A Marsha Summers Blog

Thanks to Steven Coleman, you can also listen to the chapters by going to:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3zd34dd8r8kh3s1/rsBi6noLwx

(with apologies for misspelling Steven’s name in last week’s  post)

III

Third Mystery:  Healing

The body is My habitation.  Does it suffer worries, pains or disappointments?

Yeah, the answer is yes.  They didn’t put it in here; but obviously it is.  And it’s always going to, if I may be so bold as to say so.  And consequently, if we could (and I’ll throw this in on the side) end today our effort to improve things so that that wouldn’t happen, we would probably be relieved of most misery.  Now pain and disappointments and worries and so forth, maybe are kind of natural, but misery is unnecessary.  Period.  Pain is going to be an aspect of living as long as we breathe and I hope we do it all for thousands of years yet.  So we’ll have pains now and then, but an average person makes themselves very, very miserable by trying to improve themselves.  So they have a little pain, or you feel weary, or you feel tired and immediately wonder, “What have I done?  I’ve done somethin’ wrong!” and here they take off.  Well, if you just let it alone – so I feel kind of blah, “blahdoms”, you know, some mornins’?  Well, so what? I feel blah; I’m content to feel blah.  What’s wrong with it?  In a few minutes it’s gone.  You don’t know where it went, nor why, or could care less. 

But if you set out to go straighten that up and find out what you did wrong, and you’ve got to improve yourself, I’ll guarantee you can keep it going on for years – a lifetime, if that’s what a lifetime is – 60 years or something?  You can keep it going that way.  But if you cease trying to improve yourself…  You see, you don’t even know how to make one cell in a human body, do you Mack?  You don’t know how to make one hair grow or not grow, huh?  And then you’re gonna improve yourself.  That is the height of audacity, hmm?  How are you going to improve somethin’ when you don’t even know how to make the first simple cell in it?  Now it has, the body is an ever-changing, dynamic mechanism which is the home of whatever’s called Life.  It keeps it goin’.  And at times it needs a little discomfort here and there to make things go.  We call it normal adaptation.  Sometimes it feels kind of blah.  You know it takes a few minutes to get up going in the morning.  I’ve had five cups of coffee and a half pack of cigarettes, and Clyde went and got me the right variety and everything.  I got my usual toxicity level up to functionin’ right now and I feel wonderful. (laughter)  You know, to start off with here this mornin’?  Who wants to go to work, “Bluhhhh.”   But you’re gonna to improve yourself?  Forget it.  Now I would say, if everbody here said, “Well, I’m content with things like they are.” 

You know, there was a great writer–I think his name was Paul or at least whoever wrote it attributed it to him.  You know today people steal stuff from each other and put their name on the literature.  In the old days you put the other guy’s name on it so it would look good.  I like that routine better.  But, at least it was attributed to the great salesman named Paul,  that he said he had learned one thing, and only one thing had he learned in all his years of delving into Teaching material.  He had learned that whatever state he found himself at that moment to be content there.  Now that doesn’t look like any great big earth-shaking discovery, does it?  But it is probably the greatest thing towards transforming an individual into a conscious being that you could come up with.  So at this moment we all have certain feelings.  Some’s kind of blah, some’s delighted, some is this, some is that.  But that’s just fine for this moment.  And if we let it alone, the next moment’s gonna to be another whole new experience and the next moment’s gonna be another one; but we hang it up by trying to improve ourselves.

One time I was working over in New Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande River.  The Rio Grande is dry most of the year and they turn water down through it in the spring, usually as the snows melts up in the mountains.  We were standing out there and there was a dead horse come floating down the thing.  Died probably in the sandbank during the winter; and when the spring waters come down, why he was floatin’ downstream.  And somebody said, “We gotta pull that thing out of the water because it’s terrible to have a dead horse in the Rio Grande River.”  I said,  “You pull that dead horse out, and you’re stuck with a smelly, dead horse.  You let it alone, ten minutes it’s gone.”  So you see, that’s the way we do with all these things.  (Laughter.)  Well, isn’t that right? Let it alone and it’ll go on.  Everything that happens to you, you hang it up.  You pull dead horses outa streams and you’re stuck with ‘em all the time.  If you let it alone, it goes on downstream and that’s the end of the show.

So let’s stop this super self-improving.  If I can get that across, it was worth my trip down here.  You’re all right like you are.  (That was what we went through that for.)  You’re fine just like you are, and you’re gonna have 1,000 different sensations today, and if it’s one you don’t happen to like, you say, “Oh, what have I done wrong now?”  When you go digging in your head, you’ve pulled a dead horse out.  You’re stuck with it then.  Let it alone and it’ll go on in a few minutes.  Okay?  Can you do that, Mack?  If you feel all pooped out some night, just feel pooped out – so what?  It’ll go away in a few minutes.  But if you pull it out, you’re stuck with that pooped out dead horse all day. 

Herein is the Third Mystery, that as inspiration is higher than conscience,   

Conscience is that stuff that tells you what you should do and should not do and inspiration says, “I’m going to do it.  That’s it.”

and love is higher than desire,  so is My perfect will higher than aught that

seems to harm any one of My bodies.

You might read that again.

…My perfect will is higher than anything that seems to harm any one of My bodies.

Now all this thing we think of as harm, we see as normal adaptation to something you’ve run into in the last few hours.  And you know nothing stays in perfect balance all the time.  But the activity of Life is balancing. It’s always balancing things.  It never is in perfect balance because if it did, then everything would become static.  So we do something and we’re fatigued.  Ok, there’s no reason to get all excited – the world hasn’t come to an end.  Just get horizontal a while and it all straightens out.  But you feel fatigued.  So the first thing most of us do is run get us an upper and get ourselves stimulated so we won’t feel so pooped, is that right?  You work on that a few years, Mack? 

(Yes, sure did.) 

You found lots of things that would do it, hmm?  But then that gave side effects, and then you had to get something for that.  That gives you fuzzies and this and that; so then you have to get something for that, huh?  What’s wrong with bein’ tired now and then?  Now, Life (we refer to it as X), it just simply says here I – that it goes to work to balance that situation, okay?  Now when it balances, it doesn’t get it to a perfect balance because by that time we’ve done something else.  So the ‘action’ direction of Life is always balancing and that balancing does give us sensation.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I kinda like sensations.  I would hate to be devoid of them.  I don’t spend any of my money goin’ in sensory deprivation tanks.  I might spend some money to get a new sensation once in a while, but not to get rid of ‘em.  I like ‘em.  I think they’re fantastic and they’re marvelous and I don’t think they all have to be pleasant, but they’re nice anyway.  If it hurts, it reminds me I’m alive.  Do you ever think of that?  If you got a pain, it’s still telling you you’re alive, and that X still thinks that this body is worth savin’, so it’s adapting it.

I used to practice the healing art and when a person got so they didn’t adapt anymore, which they usually do just shortly before they depart this world, those of you that have been in the health service and nursing and etc. knows that a person can be in all kinds of agony, right Tina?  And all of a sudden they quit.  They just feel fine.  They come out of a coma and get up and talk to all the relatives, and they want somethin’ to eat, and the relatives say, “Oh, they’re getting well.”   Those of us “in the know” knows they gonna be dead in a few minutes because they quit adapting.  X says this body isn’t worth fiddling with anymore and we’ll just let it go – not worth bothering with, anymore.  And they just feel wonderful for a few minutes, and die.  So when you see somebody that’s been in a horrible state of affairs in health, and all of a sudden they’re doin’ fine, call the relatives.  It’s about over.  Now we’ll all stand around and “view the remains” because that’s all’s gonna be left in a few minutes.  So as long as you’re hurtin’ and you have a discomfort, X says, “Well, I can still use this body,” hmm?

So thank goodness when you have a little discomfort now and then.  It’ll be all right, you don’t have to do anything about it.  It’ll go away in a while.  It may take it six months, but it’ll go away.  It may go away in a few minutes.  But the point is you don’t know how to improve it and certainly every time you have a discomfort, doesn’t mean you had some horrible thought.  You know certain areas of people I run into, that everything happens they look for something to blame it on.  If you’ve had a headache, it must have been because you had a bad thought or you did this.  So what?  You’re just alive, that’s all that’s wrong with you.  That’s all that’s wrong – you’re alive.  And you don’t have to stop and improve yourself. 

It is well that everything shall come to the body which can come;   

That’s the next line here and that’s pretty good.  You wanna read that again, Mack?

It is well [they use the word “meat” here but we eat that stuff] that everything shall come to the body which can come; in order that when the word of inspiration is spoken and the body is healed, you shall be strong to express My perfect health.

Now perfect health doesn’t mean I run around la-de-da, feelin’ good all the time.  It means that I adapt to every challenge – that’s perfect health.  It’s you adapt to every stress and challenge that comes to the body.  Now, let’s all think for a moment that suppose we wanted to be strong—bodybuilding is “in” these days in certain areas of the country.  Everbody wants a strong body.  So you wanted a big set of muscles and you could win Mr. Universe or Miss Universe contests in bodybuilding.  Would you do it by sitting around thinking positive, resting a lot so the body would not use your energy up doing something else, or would you go out and start pumping iron, lifting weights, running – heavy exercise?  Which one would you do?  Tell me. 

(Exercise.) 

Right.  And do you think you’d get strong by stayin’ in the sack and restin’ so you wouldn’t dissipate your energy at worthless things?  Or do you think you could sit and think and think and think about how strong you were and your muscles would grow big?  Do you think they would?  Your belly would, but your head won’t.  That’s the only thing that would grow is down here, is that right?  So, you see that perfect health is not always feelin’ just so.  So these people that are wanting to build these big bodies fatigue themselves and after they’re totally fatigued, then they push some more.  And it hurts.  Every muscle in your body will burn and sting, but that’s the way it says you made a demand for it to get stronger, is that right?  Now most of us when we feel fatigued, we don’t think that the way to get energy is to go out and fatigue it some more.

You know, boredom is the biggest fatigue there is, hmm?  That means disinterest.  And then we hope to get strong by resting a while.  So perfect health is not always feelin’ la-de-dah.  Perfect health is that you adapt to every stress, challenge that comes your way and you know something?  Every one of us are doing that.  The only thing that we continue to adapt to is our effort to improve ourselves.  That’s the never-ending one.  Well, let’s just be content and everything adapts quite well.  So perfect health – so it says, “that the body is to be strong to express my perfect health” and it’s gotta be strong to always stand all the adaptations without running and grabbing all the uppers and downers and so forth that can be available, and there is lots of ‘em available anywheres you wanna find ‘em, huh?

By generation after generation have I formed the body, giving it a formation and constitution and character whereby it can be affected only by that which is for it.

You’re not affected by something that’s happened to somebody else over there.  You know your mother probably told you to be sure and clean up your plate so the starving Singhs in India wouldn’t be so hungry, is that right?  But it don’t help them a bit.  I can eat all day for you.  I can eat a big steak for you, but it don’t relieve your hunger, does it?  You can be very thirsty and I say, “Well, don’t fret about it, I’ll happily drink a couple of glasses of water for you.”  It won’t do you a bit of good, is that right?  Not a bit.  So, it can only feel something that is for the growth of its own strength.

Say you, “Can this be true of dying?”  Yes, it is true even of the dying, and you shall see it.  But you are not dying and this message is unto you.

So you aren’t dying; quit hypothecating around that it’s gonna do something about dying people.   

Seek to evade it if you will by thinking how it would be unto others, but know that I have so far given you just wisdom enough for your own life,

That’s all you need. You don’t need anything to know all the answers to every “why” question you can formulate.  You know, that’s one of the things I see people torment themselves.  They want an answer to every “why” question they can come up with.  “Why did this happen?  Why did that happen?  Why are there so many people in India?  Why are they so hungry, and why does the good Lord let all those poor souls survive over there and not this and not that?”  So you only need enough for you and you only need enough of it for today.  Now wisdom is seeing “what is” clearly.  It isn’t having a lot of education; that’s information.  Wisdom is having enough to handle the present situation.

You can see what’s going on.  So the body’s adapting; let’s don’t get all screwed up now.  We need enough wisdom for me and for today.  I can’t have wisdom for you, ok?   I just need enough for today.  And one bit of wisdom is not to be asking “why” about everything that you can conceive of.  I see people read the newspaper, “Oh, I don’t see why that’s allowed to happen.”  In the first place readin’ the newspaper other than the classified ads is a waste of time.  Classified lets you know what’s going on in town; the rest of it’s a waste of time.  But you can find out everything about a city by reading the classified section.  The rest of it, throw it away.  I only read a newspaper once in a while, but I never read anything beyond the classified.  I drop the rest of it.  A little lady is always wanting to know why I read all the classified, but I learn everything going on in town that way.  It’s the best information source you can get.

You only need enough wisdom for your own – that is, you’re able to understand the self.  Now the self is those things we put up last night, like the complainer, the sticker up for rights, the blamer, the pleaser, the quoter of authority and the self-improver above all.  He’s really a potent cat.  And so if you understand the self, then you know to let all that stuff alone because that’s all the source of destruction, and you just let it be.  You can’t keep it from yakkin’, but you don’t have to pay any attention to it, ok?

and that if you are able to understand the self,  you will do well, leaving those others to me.

So will you let everybody else’s troubles, problems, and anxieties and miseries – let them take care of their own, would you please, Miss Bekki?  You really don’t have to worry about all those other folks.  They’ll do they’re own worryin’.  And you can’t do it for them.  And you know it’s so easy to say, “Oh, that poor soul.  I feel so sorry for them,” which is a nice way of saying, “I feel sorry for me,” you know.  You look over there and you see somebody considered to be unfortunate and you get all upset about it.  You really are just having a new excuse to feel sorry for yourself.  There’s somebody else around over in South America or somewhere, and you don’t know about them, and you don’t feel bad about them.  But if you did, man, you could feel sorry for yourself over that.

I have developed the constitution to the point where the body has become wholly operated by nerve force, and I have developed that nerve force in the body to the end that it might obey My will. 

In other words it’s strong enough, but we usually let it obey the will of the “self” which is the conditioning, the not-I’s as we refer to them as.

Whether you do submit the self to My will or not, be sure that My will is worked out in the body;

In other words, it’s gonna balance things whether you like it or not, regardless of how many uppers and downers you take or anything else, it’s still gonna work out. 

…My will is worked out in the body; but when you do submit the self and do surrender to Me,

Let’s let X run the body.  I don’t know how to make a cell.  I don’t know how to convert a ham sandwich into flesh and blood.  I don’t know how fast my ticker should be running this minute.  I don’t know how many pounds I should weigh exactly this minute, and all these things.  So let’s just leave that to X.  It’s its house, and it’s running it.  And I hear it needs a glass of water, well I’ll look around for the water source, ok?  And I hear it needs some groceries, I’ll look around for groceries.  But I’m not going into tizzies as to what kind it gets.  Ok?  X will take care of that.

…when you do submit the self and do surrender to Me,

Let X run the body.

the war in the nervous forces shall cease,

The war in the nervous system is conflict, anxiety, worry, etc.  I think everybody knows about it – when you wanna do the right thing – boy, that is when you get busy, isn’t it?  Cause you got two little guys telling you what the right thing is.  One of ‘em says stick up for your rights and all this stuff.  So you got this little party over here – complainer, sticker up for rights, and blamer.  And you got this little party over here – the pleaser, the quoter of authorities, and the self-improver.  Now there’s a war between those all the time and that’s what we call “anxiety”.  The self-improver says you got to improve yourself and the other one says, “I’m tired, I’ll do it tomorrow.  I don’t have the energy to start on it today,” and soon.  So here it says how to end the war or conflict.

…the war of the nervous force shall cease, and the body become a harmonious instrument for expressing My inspiration and love.

Now that doesn’t mean it’s gonna feel like a bed of rose petals all the time, but it will express the inspiration of X.  Cause it does inspire us if the not-I’s don’t get the lick in and overpower it and we listen to the not-Is instead of that.

We’re very familiar, the voices of the not-I’s are very familiar to us.  The voice of inspiration is rather strange.  We never heard it before.  We been so busy in this fight between the two  of ‘em.  And so then

the body becomes a harmonious instrument for expressing My inspiration and love. 

This is healing…

And that’s what healing is all about is when all the struggle in the nervous system ends, you’re gonna feel fine except you will naturally be adapting.  But the body will cease its deterioration and fallin’ apart at the seams and it will express inspiration of Life and it will express love.

This is Healing, the Third Mystery.

So we got the third one up.  Last night we said all was ok which was a healing idea.  Then nothing needs to be changed.  You don’t have to improve yourself and all this stuff.  That is submitting to the will.  So then Healing is the third one and that is the end of conflict… conflict, struggle, and resistance is what healing is all about.  Now if I’m not struggling with something inside in the nervous system – the mental apparatus – and I’m not in conflict and I’m not fightin’ to get something and make everything be different than the way Life really functions, I’m not sick, so I can heal, you see.  It’s really very nice.

Did you ever feel sick, Mary?  And when you just finally said it was quite all right to be that way, it didn’t last too long, is that right?  But you know, we think we know all these things and we know how it ought to be and man, we’re gonna get busy with it, aren’t we Mary and find a way to make this thing straighten up, hmm?  We’ll use all the facilities of the uppers, downers, the head shrinks, and other fine folks and everything else, and what do we do?  As long as we’re in conflict, struggle and resistance tryin’ to improve ourselves, we’re going to be rather sick.  Now when you get so you really don’t care, it’s all right.

If you don’t mind, I’ll tell you a little story.  I suppose in some circles it would be slightly risque, but here it wouldn’t be.  It’s just ordinary.  They told a story on me one time back in New Mexico.  I was invited to give a talk to the rotary club and a friend of mine came to me and was a member of the rotary and wanted me to give a talk.  I said fine, I’ll do that.  He introduced me at one of these new luncheon bits; and he said, “I really don’t know how to tell you what Dr. Bob does.  I can’t have a word for it, so I’ll give you a little story to illustrate.”

He said, “There was a man recently I met on the street and he was an old friend of mine.  He looked simply terrible.  He was walking down the street dragging; and I stopped him and said, “Hey, Bill, what in the world is the matter with you?  What’s happened to you?  Did your family die or business gone?” 

“No,” he said, “Nothing like that.  It’s just I wish I’d die.  I don’t want to talk about it.” 

I said, “Come on, tell me.  We’re old friends.  What’s wrong with you?”

The guy said, “Well, look, I lost control of my urine and I dribble in my pants all the time.” 

And I said, “Well, what have you done about it?” 

He said, “Well, I went over to Pritkin’s drug store and I got some stuff and it makes it worse I think.”  And then he said, “I went to another drug store here and they gave me some stuff and it just discolored my pants and nothing’s doing any good.” 

I said, “Well quit fiddling around with these darn home remedies and go to a professional man.  They can fix that up.”  I said, “Come on, get with it, go see a professional man, it will be all right.”

He said, “I didn’t see Bill for about three weeks and when I did, he was whistling and going down the street just laughing and jivin’ off, and I said, “How good to see you looking good.” 

He said “Yeah, I’ve been wanting to see you to thank you.”

I said “What for?” 

He said, “Well you know the last time we met, you told me to go see a professional man.” 

“Yeah,” I said, “Well, who’d you go see?” 

He said, “I went to see Dr. Bob Gibson over here.”

I said, “Well, all he does is talk to you, doesn’t he?”

He said, “Yeah, that’s all we did, we just talked.” 

I said, “You mean talking to you got rid of that dribbling?” 

He said, “Aw, hell no, I still dribble, I just don’t give a damn.”  (Laughter.)  So you see you’re healed as soon as you don’t give a damn.  The rest of it will go away in due time.  Okay?

Now you’ll leave here with the same thing you came in, but maybe you just won’t give a damn, ya know?  You’ll go along and it’ll be all right.  Ok, Mary?  One time Mary called me up and she was so depressed and so miserable, she just hated to get up and put on her face in the morning and go to work.  And I said, “Well, Mary, I thought everybody loved to perform miracles.  You get an old hag out of the bed and turn out a beauty on the streets – you’ve performed a miracle.”  She’s had fun ever since puttin’ on her face.  Now, she’s still having to put on her face every morning, but now she just don’t give a damn. Right Mary?  You know it’s nice to perform miracles every day, did you ever think about that?  You get up and perform a miracle every morning, don’t you?  So this is healing now, and healing is not all these wild things that suddenly you jump up and everything’s feelin’ fine.  It is that you’re just fine for it to be like it is and all of a sudden everything’s wonderful, ok?

And to you who cannot yet surrender, 

You know some of you just flat can’t give it up, that’s all there is to it.  Because you’re afraid to leave that body alone, because you know good and well there’s no such thing as X; and obviously it couldn’t do anything – if it did exist, cause you gotta do it cause you know so much about bodies and cells and how they work, how to change food into flesh and blood, how to make some go to hair and some go to muscles and some to fingernails and some to this and some to that.  You know where to direct the food, Marcy?  Or you dump it in and forget about it?  But, you see, some can’t surrender.  Some people can’t just let it alone, can they Mack?

One time Mack and I talked and he let things alone for about three months.  He felt so good, he had to get back on the job and mess it up again.  That right, Mack?  That’s a fact, isn’t it?  See, he’d sit and talk to me out in California, and he felt wonderful.  One time he took me from here to the airport in Dallas, so I had a captive audience – he couldn’t get away, you know, he couldn’t run.  I had him in that little, old, dinky, Japanese beer can.  And he couldn’t get away, and he had to listen to me all the way to Dallas.  And he felt good for three months.  And then he got out of it and said, “Well, look, this is all right, but I can’t depend on this – this body’s liable to fall apart any day now.”  And he screwed it up.  And so, some of us just simply can’t surrender yet and let X run the body, is that right, Mack?  Cause it don’t know what it’s doing.  If you don’t watch out for it, it’s gonna mess up.

I have not yet developed your bodies and minds to that point.

Give us time, Mack.  We’ll get there. 

I give this message that all forces will yield unto the word of inspiration

spoken through the mouths of others.

Sometimes you can’t hear inspiration inside your own head; you’ll hear it from outside somewhere and it may be some comedian somewheres or whatever.  I heard a comedian say somethin’ made a little sense, the only thing he said that made any sense, incidentally, to me.  He was smokin’ a cigarette and said that somebody had given him a big fit about smokin’ was so terrible to your health and liable to kill you, all this.  And he said, “Well, what are you doing it for?”  He said, “Well, any joker can quit smokin’, but it takes a hero to face cancer.”  Oh, let’s don’t bother with it, you know.  You might as well be a hero, huh?  And go on about your business.

A friend of mine gives talks to groups called “Smoke-Enders.”  Don’t know if you’re acquainted with that little group, runnin’ around the country, you know about it?  He had fourteen in his last class and he called me Thursday afternoon and said, “All fourteen of ‘em quit.”  The funny thing was that he asked them all in this class why they started smokin’.  All of ‘em said, “Due to peer pressure.”  When they was growing up, you know – the other kids are all smokin’, so then they had to smoke to keep up.  You know about peer pressure.  Then he asked ‘em a week later why they were all there coming to “Smoke-Enders” to quit.  And you know what?  Peer pressure.  That really shows we’re really on the ball and our own man and woman, aren’t we?  Peer pressure made me start, peer pressure’s makin’ me quit.  When the hell am I gonna do something on my own, hmm?  Peer pressure didn’t start me smokin’, I was born wantin’ a cigarette.  Before I had any peers, really.

And unto you who can’t yet surrender [Mack]

because I have not yet developed your body and mind to that point,

Give us time, we’re workin’ on it. 

I give this message: that all forces will yield unto the word of inspiration spoken through the mouths of others.  So potent is the word of inspiration that even the form of words used is repeated by those who do not know Me to do many wonderful works.

You can hear yourself quoted every once in a while, believe that part or not, huh?  You can hear yourself quoted.  Wherever there is a bit of inspiration comes out, you’ll hear a lot of other people quotin’ it, even though you said it, Mary.  It wasn’t you; it was inspiration.

Am I unjust that I develop some bodies to fruitage sooner than others?

No, because some will let go and some won’t. 

Do I not bring forth the ripened berry early in the season

rather than the ripened peach?

So whose to say that you should get there first, Mack?  Just cause you’re a big guy doesn’t mean you’re gonna get there. 

Therefore, I say that My bodies that have surrendered unto Me and that are conscious of doing My will are likened unto the humble blackberry, while you who receive this message with scorn, or a sense of bondage, [and, “I just can’t do it, yet.”] are likened unto peaches which will hereafter ripen with a glorious fullness unknown to the more quickly ripened smaller fruit

See, you’ll get to be a bigger wheel!  Wonderful thing about Life’s Word – always lets you off the hook.  And thank goodness it does, because we – are – all – off – the – hook – if – we – would – but – allow it, ok?  So when you do ripen late in the season, just before the frost, it will be marvelous, Mack. 

Am I unable to answer all the questions which I Myself have planted in the mind?

Now not all the ones the not-I’s plant in there.  Because, really, the only question that X, Life, Spirit plants in the mind is, “What’s going on here?”  That’s really the only thing any of us need to know.  Not, “Why did Susie do that?” and, “Why were some people born with red hair and some of ‘em with pink hair and some of ‘em with black hair?”  And so on… And why are some people tall and some are short, why are some people smart and others are smarter, and so on down the line.  None of that is that.

The only question that Life ever plants in our head is, “What’s going on here?”  Now we have four questions that we sometimes put—they all say the same thing.  What am I?  Where am I?  What’s going on here? And what I can do?  Now that’s the four questions that Life puts in the head.  And then all the others are the ones that the “self” put in there.  We spend a lot of time on the others and very little on this one.  We’re gonna talk about that tomorrow.  I’ve already been requested that that be the subject of the sermonette tomorrow – is going to be, “What am I?  Where am I?  What’s Going On Here? and What I Can Do?”.  So we won’t talk about that anymore.  I gotta have somethin’ to talk about tomorrow.

Am I unable to answer all the questions…If you should ask, “What about bodies that have died?  Are they, too, ripened?”

What’s it any of your business?  (laughter)

should I not be able to answer?

Yes, I am able to answer all things, and shall unfold to thee all Mysteries.

And they’re all mysteries, is “What am I? Where am I? What’s going on here? And what I can do?”   

This third mystery concerns only yourself.  Others I will show to you in due season.

So this third one is “Healing”, is the end of anxiety, conflict, struggle and resistance by trying to improve yourself by thinking “I know what ought to be right now”, and you don’t and you don’t have the foggiest.  So you dreamed up some ideal. And it isn’t that way and you feel disappointed; and when you’re disappointed, you feel hurt, and you look for blame, and you get anger, guilt, fear, insecurity – the whole smear.  But when you say, “Well, it’s all right like it is.”  Life seems to have had things going on here for a long time before you got here, Mack, and you know something else – he’ll keep it going on long after you depart, okay?  So I think we can fairly well trust it to do things.  Okay?  Think you can do that now, or do I have to hold you in a car for a long time?

(I’m gonna give you a ride to the airport.)

Well, it’s in Houston this time. (laughing)  The airport’s in Houston this time.  I’ll hold you a little longer and it’ll last six months this time.  Twice as long!

Others I will show to you in due season.

So if you need anything else, it will be there.  Now that is the Third Mystery.  We will put up the fourth one.  It is 11:30.  I suggest we have a five, ten-minute break.  And how would be two o’clock to start?  Everybody agreed to that?  And I’m gonna start at two o’clock, you know.  You come in late that’s fine.  I’m very punctual.  And I like to start on time, so let’s all be here at two o’clock –

(It says here 2:30.  What if people weren’t here this morning?)

Oh, it says 2:30?  Wonderful!  (laughter) That suits me better.  Two-thirty we’ll start.  You must have arranged that.  He starts at 10:30.  Last time I was here, they had me start at nine o’clock in the mornin’, all this stuff.  Thank you – I’m glad.  Whoever did it, that’s fine.  So we start at 2:30 this afternoon.  I didn’t know that was already arranged, so that suits me just fine.  Two-thirty, but we will start exactly 2:30. 

Thanks to Stephen Colman, you can also listen to the chapters by going to:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3zd34dd8r8kh3s1/rsBi6noLwx

II

Second Mystery:  All Is Good

Again, Life is doing the talking, not some person. 

I have developed the body by devious means, that it might be a habitation for Me.

In other words, not every body seems to be a habitation which Life can express itself clearly through.

Generations after generations of bodies have gone before yours,  each generation adding strength to the constitution and eliminating some weakness; and now, if you can receive it, the body is ready for the consciousness of My presence.

Possibly it took millions of years or thousands of years, or if you have some other idea, maybe it only took 6,000 years.  But whatever it is, that Life is saying somewheres along here that bodies at one time (or a given set of bodies) very few were capable of having the strength and the necessity of saying that, “Life is present here” or that, “Spirit is present here”.  And it took a long time and so there’s been lots of turmoil in the times. 

through devious…

I’ve had a lot of people object to this word ‘devious’; but devious doesn’t mean unholy or anything.  It means by using any and all methods at command to do something.  So devious has been twisted around.  I think in the English language it basically means somewhat dishonest or attempting to deceive or something.  But devious means, as it’s used here, to use any and all methods to construct a human body that could be ready for the consciousness of ‘My presence’. 

Through devious means have I brought you, providing every influence that would appeal to you, in order that bodies shall be developed to whom nothing can appeal but My will.

Now we all know that bodies can be appealed to by many things through personality that can appeal to many things that are destructive to it.  It says if you get the body so well developed that nothing of these destructive things seems to appeal to it.  And I’m sure a lot of people here understand what that means. 

Have I not hardened the heart to the cry of the oppressed,

and suffered you to be tempted to sin,

Whatever that may mean.  Sin means to miss the mark, incidentally, not doing something that somebody told you not to do. 

and have I not fed you on the poisoned fruit of the forbidden tree

of the so-called “knowledge of good and evil?”

The picture we had a while ago, each of those things on there [the six decisions in the Picture of Man] thinks it knows what’s “good” and what’s “evil”.  I don’t know what’s good and what’s evil cause I don’t know what’s gonna be the outcome of it two weeks from now, two years from now, or 20 years from now; and I don’t believe that anybody else here does.  Do you, Bobby?  So how would I know it was gonna be evil, you know?  Suppose we had a flood and it washed somebody’s house off tonight?  We don’t know what would have happened had the house stood for another two weeks.  We don’t know that, so we don’t know what’s good and what’s bad.

Yes, all this have I done that characters might be developed in the formation and organization of bodily frames which would be immune from such poison.

What it seems to be saying is that if the body is so well put together that it’s immune to many of these ideas that it knows what ‘ought to be’ and this is ‘right’ and this is ‘wrong’ and this ‘should be’ and it gets angry and it gets upset… it says if the body is put together well enough, it won’t do that and that Life has been workin’ on those kinds of bodies, bodies that are immune to such things.  It’s like gradually people get immune to various poisons that are around because you build up such a well constitution.  We’re even told by gardeners that if you raise your plants strong enough, that the bugs don’t eat on ‘em.  Ever practiced that any?  Good, organic gardening.  I don’t know of any other kind; but you know, all gardening is organic as far as I’m concerned.  But the healthier the plant is, the less it is consumed by bugs and blights and all these things.  So the stronger the human body can be, the better well it’s constructed and put together, and the least we damage it, it gets so that many of these things which have been easily believed by people and so forth can no longer have any affect on them because it doesn’t appeal to them. 

Through cycles of time has the false “knowledge of good and evil”…

You know all people know what’s good and evil – in fact, we have been taught it, we have legislated it and everything else, thinkin’ we knew.

Through cycles of time has the false “knowledge of good and evil” poisoned the blood of My people – My bodies.

says Life. 

But unto you who can awake from the dream of evil

induced by that poison shall be shown the Second Mystery.

The words of the Second Mystery are known to many, and are used by many to perform wonders; yet you need not pass lightly by these words.

For many have healed diverse diseases with these words and yet have never known their true meaning.  On the heart I write these words,

This is the Second Mystery mentioned in this book.  And it says

“ALL IS GOOD.”  

I would say, without saying that it’s good or bad, that it’s all “all right for now.”  I don’t know any better way for it to be; it’s ok.  So we have a great tendency to feel that everything ought to be “straightened up”, “fixed up”, “all people ought to be straightened out” and everything, but it’s all right like it is. Really, it’s doin’ ok.  Because all of the resistance that we make every effort to see that there isn’t any resistance.  You know, that’s what’s called improving and developing the great society and so forth, is to have one where there’s no resistance – I guess that’s what everbody’s workin’ at a little bit.  Now we know that resistance is absolutely essential for life to evolve, develop well.  If you never did anything but laid in the sack and had somebody come turn you over every now and then so you wouldn’t have any effort to move any muscle at all, you’d turn into a blob of Jell-o after a while and you wouldn’t survive.  The more you’re challenged… maybe you go to a gym and push iron or whatever.  That’s the way you get strong.  You don’t get strong from resting.  You get strong from challenging and doin’ things.  You see lots of people out, at least where I live, jogging.  They’re gettin’ stronger, you know, by doing that.  And you go over in another place, and you see a lot of people movin’.  I read the other night in a book that we had the only society where anyone who really worked like a dog was doin’ it for sport.  Now, if you really go out and put out some effort, you’re doin’ it for sport.  You don’t have to do it to make a living anymore.  That right, Mack?  You don’t have to work hard to make a livin’, do you?  So if I ever see you doin’ something, it’s sport that you’re exercisin’ your muscles, or movin’ or doin’ anything, it’s strictly for fun, isn’t it?  Isn’t that funny that we’ve got to the place where the only way that you can exercise is by havin’ fun or sport?  But that seems to be necessary for bodies to get strong.

So the Second Mystery is that “all is all right; it’s ok just like it is.”  Now let’s respond to ‘what is’ instead of fighting with it and deciding how we’re going to improve the situation so there would be no resistance to anybody. 

Say you herein is no mystery? 

Yet you shall see Me when you see that “all is good.”

You will see Life for what it is when you see.  And you will recognize you are Life when you really see that “all is good”.  Now a lot of people say it.  Last Saturday we went to a… quite a little thing.  I won’t tell you about it.  I wouldn’t want you to know I went there.  But nevertheless, there was a lady who was propounding a lotta great and wondrous things; and she’s saying this world wasn’t fit to live in.  Now I haven’t been to any one I’d wanna live in other, have you?  She was gonna leave and go to some higher realm, but she had already said a few minutes ago that she was bringin’ in some great, exalted beings, and that this world was going to be one “joy-pool” very shortly.  And she’d get crossed up on this every once in a while.  She doesn’t want to be here, but then, well now, they’re comin’ and everything’s gonna to be all right.  I think it’s all right like it is today.  I find it’s quite all right to live here.  I have food, clothing, shelter, transportation, interesting things to do, delightful friends and companions and everything is goin’ on all the time.  Now what do you add to that?  It feels good, lovely people around you.  Here we sit in a room with a bunch of very delightful people.  I’ve been here before and they were very delightful the last time.  So it’s not “put on” or show.  It’s real, it’s genuine – cause it’s always the same.  I been here a lot of times.  So what else you lookin’ for, huh?  What are you lookin’ for?  Is it all right like it is, or does everything need to be changed?  What about it?   

I am God.  I live in all bodies and am omnipotent.  You cannot find any so-called evil place, but I am there.  I, and only I am there, developing My body by devious ways.

Some of ‘em looks a little rough sometimes. 

In every impulse I live, conforming to no rule.

You know we’re the only ones that make rules.  Life doesn’t make rules.  It says, “Well, let’s adapt to that.”  If it’s real wet one year, the tree adapts to that, and if it’s dry the next year, it adapts to that and so on down the line; and it goes on age after age—Life goes on doing the adapting.  But we think we ought to change everything so no adaptation would be required.  Is that right, Brother Mack?  If we could just get everything straightened up, we’d never be disturbed at all.  Then we could just sit here and turn into Jell-o.  Most of us are already there.

Think you that I conform to ANY rule or ideal or standard? That I must need work My will on the same patterns in another body that I have fixed in you?

You know, it don’t work the same in all of us.  Having one time been involved in the practice of medicine, I know that a drug will have one affect on one person and the next one have an altogether different affect.  You know that about food.  One of us can eat it and just feel wonderful; and somebody else eats it and they don’t feel so hot and so on down the line.  We’re all a little bit different and sometimes a wholelot different.  So it says it works on each one different.  So don’t be fiddling about how the other one’s worked on. 

In you I fix a mental pattern which finds fault with My Life in another body.

You know, we all see other people doin’ things we think they shouldn’t be doin’.

Yes, I call with all voices that each body may differently obey,

for all obey My will in the end.  When you behold My work putting to blush the mental ideals and sense of fitness, do you say in the heart,  “Such cannot be God’s will”?

I’ve had people say,  “Well, there couldn’t be a God let have wars…” but you know, if you wanna play a game of war, I guess it’s all right, go play it.  Maybe it has an effect.  Maybe you get stronger or something; but, at least, maybe we’ll finally wake up and see that’s a senseless way to do things.  I don’t know, but it seems it’s got some value in it.  I just don’t want to get involved in one; that’s my business.

When you behold My work putting to blush the mental ideals and sense of fitness, do you say in your heart, “Such cannot be God’s will”?

You know, I saw a big banner across the town about two years ago I was goin’ through over in Arizona and some man was in town putting on a revival campaign.  And he had a big sign strung across there, “What does God think of Tucson?”  I don’t think He gave it a second thought, myself, or the first one either.  I don’t think he knew the damn place existed.

Or do you say, “If such is God’s will then he’s no God to me?” 

“A god that will let little children die, will let pretty ladies have this and that and so forth, is no God; He’s cruel, there can be no God!”  I’ve heard these good folks say, “We know that if there was any God, he wouldn’t let this and that happen.”  You know they base their frame of reference on that the only way things can be all right is when we’re totally non-disturbed. That is what we call not-I’s talkin’.  I wouldn’t want to live if there wasn’t some challenge, would you?  Or would you like to be pampered away?

You know, they have a thing – do they have ‘em around here anywheres, probably in Dallas or Houston, where you have sensory deprivation tanks?  Hmm?  They’re very big in California.  You go down and lay in a pot of salt water in a closed tank so you have no sensory.  The water is so strong in salt you float so you can’t even feel your skin on a bed or anything; totally deprive you of all senses.   That’s supposed to really be wonderful.  Now there’s a lot of people here that used to do it with another method, is that right, Clyde?  You used another method to deprive yourself.  Huh?  (laughter)  If you could get a big bottle, you could get almost the same thing.  That’s “tanked”.  That’s why they call that bein’ tanked, wasn’t it?  It was ahead of its time.

Then it is still well with you, for behold it is I that live in you

prompting the speech!  Until you are ready to live consciously as Me,

That’s quite a little statement—“until you’re ready to live consciously as Me.”  Living Life, not trying to fit somebody’s standard, some ideal, be some “goody good two shoes” or anything else; that you’re ready consciously to live as Life and Life doesn’t have any rules by it.

it is well that you should conform to the ideals which you have set up for the self. Until you are moved by inspiration and love, 

it is well that you should be moved by conscience and desire.

You know conscience is one of those things says, “You shouldn’t have done that.”  That’s a not-I.  There’s one that says you should do it and then as soon as it gets you to do it, it runs and the other one says,  “Now you’ve screwed up.  Now you’ll pay for it forever.” 

If you have a desire in the heart laying down any rule of action for others,

You know that’s easy.  We can sure set ‘em up for other people.

wishing them to be what you call “good” and to conform to the thought of “right” or of  “duty”, or of that which they “ought to do”, then you will say, “Can such things be God’s will?” when you see all My works.

Because, “I know what ought to be; and if this is going on, it’s sure not God’s will.” 

I have no desire.  But unto you, until you are ready for My glory, I give all desires which the form of the mind can accept.  Whether you do desire for the self or for others or for both the self and others, whether you do desire possessions or “goodness” or that others shall be “good”; in all cases these desires are sent unto you by Me, in order that the body shall gain strength toward expressing that joy of Life which I am,

and which is beyond desire. 

Now, desire does put a terrific strain on the body as you might know.  It’s kinda like lifting weights or jogging five miles or ten miles or mountain climbing or something.  Having a desire puts a heavy strain on.  Now of course, the only way we get stronger is having strains, is that right?  Could you get stronger, Mack, by sittin’ and thinkin’ positive?  Or by pumpin’ iron?  You better believe it.  So it’s well that the mind is strengthened or the Awareness is strengthened.  The inner being is strengthened by havin’ all these desires which gives us a lot of strain – because that’s the way we get strong.  I think there’s other ways more fun but that’s all right.  That’s one way it’ll do it.

I justify all things.

It didn’t say “we” justified it.  Life said, “I justify all things.”

I justify all things.  Let all who use the sacred words, “All is good”, and work many cures thereby, know that these words justify every separate body and act.  I am Truth.

Now, people are always wanting to find truth.  Well, what you’re trying to find is Life.  It’s not all that big a deal, you know.  It’s sittin’ right here.  Did you ever notice that?  Pinch yourself and see.  Now you don’t really have to hunt for it.  I had a friend one time, he went onto the Happy Hunting Ground.  He was always saying he had spent his life searching for truth.  He looked under lots of rocks, but all he ever found was worms and bugs and grubs; and you know he never did catch on that Life was sittin’ right there all the time.  He finally departed this world without ever realizin’ that Truth and Life and Love are synonyms and that they all exist in us at all times; but we go looking to the ends of the earth for it. I know people who buy tickets and go to India lookin’ for truth.  I know some who go to Scotland to look for truth.  I know people who go to all sorts of places to look for truth.  Truth is another name for Life.  Is that right, Mack?  Where would you look for it?

(Dallas, I guess.)

Well, I saw it here this day.  I saw it in Houston.  I saw it in San Diego this mornin’.  I saw it all the way from San Diego to Houston, and I saw it from Houston up here and I see it here.  Now what do we gotta hunt for truth for?  It’s here.  You been a truth searcher, Marcia?  Where’d you look? 

(Every place but right here.) 

Every place but Life, is that right?  Well, if you ever wanna see truth, why, you look up and see something alive and you’re watching it at work.  That’s too damn simple, isn’t it?  That takes all the fun out of it, doesn’t it?  Huh?  The mystique.  

(It’s not there.) 

Well naturally, it’s not there; I don’t know why I was looking for it.  It’s like the guy who went to look for a schmo, but he didn’t know what a schmo looked like.  So he looked everywhere and he couldn’t find a schmo.  You don’t know what truth is.  Truth is Life and if you don’t know what truth is, you’re just running around asking people’s opinions, is that right?  We can get lots of those, can’t we?  Somebody will tell me something any day. 

I am truth.  There is no truth but that which IS.  All of that which IS, is truth. 

And all that really is, is Life.  Okay?

Have you a conscience?

That’s one of those things that bugs you at night, you know. 

Have you a conscience that says unto you that you should do this and not do that?

Most of us have one of those cats.  You had one of those, Mack?

(You better believe it.) 

I had one when I was six years old.  I lived back in the hills of Appalachia, and it was a horrible sin to fish or play ball or something.  Well, one time a bunch of kids come by and we went down to the creek and one of ‘em tied a twine string around a bent pin and give it to me and I thought I was fishin’.  And that was just so much fun.  Until I got away from the creek and then this came up about that and, oh, that was terrible.  And I suffered agonies all week.  I knew I’d committed the unpardonable sin, hell-bound for glory, you know.  Oh man, that hurt.  That was terrible.  But about two weeks later those same kids come by and we wound up again down at the creek and again put me in there and that time I didn’t feel quite as bad.  And then the third time they did it about another two, three weeks later, it didn’t bother me at all.  So I sit down to think about that. That was so terrible – that’s such agony.  I couldn’t sleep; I couldn’t eat.  That was terrible.  I was sick.  And after I did it three times, it didn’t hurt a bit.  So I figured anytime that that conscience started acting up, run do it twice more right quick and go with it.  (laughter)  I told the preacher about that one time and he said that was called “searing the conscience with a hot iron.”  And I said I thought that was the only thing to do with one.  Sear it with a hot iron and get it out of the way quick, because it’s nothing but a nuisance.

Have you a conscience which says unto you

that you should do this and should not do that?  I’ve given it to you! 

He laid it on you so you’d get stronger. 

I have given you a conscience on every point that the form of the mind can receive.

You know we’ve got different ones, according to how much stuff we got.

Unto you I reveal its purpose, and in due time you will see My purpose

not only in giving you a conscience, but in giving each of My bodies a conscience, each differing from every other. 

You know, isn’t that nice that you can feel guilty about something and somebody else can do the same thing and not feel guilty about it at all?  And they can do something and suffer with agony and you say, “Well, how could that be?” 

Used to, several years ago, before things got changed, Catholic folks could not eat meat on Friday without committing a mortal sin – unless you lived in New Mexico.  That was always exempt.  That’s true.  I found that out plenty.  But several years ago they changed the rules.  Now then, you can eat meat anytime; Friday isn’t all that holy, you know. It’s everyday now.  So look at all the people who felt so guilty back in those days.  And then somebody who wasn’t a Catholic said, “Why, I don’t see how he could feel guilty about eating meat on Friday.”  You know, they just couldn’t understand why somebody’d feel terrible about it; but they hadn’t been taught it.

Now, if you had been taught that you never allow anybody to see you eat – it was shameful or bad in some way or other – you’d feel very guilty if you went around eating.  It would be rough on the restaurant business, but you could have been made that way, couldn’t you?  All they had to do was tell you so.  You coulda been taught anything was right or wrong when you was a little kid and then you’d have felt guilty about it if you did otherwise.  So all it was what we were taught.  But it was handed down.  So that develops the organ of the mind that finally some day you’d want to check it out and say, “That’s a bunch of stuff – I’m not going to feel guilty about nothin’.”

Now the organ of the mind which will afterwards express My Freedom can best be developed by the struggle against bondage; therefore, have I sent unto you all the bondage of conscience which you can accept.

And that’s what it is, it’s a bondage.  So you really only get free when you kick all bondage off.

Because the organ of the mind which shall afterwards express the sweet consciousness [not conscience] of Me can best be developed to that end by the oppressive self-consciousness, have I sent you all the self-consciousness which you can stand, working in you to prepare the mind to be wholly Mine, and wholly controlled by the breath of My inspiration.

Now if the mind isn’t controlled by conditioning, it’s possible for Life to use it.  But all the things that we have been conditioned that was “bad” because somebody told us so, wasn’t it?  Huh?  And some of the things that we said was “good” was because somebody told us.  And, “You shouldn’t do this”.  You know, if you happen to be a Mormon, you shouldn’t smoke a cigarette or drink a cup of coffee or have a glass of wine.  If you’re Episcopalian, you can do anything.  And so on.  I recommend most people be Episcopalian.  It’s better, if you gotta have one.  It’s a good place to be buried, get married and have the babies christened and all that; don’t put too much of a load on you.  Ever been to an Episcopalian church?  Did you get much load, or was it all nice and light?  You just did your duty by going there on Sunday mornin’ and listen to the mass and drop a little in the box and go through the ritual and walk away, is that right?  There’s nothin’ wrong, nothin’ good, one way or the other… except don’t come to church and don’t put money in the box.  That’s bad.

…have I sent thee all the self-consciousness which you can stand,

working in you to prepare the mind to be wholly Mine,

….says Life.

…and wholly controlled by the breath of My inspiration.  

So I say unto you that it is well that you are controlled by conscience,

…that thing that hurts.

 and desire,

…which makes you anxious all the time because you haven’t got it. 

until the mind is grown and you can become conscious of Me –  

thereafter to be controlled by inspiration and love.

And I do know that it is possible for a human being to get to that point.  I didn’t say I had, but I do know it’s possible – that Life can run the whole being by spontaneous response, not by a whole bunch of little rules that somebody laid on you that “it’s good to do this” and “it’s bad to do this” and so forth.  So now the Second Mystery is that all of it is ok.  Now, I know that an awful lot of people before mornin’ will know of a lot of things that should be straightened out and a bunch of people that should be straightened out.  Is that right?  You know a bunch of jerks that ought to be kind of straightened up a little bit.  Huh?  You know any of ‘em that ought to be kinda straightened out a little bit, Bobby? 

(Not at this moment.)

They’re all, all right – right now.  Incidentally, you know people call about healings and so forth and generally about the only thing that you have to do for a healing to take place is to realize clearly and without any qualification that everything’s ok with that person.  But as long as you know, “Well, the poor thing sure needs it; Lord, get with it and fix him up,” they’ll be worse off in the morning.  So you better keep your mouth shut.  But if you know they’re all right, so what?  It’s ok.  Now you can’t do it against their will, but you can do anything if they’re willing for it to be.  Can’t you, Mary?  Are you perfectly willing to feel good Mary? 

(Sometimes.) 

Oh, you’re getting so you don’t mind quite so bad.  Mary used to have some of the most horrible problems in all the world.  Nothing was like it really should be.  She was so terrible.  All Life was pickin’ on her, but only for one purpose, Mary. 

(I know.) 

To put a little pressure on you so you’d have enough strength to enjoy being good, enjoy feeling wonderful and enjoy being, okay?  Simple.  It’s pretty nice to just enjoy being without trying to become this or straighten everything out.  So that is two mysteries.  I think there’s something like twelve in this book.  So we will go through each of ‘em.  As I said when we started, that maybe one of ‘em will appeal to you.  I’m quite sure that at least one of them will and that one is the only one that you ever need.  The rest of ‘em are for somebody else.  And they will eliminate all your troubles – not all your challenges.

Okay, is there any questions anybody wants to ask tonight or any comments you want to make before we depart for the sleepy time?  Clear as mud.  Okay, we will not hold forth any questions.  Do you want me to continue on this in the mornin’ or you want me to take off on my usual jokin’?  I will still stay with Life’s Word if you want me to, all day tomorrow.  Anybody have any objections, or you want it to continue, or what?  You want to continue.  Ok, all all right.  The rest of you will tolerate it to those that want it.  We will continue with Life’s Word tomorrow, attempting to understand what Life is saying to us.  Now, some people have asked me how this book came into existence.  We printed it.

This is the first of 11 weeks of Teaching Experiments which we are also sending out on Saturdays to our mailing list.  If you would like to receive these in email form please send us a message to Teachings@MarshaSummers.com with SUBSCRIBE as the subject.

Life’s Word Workshop – Lake Whitney, TX – 1981 

There is a beautiful little book entitled

Life’s Word  by Anonymous
(available at http://www.goodleather.com/bookspg4.htm)

Dr. Bob was asked to comment on the material for clarification.  It has been transcribed verbatim, in the vernacular of Dr. Bob’s “Kentucky-ese”.

(Note: Audience comments are in parenthesis.)

[Dr. Bob’s comments within his reading of Life’s Word are in brackets.]

[Clarifications and Suggested Links to Illustrations on www.marshasummers.com are in brackets and italicized.]

Now I was requested by Marcy and by a few other people to talk on Life’s Word.  That’s a little book that we’ve put out.  I have it printed.  It has no author’s name on it except Life.  And I have always resisted talking on the book, because I thought everybody could just go ahead and read it.  But in as much as it was requested, and it makes it very easy for me, and I’m lazy, I will talk on Life’s Word today.  And if you can stand it tonight, we’ll continue on it tomorrow.  Is that all right?  And if you don’t like it, why, say so and we’ll quit.  Now the only way I know to talk about it is somewhat read it and point out some of the things, as I understand it, what it refers to.  Now, I’m going to read it with simple, everyday, modern, pseudo English.  It’s written in very high-soundin’ “thee’s” and “thou’s” and “thy’s” and all that stuff and I can’t hack that, so I will just stick to “you” and “me” and etc.

I’m going to draw a little picture [See Picture of Man in Illustrations] here which you have seen somewheres along if you’ve been here before.  That here is a Physical Body, which seems to be a very essential thing for people to get along with.  And in here is an Awareness.  Some people call that “mind”.  I do not.  And somethin’ here that we will call Life and we will refer to it with the letter “X”.  When I went to school a long time ago, they told me that in algebra, that if you knew somethin’ existed and didn’t know what it was, you put an “X” there.  So, I know that somethin’ exists, but I don’t know what it is, so we’ll put an “X”.  And there’s always some Function of a human being, is always makin’ some function.  So we’re going to talk about this and I may point to it ever now and then from out of Life’s Word.  Now, if you don’t like the way we do this, by reading about it and comments on it, which is the only way I know to do what Miss Marcy requested.  And you know, what Marcy requests, Marcy gets.  Doesn’t she, Bob?  Did he leave already?  (laughter)  So at any rate, we will proceed with it on that basis.  So I had one in my pocket, and so this one here can still be sold.  I happened to find one in my pocket.  Incidentally, we have a new edition of it that we had printed in Canada and it’s in beautiful, blue and white print.  It’s in color and a slick finish.  Do you have any of those down there, Marcy?  Well, order ‘em, Donna.  They cost more, but they’re worth more cause they’re pretty.  They have the same words in ‘em, understand, but it’s been newly typeset and published in a very deluxe edition, to which everybody could have one and I think the price went up, less than the inflation rate.  Ok?  I told Donna when she called me to see if I’d come here, that I couldn’t come for what she used to charge.  Because inflation’s gone up.  The airplane tickets have gone up and ever other thing has gone up.  Parkin’s gone up, gasoline to get down to the airport went up, so we finally negotiated and I let her talk me out of most of it but not quite all.  (laughter)  And from now on, we’re really gonna hang it on, you know… we’re really gonna get with it the next time.  So you got the bargain this time.  So we’ll start with Life’s Word.   

I  

First Mystery:  Thou art I, Myself! 

It starts off and says –

I am Life.

So the writer of this little booklet, book claims to be Life.  Who are we to find fault with it? 

I live in all bodies inspiring them always to do My will.

Now, frequently I hear people say, “If I only knew the Lord’s will, I’d do it – if He’d just let me in on it.”  And seems He says, “I already got you doing it,” so you don’t have to worry about that one anymore.

This book eliminates all worry and concern if you take it a little seriously. It really gets all these things that we fret and worry about and make so important – our “evolvement” and our “enlightenment” and our “gettin’ with it”, and all this stuff – it gets rid of it.

I inspire this message, which is for those only who can receive it.

Now, of course, that’s all of us.  Now, we may receive it slightly different, but we’ll hear something, somewhere through the thing – I’ll guarantee you’ll hear something – and that something is plenty.  You don’t have to get ever word.  In fact if you only get one of them, you’ll do quite fine.  It says –

I know all Mysteries.  That which I send has a hiddenor inward meaning for you.  If your inward heart does not see the wondrous truth, be sure the brain mistaketh the meaning.

Now, the word “thy” is used all along through this little book, and “thy” has been understood by many people to refer to as a pronoun.  But it is the word “the” – t-h-e.  I believe it’s pronounced these days as “the”, is that correct?  I never have been able to get it that way.  I have a hard enough time with “the”.  

… be sure the brain mistaketh the meaning.

And it does that by interpreting accordin’ to its preconceived opinions or frame of reference.

Think not that Life’s Word is of no interest.  If the body thrills when touched by earthly joys, how much more will it thrill to the touch of that which is Heavenly!  If the blood flows quicker and the tears spring forth when earthly emotions quicken you, how deep and strong shall be the current when I put Mine own hand on the heart!

Now, uh, Life deals with awareness.  This thing we put as “Awareness” is, in this little book, called “heart.”  Now, it doesn’t refer to that little pumpin’ piece of meat in our chest.  It refers to one’s, what one does as being aware, is called the heart.  And the heart is what determines what will be done.  If you say, “I’m going to stand up,” why the heart has determined that, and you stand up.  Now, you don’t know how to stand up.  I don’t think.  I’ve noticed that most people think they push up from their feet, but I’ve observed that you’re pulled up by your head just far enough to reach the ground.  I think that’s the way it works.  Try it and see if you can get up without tightenin’ up your neck.  Anybody wanna try that, Mack?  See if you can get up with your neck relaxed.

(No, I don’t care to try it.)

So you see, your head pulls that long carcass up ‘til it’s straight up and down above the ground; and you don’t know “how” to do it.  You only determine “what”.  Now, the heart says “what”.  X takes care of the “how”.  Now, don’t jump that in that you decided what you wanted was a new Rolls Royce and you figure that X will buy it for you.  I’ve noticed it is really not interested whether you have a Rolls or not.

Fear not Life’s word.

Now, I’ve had a lot of people that say, “That thing just scares me to death.”  Well, don’t read it, you know, why bother with it?  Nobody told you, you had to read it.  I just make it available.  If it frightens you, lay it down.

Fear not Life’s Word.  It will strip you bare of the complacency.  It will destroy the self-righteousness. It will show you that you have always condemned Me unknowingly.

That’s Life.

And it will humiliate you to the dust.  Yet fear it not for you are Mine.  Unto Myself I have taken you, though you do not know it.

So we wouldn’t be here.  We wouldn’t be doing anything unless Life had decided it.  Now we think, “Well, I decided to go out to Lake Whitney for the weekend,” but you know, there’s a lot of things you decided to do didn’t happen very well.  So Life says, “Well, you can profit from this, so you will get involved in it in some way or other.”  So you got here.

Fear is a lack of trust [a trust in Life].

You know that’s what everybody fears, is that Life don’t know what to do.  Is that right, Mary?  You know, you figure little old Mary’s got to figure it all out; but really, you don’t have to know what to eat.  Life’ll tell you you’re hungry for peanut butter and you get peanut butter.  After a while it tells you you’re hungry for biscuit and sausage and you get that.  And after a while it says a little shot of grits would be pretty good and so on.  So it tells you and you don’t have to figure all that stuff out.

Fear is lack of trust.  If you do not trust Me [Life], whom will you trust?

Used car dealers, I heard.  

Will you put the trust in father or mother or brother or sister?

You know, we sometimes think maybe the relatives will take care of us, but I’m gettin’ along all right without relatives.  I had some once, but they didn’t help much, so I departed, you know.  I don’t think I have any anymore.

These too, do My will, however selfishly they seem to act toward you.  Have you found that they betray the confidence that you put in them?  That they expect of you

that which you cannot give?

You know, a lot of folks expected an awful lot of you that you didn’t seem to deliver; and you got very upset and so you felt, “I just can’t please people,” or “They’re very difficult to please.”  Or some folks even go so far as to feel guilty cause they can’t please everybody.  Of course none of us, I’m sure, ever did that.  You wouldn’t do that, would you, Beth?  Feel guilty because you didn’t please everbody?  Not me, huh?

(I lie.)

You lie well too, Beth, don’t you?  I noticed that.

Blame them not.  They are My ministers to bring you unto Myself in perfect surrender.

Now, surrender doesn’t mean to become an abject nothing.  Surrender means that I have ceased to know what ought to be.  Now, that’s a pretty hard thing to give up, you know, because we are experts in knowing what ought to be.  “I know how you oughta behave and how you oughta behave and how you should do everything and, whatever.”  But you know if that could be given up, it’s called “surrender” which means possibly the things that we feel we are most rich with is: “I know what ought to be”, “I know how you ought to behave, I know what you ought to do.”  You know…  I really don’t.  And I don’t even know what I ought to do.  But let’s say that we could give up thinking we know what ought to be, and we could live quite contentedly with “what is.”  It’s been pretty nice so far, hasn’t it, Mack?  Huh?  Well, it is when you wasn’t comparing it to what you knew ought to be.  Now, if I compare “what ought to be” with “what is”, it comes out in a mess right now, doesn’t it?  Hmm?  Right now it should be cooler, the air-conditioner should be more cool in here.  Uh… people ought to be leaving $1,000 apiece to come here tonight.  Marcy, it would help pay the bills, wouldn’t it?  You know, that’s some of the things that ought to be, but that’s not what is.

Now, when I compare “what is” with what I think it “ought to be’, “what is” comes out looking pretty shoddy.  Is that right?  Hmm?  And if I don’t compare it to anything, I’m simply enjoying it, isn’t it utterly amazing?

I work with a guy who says, “It’s amazioney, that’s what it is.”  So it’s really amazing that we can walk and see and hear and touch and speak to each other, and be aware of what’s going on around us, and just simply being alive.  That is very amazing.  But if I know what ought to be, I’m in a pitiful shape, aren’t I?  Hmm?  Real bad.  I can feel so sorry for myself.  And very justifiably too.  So we’ll leave that one; that’s surrender.

You need not worship Me. [Period.]  In the heart there is that which is one with Me.

In other words, there’s a little bit of I in here which is one with X.  It is that which says “what” without making a judgment about it or anything.  I’d draw a line under that there.  And then there’s another kind of “I” we put out here with little quotations marks around it, which is the false ones.  

You need not worship Me.  In the heart there is that which is one with Me.

Now, you certainly don’t have to worship something that’s one with you.  You don’t have to worship a toe, or a foot.  Now, I’m very thankful that thing’s down there, but I don’t worship it.  

But if you do sincerely worship any God or any godlike man or anything of heaven, earth or hell, then you do unknowingly worship Me.

So if you worship anything, even money, it says you are worshiping “Me” because you know the whole thing’s made – there isn’t anything else anyway.

Have you an ideal?  I am that.  Have you a love?  I am that.

That’s really what you care about.  

You need not believe Life’s word.

You don’t have to believe a thing in this book.

You shall feel in the heart that I am there, but I have given you also a brain to question, and to analyze, and deny.  Fear not to use it.

In other words, challenge everything.  You know, there’s nothing more unspiritual than to be gullible. That is sometimes called “faith”.  You know, you just believe somethin’ because some joker stood up and talked loud and clear and said it, or you found it written in a book.  And after all, everything in a book has to be true – you know that, don’t you?

So there’s nothing more holy than to question and challenge, because that’s the only way you’re really gonna ever find out anything.  Period.  Not by bein’ gullible.  If you just believe something because somebody you chose to look at it as an authority said it, or some book you was told was an authoritative book, you’re just bein’ gullible, not spiritual.  And let’s don’t call that faith; let’s just call that what it is – bein’ gullible.  Most of us have a large supply of it.  That makes us pretty sitting ducks for about everthing comes along.

You need not believe Life’s word.  You shall feel in the heart that I am there, but I have given you also a brain to question and to analyze and deny.

Please use it.  

Fear not to use it for I have sanctioned its power

both to question and to analyze and also even to deny.

Cause sometimes you can’t ever figure out anything and you have to start over a little bit.

You will be told that I am all-powerful and always cause My will to be done. Whether the thought comes to you to penetrate into the Holy mysteries of My revelation, or that other impulse comes to you to refuse or neglect My message, know that both of these are from Me and are sent unto you in order that you may be called by that one

which appeals to you the strongest.

So something in here (through the next day while we work on this) will appeal to you very strongly.  Now, I hope not all of it does, because that would look a little bit gullible.  But there will be some phrase – one of the mysteries in here – that will appeal to you.  I have been through this a number of times and there’s one that appeals to me, and it is the only one that really appeals to me, but it takes care of everything else.  I don’t need to bother with the rest of it.  That makes all of it straight and nice.

So, one of ‘em’s going to be strong.  If you listen along here and there, it will hit you in the head; and then we can all go home as soon as the last one got hit.  You know, we can all take off then because we won’t have to go fiddlin’ along.  Let me know when the last one gets done.

If the thought comes unto you that this message is not inspired of Me, 

Maybe some joker just wrote it some night or whatever.

then be sure that it is not for you as being the message of authority.

And I hope it’s not a message of authority to anyone.  Because if it’s accepted as an authority, you would either have to make me an authority or the printed page; and I’ll guarantee you neither one are.  So let’s leave all the authority “bit” off and that’s what is said back here – deny it, challenge it, question, analyze it – do anything you want to, but don’t just take it on.

But it is for you just as you see it.  If you are filled with wrath that My authority be claimed for all that is done, know that such wrath also is Divine and that I inspire it in the heart and make it serve My will.

Nothin’ wrong with bein’ wrathful every once in a while.  You say, “Why, that is the most damnable mess of stuff I ever heard!  It’s against every religious principle I ever heard.  It’s against ever spiritual teaching.”   Hang in there, hang on; that’s the way he wants you.

My authority is a claim for all that is done.  Know that such wrath also is divine; and that I inspire it in the heart and make it serve My will.

So just let it sit there.  

I do all things well, and it shall be well for you

if you can take this message as being of no authority…

It may throw an idea out, but don’t take it as an authority and say, “Man, I gotta believe that!”  Because, phht—terrible!   

…except as My voice in your own heart speaks. 

So if you hear something and it hits you, it’s all right.

In all writings, all speech and all language there is no voice but Mine.

 

Do you suppose that if there wasn’t Life in one of these bodies here tonight, any one of ‘em could say one word?  Did you ever see a corpse start talking?  If you do, I’ll run.  Did you?  So Life is the only thing that can talk.  So, remember Life is doing the talkin’, not a person, and not a personality or anything.  So…

In all writings and all speech and all language there is no voice but Mine.

says Life.

That which calls you not is no voice at all.  But that which calls you, whether it be bold, or to surrender, is My voice alone.

So, it sometimes tell you to fight and sometimes it might say surrender; but if it does, that’s Life.

I live and love in the body.

Now the body would not be alive if X, Spirit, whatever we choose to call it, is not there.  We then have a relic left on our hands, a dead body, huh?  So if it’s there, that’s what’s running the thing.  

I live and love in the body.  When you say “I am” or “I love”, then that is Me speaking.  When you say, “I have”, or “I want”, or “I believe”,

then that is the self-consciousness speaking for itself.

Now we’ve talked about not-I’s, as lack of a better word to refer to, that this one here [See ‘Picture of Man’ in Illustrations section] says, “the whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed.” I’m not goin’ through those. And this one says, “complain” and this one, “stick up for rights” and this one, “blame”, and this one says, “please everybody”.  This one says, “quote the proper authority”, and this one says, “you’ve gotta improve yourself”.  Now that is called the “personality” or the “self-consciousness” speaking for itself.  It is not I – it is not Life at all; and so most bodies are operated by personality, not by Life.  However, Life does kinda balance things up and keeps things going in spite of all this stuff.  

And behold the self-consciousness shall die with its possessions and desires and beliefs; but I am undying forever.

Says life. Now it says that these things here will die.  And the personality made up out of complainin’, stickin’ up for rights, blaming, pleasin’ people, tryin’ to quote proper authorities, improving self, and knowing that the Four Dual Basic Urges [See Illustration section] are the whole purpose of living.  The Four Dual Basic Urges are the desire to have total comfort – physical, mental, emotional, and psychically, and otherwise and to escape the other one.  So it is trying to gain physical comfort, attention, approval, and a sense of being important; and it wants to escape physical pain and the pain of being ignored or rejected or disapproved of.  Now, if anybody wants to check out what personality is doing, it’s not very difficult to see if the greatest amount of time and effort isn’t spent on that little chore.  Would that be about right, Miss Mary?  Tryin’ to gain physical comfort, to get attention, approval?

You know, I have people call me up and say, “I only slept an hour last night.  It was so horrible and I tried all night to get to sleep.”  Well does anybody here know how to get to sleep?  If you do, you got somethin’ to sell.  You know how to get to sleep or do you just drop off to sleep and after awhile you wake up?  You know when you’re tryin’ to go to sleep, you can’t.  When you’re trying to digest your food, you don’t do very well at it.  When you’re trying to keep your heart running regularly, it jumps all over the place.  And if you’re trying to be very comfortable, you’ll find a jillion little itches, a little tension here, a little pull there.  You better turn this way and you better turn that way.  Heavy, you know, it’s just heavy.  So I tell a lot of folks that come in to visit me, that no self-respectin’ body will work well while being spied on.  And I’d like for you to kind of put that down in your little notebooks somewheres that, “No self-respecting body will work well while being spied on.”  Now we’ll even further extend that.  “No self-respecting Awareness will work well while being spied on.”  And Spirit says, “You spy on me, I’m long gone.”

So, uh, you can’t very well spy on things, and if you also notice some day, when you have nothing else to do, that all your sensory organs are directed to the outside.  You hear sound waves from outside – thank goodness you don’t hear what’s rattling in your head unless you become psychotic.  You don’t smell your breath and everthing; you smell other things from the outside.  You don’t hear things rattlin’.  You don’t see inside; you see things on the outside.  So if you notice all the sensory organs – touch, taste, smell, hearing, etc. – all turned outward.  And when you turn ‘em around and try to feel of what’s going on inside, you become in a very anxious state – very anxious.  So I would like to suggest if anybody wants to check this out, that tonight when you go to bed, you try to get to sleep in one minute.  Don’t fiddle around there and just let it fall in and happen after a while.  You really get with it and force yourself to sleep with willpower and strength and knowledge, will you please?  (laughter)  And you’ll all go to sleep about 9:30 in the mornin’ and we don’t have to work tomorrow, while you sleep all day.

You have a body, but you are not the body.

You’re not the body.  

You have a consciousness of self-existence, but you are not the consciousness.  What then are you?  Body you are not, consciousness you are not – you cannot tell what you are!

Isn’t that just about right?  You know, I have people come in and they say, “My body hurts me.  My mind’s driving me crazy.  And I have to save my soul and I have to watch everything I do.”  Now, what is there left over?  What’s sayin’ “I” there?  There isn’t anything left.  What would you think it might be, after all that, that you claim you own?  You’ve heard those phrases haven’t you:  “My mind, my body, my soul, my spirit, my past, my future,” and all these things?  Now do you own all that stuff.  “My symptoms” – don’t forget those.  “All my symptoms.”  Organ recitals people give.  (laughter) They go through organ after organ – “the liver don’t work well, the heart’s not good, my diaphragm’s stuck, my stomach’s slow, my knee is not working well, my skin breaks out.”  You know, it’s one organ after another you hear about.  So when you go through all this, what’s left over to do the claiming?

So really what most people conceive of themselves, is a verbal device to avoid responsibility.  You see “if my body hurts me,” I’m not responsible.  “My mind’s drivin’ me nuts.”  I’m not responsible for that – the mind’s doin’ it.  “My body hurts me, my thoughts kept me awake all night last night.  See I’m just not responsible at all, am I?”  Hmm?  Isn’t anything there to be responsible.  Nothing there to take charge.

So unless we can conceive that I means whatever Life is, we can get the sense of awareness situated in X, not in one of these things, or this, or this out here, you know.  “I’m a cowboy.”  That’s my function.  That don’t mean any thing.  So if I can see that I am an expression of Life, and I am responsible for choosing what I will do.  About right, isn’t it?  Hmm?  You couldn’t say, “Well, my hand just hauled off and bopped her,” could you?  Mmm?  I’ve heard people say it did.  You know, it’s like when we drop a cup, we say the cup slipped out of my hand.  You know, the damn cup did it – anybody can see that.  I didn’t have nothin’ to do with it.  And cars do a lot of things you know.  They go out of control.  (laughter)  Did you ever hear about that?  Did you ever see a car just run and get out of control?  Does your 280 ZX ever wander off and get out of control?  It’s liable to some of these days, isn’t it?

And isn’t it wonderful to hear about “my emotions got all out of control last night,” hmm?  Who do they belong to?  Crap, you don’t own any emotions.  They’re just things that happen when you’re not in charge, that right?  But you can blame those emotions for doin’ things to you, can’t you?  Did you ever say “my temper just run away with me,” hmm?  Did you ever do that, Beth?  “My temper is just uncontrollable.” You know it ordinarily has a little chain on it or a little leash or a collar.  I guess it’s like Bekki’s dog.  It’s got a rhinestone collar, but ever once in a while, you drop the chain or the collar breaks and then it takes off.  Isn’t that marvelous?  Man…

You are I, myself!

It says in big, bold capital letters here.  “You are I, myself.”  That’s what’s really doin’ the talking.  X is the only thing that can talk; the rest of it is just rattling around there.  

You are one with Me.

Now that is something that maybe we could conceive of as a big principle, but we haven’t experienced it, so don’t try to experience somethin’ just goin’ around and mouthing it off because you’ve seen the fundamental principle of it.  It’s laid out here.  “You are I, myself,” says Life.  “You are one with me.”

Yes, you are that, are God of Gods, Creator of Worlds, the beginning and the ending, the All-power, the triune glory of Life, truth and love…

Boy what pretty words.  

…which you have been designed to make the body Its habitation.  The body is My temple wherein I dwell, and through which I express My will.

Now doesn’t Life dwell within the body?  And we’ve all seen bodies without Life in ‘em and we get very pious and say,  “Here lies the remains.”  We’re very holy about it.  We don’t think much’a Life.  But what’s left over we get very touchy about.  We get very sentimental over carcasses and dead bodies, but we don’t seem to really realize that, “Look, I’m talkin’ to Life there.”  I’m lookin’ at Life here.  I’m speakin’ to Life.  I love Life.  I appreciate it and everything.  We don’t see that, but boy, we really get very pious and drop everything and go see a dead body, don’t we.  Isn’t that funny?  You ever done that, you know?  Just dropped your business and household things and everything and took off to some parts because there was a dead body over there somewheres?

Mama used to drag me to those things, but I haven’t been to one under my own will power except once; and they asked me to say a word over him.  So I went and said,  “Well, old Harry left us a little chore: get rid of the remains.  Let’s get it done and go home.”  (laughter)  And the undertaker got very upset because he was all set for tears and all this stuff.  He kept tryin’ to get to them, and I said, “Look, man, we’re paying you, let’s get this job done that Harry left us to do.”  So he grabbed up a rose and went and put it on old Harry’s wife who hadn’t spoke to him for five years without screeching at him, and he tried to get her all wound up.  And I went and took the rose and said, “Let’s get it over with!” and he finally understood me.  And we’d hired him and let’s get old Harry’s remains in the ground – that’s what he left us to do.  So.  That was the shortest funeral presentation in all history:  “Let’s get it over with.  Harry said get rid of this.  That’s what he left us to do – what he couldn’t do for himself.”

In due season thou shall feel the ever present “I am” and “I love” in the heart, then you will know that you are Mine.  That the mouth speaks My voice, that the heart beats with divine impulse and that I live in you.

Now a great teacher many years ago that we’ve all read about said,  “The Father and I are one.”  Now they got a little commotion started and they nailed him to a tree for makin’ a foolish statement like that because nobody could understand it.  And of course, I wouldn’t suggest you go out and say it today.  They won’t nail you to a tree, but they have places where they lock you up or give you some very powerful drugs so you forget foolishness like that, real quick.  But don’t mind to be aware of it if it should ever be aware to you.  But you don’t have to run around and tell everybody.  It’s dangerous.

In due season that you feel the ever present “I am”, and “I love” in the heart, then you shall know that you are Mine.  That the mouth speaks My voice, that the heart beats with divine impulse, and that I live in you.

This body.  And that is one of the greatest things I think that one can come up and realize, and as far as I’m concerned, it eliminates all troubles in the world.  Now, I didn’t say ‘challenges” ‘cause Life is full of challenges.

If you go out and look in the desert, you’ll see a tree growing up against rocks.  You see it growing in sand piles.  You see it growing through brambles.  You see things that really looks like they have no chance of bein’ there.  But Life has all these challenges.  But, you know I’ve never seen one of those little cactuses or those little desert trees complaining about how hard it is to get along:  “We’ve only had three inches of rain this year.”  Did you ever hear one of those little plants crying and moanin’ and feelin’ sorry for itself and trying to sell you on how unfortunate it was?  Have you ever had that, Mary?  Huh?  Did you ever see a little dandelion moanin’ because the wind was going to blow its beautiful hair away, hmm?  Or that somebody was gonna run over it with a lawn mower?  You know if you do… Did you ever run over a dandelion with a lawn mower?  They beat you back up ‘fore mornin’.  Did you ever cut crabgrass?  Oh man.

So Life will have its challenges, but once you see what you really are, then you will not have troubles.  Now, most people here have troubles.  That right, Beth?  You’ve had your lots of troubles.  I talked to an old man one time many years ago when I was rattlin’ off some of this stuff I talk about.  And he said,  “Say, Bob… what you’re really saying is what I finally caught on to the other day.  I’m a very old man and I’ve lived a very long time, and I’ve had an awful lot of trouble – damn little of which ever happened.”

Now has most of the trouble you’ve ever had ever happen, or did you just worry that it was going to?  Did you ever starve, Mary?  Did you ever worry that you would be totally without funds, have no way to eat and sleep, thrown out on the street cold and hungry like the poor little match girl of Baghdad – no friends, no cares, nobody to care for you?  We’ve all had those kind of troubles, haven’t we, more or less?  Except for Miss Monroe back here – she don’t have it.  I think she did once, but she forgot about it.  You had that once when you was a kid, didn’t you?  

Perhaps you think now that you are a separate soul, but hereafter you shall see the heavens opened into the heart and then you shall see that I and I alone exist.

Now if there wasn’t any Life, there wouldn’t be anything existin’.  There may be a bunch of mud balls floatin’ around, but there wouldn’t be anything to be aware of it, would it?  So Life is the only thing that can be aware of anything.  So it’s the only thing that can really does, can say, “I exist”, is Life.  The rocks and all that don’t do that.  

And that there is no other soul or spirit but Me.

Life is what we’re all talkin’ about.  Now you may use all kinds of other words, but even the Scripture that some of us read once in a while says, “God is Life.”  So we take that kinda lightly.  We forget all about it, but nevertheless as we look around, we’ll see that that is what is going on.  And talk about miraculous things It does – just study it.

We’re writing a little book called “The Magic Book”; and the “Magic Book” takes on some of the things that Life does.  Now, would you think it was a magical stunt if I could take a ham sandwich and a glass of milk and hit it with my little magic wand and make a human finger out of it?  You’d think that’s a pretty good stunt, wouldn’t you? 

(Yes.)

Life does it every day, and we take it for granted – totally unconcerned.  We eat it up and it makes human flesh and blood in a matter of hours.  No labs or anything else can do that – even the people with genetic tinkerin’ can’t do it.  So there’s only one thing that really exists that matters, and that is Life.

Do you say, “Is there none but God?”

That’s the question.  

Then who am I?  

Then you say it no more for this Mystery shall be revealed unto you.

That is called the First Mystery.  The mystery will be you’re not going to force it, you’re not going to make it happen, you are not going to do anything to fudge it over or anything.  It is simply going to be one day you’re aware that Life is “what is.”  And that Life is a mystery beyond all comprehension, but that you can be aware that you are Life; and I still say from there on you have no problems.  I did not say you wouldn’t have challenges. I didn’t say the wind wouldn’t blow cold on you some day and that you’d be uncomfortable.  I didn’t say you wouldn’t stump your toe on a rock and hurt your toenail.  I didn’t say you wouldn’t get sunburned or anything, but you would be quite content for that to be cause Life goes on and takes care of all those things very, very nicely.  

It’s only when the person is operated by this non-I that says the whole purpose of living is to be totally non-disturbed at every minute, then we’re not content to have any disturbance.  But you know that’s not so necessary because nothing thrives well unless it has a bit of resistance.  We say there is four different forces goin’ around – they all work together as one.  There is “Initiative”, “Resistance”, “Form” and “Result” and they all go to make up any completed phenomenon.  [See The Four Forces in Illustration Section]  Without any resistance, you don’t get much.  If you planted a bean seed in a pot on the porch and kept it just damp and everything, it will grow a sprout, but you’ll never get a bean plant because it has no resistance.  You’ll just get a bean sprout and it’ll fizzle out before very long.  It dies because there is no resistance.  If there’s no resistance to anything, it comes to a screamin’ halt before very long, ok? That right?

So can we be simply that “Life is” and that I’m quite content with it like it is.  I’m not gripin’ and so forth (I use the word called “gritchin’” – that keeps me from sayin’ all the rest of it) because everything isn’t just like I want it.  Or am I quite capable of seeing that Life makes everything run along?  It’s been running this situation called planet Earth with Life on it for innumerable number of years that we don’t know anything about.  And who are you and I to come up and say we can straighten it all out like it ought to be, right quick?  I’ve noticed that all the people who try to straighten it out sure make messes.  It takes even Life a long time to get it straightened out after that.  

Ok, we’ve been talkin’ for about an hour.  Marcy, do we go one more tonight or is one enough tonight and start from there?  Donna?

(Whatever you feel up to.)

Well, I always feel up.  I can talk all night but I’m not goin’ to, but what is your usual arrangement?  It’s nine-thirty.  Want another session?  Take a five minute break and start over again?  Ok, we’ll have a five minute break and we will continue.

As we were growing up, it seemed that everyone was an authority over us – – parents, teachers, church, and on and on it goes.  Now as adults, we often continue the pattern of looking for an authority to tell us what to do, what to eat, what not to eat and it seems everyone sees themselves as an authority these days based on what they’ve read.

In the past, I often found myself asking everyone nearby what I should do or accepting the way they saw things as the “only way to view” a certain time, place or circumstance.  The conflict produced was brought to my attention very nicely when my voice teacher and piano teacher gave me conflicting “should” and “should nots” with the opinion that their wisdom was best.  I finally realized the only thing I could do was to experiment with the information they gave me to find out for myself what worked for me in performance.  It took courage, but I made many discoveries and had marvelous results.  So below is an excerpt from a Newport Beach workshop which I thought beautifully described “what goes on” with many of us unconsciously looking for and accepting opinions and conclusions from those we mistakingly view as authorities.  Here begins the excerpt:

“An awful lot of people are inhibited from doing a lot of things that they want to do, huh?  – – because somebody told them it was wrong; and I haven’t found hardly anything in this world that somebody has not said was wrong, harmful or somethin’ else.

Now have you ever eaten or drank anything that somebody hasn’t said is carcegentic, or depleting to the body?  Now if you drink water that runs in the ordinary taps, that’s gonna be carcegenic probably.  If you drink distilled water, you’re gonna deplete your body of minerals, huh?  And you could go on and on with everything under the sun.

Now you know they deny the fact that the human body is highly adaptable – – it adapts – – it adapts to all sorts of things; but if you deny that, then you’re saying that about everything you touch, taste, smell, or eat is in some way harmful, is that correct?  Now they don’t agree on what “it”  is.  This guy says this substance is.  This guy says bacon will do you in; and this guy over here says steaks will do you in – – especially if you cook them on the char broiler; and another one says that any kind of red meat’ll do you in.  Another one says that any meat’ll do you in.  Somebody says vegetables are full of oxilic acid and they’re gonna do all sorts of horrible things to you.  So what is there left?  I don’t think I can see any difference in it because this body’s pretty adaptable if I don’t demand too much adaptation from it at one moment, so I’m gonna do what I want to, ok?

Now if you really want to do it, you find you have no procrastination or anything else about it unless you have been conditioned that what you wanted to do was in some way bad, ugly, abnormal or fattening which is most of it, huh?  So then we get in a turmoil about that, huh?  So there is very little “will” in the world, and an awful lot of “will power” which is very very weak.

Now the integrated person has a want and can act freely, without inhibition from old training that “you shouldn’t do it” – – which has been the “conditioned purpose” that was put on people.  It is not your purpose but the ‘grafted on’ one, huh?

Now how long does it take us to see that all the shoulds and ought tos and have tos and musts was merely the morass of some community that had absolutely nothing to do with reality.

Now I don’t want to do anything that’s gonna harm anybody–period!  Now that is something I just don’t want to do.  I don’t want to do anything that would harm you in any way.   I’m not gonna harm you.  I want to do things which would be as much to my advantage to be non-disturbed as possible.  I’m gonna be considerate of you.  I’m gonna be as harmless as I can, ‘cause i don’t want to harm you; and I’m gonna make some little contribution to Life.  Now where do I stand from there.  Do I have a whole bunch of “should” and “ought tos” and “have tos” and “must nots” to live up to or is that enough?

“You see frustration comes when you have a challenge you can’t hack, huh?  Boredom comes when you have no challenge, and interest comes when you got a challenge that you’re interested in you can do, but takes a little effort.  So to make a contribution always requires a little effort, doesn’t it?  But it’s a size you can hack.  Now if you go out and try to do the whole thing, you’d be frustrated.”

From Marsha

I often find myself reacting to disapproval or even to words that I interpret as disapproval.  In the workshops, Dr. Bob often talked about “personal taste”.  Some things we like–some people we like.  It has nothing to do with whether the thing or the person is “bad” or “good”.

It is simply my “personal taste” which is actually of value.  Can you imagine what would happen if every man liked only one kind of woman?

But aside from that, I often wondered what I could say when someone disapproves.  The urge to defend and explain seems to elevate into who’s “right” and who’s “wrong” and possibly a big argument and hurt feelings.  If I see myself as having done what I did as right or proper or as the only thing I could at the moment with what light I have, there’s no need to defend or explain.  We each are doing our best with what light we have.

But my next question was—well, where can I go from there?  Below are several statements that John found on the website that one can experiment with.  I found it hard to use these statements in the beginning as vanity said I “wasn’t being true to myself”.  Ha, so much for that.  I can be peaceful inside anyway.  John explored the website and found more about the situation of experiencing wanting approval and escaping disapproval.

From John

I’ve been looking at the teaching about “taste” and particularly like the experiment you suggest when confronted with someone’s disapproval by saying:

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“Thanks for pointing that out to me.”

“You may be right about that.”

“Oh, you could say that.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“Let me look at that—I’ll spend some time with that—thank you.”

I’m a sucker for approval.  I think it says something about me!  What might one say when receiving approval? My conditioning would be to deny or play down the approval with false modesty which seems anti-agape.  So it would seem that accepting approval would be in order; not because it says anything about me, but because the other person is expressing their taste which they think is right, proper and justified at that moment.  So just a simple, “Thanks” would seem in order. The next moment they might just as easily express disapproval of me.

Interesting….  Thanks for the experiment.  As Bob said, “Nobody can tell you one thing in the world about you because there’s nobody in that skin but you.”