From the Fall/Winter Newsletter of 2010
     Vernon Howard once said, “This is the greatest message ever given to mankind.” Whenever you are in the presence of truth or are genuinely working with truth principles your spirit is elevated. The problem is that most people are so thoroughly entrenched in imagination — in a fantasy life — that they believe they’re already in a state of bliss or some other nonsense. The word is not the state. If I were in a real state of bliss or happiness, how could it possibly be shaken?
     I can eat a deliciously ripe, juicy, succulent and sweet Colorado peach — if you’re from Georgia it can be a Georgia peach — and I can tell you all about how great it tastes, but you don’t really know what it tastes like unless you personally partake of this marvelous fruit. A truth teacher can tell you all about an incredibly rewarding world that exists right now for any human being who does the hard work of pursuing it but until you actually experience this state for yourself, you really don’t know what it is like.
     I was listening to the first talk on the new MP3 CD, Volume 7 and was blown away to hear what Vernon Howard had to say, which was, “God exists. There is such a thing as the opposite of human badness.” Thank Heaven. Something in me knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that this statement was 100% true.
     I heard about an incident that occurred at the New Life book table at a recent banquet. A man commented, someone who has attended the classes before, “There’s nothing new. It’s the same old material with new covers or in a new format.” This is someone who professes to be a truth student and who loves Vernon Howard. Why would they make such a foolish and wrong statement?
     Let’s say you pick up a truth book that was written 3000 years ago and you read something that came from heaven itself. And as you were reading it, it made perfect sense. It struck a chord inside and you felt its healing power. You were inspired by what you just read. There was an instant recognition of something beyond words. So even though it was written 3000 years ago it still had the same impact now as it did when truth came down on earth and inspired a man to put it into writing for someone to discover 3000 years later.
     What sleeping human beings fail to see is that the Truth is always alive because it doesn’t live in time. There is so much more to be gleaned from these principles than you presently realize. The reason that people don’t get it is because it is remaining only on an intellectual level. We sometimes receive e-mails from people who are baffled or puzzled by what Vernon says. To them it seems contradictory. This is because they are trying to process it thru the noggin, thru the cranium crony, which is what we sometimes call the mind in our classes. God exists forever. The mind cannot comprehend this. Observe your self as you read this to see what your mind does with it.
     As I was working on the new MP3 CD project over the last few months it became startlingly clear to me that the teachings of Vernon Howard are a living thing. They have a much deeper meaning because if we allow it, they go directly to the heart, to a higher place within. They bypass the mind. It wasn’t just words, it was so much more than that. I loved what I was hearing. There was an opening there, like when you walk out into a clearing into the bright sunshine after trekking thru a dense forest for a while. There was less resistance to what was being said. As a result I was able to hear something that was always there but was unable to grasp before because of the incessant noise of the mind. It’s like when you’re trying to tune in a radio station you want to listen to. You get nothing but static until the dial is precisely/perfectly tuned and it finally comes in loud and clear.
     It is extremely exciting and uplifting to take in the refreshing and healing words of truth. It actually meant more when I heard it recently than when I originally heard it in person for the first time, some 24 years ago. Our ability to hear the deeper meaning of truth is dependent upon our receptivity level. The less there is of me/you, the more we benefit from its powerful and illuminating (enlightening) message.
     This has nothing to do with memorization or our ability to remember things. It is a million miles above the mind. It has to do with perceptive powers, our level of being, spiritual intuition, something beyond this world. Part of the equation of us seeing more has to do with seeing evil as evil. Vernon Howard said that one prerequisite for waking up is, “You have to feel hell as hell.” (From Vernon Howard’s Higher World ∙ Volume 7 ∙ Talk 155 ∙ Track 1) Right now we call hell, heaven. If you were to ask someone if they are happy or not, most people would say they are happy. We refuse to see how miserable and lost we really are. A fundamental step that counselors for alcoholics use is to get the person to acknowledge that they have a problem. They can no longer be in denial but must admit they’re an alcoholic. It’s the same with us; we are in denial that we are in hell. You’ll hear people say, “Oh, I didn’t mean it” or “She’s not like that normally.” If this is so, why do human beings spend their lives getting upset, getting angry, being sad, lashing out? Are you happy when you are angry? If we examine/observe ourselves more closely we will see we’ve been wrong about many things. When we finally admit we are wrong, the healing process can begin.
     Perhaps I should define hell. In Freedom from a Life of Hell Vernon Howard says, “A negative nature is hell, including evil intentions and self-
obsessions. Whoever chooses any kind of harmful behavior burns away his life.” Any kind of human torment is hell. Heaven or hell is right now. It doesn’t exist in the future or the past. “The higher spiritual level does not employ thought or imagination but sees and acts from pure wisdom. The mental level thinks but the spiritual level knows … The wisdom you are now absorbing will elevate you from the mental level to the spiritual level.” 
     I always liked it when Vernon told us that God can reach down into the deepest depths of hell and pull you out to safety. There’s nothing that God can’t handle. Isn’t that marvelous to hear? We should be thrilled.
     This is an opportunity of a lifetime. We must take advantage of it. This is very serious. Your life depends on it. The new MP3 CD series is one of the most valuable tools any individual can have to help them wake up, solve problems, conquer whatever, become an enlightened human being. It’s all there for any person who wants it.

From the Spring/Summer Newsletter of 2010
     We’re thinking our way through life rather than seeing/understanding our way through life. We must begin to make connections and to know clearly that as long as we live from ideas, nothing will ever be any different no matter what we do. Nothing will ever change. One Vernon Howard truth that has stuck with me over the years has been, “There is nothing to do, there is only something to see.”
     The world believes, thinks and demands that we have to invent progress, stay busy, make something of ourselves, become someone, accomplish something, live life to its fullest, reinvent ourselves, chase our dreams, fulfill our fantasies, consult an expert, seek help, pay a psychologist for advice, talk to the animals, find a soul mate or a friend, help someone, go fly a kite, save the planet, jump in the lake, etc. Do you want to know how to save the planet? The answer is to leave the planet alone, to stop interfering with the natural course of things. Remember that “There is nothing to do, there is only something to see.” There are a million different activities and things to do but somehow none of them seem to work. There’s a temporary relief, reward or satisfaction but it never lasts. It’s always ‘the next thing’ that will deliver the lasting contentment we’re after. But the feeling always goes away and then the struggle for a solution starts all over again.
     A short time ago my wife and I went into town to run some errands and to eat lunch out. We stopped at a local restaurant that we like but it was closed. We had been eating there on and off for several years and it seemed odd that it would be closed in the middle of the week. After finding another place to dine we stopped by the local bank to conduct some business and as we were entering the bank, the manager of the closed restaurant was exiting the bank with her husband. They said hello but seem preoccupied and they looked very excited about something. The next week we found out that she was leaving the business because she was tired of it.
     By observing her over the years, I could see that she was often in a state of boredom and depression. And now, the mundane routine of showing up for work 5 or 6 days a week for so many years, waiting on people and running a successful business had gone completely stale. It had gotten old. She was looking for an exterior activity to fulfill her to make her happy. So now a career change was going to do it. This was the next move that was going to give her life some meaning. She would no longer be tied down to the responsibility of running the restaurant.
     Two weeks later I was sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green when I saw her driving by. There are moments when you can take ‘snapshots’ of yourself and others that can lead to the dawning of a spiritual connection. In that instant when I turned and saw her face, it was apparent that she was in the identical state of depression and sadness she had been immersed in when working at the restaurant. You could see the unhappiness in her face and in her demeanor. Where did the false elation and excitement go that she and her husband had expressed when deciding that this was the right move to make? The change was going to do it for her, she believed.
     Do you see how ridiculous all of this is? Doing all of these things will never lead to happiness because there is nothing of lasting value in them in the first place. One of the most stubborn beliefs that human beings cling to is the certainty that something outside of themselves can make them feel better. But this is simply an IDEA of happiness masquerading as the genuine article. In this example, perhaps a chain of events occurred where some type of a change was needed but ‘careful consideration’ and ‘thinking it over’ with the habitual, self-absorbed mind can never lead to real relief. You end up right back where you started. Billions of people, including us, do this everyday. We make life decisions based on what we think or what we want or what we’ve been taught. The memory bank has only so many solutions and they are all mechanical.
     There is a higher way, a spontaneous,  instantaneous, unrehearsed way to handle and deal with life and all of its challenges. If we use these principles correctly this new way will be revealed to us. It will make everything ten thousand times easier. We won’t be drained or stressed out and we’ll know exactly what to do because we realize that heavenly help actually exists. In the midst of even the most difficult of circumstances, truth will be right there guiding us in such a way that the spirit will be elevated. This is one of the secrets to living in true spiritual wholeness.
     It is not a belief or an idea that God exists but a personal experience. But this ‘pearl of great price’ requires sacrifice on our part. The interruption of thought is absolutely essential. To live from what is higher, the lower must go. Loss must come first. The haunted house of the old nature must be allowed to completely collapse before the health and healing of the new nature can replace it.
     The reason people can’t get along and marriages don’t last is because we are living from an artificial idea of happiness. The reason we can be easily manipulated to spend money foolishly through advertising is because we are living from an idea. The reason we are taken over by negative states and do bad things is because we are living from an idea. The reason we fall into depression is because we are living from an idea. The reason we are so easily tricked into becoming fearful is because we are living from an idea. The reason we are so easily intimidated by an angry bully or a domineering person is because we are living from an idea. The reason we can be fooled into going to war over and over and over again is because we are living from ideas. Insane human beings must have an enemy so that they can keep the sick vibration and thrill of hatred going. They must have an excuse to blame someone else so that they can fight with them, whether it’s one other person or a million other people. There is a threat but it’s not what you think it is or what you’ve been told it is. The truth is not at all what you THINK it is.
     We are allowing someone or something else to live our lives for us. It was intended that we be in charge of our own lives. If we ever want to wake up, get out, be enlightened, experience higher wisdom, we need to go beyond the realm of ideas. In a talk I listened to recently which is from the first lecture on the new MP3 CD, Vernon Howard’s Higher World — Volume 2, Vernon posed the question, “If all you’ve got is a mind then how can you escape?” The mind is incapable of escaping itself. So there has to be something else, something above it, something of a different nature that is NOT of the human intellect.
     Why is it that we keep making the same mistake over and over again? It’s because we refuse to see what is. We are spellbound by how we think and by the objects of our thoughts. In other words we are ignorant. This isn’t an insult. Ask yourself, if I were truly intelligent, would I keep hurting myself? Would I keep getting myself into trouble? Would I keep suffering? Would I keep getting involved with the same kind of people? Would I be confused? Would I feel sad?
     In one of the new transcriptions that is now available, The Help You Really Want to Find, it says, “You have to spend a long time just in seeing how you call on a wrong source of help, how you’re always lying to yourself that something is going to rescue you from that strangling ignorance.” He goes on to say, “What’s the opposite of ignorance? Wisdom, knowledge, which if you had it, if you had real wisdom, come on, REAL WISDOM, you wouldn’t have all the problems that you have. It’s as simple as that.” “Do you know that if you were to really see that your life is a mass of ignorance, of folly and if you were to do nothing whatever about it, your ignorance would fall away to be replaced by wisdom, in which you could live with great peace.”
     What wonderful news. This world is full of phony promises and assurances that never pan out. Their very nature is deceptive and illusory. Changing exterior conditions or circumstances is never going to allay the fear. Real change must come from within. In 1500 Ways to Escape the Human Jungle, #1324 reads, “Sense that inner light alone can supply a life-meaning which does not change every day.”
     Somehow, someway we must start to see more deeply how this society, this world keeps us captured, fooled and hoaxed. We are failing to grasp that, at present, we are living only a thought life. See the difference between mechanical thinking, which is of the mind, and consciousness, which is coming from essence. Living from essence has nothing to do with what this world is teaching us.
     One cruel hoax is the notion that acquiring more and more knowledge will help us. We think adding something to what we already have or know will make us smarter. In the spiritual realm, the opposite is true. It’s a matter of subtraction. It’s not what you know or whom you know that matters. It’s what you are that matters. There is only help for you as an individual. We’ve been duped and lied to so repeatedly and so thoroughly that we are not even aware we’ve been fooled.
     Truth wants to help us but we must allow it to do its good work. A specific technique that has been given to us on numerous occasions that will help in this process is to slow down. “That is the secret method for mental clearness.” If we can begin to get ourselves out of the way and to slow down the tyrannical mind, we can begin to hear angelic heavenly whispers that will lead us all the way out. The more you love what you are hearing, the more the truth will help you to understand all of these things.

From the Fall/Winter Newsletter of 2009
     I was watching a group of deer the other morning interacting with one another. There were some does and four or five yearlings, three of which were young bucks. They were all munching away on plants when one of the does looked up and suddenly made a quick move toward one of the bucks. It had misbehaved in some way and she was correcting it. She actually took her right front leg and gave the young buck a whack across its backside.
     The buck knew it had done something wrong because it tried to move out of mama’s reach, but to no avail. A couple of years ago I had the privilege of witnessing exactly the same scenario in which a mother doe disciplined her young one. For the young deer, this was a life lesson that would help him later on in his journey through deerdom.
     As a young boy I remember being spanked and disciplined. One of the lessons I was taught was not to talk back to your parents or to misbehave. You were taught to be courteous and mannerly. Just as the doe corrected its young one, my parents did not allow me to get away with it.
     In order to make it in the spiritual world, to become a different kind of human being and to be transformed and awakened into the spiritual realm, we must first be a good householder. You can’t be a smart-aleck. You can’t be disrespectful. You can’t be wrongly defiant. You have to be a responsible person. But in order to be a truly decent person, you must wake up.
     Discipline and correction should play an important role in our spiritual development. In Be Safe in a Dangerous World, Vernon Howard says, “Command of your day comes by correcting self-defeating actions.” Also on page 35 #8 says, “Command of your day will arrive just as swiftly as you allow the arrival of spiritual correction. Truth is an experienced guide who knows how to safely direct you thru the human jungle.”
     We cannot continue to live the same kind of life we always have and expect different results to magically appear. As a young boy or girl you don’t know the difference between right and wrong, so your parents are supposed to guide you and point you in the right direction.  Tolerating or putting up with your wrongness or nonsense is not loving on their part. Where do you think today’s ‘anything goes’ attitude and lifestyle is going to lead? It will lead to even more chaos and misery. There must be rules. Do you not think there are spiritual laws? Indeed, there are. When not followed, the suffering just continues on and on.
     The doe didn’t have to think about what it was doing; it knew what it was doing and what was best for the young buck. It simply obeyed the invisible laws governing its existence here on earth. If certain elements on this earth witnessed what I did, they would immediately determine in their insanity that the doe would need counseling and would have to go thru sensitivity training. She would have to sit on a couch with a deer psychiatrist and go thru intensive retraining as to how she should deal with her offspring. If you think this is an exaggeration, think again. That’s how far downhill things have gone on this planet.
     None of this insanity is recognized as a spiritual problem. The reason mankind and this planet are in such bad shape is because of the refusal to follow the heavenly plan that was set down for us. That’s why we’re so miserable. That’s why the headlines are filled with negative news. That’s why the economy is so bad. That’s why people who supposedly care for each other get into fights. That’s why people wonder why bad things happen to “good” people. I could go on and on.
     The truth explains everything. It is amazing that so few people want to find out the facts. Well the fact is they don’t want to know the truth. They want to stay as they are. As Vernon Howard used to say quite frequently, “Stupid human beings love their pain.”
     In Expose Human Sharks 100 Ways in a section entitled Realize This, Vernon Howard says, “Every man is a small child who would like to have a birthday party every day, with tables loaded with toys and cakes ― all for him. Take away his toys of business or politics or sports and he breaks down sobbing and snapping.” Everyone is engaged in these pointless pursuits while all along believing they are purposeful and will provide security. That’s the problem; no one sees that the trinkets offered by this world are empty of any real value. That’s the big hoax. We must begin to see the hollowness, the shallowness of all these things. How many people do you know who have a lot of money or have the big career or the family or are famous in some way and you know they are not happy? Maybe they have serious problems with anger or depression or are alcoholics or whatever it may be. They may have a million distractions but you know that peace and lasting contentment have eluded them. We have to look much more deeply at what is going on. I think the old expression is that we must learn ‘to read between the lines.’
     Success in the spiritual realm is all a matter of direction. You can’t change the world but you can change yourself. This is the big correction that must occur in order for us to go higher. We’ve been led to believe that somehow we can make a difference and change the outcome of where this planet is headed. Sorry, or I should say yahoo, because there is no hope for this planet but there is a chance for you and me to evolve and to wake up as Vernon Howard and a few others who have walked this earth did. Thank God for the fact that universal laws of spiritual development do exist and can be understood and lived from. We can take a giant leap and cross the chasm between being dead asleep to being a pleasant human being who has no need for suffering or pain anymore. By making the necessary correction, we can make a connection to the higher world. It’s something that can be done. The correction can be made.

From the Spring/Summer Newsletter of 2009
     I remember when I first came to hear Vernon Howard speak in 1975. One of the most memorable things he said in his talk was that “You don’t know anything.” Even though this statement was very upsetting for the ego to hear, it wasn’t something that was easily forgotten, because underneath the hardened shell of the personality, something inside instinctively knew that the message was not of this world. The reason he said what he did was because unconsciously, I already thought I knew, which is what almost everyone new to this Work believes. If we think we know, how can we ever begin the inner journey to get out? There’s nothing to learn if I already know. So we must start by seeing that acquired knowledge on the earthly level is quite different from higher perceived intuitive wisdom. It’s not of this world. We must see way beyond the world of ideas and the intellect. Even though it was not his first contact with me, Vernon Howard clearly saw this blockage to my personal level of understanding. He was not an ordinary human being at all but was a million miles above and beyond the average man and in this category is included human authorities, so-called experts, intellectuals, leaders, professors and anyone else you can think of. Oh, by the way this is not false worship. This is the unmistakable sensing of the Spirit itself.
     All of us come to this work with a lot of knowledge and ideas and the unconscious belief that we know and understand. We have “learned” and “experienced” a lot of things in our lifetime no matter how old we are. In order for any of us to truly change and to become a sane, decent human being, all of these things must be unlearned. Of course, I’m not talking about practical things but about moral, philosophical, psychological, religious and social ideals/misideals. Seeing the baggage that we live from is extremely difficult but it must be done. What we must see is that we’ve been living in fantasyland.
     We receive e-mails all the time from men and women commenting on the Secrets of Life quote of the day. Many of the comments are praiseworthy but quite frequently there are remarks from those whose fanciful beliefs are challenged. At this point what usually happens is that the person becomes very angry and attacks, which is perfect evidence that what was said in the quote is true. Their dream world, their misguided world has been exposed as the fantasy/fraud that it is (it’s not real). This is why one of the class mottos is, “If you can take it, you can make it.” There’s so much which has to be seen through.
     If we truly want a different kind of life where we are authentically free of all human pain, problems and suffering we must surrender/give up our will. Vernon Howard often said “It’s God’s will, not your will.” You and I insist that these problems are real and if someone tries to say they aren’t, what do we do? We get angry and say “Don’t you dare tell me my problems aren’t real.” It doesn’t matter whether we say it out loud or keep it inside. The list of self-defeating thoughts and feelings is endless. “My wife left me.” “I lost all my money.” “I got fired.” “My health has deteriorated.” “I’m being persecuted.” “I’m being falsely accused.” Where’s the real problem? Would any problem on this earthly level ever bother or defeat the truly awakened human being?  Of course it wouldn’t. It is only the neurotic nature that has a problem.
     On a recent major talk show, I heard the host ask the following question of the guest: “If there truly were a God why would he allow all these bad things to happen?” The guest really didn’t know how to answer, but the host’s real purpose was to blame God for all of these problems and to very cleverly discredit the guest. In reality, all of these orchestrated problems are the result of human stupidity, human greed and an astounding lack of insight into the fact that it isn’t God doing these horrible things. It is evil and darkness acting through sleeping human beings that are responsible for the mess. God cannot force a human being to do the right thing. God doesn’t do bad things. Undeveloped or devil-possessed human beings do bad things, calling them good or justifiable. Don’t be afraid of using strong words to describe what we’re up against. We must be utterly shocked at what we have allowed to run our lives.
     We must realize that evil spirits/dark forces actually exist but that we can refuse their threat or “temptation” to go along with them. This is something we have to work very hard to see. Here is a quote from #6 in 50 Ways to Get Help from God which should help us better understand what I’m talking about. “Never credit troubles with power. They have none. God rules over all. So you don’t have to solve problems. You need only see thru them.” This section is entitled “You are more intelligent than your troubles.” Do you see that the world, through human hosts, is trying to convince you that all the madness is something we just have to accept? The economic woes are our woes; that crime is our problem; the other person’s problems are our problems; you are somehow responsible for the wrong choices others make. Read False Problems which is #64 in 100 Ways to Defeat Satan. This will light the way to a better understanding of the lie and hoax of the problem-dominated nature.
     One of the great things we are taught in this work is that we don’t have to believe in the world’s problems or in the world’s solutions. You don’t have to feel guilty about it either. You are not responsible for the world’s woes. You are responsible for your own awakening. We must begin to question everything we have been taught. It’s all backwards.
     All right, ask yourself this: Would a truly good, all powerful, omniscient being cause trouble? Would it hurt another human being? Would it cause confusion and chaos? Would it create an economic system that has inherent problems built into it? Would it trick you into investing your money into something which loses it or spends it foolishly? So where do you think this is coming from? I’ll let you answer that question for yourself. In a number of places, Vernon Howard tells us that there is a gigantic conspiracy going on with the express purpose of destroying us. Is there a part of you that hates that statement of fact? Or is there a part of you that wants to hear the truth? There are a number of places where Vernon Howard talks about these things. As an example, read #947 in A Treasury of Trueness, “There exists a sinister and worldwide conspiracy to drive you insane, for insane human beings can be enslaved with deceptive promises. Your chance for escaping insanity consists of understanding this fact instead of fearing it.”
     We must see what is, without our beliefs, ideas, interpretations, opinions and thoughtless theories. What do you think the purpose of evil and darkness is? It’s to deceive and destroy, to deceive and destroy us. Its nature is nothing but badness, evil and wrongness. Take sarcasm for instance. The world says it is OK to be sarcastic. Professional comedians use it all the time in their routines and stupid humans laugh when someone makes fun of someone else. What is the purpose of sarcasm? It is to put someone down, to insult them with the intent of hurting them while calling it fun. It is wrong, period.
     We must risk the wrath of the devil. What else can he/she do? The devil doesn’t discriminate when possessing human beings: men, women, children, old people, beautiful people, mentally challenged, vertically challenged, it doesn’t care. It will use anyone. What would happen if I start being disloyal to the wrongness? Let’s say I catch myself wanting to make that cutting remark to someone else because I want to get back at them for some perceived wrongdoing. And because I’m studying these principles I courageously say NO to it. What do you think will happen next? The devil isn’t going to give up that easily. He’ll try to make you feel guilty for being disloyal to him. He’ll try anything. “I know, I’ll go to the refrigerator and eat my favorite treat. That will make me feel better and then I can forget all about that other incident.” The tricks are endless.
     One morning before class I was looking out of the window and was watching some birds. All of a sudden, some snow from a branch above where a little bird was perched fell. Without thinking about it, the bird immediately got out of harm’s way so it wouldn’t get hit by the falling snow. I then made a spiritual connection. The bird has wings so in most cases its safety has been provided for by having the ability to fly away, out of danger. It doesn’t sit there and worry about it or mull it over or concern itself with what might happen. It is very alert and when an event occurs that might endanger it, it simply flies away. You and I have that same innate ability but have lost touch with this reality. As I said earlier, we’re living in a dream world. Christ said something like, “Wake up, come out from among them.” What was he referring to? Sleeping/lost humanity. We have everything that is needed to escape the madness. All we have to do is see it. Just like the little bird we can fly away from danger. We can start to understand that we no longer have to feel bad. We don’t have to continue to pay the price for our wrong thinking. We don’t have to continue to follow the masses over the edge of the cliff.
     If you want a truly great clarification of all of these things, purchase the new edition of The Answer by Vernon Howard and study it carefully.