 

 

When a number of people come together, and if these people are harmonized in a certain way, excluding some who make for disharmony – we have what we call an event. This is by no means what is generally understood in contemporary cultures as an event. For them, something which takes place and which impresses people by means by subjective impacts – is called an event. This is what some term a ‘lesser event’, because it takes place in the lesser world, that of human relationships easily produced, synthesized, commemorated.

The real event, of which the lesser event is a useful similitude  (not more and no less) is that which belongs to the higher realm.

   We cannot accurately render a higher event in stilted terrestrial representations and retain accuracy. Something of surpassing importance in a higher realm could not entirely be put in terms of literature, science, or drama, without loss of essential value. But certain tales, providing that they contain elements from the high-event area which may seem absurd, unlikely, improbable or even defective, can ( together with the presence of certain people ) communicate to the necessary area of the mind the higher event.

   Why should it be valuable to do so? Because familiarity with the ‘higher event’, however produced, enables the individual’s mind to operate in the high realm.

   The tale of Mushkil Gusha is an example. The very ‘lack of completeness’ in the events, the ‘untidiness’ of the theme, the absence of certain factors which we have come to expect in a story: these in this case are indications of the greater parallel.

 

      ONCE upon a time, not a thousand miles from here, there lived a poor old wood-cutter, who was a widower, and his little daughter. He used to go every day into the mountains to cut firewood which he brought home and tied into bundles. Then he used to have breakfast and walk into the nearest town, where he would sell his wood and rest for a time before returning home.

     One day, when he got home very late, the girl said to him: “Father, I sometimes wish that we would have some nicer food, and more and different kinds of things to eat.”

    “Very well, my child,” said the old man, “tomorrow I shall get up much earlier than I usually do. I shall go further into the mountains where there is more wood, and I shall bring back a much larger quantity than usual. I will get home earlier and I will be able to bundle the wood sooner, and I will go into town and sell it so that we can have more money and I shall bring you back all kinds of nice things to eat.”

    The next morning the woodcutter rose before dawn and went into the mountains. He worked very hard cutting wood and trimming it and made it into a huge bundle which he carried on his back to his little house.

    When he got home, it was still very early. He put his load of wood down, and knocked on the door, saying, “Daughter, Daughter, open the door, for I am hungry and thirsty and I need a meal before I go to market.”

    But the door was locked. The woodcutter was so tired that he lay down and was soon fast asleep beside his bundle. The little girl, having forgotten all about their conversation the night before, was fast asleep in bed. When he woke up a few hours later, the sun was high. The woodcutter knocked at the door again and again and said, “Daughter, Daughter, come quickly; I must have a little food and go to market to sell the wood; for it is already much later than my usual time of starting.”

    But, having forgotten all about the conversation the night before, the little girl had meanwhile got up, tidied the house, and gone out for a walk. She had locked the door assuming in her forgetfulness that her father was still in the town.

    So the woodcutter thought to himself, “It is now rather late to go into the town. I will therefore return to the mountains and cut another bundle of wood, which I will bring home, and tomorrow I will take a double load to market.”

    All that day the old man toiled in the mountains cutting wood and shaping the branches. When he got home with the wood on his shoulders, it was evening.

    He put down his burden behind the house, knocked on the door and said, “Daughter, Daughter, open the door for I am tired and I have eaten nothing all the day. I have a double bundle of wood, which I hope to take to market tomorrow. Tonight I must sleep well so that I will be strong.”

    But there was no answer, for the little girl when she came home had felt very sleepy, and had made a meal for herself, and gone to bed. She had been rather worried at first that her father was not at home, but she decided that he must have arranged to stay in the town overnight.

    Once again the woodcutter, finding that he could not get into the house, tired, hungry and thirsty, lay down by his bundles of wood and fell fast asleep. He could not keep awake, although he was fearful for what might have happened to the little girl.

    Now the woodcutter, because he was so cold and hungry and tired, woke up very, very early the next morning: before it was even light.

    He sat up, and looked around, but he could not see anything. And then a strange thing happened. The woodcutter thought he heard a voice saying: “Hurry, hurry! Leave your wood and come this way. If you need enough, and you want little enough, you shall have delicious food.”

    The woodcutter stood up and walked in the direction of the voice. And he walked and he walked; but he found nothing.

    By now he was colder and hungrier and more tired than ever, and he was lost. He had been full of hope, but that did not seem to have helped him. Now he felt sad, and he wanted to cry. But he realized that crying would not help him either, so he lay down and fell asleep.

    Quite soon he woke up again. It was too cold, and he was too hungry, to sleep. So he decided to tell himself, as if in a story, everything that had happened to him since his little daughter had first said that she wanted a different kind of food.

    As soon as he had finished his story, he thought he heard another voice, saying, somewhere above him, out of the dawn, ‘Old man, what are you doing sitting there?’

    “I am telling myself my own story,” said the woodcutter.

    “And what is that?” said the voice.

    The old man repeated his tale. “Very well,” said the voice. And then the voice told the old woodcutter to close his eyes and to mount as it were, a step. “But I do not see any step,” said the old man. “Never mind, but do as I say,” said the voice.

    The old man did as he was told. As soon as he had closed his eyes he found that he was standing up and as he raised his right foot he felt that there was something like a step under it. He started to ascend what seemed to be a staircase. Suddenly the whole flight of steps started to move, very fast, and the voice said, ‘Do not open your eyes until I tell you to do so.’

    In a very short time, the voice told the old man to open his eyes. When he did he found that he was in a place, which looked rather like a desert, with the sun beating down on him. He was surrounded by masses and masses of pebbles; pebbles of all colors – red, green, blue and white. But he seemed to be alone. He looked all around him, and could not see anyone, but the voice started to speak again.

    “Take up as many of these stones as you can,” said the voice, “Then close your eyes, and walk down the steps once more.”

    The woodcutter did as he was told, and he found himself, when he opened his eyes again at the voice’s bidding, standing before the door of his own house.

    He knocked at the door and his little daughter answered it. She asked him where he had been, and he told her, although she could hardly understand what he was saying, it all sounded so confusing.

    They went into the house, and the little girl and her father shared the last food which they had, which was a handful of dried dates. When they had finished, the old man thought that he heard the voice speaking to him again, a voice just like the other one which had told him to climb the stairs.

    The voice said, “Although you may not know it yet, you have been saved by Mushkil Gusha. Remember that Mushkil Gusha is always here. Make sure that every Thursday night you eat some dates and give some to any needy person, and tell the story of Mushkil Gusha. Or give a gift in the name of Mushkil Gusha to someone who will help the needy. Make sure that the story of Mushkil Gusha is never, never forgotten. If you do this, and if this is done by those to whom you tell the story, the people who are in real need will always find their way.”

    The woodcutter put all the stones which he had brought back from the desert in a corner of his little house. They looked very much like ordinary stones, and he did not know what to do with them.

    The next day he took his two enormous bundles of wood to the market, and sold them easily for a high price. When he got home he took his daughter all sort of delicious kinds of food, which she had never tasted before. And when they had eaten it, the old woodcutter said, “Now I am going to tell you the whole story of Mushkil Gusha. Mushkil Gusha is the remover of all difficulties. Our difficulties have been removed through Mushkil Gusha and we must always remember it.”

    For nearly a week after that the old man carried on as usual. He went into the mountains, brought back wood, had a meal, took the wood to market and sold it. He always found a buyer without difficulty.

    Now the next Thursday came, and, as it is the way of men, the woodcutter forgot to repeat the tale of Mushkil Gusha.

    Late that evening, in the house of the woodcutter’s neighbors, the fire had gone out. The neighbors had nothing with which to re-light the fire, and they went to the house of the woodcutter. They said, “Neighbor, neighbor, please give us a light from those wonderful lamps of yours which we see shining through the window.”

    “What lamps?” said the woodcutter.

    “Come outside,” said the neighbors, “and see what we mean.”

    So the woodcutter went outside and then he saw, sure enough, all kinds of brilliant lights shining through the window from the inside.

    He went back to the house, and saw that the light was streaming from the pile of pebbles which he had put in the corner. But the rays of light were cold, and it was not possible to use them to light a fire. So he went out to the neighbors and said, “Neighbors, I am sorry, but I have no fire.”  And he banged the door in their faces. They were annoyed and confused, and went back to their house, muttering. They leave our story here.

    The woodcutter and his daughter quickly covered up the brilliant lights with every piece of cloth they could find for fear that anyone would see what a treasure they had. The next morning, when they uncovered the stones, they discovered that they were precious, luminous gems.

    They took the jewels, one by one, to neighboring towns, where they sold them for a huge price. Now the woodcutter decided to build for himself and for his daughter a wonderful palace. They chose a site just opposite the castle of the king of their country. In a very short time a marvelous building had come into being.

    Now that particular king had a beautiful daughter, and one day when she got up in the morning, she saw a sort of fairy-tale castle just opposite her father’s and she was amazed. She asked her servants, “Who has built this castle? What right have these people to do such a thing so near to our home?”

    The servants went away and made enquiries and they came back and told the story, as far as they could collect it, to the princess.

    The princess called for the little daughter of the woodcutter, for she was angry with her, but when the two girls met and talked they soon became fast friends. They started to meet every day and went to swim and play in the stream, which had been made for the princess by her father. A few days after they first met, the princess took off a beautiful and valuable necklace and hung it up on a tree just beside the stream. She forgot to take it down when she came out of the water, and when she got home she thought it must have been lost.

    The princess thought a little and then decided that the daughter of the woodcutter had stolen her necklace. So she told her father, and he had the woodcutter arrested; he confiscated the castle and declared forfeit everything that the woodcutter had. The old man was thrown into prison, and the daughter was put into an orphanage.

    As it was the custom in that country, after a period of time the woodcutter was taken from the dungeon and put in the public square, chained to a post, with a sign around his neck. On the sign was written, “This is what happens to those who steal from Kings.”

    At first people gathered around him, and jeered and threw things at him. He was most unhappy.

    But quite soon, as is the way of men, everyone became used to the sight of the old man sitting there by his post, and took very little notice of him. Sometimes people threw him scraps of food; sometimes they did not.

    One day he overheard somebody saying that it was Thursday afternoon. Suddenly, the thought came into his mind that it would soon be the evening of Mushkil Gusha, the remover of all difficulties, and that he had forgotten to commemorate him for so many days. No sooner had this thought come into his head, than a charitable man, passing by, threw him a tiny coin. The woodcutter called out, “Generous friend, you have given me money, which is of no use to me. If, however, your kindness could extend to buying one or two dates and coming and sitting and eating them with me, I would be eternally grateful to you.”

    The other man went and bought a few dates. And they sat and ate them together. When they had finished, the woodcutter told the other man the story of Mushkil Gusha. “I think you must be mad,” said the generous man. But he was a kindly person who himself had many difficulties. When he arrived home after this incident, he found that all his problems had disappeared. And that made him start to think a great deal about Mushkil Gusha. But he leaves our story here.

    The very next morning the princess went back to her bathing-place. As she was about to go into the water, she saw what looked like her necklace down at the bottom of the stream. As she was going to dive in to try to get it back, she happened to sneeze. Her head went up, and she saw that what she had thought was the necklace was only its reflection in the water. It was hanging on the bough of the tree where she had left it such a long time before. Taking the necklace down, the princess ran excitedly to her father and told him what had happened. The King gave orders for the woodcutter to be released and given a public apology. The little girl was brought back from the orphanage, and everyone lived happily ever after.

    These are some of the incidents in the story of Mushkil Gusha. It is a very long tale and it is never ended. It has many forms. Some of them are even not called the story of Mushkil Gusha at all, so people do not recognize it. But it is because of Mushkil Gusha that his story, in whatever form, is remembered by somebody, somewhere in the world, day and night, wherever there are people. As his story had always been recited, so it will always continue to be told.

    Will you repeat the story of Mushkil Gusha on Thursday nights, and help the work of Mushkil Gusha?

Below you will find Week 11 of Life’s Word.  This is the last chapter and final week of the Life’s Word Experiment.  We will be in touch shortly to offer another opportunity to experiment in a group effort.   

Here are a few reminders about contacting us:

 ** You may contact Marsha, Tina and/or Howard at marsha@marshasummers.com

 ** You may read (or copy) the entire workshop at: 

http://www.marshasummers.com/innerman/lwworkshoppart1.htm on Marsha’s website.

 ** Marsha’s website can be reached at  www.marshasummers.com

 ** Thanks to Steven Coleman, the workshop is available to listen to: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3zd34dd8r8kh3s1/rsBi6noLwx

 (You cannot reply directly to this email as it’s a “send only” address.)

 ** You can unsubscribe yourself if you like or just send an email to Marsha at Teachings@MarshaSummers.com requesting to be unsubscribed.  

 In Joy!

Tina, Marsha and Howard

XI

Eleventh Mystery:  Death

 

So appropriately the last mystery is the Mystery of Death.  That is the last kick, you know.  So I guess we’ll take that one on.  You wanna stand up first before we die or do we just . . .

 (Let the good times roll.)

 Let the good times roll, we’ll just go ahead with it right now.  We’re only gonna talk about death this time.

 The last mystery is the Mystery of Death.  You are one and yet you are three.  There is the body, which is a link in My chain of organized formation, and there is the personality which thinks it is the real you, and there is the Spirit, which is Me.

 So the body and Spirit is one, and there’s another one in there which is a bunch of not-I’s that’s trying to convince you they’re the ones that’s right.

 Heretofore the body has been subject unto death. Yet each body which died was a link in My chain, transforming organization unto higher organization.  Each had its influence upon each succeeding generation,

 So nobody’s lived in vain in this world.  No matter if they were only like the farmers around where I grew up – they worked all summer then with the mule in the hot sun to raise enough corn to feed the mule in the winter so the mule would be alive to plow and raise crops the next year… which is about what they accomplished in a lifetime.  But nevertheless, they added something on down, even if it was only “don’t play that game anymore,” you know.

 Each body which died was a link in My chain, transforming organization unto higher organization.  Each had its influence upon each succeeding generation, living again in its offspring or in the body’s influence by its life.

 So everybody’s had some influence on somebody else or some of the offspring or whatever.  So nobody lives in vain.

 The personality of a body is its self-consciousness,

or sense of a separate existence from Me.

 That’s the personality or the not-I.

 This sense is useful to the body for a time and is useful to other bodies by its reaction, but is temporary by nature, and subject to death.

 In other words, the not-I’s are subject to death; and they will die one way or another.  Either the body will die first and the not-I’s have nothing to sustain them and they die, or they can die first if we get the upper hand on them.

 You who think you are a being separate from Me shall die,but perchance the body shall live.

 Maybe that the not-I, that idea of a separate thing, will die first.  Let’s hope so; and then something else can happen.

 Now, the body has been more subject unto death than the self-consciousness.

 The body has been dying first because they weren’t developed strong enough that the self-consciousness could die first and the body live.  So bodies were weakened and they hadn’t fully developed over the ages to the strength they now have, and consequently, the bodies died first, most often.  And it says that…

 You who think you are a separate being from Me shall die, but perchance…

 You know, just happenstance,

 …the body shall live.  Now the body has been more subject to death than the self-consciousness.  Where the body dies first, the self-consciousness lives on for a little while, often continuing to be useful to other bodies by appealing to themas if from another world.

 Maybe some of you have been to mediums and so forth, and there are entities that seem to appear that they’re of a body that died first.  But the not-I’s live on for a while and they’re just about as smart-ass after the body is dead as they are before, if you’ve ever noticed.  If you’ve been to a medium and all these people that do things, why you should be well acquainted with them.  They really carry on about the same.

 It is well for you if you can hear voices from these selfish personalities.

 That’s wonderful, if you’re a medium or a psychic or whatever they’re called.

 And yet know that the self-consciousness is limited, temporary, and does not love the eternal.  I give it no further wisdom when the body dies, and it soon dies also.

 Now “soon” is not an exact time sequence.  It may be a year, it may be 30 minutes and in some cases, it may be four or five years.  And in some, it may be 50 years.  I don’t know.  Anyway, they seem to hang around for a little while; but it soon dies also.

 Yet it is well if it amuses you to call for the presence of theself-consciousness of some dead body,

 Why go to the mediums and holler for ‘em?  They might bring you up one, and boy, can you be deluded with them.  A not-I tells you just as many lies then as it did when it was around.  It says, “Be sure and do this and don’t do that and you’re wrong for doing this and somebody’s going to do you in”, and all this good stuff.

 Yet it is well if it amuses you to call for the presence of the self-consciousness of some dead body,

 You know – a bunch of not-I’s.

 …for I will cause even that experience to develop you.  The Spirit in the body is I, Myself.  Whether any one body dies or lives, I live on in all bodies.  The real Self is reincarnated, not only in various bodies, but in all bodies.

 So the word is incarnated, not reincarnated.  X incarnates constantly.  You know there is a new body comes out every few minutes or every few seconds.  You got a ticker somewhere in the country that ticks off every time somebody’s born.  And that’s runnin’ awful fast.  So X is incarnating.  Life/Spirit is putting itself in a body to develop it for some purpose.

 The Spirit in the body is I, myself, whether any one body dies or lives,I live on in all bodies.

 So all bodies walkin’ around, Spirit lies there, right?

 Know this, that the spirit is the element of life, and the self-consciousness is the element of death.

 The “not -Is” are the element of death.  Spirit is the element of Life.

 Yet the self-consciousness [not-I’s]is My minister to develop the body beyond the power of death, for the body is not necessarily subject unto death.

 Now it didn’t say it wasn’t; it said not necessarily, ok?

 The organization of formation is ever developing, and when the body is developed which needs no self-consciousness[not-I’s]–

 You can get along without them.

 which is strong enough to express Me[Life] –

 It takes a bit more energy or a bit more vitality or body strength to express life than it does not-I’s.  The intensity is high.  Life expresses at an altogether different rate of vibration than the not-I’s do, so the body has to be pretty strong.  So get yourself strong – push iron, walk, do whatever; but get strong because the not-I’s can live in a weak body, but X will burn it up.  So obviously, it doesn’t make it there until the not-I’s are out.

 Then the body which needs no self-consciousness – is strong enough to express Me –  then the self-consciousness shall die before the death of the body,

 That’s what we’re all workin’ for is that the not-I’s die before they kill the body.  That’s a pretty good thing.  Get ‘em dead first.

In all the Sufi literature around the world it usually talks about a man tells the year he died.  Never said when he was born, says when he died.  What it means is that’s when the personality died and the man became immortal.  And he now walks without dying off, because the year he died was the year the not-I’s died and the body lived on.  So there’s history of any of those guys and are still around after thousands of years and they’re going on about their business.  But the book says they died in the year 1230, we’ll say.  That’s the year the not-I’s died.  The personality got out.

 Now, I hope we can all write that all out, one of these days, that the personality died in 1981, ok?  Hope we all do it and the bodies can live on.

 …then the self-consciousness shall die before the death of the body,leaving the body free to express perfect love without self-thought. And there will then be no element of death in that body and I will live in it forever.

 Says X.  So, there’s no element of death in the body unless it’s a bunch of not-I’s.  They make all sorts of lovely little things that doctors can diagnose.   But when they’re not around, there’s nothing there to make all those things.  The body is regenerated.  I think we went through that one way back down the way.

 So that statement is worth remembering: “And there will then be no element of death in that body and I will live in it forever.”  That’s pretty worthwhile, don’t you think?  Investigate, don’t believe it, but check it out.  “Such a body will express my perfect love without desire” – it’s not trying to gain anything.  Why should it gain anything?  You already have everything then.

 Does desire still live in you?  If so, well.  For each desire is My minister,to prepare the brain for real love without desire.

 In other words, you can see that desire, even if it’s realized, doesn’t do what you had anticipated it might do, so you can get rid of it easy.

 You cannot give up desire before your time.

 That you’re developed.

 For if you should be able to give up the present desires in order to have the body attain to the glory of consciously expressing Me, which you do desire, that would be but giving up the lesser desires in order to obtain the greater.

 So as long as we’re desiring something, even if it’s to live forever, or to be truly conscious, why we’re still just switchin’ around with desire.  We start off by bein’ thankful where we are, what we are, and what’s going on here.

 Now every desire that can come to you is to prove you and help you,but they are of the self,

 and the not-I’s…

 and are an element of death.

 That’s their way of expressing.

 Do you desire your particular body shall be one to live forever?  That desire is an element of death in the body and may prevent its own fulfillment.

 Because again, we’re desiring something.  Why not be free to die today?  What difference does it make?  I’ve had a lot of fun so far and if I get out today, it will be pretty wonderful anyway.  I can’t say it was wasted.

 That desire is an element of death in the body and may prevent its own fulfillment.  Do you desire to be humble?  Desire is an element of pride!

So, I’ve found people that are working to be humble.  Did you ever see that?  I had one man tell me that he’s very humble.  He used to be very proud, but now he was very humble, and he said, “I don’t think you can find a man in the world more humble than I am.”  And I agreed with him.

 Do you desire to be unselfish?  Desire is of the self alone!

,Always the not-I’s.  So the side we call  “B” says “You get to be unselfish,” and the other one, “A”, says, “But you gotta look out for yourself.”  So the conflict is on.

 So that whatever you do desire, the very desiretherefore tends to prevent you from attaining.

 So if you really think that you might have enough ability, why don’t you be thankful for trying to be loving?  You won’t be, just go on and love what you can and forget the rest of it.  You know, all these desires imply the existence of an ideal.  Do they not?  If you desire somethin’, it implies the existence of an ideal state.

 Now, everybody here has all attributes in the world.  So there’s no chance for you to improve.  Now, you may not have actualized every attribute, but you have it.  So you can’t improve upon it, so you just leave it alone.  And the very act of leaving it alone allows it to actualize.

 You know a plant does better if you don’t fiddle with it.  Now you can go out there and poke on it, pull it up everyday, see how the roots are doin’, stick it back in the ground, and poke on it here and pull it out and check it – stick needles in it and see what’s going on, that plant’s not gonna do very well.  If you just let it alone, it grows good.  Did you ever notice how wonderful weeds grow?  They’re let alone, nobody worryin’ about ‘em.  

 And herein is the Mystery of Death, that when you are willing for the body to die, it shall live, and I will live therein, and the self-consciousness shall die.

That is the Mystery.   When you are truly free to die, you have a chance of really being alive because now you’ve given up all the elements of death.

 Now somewheres back up in here, we had one of the mysteries was that “I’m free to experience whatever may arise in my way today.”  So if you’re free for death to arise in your way today and it’s all right with you, and you wouldn’t panicville and all that stuff, then you’re not havin’ very many desires, is that about right?  You’re free to be dead.  And that one’s the one that hangs most people up and that’s why they go on and die.  The body dies first in that worry.  I know people who worry if they had a pimple – that means they’re gonna die.  And this and this and this.  And they worry constantly about dyin’ all the time.  And they die thousands of deaths before they really destroy the body.  But at least the person who don’t give a durn if they’re gonna die, only dies once – if he does.  And he has a chance of not doin’ it at all.  So I think it’s kinda worthwhile just to be free to be wiped out.

      So here is the Mystery of Death.

 I think it’s very worthwhile to listen to it again.

 That when you are willing for the body to die, it shall live, and I will live therein, and the self-consciousness [or the not-I’s] will die.

 Cause see, they’re all interested in keepin’ everything goin’ and they’re gonna be important and everything.  So when you’re perfectly willin’ to die, you’ll cease to put any value on the not-I’s, right Miss Marcy?  Okay, let’s kinda see if we can do that.  Might be a little difficult, but I think it is the key of the whole thing.  So we will put number ten up.  It, obviously, is going to have to be in another color.  We’ll use orange.  Orange.  Number 10:  “I am free (see, we talked about freedom while ago, now we’ll find out what it really is) to die” now or any other time.  And that possibly is the approach to immortality.  Now this is nothing new.  If any of you read the New Testament, you’ll find that the Christ said 2,000 years ago—“the man who laid down his life will find it”.  Lay it down for his friend – who cares, so he’s dead – and that man would live, and live forever.  And I think he demonstrated it.

 Through many trials do I bring the body, even through the sorrow of bereavement.

 When your loved ones pass away and so on.

 For your sake I brought forth the body which I have visited with death. Do you say, “A happy child at prayer was stricken; why do the good die young?”

 “Why,” I think we’ve told that to you lots of time.  But “the good die young”, we’ve heard, and so everybody gets upset about that.

 Yet I rule all.  I have placed in the heart that sense of sympathy which condemns Me for not keeping some sweet little child alive.  Another perchance cries, “Oh God, why did I not die as a child so I wouldn’t have to suffer all these agonies?”

 That was my mother’s favorite song: “I don’t see why I didn’t die when I was a child.”  I said,  “Well, I’m glad you stuck around for a little while anyway – I got here, even if you didn’t like it.”

 Have you not faith to know that whom I see fit, I keep alive; and whom I see fit, I let die?  This is the Last Mystery, that death is My angel.  The child-body whose formation will not stand the great trials of the world, I relieve of those trials.

 Now what’s so horrible about that?  You know, it hasn’t got the constitution to stand up under this yap that we’ve all been through, and it’s better that they just went to sleep somewheres.

 One of my dearest little friends about three-years-old, passed away not too many months ago and the family were very dear friends of mine and little Monamee did not have the strength to face this world.  And so I couldn’t think of anything more wonderful then that little Monamee went to sleep.  And after the folks thought about it for a while, and we talked about it, they said likewise.

 The child body whose formation will not stand the great trials of the world I relieved of these trials.  Such a body is not tried with strong tendencies, hence, you call it “good”.

 And everybody thought little Monamee was the sweetest thing in the world, and she was.  But her little body wasn’t strong enough to bitch; you know, make noises like most people do.  So everybody says, it’s “good”.  

 The coming and passing away of such a body is for you, in order that you may be tried with the fire of affliction.  And the sense of separate personalities shall die and pass away. But unto the bodies of those to whom the self has died do I give eternal life. And herein is this mystery, that he who would save the Life of the self shall lose the life of the body.

 So if you want to keep all the not-I’s in good shape and doin’ well, just pamper ‘em; so you’ll save them and the body will die.  That seems a little perfect as far as I’m concerned.  “And he who gives up the Life of the not-I’s, the self, saves the body.”  I think that’s pretty good.

 Behold generations after generations of My bodies have passed away, but I am Life and cannot die, and I live in you and the I that lives in you shall never die.  That I which dwells in the body now, has lived from the eternal beginning of all things.

 Life has no beginning and no end.  It doesn’t get born and die – it just activates bodies.

 To it, there is no death.  It is the creator of all things and lives eternally, radiating its supreme essence of love and power.  Fear not death, for it has no power over you, but is the servant.  You are a king; the crown is Life and the scepter is death.  You have always been guided by My Life within you, and you need not fear that it will forsake you now.

 It’s been around a long time and seen you had food, clothing, shelter and transportation, interesting things to do and all these things all these years.  You think it’s gonna give up on you today?  I expect it’ll be there in the morning.

 And the Mystery of Death and suffering is this—that if one of my bodies shall suffer shame and pain and death, another shall hear of that shame and pain and death—it shall be unto their minds a development; and it shall so work on their minds that they shall obtain to the development of character which they would otherwise have had to themselves suffer to obtain.  And that development shall be a salvation unto their character.  Therefore I show you the mystery of vicarious suffering and salvation thereby, that you may know the truth thrice blessed is he who suffers, for I will cause the suffering to be a blessing unto others.

 If you want to read that carefully over by yourself sometimes, I think you’ll see that that relates to the Christ very accurately and the crucifixion and so forth.

 Are you willing to suffer and to die that others may be blessed?  Yea, you may suffer shame and pain and death of the body, but if you are really willing, and the self-consciousness has passed away, then I say unto you, that the body is immortal and the grave cannot hold it.

 I think that has also been demonstrated.

 Now this writing is inspired by Me, Life, as all things are inspired by Me, whether spoken, or written or acted.  And this writing shall have the affect I choose upon all to whom it shall come, whether it causes them to bless or curse, to scoff or to pray.  For all alike are inspired by ME.

 Ok? Is there any questions or any comments – anything you want me to talk about?  Okay, clear as mud.  Okay.

 (There was a section here you read about ‘the coming of special bodies’ is for us “in order that thou mayest be tried with the fire of affliction”.  Does that mean that we’re tested?)

 No not tested, but that you get stronger when you can tolerate something a little bit.  You know, there’s some things you have to go through. Now obviously, none of us would choose for one of our loved ones to pass away.  Is that right?  But if they do, as of necessity you’re gonna live through it anyway and you’ll be a bit stronger that way.  Ok?  It doesn’t mean you’re tested and tried out cause it doesn’t say that.  It says all the way through, that you’re only given what you can handle at this moment, is that right?  You may not like what you can handle at this point, but no more will be given than you can handle.  And, of course, the theme is that when we’re willing to die, that that kills the not-I’s; that goes against ‘em.  That’s the only way really you can get totally rid of all not-I’s is to be really willing to die cause that kills those little devils.

(I thought that the not-I’s, the only thing they agreed on was that you should kill yourself.)

Right, but you see that’s only when you’re in turmoil and trying to be non-disturbed, honey – not when you’re growing.  They wanna convince you, totally under their power, that if you would just get yourself dead, you wouldn’t be disturbed anymore, and it’s so pathetic.  So that’s an ultimate expression of self-pity they lead you into – not to be willing to die, but to want to die to get out of a little pain or a little hassle that might be going on somewheres, that right?  That’s quite different, isn’t it?  Yes, ma’am?

(Yes.  Is procrastination a sort of a not-I or something?) 

Oh, it is not a “sort of” one; it is a full grown one.  Procrastination.  Never heard of it!

(Is it always ok?)

Oh, it’s all right to procrastinate because that’s one of the biggest conflicts you run into, and it hurts so much, you’ll finally get over it.  It gets you into it where it’s better to not do it than put up with the agony, isn’t it?  You procrastinate pretty well?

 (Yes.)

Isn’t it miserable?  Miserable isn’t it?   You know you get a bill and so you say, “Well I should write the check now.  Well, I’ll do it tomorrow.”  You feel upset all night.  Well, tomorrow, “Why not put it off another day?”  Pretty soon the thing’s past due, got an interest on it and so forth, and you can really be all rattled up over that thing, is that right?  So procrastination is intentional suffering.

(Self-inflicted.)

But it’s all right to do it, because it will finally torment you enough that it gives you more strength.  It’s like exercise and liftin’ weights, you see.  Okay?  We have no… Life, in this book, gives you no “you shoulds” or “not to’s” if you have noticed.  There wasn’t a one time through it, it says, “You should do so and so”, or that “you should not do so and so.”  Not once.  And of all books I’ve ever read that were spiritually directed, it’s the only one I can say that about.  Has anybody ever read one that didn’t have some “should’s” and “ought-to’s” in it?  Have you, Marcy?  That you can recall right off the top of your head?  Well if you look it up and find one, send me the name of it.  I’d like to add it to the list.

(I’m thinking of one, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to check it out.)

Check it out, would you please.  I’ve never seen one of them.  And I have read two or three of them anyway, through the years, you know.  Through the years I’ve read a few of ‘em and they all give you some “should’s and ought-to’s and have-to’s and musts,” and so forth, and if you don’t do this, all kinds of bad things are gonna happen.  Not one in here.  The only thing is if and when you are free to die, then the personality would die first and the body could live on and X would express and operate the body instead of the not-I’s.  And that is quite a difference, okay?

(Yes sir.  What is your opinion on “the redistribution of the spirit”?)

 I don’t have any.  I’ve no opinions.  I don’t know, and what I don’t know, I don’t know.  So, redistribution?   I don’t understand that word, but even then I wouldn’t have an opinion.  What do you mean by redistribution?  Where does it go when it gets here?  It don’t go anywhere.  It’s like the light.  You turn the switch, the globe goes out.  Where does the light in the room go to?

(It’s redistributed in the darkness.)

Now you don’t know, so let’s just leave it there.  I don’t trouble myself with that.

(It’s an involuntary conversion.)

Maybe it is, I don’t know.  It may not be converted, I don’t know.  It seems to me that Life IS, and it doesn’t matter whether it had one body or ten millions or ten trillion bodies, it wouldn’t make any difference.  It’s just like we have cells in the body and a slew of ‘em die everyday, and I don’t think anybody pays any attention to it.  We cut off fingernails, cut off hair, skin sloughs off everyday, cells inside it.  We don’t pay any attention to it.  Life goes on, ok?  So I think probably in the overall view, each of us is a microscopic little cell in the body of somethin’ called Life.  So one cell more or less don’t matter.  Yes?

(Does it take a stronger physical body to express Life than it does to express a “not-I”?)

Oh yeah, that’s very true.  Yep.  That’s right.  Not-I’s can fiddle around with any old sick carcass.  Life would burn it up.  If there really lives Life in it, without the not-I’s would burn up an awful lot of bodies floatin’ around on the street, and you’re a strong cat, so perhaps you could stand it.  Ok?  That answer your question?  Ok?  Any other questions?

You said you were gonna have a service at 9:30 in the mornin’.  At 11 we will have the usual Sunday service.  Right?  I will talk on – it’s already been requested by my friend over here – so he asked me to experiment and I’m gonna give it, ok?  I one time gave this for a Catholic priest.  And when you do it for the priest, it’s called a “homily”.  It’s not called a sermon, it’s called a homily.  So I gave a talk.  And they’re never the same but they cover the same stuff.  And he said he wanted me to go with him everwheres to give the homily cause it was the only sermon he ever heard worth a durn.  So we will give it tomorrow and see if it’s any good.  The Roman Church priest even approved of it, so who knows…may be a Methodist will someday.

Ok people, it has been a wonderful marvelous day for me and I hope you have tolerated it fairly well.  We will see you in the morning at least at 11:00.  I have fulfilled your request to talk on the Word of Life, Life’s Word.  Everything you heard out of Life’s Word today, you have heard many times over or have read it many times over in scripture, etc.  All I did was try to bring it down into present day language and I did make a few comments on it here, there, and elsewhere, as I saw fit to do so.  Ok?  Let’s all see you in the morning.  Have a lovely, lovely evening.  And I’ll see you if you’re not here in the morning, I will see you one of these days along the way somewheres, ok?

Below you will find Week 10 of Life’s Word.  Thanks to those who responded to our request for feedback about if any of our mailings were missing.  Plus it’s always just good to hear from you!

Here are a few reminders about contacting us:

 ** You may contact Marsha, Tina and/or Howard at marsha@marshasummers.com

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http://www.marshasummers.com/innerman/lwworkshoppart1.htm on Marsha’s website.

 ** Marsha’s website can be reached at  www.marshasummers.com

 ** Thanks to Steven Coleman, the workshop is available to listen to: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3zd34dd8r8kh3s1/rsBi6noLwx

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 Enjoy ~ T.

X

Tenth Mystery:  Religion

 Until you who can receive, it is given to know the Mystery of Religion.

 Now, religion is a subject that’s been around for since there has been any history of mankind and there’s been many, many different ones; each one of which claims to be the one and only true religion.  Now of course, that’s the one we all belong to, you know – the one and only true one.  The rest of the people have been deceived.

 Each religion and creed which I have sent differs in doctrine and practice from every other.

 That is at least on the surface.

 Will you say, “Herein I know that religion is not of God, for God would not delude all the people of the world with false religions, nor yet part of the world, causing one man to believe that another’s religion is false.”

 That we know – that there’s been wars fought over it and all kinds of stuff.

 Know that I have brought you through many generations, developing the body to a different perfection than any other body.  Know that generation has followed generation, obeying My laws of differentiation and selection, until now.  And now each one of My bodies is different from all others.

 That’s easy to do.  All we gotta do is look around a little bit.

 Each body selects different food.  Each selects different experiences and different doctrines.

 That’s not anything so hard to find out, you know.  Maybe you like to be a vegetarian, maybe you like potatoes, and maybe you don’t like potatoes.  Some people eat a tomato and break out, some people eat shellfish and break out – others feel wonderful.  So we all select a little different.  Having run restaurants, why six people sit down at a table and each one of ‘em orders something a little different – if nothing else they want their steak cooked different, and so on.  So we’re different, so naturally different foods, physical foods, appeal to us; then certainly different ideologies and beliefs would appeal to us.  That seems as reasonable as one to the other to me.  And we certainly want different experiences.  Some of us like to do one occupation, some does another, some couldn’t stand the other person’s occupation; you know, they just can’t do that.

 And many have their choices of foods, having developed unto that point where their bodies can benefit by choosing.

 Some people will actually benefit by choosing what to eat.  I tell them, “You eat what you get hungry for.”  And some people say, “Well, I’m hungry for everything.”  You know… and so they eat everything. And other people are very selective when you tell them that.

 And many have their choices of doctrines, which acquired the mental strength to discriminate between them.

 Some people can really pick out; others just go on and live whatever you were brought up with.  Folks were one particular brand of religion, that’s what you grew up with, well that’s the one you fight for all your life.  And some, that’s the one you rebel against all your life—it’s according to how they liked the folks.  That ‘bout right?  You can’t stand there and believe – it’s bound to have been wrong. 

 But whether they seem to choose or seem to be forced, yet in all cases it is I that choose for them, acting through their choice or against it, giving them each what is best, under all the circumstances, to develop that particular character and body.

 So all the things that we have run into has been what was most useful to us at the present time, place and circumstance; so we really didn’t do as much choosing as we thought we did.

 Now the nature of bodies is such that character depends wholly upon formation. And the formation of the brain and nerves is such that no food or experience or belief can appeal to the character unless such food or experience or belief is suitable for that character’s development.

 In other words, if I don’t like a certain food, there’s not much way I’m gonna convince myself to like it.  Did you ever try to learn to like something real well?  Think you could learn to like liver?  One little lady that can’t stand the sight, smell or the looks of it even; so obviously, it doesn’t fit.  And it would probably be very upsetting to the whole person, if some way or other it was forced down.

 But do you say, “Does God let man believe in error?”

 You know, he gives us pretty much, let us have the earth.  Might even give us one sometime.

 Know that all finite belief is erroneous.

 That’s the next thing.  “Know that all finite belief is erroneous.”  At least to some degree.

 But it is nevertheless, suitable for the stage of growth.

 …that the particular person is in at that moment.  And that, I’ve noticed many times, that that is very factual.

 It is that in you which sets itself up as a separate person from Me, which believes.

 That’s all the not-I’s, one that believes and does as told by authorities.

 Now personality cannot see the Truth and is incapable of knowing Me.

 Life.  It only knows about itself and it thinks it knows what ought to be.

 When that so-called person shall die, leaving the body free to be My conscious instrument, then the body shall radiate all truth.

 But before then it’s finite as long as there is the believing of not-I’s there; they will believe something that is truly a bit of an error.

 Know that all finite belief is erroneous. But it is nevertheless suitable for the stage of growth.

 This thing that sets itself up as being separate is the one that believes and fights and does all these noises.

 And when that personality shall die, leaving the body free to be My conscious instrument, then the body shall radiate all truth.  Until then, I provide all beliefs for you, each equally erroneous, that you may believe that which appeals unto you.

 …in your present time, place, and circumstance and stage of growth and development.

 And yet, if you could but understand one of these beliefs from within,

 The light came on.

 …you would find it true,

 In other words, from one aspect, from the inner aspect, it’s true.  The outer aspect, it is erroneous.

 

…you would find it true, for truth is so great that but a reflection of its glory would illuminate you.

 In other words, it would fill you full of light, because in one way or another you’d recognize that what says “I”, and what is really Life, is what’s called God.  That God and Life is an interchangeable term according to the Scripture, and it seems that this little book verifies that, too.

 And this is the Tenth Mystery, that all religions are false when viewed from without, yet all are equally true and beautiful when viewed from within.

 Each one of them is trying to eliminate the false personality and let the real being – Life, Spirit – within express and be the whole thing.  All of ‘em do that no matter what the name of it is, and in what part of the world it originated.  Viewed from without, it comes into a bunch of rituals, a bunch of ideologies and etc.

 Do you teach some ancient and beautiful truth?  Are you firm in the conviction that the truth you teach is the only truth, and that all different religions are lies?  Behold, it is well and you are My minister, and the truth which you teach shall appeal unto many.

 … and it will, no doubt.

 And unto as many as to whom it shall appeal, you art My messenger.  And no one can believe it except they who need it for their development.

So when you set out to proselytize a group of people, only a certain number will come along, but they’re the ones that can use it at that state; and when they grow a little further, they will leave and isn’t that nice.  You don’t get saddled with followers that way – for long.  Thank goodness.

 Do you break the heart over those to whom the teaching does not appeal, and do you try to reach them by prayer and exhortation?

 You know, really get with it and pray over them and everything else.  Thank goodness it won’t appeal to them.

 It is well. All hearts that can break shall break, in order that those hearts that are strong shall remain.  Yes, try and reach those in whom the belief does not appeal.  For this trying will affect both them and you.  Not in the way you desire, but in the further development of bodies, both yours and theirs.

 So it’s worth it that they don’t accept it.  So let it try and it’s valuable to you, and it may be valuable to them.

 Do some of My religions appear cruel to you?  And do you say, “Nothing can justify cruelty”?  Yet I am cruel unto the personality and will utterly destroy it.

 To all the not-I’s, very cruel and will utterly destroy.  Give it a little time and it will utterly destroy by cruelty.

 I am cruel to be kind, developing the brain until you can become conscious of Me.

 I think that’s pretty worthwhile, get some consciousness and not not-I’s.

 It is well if you can see the beauty in any one of My religions.

 That’s seein’ it from within.

 Each one, as seen from within, teaches the crucifixion of “self”,

 The not-I’s.

 and if any one of them can lead you into the consciousness of freedom from self, you shall know that I have sent it unto you for that purpose.

 And that’s the only purpose that any religion can really do is to crucify the “self,” the set of not-I’s that makes up the personality.

 Have you read that in times past, they who profess to be My ministers have spread darkness instead of light, and kept back what you call the progress of civilization?  Behold, I have ever been alive as I am now.  I have ever provided for the development and organization of the formation of character as I saw fit.  You know now part of My workings in those dark times, and I have put it in the heart to question My wisdom of the partial knowledge.

 So it’s well to start questionin’ things at any time because that’s the way you begin to see a whole lot more.  If we assume we already know, we don’t question; we only condemn or justify.  That bout right?  You quit questionin’ things, but questionin’ is a pretty worthwhile thing to do.  It shows that you’re not quite as gullible as you could be, huh?  That right?  Question – keep on askin’ questions.  And question don’t only mean to ask questions, it means to ask yourself, “Has this got any validity for me?”  Now it may have a lot of validity for somebody else, but does it have validity for me?

 Yet learn this, that all things worthy to survive thrive best on opposition.

 With a little Second Force, as we call it, runnin’ around.  Anything that’s worthy of surviving, survives best and grows with some opposition.

 The principle called civilization is one which gathers strength through the hand of him who would keep it back.

 In other words, the people who attempt to destroy civilization are the ones which makes it the most powerful.  If there was no opposition to it, it gradually falls apart.  It becomes very decadent, very rapidly.  So when we live in a time where there’s no opposition to what’s called civilization, you see decadence beginning to arise cause there must be a resistance or it don’t grow good.

 Could you know all, then you would say, “Even then the Lord knew best.”  But though religions have ever led men unto a knowledge of Me, it is not through religions alone that I call you.  I call by everything of which you are conscious.

 Everything – business, beauty and art and music and conversation and books and every other thing.  They all work just as well as religion does and maybe sometimes even work better.

 I call by everything of which you are conscious.  Every voice is My voice. Every sweet influence of life in flower or tree or animal is My influence.  Every bitter or severe or cruel jolt which can come unto you is from Me.

 They’re very useful.  If we didn’t have ‘em, we probably would never wake up.

 Do I speak severely to the personality by the voice of religion?  Yet I speak still more severely by the voice of experience I send you.

 That’s the one that really hollers out loud, isn’t it?

 Every experience is from Me.  Perhaps you do not see how your experience can be dictated by Divine Love.  “If God sends this,” you say, “then He cannot be a God of love!”

 Know that a parent may love a child – very, very, very dearly, but it doesn’t mean it always agrees with the kid.  If the four year old, three-year-old kid wants to run in front of Mack trucks, you probably would make a little bit of noise to stop it, is that correct?  Would that be because you were cruel, or because you truly loved it?  You may do something to convince that child not to run in front of it – Mack trucks and Kenworthy trucks and so forth, is that right?  Might work at it anyway.  Would you feel you were being cruel?  No.  You were expressing love.  The child would probably say you were a “meany.”  You know I saw a child cry very severely one time because it wanted to pick up a bright red coal in the fireplace.  It wanted it’s pretty and it was beautiful.  And it was very angry with its mother for holding it back from the fire.  But it would have been more cruel to say, “Well, let it grab it,” you know.  Which one would you do?

 (Hold it back.)

 Ok, but the kid would say you were very cruel, you just didn’t want it to have that pretty, wouldn’t it?  You’re a mean old woman.  Then you understand what this just said.

 Behold it is well for you to speak thus for a season, for this blindness shall give place to a great light.

 As you can begin to see sometimes.

 Then shall you know that my love is so great that I do not let a hair of your head be touched except by Me, and for your advancement only.

 So a lot of times we have something that seems to jolt us, but if we look back a little while, we see that sure was good that happened.  Huh?  It opened up gobs of things for us.

 So I say unto you that it is My voice which calls you, whether by the words of sweet home songs and mother-taught prayers, or by the wild tempest of rough experiences.

 I expect experience teaches us more.

 Whatever voice appeals unto you is My truth for you, to nurse you until I shall lead you into all Truth.  And this is the Tenth Mystery, that each brain believes a different doctrine and different historical facts, and I feed them thereon, giving each the best possible food for such a brain.  And you are yourself a proof of My care; for even in this I do not let you believe what you read unless that belief shall be the best food for the brain.

 So let’s say that the Mystery is that all that appeals to me is valuable to me – in some way or other – for me to grow.  All that appeals to me, all that appeals – to me, not to somebody else – is valuable to me.

 And you don’t go around with a bunch of regrets that, “Oh if hadn’t only involved myself in so and so, look how much better off I’d be.”  You don’t know.  Do any of you know whether you ever made a mistake in something or not?  I’m not talking about adding up a column of figures.  Did you ever make a mistake in some of your action in life?  Huh?  You think you did.  What woulda happened had you done something else?  You don’t know.  You don’t know what had happened.  You might not have been here if you’d turned a corner in the other direction.  We don’t even know what would have happened had we not went down the road that we didn’t intend to sometimes.  Hmm?  Do you know whether you ever made a mistake in any course of action you ever took?  Because you would have to know what all the other alternatives were and what would have been the outcome of them.  I don’t believe any of us can say, “I made a mistake” in that sense.  Sure we’ve added up a column of figures and got an incorrect number, but that’s not a mistake – that’s not what we’re talking about.  We’re talking about did you make a mistake when you moved to Dallas instead of going to Buffalo, New York, huh?  You’ll never know that.  You don’t know what woulda happened.  Did you make a mistake when you went downtown one time and got a parking ticket?  You don’t know.  You don’t know what would have happened had you went some other direction or parked somewheres else, is that correct, huh?  You don’t know.  So I don’t think we can ever say with full correctness that we ever made a mistake.  I don’t know whether I did or not; and I have no way of knowing cause I would have to know all the possible alternatives that I could have done, then, and what would have been the outcome of them two weeks, two years, twenty years down the road.

 (Is it safe to say that there aren’t any mistakes?)

I don’t know.  You can say anything, but whether it’s true or not is another question. (laughter)  I just said I don’t think we know whether we ever made a mistake or not.  Do you?  I have no way of checkin’ up.  I don’t know.   Accordin’ to what it says here, no, you couldn’t have made a mistake because Life chooses the right turn.  And even though it wound up with you gettin’ all kinds of bumps and cracks and spots on your head, why, that was still what you could use best at that moment.  That’s what it says.  I don’t know.  See, I’m only reading the book out here.  I don’t know, Honey.  I’m just the reader here.  But I doubt if you ever made a mistake, ok?

 (Ok.)

I’m sure none of us know whether we ever really did or not.  I doubt if we did, but that I can’t be certain of.  But I am sure that you don’t know whether you ever made a mistake or not.  That I’m sure of, ok?

 (What is it that makes us feel like we have made a mistake?)

 Well, because we feel that there is only two things coulda happened – wonderful and terrible.  What happened was terrible, so, “If I hadn’t a’done this, it’s bound to have been wonderful.”  But it was, maybe, many degrees of lousiness coulda happened.

 (As long as we don’t compare.)

 See that’s the way we look at everything.  “If I hadn’t a-done that,” ya know.  That guy says, “If I had’a just invested in that buildin’ over there, why I’d a-been a millionaire today.”  He may had more law suits in his hand than he could have ever settled, couldn’t he?  And, “If I just hadn’t a-done so and so, I woulda been a millionaire today.”  “If I hadn’t-a-married that woman I woulda really been happy.”  I don’t know what you woulda done if you hadn’t done that.  Do you?

 So let’s just say that I don’t know that I ever made a mistake cause I have no way of finding out what woulda happened had I took some alternate route, ok?  That at least we know.  So we can’t sit around, beat ourselves over the head with a hammer for having made mistakes.  But I don’t know about it, and I don’t think anybody else does.

 But, you know people do a lot of regretting about the “mistakes” they made, huh?  And I don’t know that we ever made one.  I’m sure we’re conditioned to believe that if everything didn’t work out with a bed of rose petals, we musta made a mistake.  Mama always told me if I do the right thing, everything would work out well; but the old lady forgot to tell me what the right thing was and I had to worry about that for 20 years.  Huh?  That’s why we work on it.  “If you do the right thing, son, everything will work out fine.”  So when it don’t work out so good, and so you still, with Mama now internalized, said, “See, you didn’t do the right thing.  That’s why you got into all this mess.”  Huh?  But you don’t know what the right thing is.  She told me to do it but she never let me in on what it was, do you see?  Did your mother tell you always do the right thing?  Did she tell you what the right thing was?

(Sometimes she did.)

Which was something you didn’t wanna do?

(Right.)

Or that would prevent you from doing what you wanted to do.  Is that correct? And if you tried it, you still might have not worked out so well and then she said, “Well you didn’t do it right.”  The folks up in Salt Lake City say, “Well, you did the right thing, but for the wrong reason.”  That really blaps you.  You see there is no “out” when you get caught in all these games.  You did the right thing, but for the wrong reason.  Good lord and little fishes!  There’s nothin’ you can do right and you’re really caught up now.