{"id":81,"date":"2013-10-02T08:45:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T12:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/?p=81"},"modified":"2013-10-02T08:47:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-02T12:47:26","slug":"lifes-word-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/?p=81","title":{"rendered":"Life’s Word Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of 11 weeks of Teaching Experiments which we are also sending out on Saturdays to our mailing list.\u00a0 If you would like to receive these in email form please send us a message to Teachings@MarshaSummers.com<\/a> with SUBSCRIBE as the subject.<\/p>\n

Life’s Word<\/span><\/strong> Workshop – <\/strong>Lake Whitney, TX – 1981<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a beautiful little book entitled <\/span><\/p>\n

Life\u2019s Word<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 by Anonymous
\n<\/span> (available at <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/www.goodleather.com\/bookspg4.htm<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Bob was asked to comment on the material for clarification.\u00a0 It has been transcribed verbatim, in the vernacular of Dr. Bob\u2019s \u201cKentucky-ese\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Note: Audience comments are in parenthesis.)<\/span><\/p>\n

[Dr. Bob\u2019s comments within his reading of Life\u2019s Word <\/span><\/span>are in brackets.]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Clarifications and Suggested Links to Illustrations on <\/span><\/em>www.marshasummers.com<\/span><\/a> are in brackets and italicized.]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Now I was requested by Marcy and by a few other people to talk on <\/span>Life\u2019s Word<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s a little book that we\u2019ve put out.\u00a0 I have it printed.\u00a0 It has no author\u2019s name on it except Life.\u00a0 And I have always resisted talking on the book, because I thought everybody could just go ahead and read it.\u00a0 But in as much as it was requested, and it makes it very easy for me, and I\u2019m lazy, I will talk on <\/span>Life\u2019s Word <\/span><\/span>today.\u00a0 And if you can stand it tonight, we\u2019ll continue on it tomorrow.\u00a0 Is that all right?\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t like it, why, say so and we\u2019ll quit.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m going to read it with simple, everyday, modern, pseudo English.\u00a0 It\u2019s written in very high-soundin\u2019 \u201cthee\u2019s\u201d and \u201cthou\u2019s\u201d and \u201cthy\u2019s\u201d and all that stuff and I can\u2019t hack that, so I will just stick to \u201cyou\u201d and \u201cme\u201d and etc.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to draw a little picture <\/span>[See Picture of Man in Illustrations] <\/span><\/em>here which you have seen somewheres along if you\u2019ve been here before.\u00a0 That here is a Physical Body, which seems to be a very essential thing for people to get along with.\u00a0 And in here is an Awareness.\u00a0 Some people call that \u201cmind\u201d.\u00a0 I do not.\u00a0 And somethin\u2019 here that we will call Life and we will refer to it with the letter \u201cX\u201d.\u00a0 When I went to school a long time ago, they told me that in algebra, that if you knew somethin\u2019 existed and didn\u2019t know what it was, you put an \u201cX\u201d there.\u00a0 So, I know that somethin\u2019 exists, but I don\u2019t know what it is, so we\u2019ll put an \u201cX\u201d.\u00a0 And there\u2019s always some Function of a human being, is always makin\u2019 some function.\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to talk about this and I may point to it ever now and then from out of <\/span>Life\u2019s Word<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 Now, if you don\u2019t 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.\u00a0 And you know, what Marcy requests, Marcy gets.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t she, Bob?\u00a0 Did he leave already?\u00a0 (laughter)\u00a0 So at any rate, we will proceed with it on that basis.\u00a0 So I had one in my pocket, and so this one here can still be sold.\u00a0 I happened to find one in my pocket.\u00a0 Incidentally, we have a new edition of it that we had printed in Canada and it\u2019s in beautiful, blue and white print.\u00a0 It\u2019s in color and a slick finish.\u00a0 Do you have any of those down there, Marcy?\u00a0 Well, order \u2018em, Donna.\u00a0 They cost more, but they\u2019re worth more cause they\u2019re pretty.\u00a0 They have the same words in \u2018em, understand, but it\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Ok?\u00a0 I told Donna when she called me to see if I\u2019d come here, that I couldn\u2019t come for what she used to charge.\u00a0 Because inflation\u2019s gone up.\u00a0 The airplane tickets have gone up and ever other thing has gone up.\u00a0 Parkin\u2019s 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 <\/span>all<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 (laughter)\u00a0 And from now on, we\u2019re really gonna hang it on, you know\u2026 we\u2019re really gonna get with it the next time.\u00a0 So you got the bargain this time.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll start with <\/span>Life\u2019s Word<\/span><\/span>. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

First Mystery:\u00a0 Thou art I, Myself!<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It starts off and says –<\/span><\/p>\n

I am Life.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So the writer of this little booklet, book claims to be Life.\u00a0 Who are we to find fault with it?<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I live in all bodies inspiring them always to do My will.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, frequently I hear people say, “If I only knew the Lord’s will, I\u2019d do it – if He’d just let me in on it.”\u00a0 And seems He says, \u201cI already got you doing it,\u201d so you don’t have to worry about that one anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cevolvement\u201d and our \u201cenlightenment\u201d and our \u201cgettin\u2019 with it\u201d, and all this stuff – it gets rid of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I inspire this message, which is for those only who can receive it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, of course, that’s all of us.\u00a0 Now, we may receive it slightly different, but we’ll hear something, somewhere through the thing – I\u2019ll guarantee you’ll hear <\/span>something<\/span><\/em> – and that something is plenty.\u00a0 You don’t have to get ever word.\u00a0 In fact if you only get one of them, you’ll do quite fine.\u00a0 It says –<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I know all Mysteries.\u00a0 That which I send has a hiddenor inward meaning for you.\u00a0 If your inward heart does not see the wondrous truth, be sure the brain mistaketh the meaning.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, the word “thy” is used all along through this little book, and \u201cthy\u201d has been understood by many people to refer to as a pronoun.\u00a0 But it is the word \u201cthe\u201d – t-h-e.\u00a0 I believe it’s pronounced these days as \u201cthe\u201d, is that correct?\u00a0 I never have been able to get it that way.\u00a0 I have a hard enough time with \u201cthe\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 be sure the brain mistaketh the meaning.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And it does that by interpreting accordin\u2019 to its preconceived opinions or frame of reference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think not that Life\u2019s Word is of no interest.\u00a0 If the body thrills when touched by earthly joys, how much more will it thrill to the touch of that which is Heavenly!\u00a0 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!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, uh, Life deals with awareness.\u00a0 This thing we put as \u201cAwareness\u201d is, in this little book, called \u201cheart.\u201d\u00a0 Now, it doesn’t refer to that little pumpin\u2019 piece of meat in our chest.\u00a0 It refers to one\u2019s, what one does as being aware, is called the heart.\u00a0 And the heart is what determines what will be done.\u00a0 If you say, \u201cI’m going to stand up,\u201d why the heart has determined that, and you stand up.\u00a0 Now, you don’t know how to stand up.\u00a0 I don’t think.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I think that’s the way it works.\u00a0 Try it and see if you can get up without tightenin\u2019 up your neck.\u00a0 Anybody wanna try that, Mack?\u00a0 See if you can get up with your neck relaxed.<\/span><\/p>\n

(No, I don’t care to try it.)<\/span><\/p>\n

So you see, your head pulls that long carcass up \u2018til it’s straight up and down above the ground; and you don’t know \u201chow\u201d to do it.\u00a0 You only determine \u201cwhat\u201d.\u00a0 Now, the heart says \u201cwhat\u201d.\u00a0 X takes care of the \u201chow\u201d.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I’ve noticed it is really not interested whether you have a Rolls or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear not Life’s word.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, I’ve had a lot of people that say, “That thing just scares me to death.”\u00a0 Well, don’t read it, you know, why bother with it?\u00a0 Nobody told you, you had to read it.\u00a0 I just make it available.\u00a0 If it frightens you, lay it down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear not Life’s Word.\u00a0 It will strip you bare of the complacency.\u00a0 It will destroy the self-righteousness. It will show you that you have always condemned Me unknowingly.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s Life. <\/span><\/p>\n

And it will humiliate you to the dust.\u00a0 Yet fear it not for you are Mine.\u00a0 Unto Myself I have taken you, though you do not know it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So we wouldn’t be here.\u00a0 We wouldn’t be doing anything unless Life had decided it.\u00a0 Now we think, “Well, I decided to go out to Lake Whitney for the weekend,\u201d but you know, there’s a lot of things you decided to do didn’t happen very well.\u00a0 So Life says, “Well, you can profit from this, so you will get involved in it in some way or other.\u201d\u00a0 So you got here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear is a lack of trust [a trust in Life].<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know that’s what everybody fears, is that Life don’t know what to do.\u00a0 Is that right, Mary?\u00a0 You know, you figure little old Mary\u2019s got to figure it all out; but really, you don’t have to know what to eat.\u00a0 Life\u2019ll tell you you’re hungry for peanut butter and you get peanut butter.\u00a0 After a while it tells you you’re hungry for biscuit and sausage and you get that.\u00a0 And after a while it says a little shot of grits would be pretty good and so on.\u00a0 So it tells you and you don’t have to figure all that stuff out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear is lack of trust.\u00a0 If you do not trust Me [Life], whom will you trust?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Used car dealers, I heard. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Will you put the trust in father or mother or brother or sister?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, we sometimes think maybe the relatives will take care of us, but I’m gettin\u2019 along all right without relatives.\u00a0 I had some once, but they didn’t help much, so I departed, you know.\u00a0 I don’t think I have any anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

These too, do My will, however selfishly they seem to act toward you.\u00a0 Have you found that they betray the confidence that you put in them?\u00a0 That they expect of you <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

that which you cannot give?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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.”\u00a0 Or some folks even go so far as to feel guilty cause they can’t please everybody.\u00a0 Of course none of us, I’m sure, ever did that.\u00a0 You wouldn’t do that, would you, Beth?\u00a0 Feel guilty because you didn’t please everbody?\u00a0 Not me, huh?<\/span><\/p>\n

(I lie.)<\/span><\/p>\n

You lie well too, Beth, don’t you?\u00a0 I noticed that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blame them not.\u00a0 They are My ministers to bring you unto Myself in perfect surrender.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, surrender doesn’t mean to become an abject nothing.\u00a0 Surrender means that I have ceased to know what ought to be.\u00a0 Now, that’s a pretty hard thing to give up, you know, because we are experts in knowing what ought to be.\u00a0 \u201cI know how you oughta behave and how you oughta behave and how you should do everything and, whatever.\u201d\u00a0 But you know if that could be given up, it’s called \u201csurrender\u201d which means possibly the things that we feel we are most rich with is: “I know what ought to be\u201d, \u201cI know how you ought to behave, I know what you ought to do.\u201d\u00a0 You know\u2026\u00a0 I really don’t.\u00a0 And I don’t even know what<\/span> I<\/span><\/em> ought to do.\u00a0 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.”\u00a0 It’s been pretty nice so far, hasn’t it, Mack?\u00a0 Huh?\u00a0 Well, it is when you wasn\u2019t comparing it to what you knew ought to be.\u00a0 Now, if I compare \u201cwhat ought to be\u201d with “what is”, it comes out in a mess right now, doesn’t it?\u00a0 Hmm?\u00a0 Right now it should be cooler, the air-conditioner should be more cool in here.\u00a0 Uh\u2026 people ought to be leaving $1,000 apiece to come here tonight.\u00a0 Marcy, it would help pay the bills, wouldn’t it?\u00a0 You know, that’s some of the things that ought to be, but that’s not what is.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, when I compare “what is” with what I think it \u201cought to be\u2019, “what is” comes out looking pretty shoddy.\u00a0 Is that right?\u00a0 Hmm?\u00a0 And if I don’t compare it to anything, I’m simply enjoying it, isn’t it utterly amazing?<\/span><\/p>\n

I work with a guy who says, “It’s amazioney, that’s what it is.”\u00a0 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 <\/span>alive<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 That is very amazing.\u00a0 But if I know what ought to be, I’m in a pitiful shape, aren’t I?\u00a0 Hmm?\u00a0 Real bad.\u00a0 I can feel so sorry for myself.\u00a0 And very justifiably too.\u00a0 So we’ll leave that one; that’s surrender.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You need not worship Me. [Period.]\u00a0 In the heart there is that which is one with Me<\/strong>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, there’s a little bit of <\/span>I<\/span><\/span><\/strong> in here which is one with X.\u00a0 It is that which says \u201cwhat\u201d without making a judgment about it or anything.\u00a0 I’d draw a line under that there<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/strong>And then there’s another kind of “I” we put out here with little quotations marks around it, which is the false ones. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You need not worship Me.\u00a0 In the heart there is that which is one with Me.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, you certainly don’t have to worship something that’s one with you.\u00a0 You don’t have to worship a toe, or a foot.\u00a0 Now, I’m very thankful that thing\u2019s down there, but I don’t worship it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So if you worship anything, even money, it says you are worshiping \u201cMe\u201d because you know the whole thing\u2019s made – there isn’t anything else anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you an ideal?\u00a0 I am that.\u00a0 Have you a love?\u00a0 I am that.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s really what you care about. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You need not believe Life’s word.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You don’t have to believe a <\/span>thing<\/span><\/em> in this book. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Fear not to use it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In other words, challenge everything.\u00a0 You know, there’s nothing more unspiritual than to be gullible. That is sometimes called \u201cfaith\u201d.\u00a0 You know, you just believe somethin\u2019 because some joker stood up and talked loud and clear and said it, or you found it written in a book.\u00a0 And after all, everything in a book has to be true – you<\/span> know <\/span><\/em>that, don’t you?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 Not by bein\u2019 gullible.\u00a0 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\u2019 gullible, not spiritual.\u00a0 And let’s don’t call that faith; let’s just call that what it is \u2013 bein\u2019 gullible.\u00a0 Most of us have a large supply of it.\u00a0 That makes us pretty sitting ducks for about everthing comes along.<\/span><\/p>\n

You need not believe Life’s word.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please use it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear not to use it for I have sanctioned its power <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

both to question and to analyze and also even to deny.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cause sometimes you can\u2019t ever figure out anything and you have to start over a little bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

which appeals to you the strongest.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So something in here (through the next day while we work on this) will appeal to you very strongly.\u00a0 Now, I hope not all of it does, because that would look a little bit gullible.\u00a0 But there will be some phrase – one of the mysteries in here – that will appeal to you.\u00a0 I have been through this a number of times and there’s one that appeals to me, and it is the <\/span>only<\/span><\/em> one that <\/span>really<\/span><\/em> appeals to me, but it takes care of everything else.\u00a0 I don’t need to bother with the rest of it.\u00a0 That makes all of it straight and nice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, one of \u2018em\u2019s going to be strong.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You know, we can all take off then because we won’t have to go fiddlin\u2019 along.\u00a0 Let me know when the last one gets done.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the thought comes unto you that this message is not inspired of Me,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe some joker just wrote it some night or whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n

then be sure that it is not for you as being the message of authority.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And I hope it’s not a message of authority to anyone.\u00a0 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 n<\/span>either one are.\u00a0 So let’s leave all the authority “bit” off and that’s what is said back here – deny it, challenge it, question, analyze it \u2013 do anything you want to, but don’t just take it on.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But it is for you just as you see it.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothin\u2019 wrong with bein\u2019 wrathful every once in a while.\u00a0 You say, “Why, that is the most damnable mess of stuff I ever heard!\u00a0 It’s against every religious principle I ever heard.\u00a0 It’s against ever spiritual teaching.”\u00a0\u00a0 Hang in there, hang on; that’s the way he wants you.<\/span><\/p>\n

My authority is a claim for all that is done.\u00a0 Know that such wrath also is divine; and that I inspire it in the heart and make it serve My will.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So just let it sit there. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I do all things well, and it shall be well for you <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

if you can take this message as being of no authority\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It may throw an idea out, but don’t take it as an authority and say, “Man, I gotta believe that!”\u00a0 Because, phht\u2014terrible! \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026except as My voice in your own heart speaks.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So if you hear something and it hits you, it’s all right.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all writings, all speech and all language there is no voice but Mine.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you suppose that if there wasn’t Life in one of these bodies here tonight, any one of \u2018em could say one word?\u00a0 Did you ever see a corpse start talking?\u00a0 If you do, I’ll run.\u00a0 Did you?\u00a0 So Life is the only thing that can talk.\u00a0 So, remember Life is doing the talkin\u2019, not a person, and not a personality or anything.\u00a0 So\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

In all writings and all speech and all language there is no voice but Mine.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

says Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

That which calls you not is no voice at all.\u00a0 But that which calls you, whether it be bold, or to surrender, is My voice alone.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, it sometimes tell you to fight and sometimes it might say surrender; but if it does, that’s Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

I live and love in the body.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now the body would not be alive if X, Spirit, whatever we choose to call it, is not there.\u00a0 We then have a relic left on our hands, a dead body, huh?\u00a0 So if it’s there, that’s what’s running the thing. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I live and love in the body.\u00a0 When you say \u201cI am\u201d or \u201cI love\u201d, then that is Me speaking.\u00a0 When you say, \u201cI have\u201d, or \u201cI want\u201d, or \u201cI believe\u201d, <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

then that is the self-consciousness speaking for itself.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now we’ve talked about not-I\u2019s, as lack of a better word to refer to, that this one here <\/span>[See \u2018Picture of Man\u2019 in Illustrations section]<\/span><\/em> says, \u201cthe whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed.\u201d I\u2019m not goin\u2019 through those. And this one says, \u201ccomplain\u201d and this one, \u201cstick up for rights\u201d and this one, \u201cblame\u201d, and this one says, \u201cplease everybody\u201d.\u00a0 This one says, \u201cquote the proper authority\u201d, and this one says, \u201cyou’ve gotta improve yourself\u201d.\u00a0 Now that is called the \u201cpersonality\u201d or the \u201cself-consciousness\u201d speaking for itself.\u00a0 It is not <\/span>I<\/span><\/span><\/strong> – it is not Life at all; and so most bodies are operated by personality, not by Life.\u00a0 However, Life does kinda balance things up and keeps things going in spite of all this stuff. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And behold the self-consciousness shall die with its possessions and desires and beliefs; but I am undying forever.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Says life. Now it says that these things here will die.\u00a0 And the personality made up out of complainin\u2019, stickin\u2019 up for rights, blaming, pleasin\u2019 people, tryin\u2019 to quote proper authorities, improving self, and knowing that the Four Dual Basic Urges <\/span>[See Illustration section]<\/span><\/em> are the <\/span>whole<\/span><\/em> purpose of living.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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\u2019t spent on that little chore.\u00a0 Would that be about right, Miss Mary?\u00a0 Tryin\u2019 to gain physical comfort, to get attention, approval?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You know, I have people call me up and say, \u201cI only slept an hour last night.\u00a0 It was so horrible and I tried all night to get to sleep.\u201d\u00a0 Well does anybody here know how to get to sleep?\u00a0 If you do, you got somethin\u2019 to sell.\u00a0 You know how to get to sleep or do you just drop off to sleep and after awhile you wake up?\u00a0 You know when you’re tryin\u2019 to go to sleep, you can’t.\u00a0 When you’re trying to digest your food, you don’t do very well at it.\u00a0 When you’re trying to keep your heart running regularly, it jumps all over the place.\u00a0 And if you’re trying to be very comfortable, you’ll find a jillion little itches, a little tension here, a little pull there.\u00a0 You better turn this way and you better turn that way.\u00a0 Heavy, you know, it\u2019s just heavy.\u00a0 So I tell a lot of folks that come in to visit me, that no self-respectin\u2019 body will work well while being spied on.\u00a0 And I’d like for you to kind of put that down in your little notebooks somewheres that, <\/span>\u201cNo self-respecting body will work well while being spied on.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 Now we’ll even further extend that.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cNo self-respecting Awareness will work well while being spied on.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 And Spirit says, \u201cYou spy on me, I’m long gone.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 You hear sound waves from outside – thank goodness you don’t hear what’s rattling in your head unless you become psychotic.\u00a0 You don’t smell your breath and everthing; you smell other things from the outside.\u00a0 You don\u2019t hear things rattlin\u2019.\u00a0 You don’t see inside; you see things on the outside.\u00a0 So if you notice all the sensory organs – touch, taste, smell, hearing, etc. – all turned outward.\u00a0 And when you turn \u2018em around and try to feel of what’s going on inside, you become in a very anxious state – very anxious.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Don’t fiddle around there and just let it fall in and happen after a while.\u00a0 You really get with it and force yourself to sleep with willpower and strength and knowledge, will you please?\u00a0 (laughter)\u00a0 And you’ll all go to sleep about 9:30 in the mornin\u2019 and we don’t have to work tomorrow, while you sleep all day.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have a body, but you are not the body.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You’re not the body. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You have a consciousness of self-existence, but you are not the consciousness.\u00a0 What then are you?\u00a0 Body you are not, consciousness you are not – you cannot tell what you are!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Isn’t that just about right?\u00a0 You know, I have people come in and they say, “My body hurts me.\u00a0 My mind\u2019s driving me crazy.\u00a0 And I have to save my soul and I have to watch everything I do.”\u00a0 Now, what is there left over?\u00a0 What’s sayin\u2019 “I” there?\u00a0 There isn’t anything left.\u00a0 What would you think it might be, after all that, that you claim you own?\u00a0 You’ve heard those phrases haven’t you:\u00a0 \u201cMy mind, my body, my soul, my spirit, my past, my future,\u201d and all these things?\u00a0 Now do you own all that stuff.\u00a0 \u201cMy symptoms\u201d – don’t forget those.\u00a0 \u201cAll my symptoms.\u201d\u00a0 Organ recitals people give.\u00a0 (laughter) They go through organ after organ – \u201cthe liver don’t work well, the heart’s not good, my diaphragm\u2019s stuck, my stomach\u2019s slow, my knee is not working well, my skin breaks out.\u201d\u00a0 You know, it’s one organ after another you hear about.\u00a0 So when you go through all this, what’s left over to do the claiming?<\/span><\/p>\n

So really what most people conceive of themselves, is a verbal device to avoid responsibility.\u00a0 You see \u201cif my body hurts me,\u201d I’m not responsible.\u00a0 \u201cMy mind\u2019s drivin\u2019 me nuts.\u201d\u00a0 I’m not responsible for that – the mind’s doin\u2019 it.\u00a0 \u201cMy body hurts me, my thoughts kept me awake all night last night.\u00a0 See I’m just not responsible at all, am I?\u201d\u00a0 Hmm?\u00a0 Isn’t anything there to <\/span>be<\/strong> responsible.\u00a0 Nothing there to take charge. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So unless we can conceive that <\/span>I<\/span><\/span><\/strong> 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.\u00a0 \u201cI’m a cowboy.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s my function.\u00a0 That don’t mean any thing.\u00a0 So if I can see that I am an expression of Life, and I am responsible for choosing what I will do.\u00a0 About right, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Hmm?\u00a0 You couldn’t say, “Well, my hand just hauled off and bopped her,” could you?\u00a0 Mmm?\u00a0 I’ve heard people say it did.\u00a0 You know, it’s like when we drop a cup, we say the cup slipped out of my hand.\u00a0 You know, the damn cup did it – anybody can see that.\u00a0 I didn’t have nothin\u2019 to do with it.\u00a0 And cars do a lot of things you know.\u00a0 They go out of control.\u00a0 (laughter)\u00a0 Did you ever hear about that?\u00a0 Did you ever see a car just run and get out of control?\u00a0 Does your 280 ZX ever wander off and get out of control?\u00a0 It’s liable to some of these days, isn’t it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And isn’t it wonderful to hear about \u201cmy emotions got all out of control last night,\u201d hmm?\u00a0 Who do they belong to?\u00a0 Crap, you don’t own any emotions.\u00a0 They\u2019re just things that happen when you’re not in charge, that right?\u00a0 But you can blame those emotions for doin\u2019 things to you, can’t you?\u00a0 Did you ever say \u201cmy temper just run away with me,\u201d hmm?\u00a0 Did you ever do that, Beth?\u00a0 \u201cMy temper is just uncontrollable.\u201d You know it ordinarily has a little chain on it or a little leash or a collar.\u00a0 I guess it’s like Bekki’s dog.\u00a0 It\u2019s got a rhinestone collar, but ever once in a while, you drop the chain or the collar breaks and then it takes off.\u00a0 Isn’t that marvelous?\u00a0 Man\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

You are I, myself!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It says in big, bold capital letters here.\u00a0 \u201cYou are I, myself.\u201d\u00a0 That’s what’s really doin\u2019 the talking.\u00a0 X is the only thing that can talk; the rest of it is just rattling around there. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are one with Me.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019 just goin\u2019 around and mouthing it off because you’ve seen the fundamental principle of it.\u00a0 It’s laid out here.\u00a0 \u201cYou are I, myself,\u201d says Life.\u00a0 \u201cYou are one with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Boy what pretty words. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026which you have been designed to make the body Its habitation.\u00a0 The body is My temple wherein I dwell, and through which I express My will.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now doesn’t Life dwell within the body?\u00a0 And we’ve all seen bodies without Life in \u2018em and we get very pious and say,\u00a0 “Here lies the remains.”\u00a0 We’re very holy about<\/span> it<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 We don’t think much\u2019a Life.\u00a0 But what’s left over we get very touchy about.\u00a0 We get very sentimental over carcasses and dead bodies, but we don’t seem to really realize that, “Look, I’m <\/span>talkin\u2019<\/span><\/em> to Life there.\u201d\u00a0 I’m <\/span>lookin\u2019<\/span><\/em> at Life here.\u00a0 I’m <\/span>speakin\u2019<\/span><\/em> to Life.\u00a0 I <\/span>love<\/span><\/em> Life.\u00a0 I appreciate it and everything.\u00a0 We don’t see that, but boy, we really get very pious and drop everything and go see a dead body, don\u2019t we.\u00a0 Isn’t that funny?\u00a0 You ever done that, you know?\u00a0 Just dropped your business and household things and everything and took off to some parts because there was a dead body over there somewheres?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 So I went and said,\u00a0 “Well, old Harry left us a little chore: get rid of the remains.\u00a0 Let’s get it done and go home.”\u00a0 (laughter)\u00a0 And the undertaker got very upset because he was all set for tears and all this stuff.\u00a0 He kept tryin\u2019 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.”\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And I went and took the rose and said, “Let’s get it over with!” and he finally understood me.\u00a0 And we\u2019d hired him and let’s get old Harry’s remains in the ground – that’s what he left us to do.\u00a0 So.\u00a0 That was the shortest funeral presentation in all history:\u00a0 \u201cLet’s get it over with.\u00a0 Harry said get rid of this.\u00a0 That’s what he left us to do – what he couldn’t do for himself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In due season thou shall feel the ever present \u201cI am\u201d and \u201cI love\u201d in the heart, then you will know that you are Mine.\u00a0 That the mouth speaks My voice, that the heart beats with divine impulse and that I live in you.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now a great teacher many years ago that we’ve all read about said,\u00a0 “The Father and I are one.”\u00a0 Now they got a little commotion started and they nailed him to a tree for makin\u2019 a foolish statement like that because nobody could understand it.\u00a0 And of course, I wouldn’t suggest you go out and say it today.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But don’t mind to be aware of it if it should ever be aware to you.\u00a0 But you don’t have to run around and tell everybody.\u00a0 It’s dangerous. <\/span><\/p>\n

In due season that you feel the ever present \u201cI am\u201d, and \u201cI love\u201d in the heart, then you shall know that you are Mine.\u00a0 That the mouth speaks My voice, that the heart beats with divine impulse, and that I live in you. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This body.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Now, I didn’t say \u2018challenges\u201d \u2018cause Life is full of challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you go out and look in the desert, you’ll see a tree growing up against rocks.\u00a0 You see it growing in sand piles.\u00a0 You see it growing through brambles.\u00a0 You see things that really looks like they have no chance of bein\u2019 there.\u00a0 But Life has all these challenges.\u00a0 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:\u00a0 \u201cWe’ve only had three inches of rain this year.\u201d\u00a0 Did you ever hear one of those little plants crying and moanin\u2019 and feelin\u2019 sorry for itself and trying to sell you on how unfortunate it was?\u00a0 Have you ever had that, Mary?\u00a0 Huh?\u00a0 Did you ever see a little dandelion moanin\u2019 because the wind was going to blow its beautiful hair away, hmm?\u00a0 Or that somebody was gonna run over it with a lawn mower?\u00a0 You know if you do\u2026 Did you ever run over a dandelion with a lawn mower?\u00a0 They beat you back up \u2018fore mornin\u2019.\u00a0 Did you ever cut crabgrass?\u00a0 Oh man.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Life will have its challenges, but once you see what you really are, then you will not have troubles.\u00a0 Now, most people here have troubles.\u00a0 That right, Beth?\u00a0 You’ve had your lots of troubles.\u00a0 I talked to an old man one time many years ago when I was rattlin\u2019 off some of this stuff I talk about.\u00a0 And he said,\u00a0 “Say, Bob\u2026 what you’re really saying is what I finally caught on to the other day.\u00a0 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Now has most of the trouble you\u2019ve ever had ever happen, or did you just worry that it was going to?\u00a0 Did you ever starve, Mary?\u00a0 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?\u00a0 We’ve all had those kind of troubles, haven’t we, more or less?\u00a0 Except for Miss Monroe back here \u2013 she don\u2019t have it.\u00a0 I think she did once, but she forgot about it.\u00a0 You had that once when you was a kid, didn’t you? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now if there wasn’t any Life, there wouldn’t be anything existin\u2019.\u00a0 There may be a bunch of mud balls floatin\u2019 around, but there wouldn’t be anything to be aware of it, would it?\u00a0 So Life is the only thing that can be aware of anything.\u00a0 So it’s the only thing that can really does, can say, \u201cI exist\u201d, is Life.\u00a0 The rocks and all that don’t do that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that there is no other soul or spirit but Me.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is what we’re all talkin\u2019 about.\u00a0 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.”\u00a0 So we take that kinda lightly.\u00a0 We forget all about it, but nevertheless as we look around, we’ll see that that is what is going on.\u00a0 And talk about miraculous things It does – just study it.<\/span><\/p>\n

We’re writing a little book called “The Magic Book”; and the “Magic Book” takes on some of the things that Life does.\u00a0 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?\u00a0 You’d think that\u2019s a pretty good stunt, wouldn’t you?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Yes.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Life does it every day, and we take it for granted – totally unconcerned.\u00a0 We eat it up and it makes human flesh and blood in a matter of hours.\u00a0 No labs or anything else can do that – even the people with genetic tinkerin\u2019 can’t do it.\u00a0 So there\u2019s only one thing that really exists that matters, and that is Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you say, “Is there none but God?”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s the question. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then who am I? \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then you say it no more for this Mystery shall be revealed unto you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That is called the First Mystery.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It is simply going to be one day you’re aware that Life is “what is.”\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I did not say you wouldn\u2019t have challenges. I didn’t say the wind wouldn’t blow cold on you some day and that you’d be uncomfortable.\u00a0 I didn’t say you wouldn’t stump your toe on a rock and hurt your toenail.\u00a0 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. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s only when the person is operated by this non-<\/span>I<\/span><\/span><\/strong> 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.\u00a0 But you know that’s not so necessary because nothing thrives well unless it has a bit of resistance.\u00a0 We say there is four different forces goin\u2019 around – they all work together as one.\u00a0 There is \u201cInitiative\u201d, \u201cResistance\u201d, \u201cForm\u201d and \u201cResult\u201d and they all go to make up any completed phenomenon.\u00a0 <\/span>[See The Four Forces in Illustration Section]<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 Without any resistance, you don’t get much.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You’ll just get a bean sprout and it\u2019ll fizzle out before very long.\u00a0 It dies because there is no resistance.\u00a0 If there’s no resistance to anything, it comes to a screamin\u2019 halt before very long, ok? That right?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So can we be simply that \u201cLife is\u201d and that I’m quite content with it like it is.\u00a0 I’m not gripin\u2019 and so forth (I use the word called \u201cgritchin\u2019\u201d \u2013 that keeps me from sayin\u2019 all the rest of it) because everything isn’t just like I want it.\u00a0 Or am I quite capable of seeing that Life makes everything run along?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And who are you and I to come up and say we can straighten it all out like it ought to be, right quick?\u00a0 I’ve noticed that all the people who try to straighten it out sure make messes.\u00a0 It takes even Life a long time to get it straightened out after that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, we\u2019ve been talkin\u2019 for about an hour.\u00a0 Marcy, do we go one more tonight or is one enough tonight and start from there?\u00a0 Donna?<\/span><\/p>\n

(Whatever you feel up to.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I always feel up.\u00a0 I can talk all night but I\u2019m not goin\u2019 to, but what is your usual arrangement?\u00a0 It\u2019s nine-thirty.\u00a0 Want another session?\u00a0 Take a five minute break and start over again?\u00a0 Ok, we\u2019ll have a five minute break and we will continue.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first of 11 weeks of Teaching Experiments which we are also sending out on Saturdays to our mailing list.\u00a0 If you would like to receive these in email form please send us a message to Teachings@MarshaSummers.com with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshasummers.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}