Monthly Lessons Archive 2002

ESCAPE THE WALLS OF THE INTELLECT
     “Think how you answer people — in order to hurt yourself. You always get yourself back. You must escape the walls of the intellect; mind cannot understand spirit. The higher choice must be made. It comes  automatically when the false ‘I’ is dissolved at last. When spirit and intellect join, it’s an explosion of insight. Strength alone survives. So have a right attitude, and want to know from spirit alone what spirit already knows. You have to be what it is. The spiritual life starts right now!”

PERFECT SEEING — PERFECT LIFE
     “The way you think is the cause of your problem! See that you really don’t have any life at all and are the slave of your preferences. You’re going to have to straighten out your life. You’re going to have to make some experiments. For example, note how you project onto others how they should respond to you. As an exercise, be with others and want absolutely nothing from them. Start by seeing how you have all the time been sending out your preference — hoping it will come back to you. It’s extremely subtle. And you don’t see how you’re still in the mire of wanting to be liked. No wonder you’re psychologically drained by the end of the day. You must never get psychologically tired! Even when the body is tired, the mind must be alert. As you doze off, use this period to work on yourself. Stay alert to what is going on inside you, also to your physical discomfort, and let go of the body. When it relaxes, it will send a message to the mind and emotions. See how you can do nothing for yourself, but allow what can help you to do so. And you will feel the new displace the old. First a slower mind, then a silent mind! Your preferences are lying in wait for you, but Truth is lying in wait for them. Make slight changes of position to help shake off dark thoughts that want to sleep with you. As you relax, what has been trying to take you over builds to attack. Open your eyes and look around the room — and that will help to break it. Night after night, your night-work will connect with your old habit of demanding something from him or her, and ask yourself, “Why did I want that person’s approval?” And that will be the end of that preference. Then you will see things as Truth sees them. And perfect seeing brings a perfect life!”

NEVER TRY
     “Every time you break down, which is whenever you get negative, remember that you must never enter the lunatic asylum to try to straighten out the inmates — they will only combine to attack you.”

GOOD AND BAD
     “There is in this universe only white and black, purity and criminality, goodness and badness, God and Satan. There’s no third thing. No mixtures. Lost humans don’t want to face this fact because they want to hint that they’re OK! This fact destroys the lies they live to tell. As an exercise, work on understanding the little right part (baby essence) for that is what must grow until it occupies and becomes the whole being. Look for where you can learn to suffer while doing nothing about it. See how the one bit of rightness is completely non-personal. Increasingly, as you know that you have no virtues, no strength of your own, you will sense how you need not and must not have any goodness of ‘my own.’ So you must put yourself on the side of goodness and let it do the work for you! This means you must drop all ideas of being in charge or a leader of any kind. All you have to do is refrain from doing anything virtuous. Everyone on earth is either destroying the world or contributing to it. Everybody you know or see is determined to destroy everyone he sees —  but you can’t take seeing this yet. Only the lack of opportunity to do evil keeps people ‘good.’ How honest can you be? Can you see how your little power over others is used as an excuse to blast them? Nobody loves anyone! As you grow into more insight, you can look out and see how monstrously sick and stupid everyone is. Watch the temptation to fear what you see — and stay in the right place. To be cruel is to be insane! Someday the dawn is going to break and you’re going to get hurt for the last time. The little right part will cry out, “I’ll never go back again!” You’re so dumb, you never see what’s right in front of you: You don’t have a single friend out in that world! God/Truth exists, and is the only chance you have to escape your ignorance and insanity.”

THINK, KNOW, DECIDE AND LIVE FROM YOURSELF
     “When you don’t have the solid answers from yourself, you’ll ask anyone, which is folly because you can think for yourself. When you begin to think, know, decide, live from yourself, your life will change! So study yourself very carefully for daily evidences that you are asking people to think for you. See for yourself that you don’t think for yourself. If you did, you’d never ask anyone for approval (which can only be approval of your wrong nature). Now see how gullible you are, so you can use shocks to dissolve shocks. You do have a helper — Truth! — something that will come to you upon the invitation of your sincerity. Observe Truth working on you, rebuking bad parts and encouraging right parts. Ask Truth to reveal your foolishness to you! After the storm comes the rainbow. So go through it and get beyond the urge and compulsion to let someone else think for you. Submit to the tutelage of Truth!”

CONSCIOUS STEP
     “The first step onto your property — either walking or getting out of your car — is to be a conscious step.”

TRUST GOD
     “See that everything you do to get rid of pain only increases it. Your scream of “No — I’m not going to stand for it” is too feeble. You’re hoping for something to come along. It isn’t — you have to go to work. The feeling that you’re only repeating pain must lead you to the resolve to enter tomorrow without your love for the repetition of collisions. Finally you’ll get smart enough to see what it means to trust God. Your new aim will be to get up in the morning wide awake, trying to see the devils that are trying to drag you down. There is great purity in the force of truth. Be incredibly fierce with darkness, for it must obey the higher impulse to change! There’s really not any difference between levels on this level. Make a resolve to see that your feeling of futility is itself wrong — there’s no self to feel futile over. Something exists that you do not see. Right now everything is done; it’s complete. Accept!”

MY ABSENCE IS MY ANSWER
     “All sickies try to convert others. So whenever people seem to be so very friendly and dedicated to your best interests, say (mentally) “My absence is my answer!” Then watch as they fade out of your life. Blast, and drift off — that’s their pattern. When you understand this, you turn your back on them and they mean nothing to you any more. Remember, the thing sickness fears most of all is to be ignored.”

EXORCISE WITH EXERCISES
     “When you finally face the enemy, every attacker will go away. Eventually something happens to you that is not from you. Exorcise yourself with an exercise. Go home, get paper, write “Exorcise with Exercises” on the top, and then, in separate, short, numbered items, write everything you know that exposes foreign, fake forces for what they are — fakes! Keep them short little items. And go over the list every day, even when you don’t want to!”

SET YOURSELF FREE
     “Don’t you know that everyone’s lost, that all they have to offer is lies and nonsense? When they can’t fool you any more, they’ll laugh at you for being so gullible. To cover every situation with a human who has deceived you, look at them, see they’re all wrong for you and set yourself free from them: “Since you have refused your responsibility for spiritual development, I am free of you — because I want what is right.” Say this mentally, and see what you feel inside — oh, the feeling of relief! All you have to do is choose what is right for you, then look at other people and groups, those who don’t want what you want, you must have nothing to do with them. You don’t want to face this, how lost people scorn you. Just go ahead and defy angry people. This will absolutely take you further down the road than anything else. Go through, with awareness, the new dark tunnel of not knowing what to do when they get mad. Up until now you’ve just cringed and fawned to avoid the crisis. What do you need a human sicko for? You must know this from yourself so you no longer worry about how to act!”

THANK GOD
     “For the rest of today, thank God for existing!”

WATCH YOUR WALK
     “What liberty to walk through the world and be free of it, of yourself. Even your body feels better! As an exercise, you will walk in a new way: watch your walk, especially how unnatural it is. The noticing of your unnaturalness is what begins to eliminate it.”

FREE YOURSELF OF COMPARISON
     “See how your mind goes wrong regarding human relations. And notice (even on the telephone) your habit of instantaneously comparing yourself with everyone you meet. Do this for the next three days, even write it  down. (For women, it especially involves feminine qualities; for men, financial success.) You know you haven’t succeeded; you’ve only painted a picture in front of you, frantically asking, “When will I finish this painting and be at rest?” and you insist on feeling elation or depression at the comparison. You have to give both up, which will leave you free of comparison. All this false life will go — compulsive, horrible, nothing but a habit! Be aware of this process going on. Your reacting is what you call taking the journey, which is why you never arrive. See you’ve only made a big circle in the jungle, and where have you gone? Right back to yourself — liking and disliking are both part of the false self in you. So away with all comparison. It starts with you; it can end with you.”

INTERRUPT THOUGHT
     “Until midnight tonight, interrupt thought!”

SHAKE YOURSELF AWAKE
     “All you do is doze. You have to shake yourself awake. If all you have is a physical body, start with that. For the next three days, wherever you are, continually shake your head awake. And let this remind you to shake yourself inwardly. Only you can supply the necessary number of jolts to show yourself you’ve been sound asleep.”

LIVE LIFE FROM SOMETHING NEW
     “Whenever you turn a light switch on or off, know that you’re doing it. You may be quite amused to see that you can’t do it all the time. Isn’t awareness of unawareness actually awareness? This exercise will spread to other parts of you. The physical tends to send signals to other parts, so you begin to understand what it means to be a self-aware person — not lost in wandering thought, but with all elements in you under the power of your consciousness and wisdom. Now operating from a spiritual source, which controls every part of you (including how to react properly!), this awareness works for you while you sit back and relax and let it work. Your life is lived for you (not laziness)! You can switch your day every day to where nothing bothers you. Everybody clings to excitement, to quarreling. That is the ordeal. That is the false life. All this, beginning with the exercise, will lead you to seeing something new each day, to feeling something new, a new experience in which you are no longer involved in what you have called your life. The whole world of frantic self-concern yields to a new kind of involvement where you are not. Have the simple daring to stop doing what you always do, to stop being what you always are. You can’t know there’s something different from what you are. There is something different though, where you will be at complete rest, never having to look around frantically. If you want peace of mind, you will have peace of mind!”

TURN YOURSELF OFF
     “You must turn yourself off. This means to simply stop the mechanical movement by which you constantly try to find answers. It means you’re not going to keep going to the usual sources. Now don’t underestimate this exercise: in the middle of any day, just sit down and watch your mind and see that you can’t do anything at all about it. Don’t go into reaction over that or leap to a distraction. Know one thing only: ‘My mind is madly churning, but I am watching. I am not it!’ If you see the impossibility of saving yourself, you will have learned something; for when you do something for yourself, you become hardened. This exercise will begin to do something for all the questions that hound you. It will show you that there is no point in continuing to let anyone on the human level answer your questions, including you!”

RIGHT USE OF MIND
     “Here’s a proper use of your mind: See the difference between man-made objects and natural objects. See that there is a difference. This applies to your inner work too. Remember this exercise, for the only place to ask from is somewhere other than your present nature.”

WRONG USE OF MIND
     “Imagination is a place of pain! What you can do is just waiting for you to see it. As long as imagination is operating, Truth can’t. See the results of what you’re doing, how it all does nothing for you. Imagination says that if you think about something it will come to you. Not so! A first glimpse of this is what you need. For an exercise, label a piece of clear paper: “Imaginary rescues: Things I hope will change me.” (You’re believing in a magic wand — from reading too many stories out of childish books. You wave your wand all day long, but  nothing happens.) Then as a symbolic gesture tear up the piece of paper and throw it out. Throw out one false dream a day — that would be super progress. It knocks out all confidence in self-contrived solutions.”

HOW TO HANDLE SICKOS
     “Sickos never know how patient ordinary people have to be with them. So, when meeting anyone, notice how you react to them, what’s going through you when you talk to them. Let the little bit of virtue in you do the perceiving for you, and you’ll know exactly how to deal with them. Be glad when you see where this leads. For if you’re fully in charge of yourself, living from the spirit, that very high level immediately solves all problems you now have.”

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
     “From the moment you get up from your chair until you enter another room, you are to know what you are doing.”

MORE PLEASE
     “Start to do something right by understanding that what you’re doing is not right. You’ve taken the friend as an enemy. Would you like to feel good all the time? Feeling good is something very quiet. So, put up a new sign, a message to yourself, saying, ‘More, please, of whatever I need!’ You don’t even have to know who you’re talking to. Someone is listening, a friend! Just do it! The proof, the evidence, will come.”

DON’T TRY TO SAVE THE WORLD
     “Would you all please show me the certificate signed by a higher authority by which you were given the instructions to go out and save the world? You don’t have such a paper. Why do you behave as if you do?  Because you don’t know any better. Because you think that self-salvation lies in intruding into other people’s lives when as a matter of fact, self-destruction is the result of that action. Stop interfering!”

TO BE FREE
     “Everything depends on where you live inside yourself. Abandoning the old must come first to receive the new. Why don’t you want to leave your misery — like falling madly in love? It’s because you want to believe in your own feelings. False love always betrays you right at the moment. Pick up the clues by which you can stop being in this dreadful, seemingly exciting life, so you won’t be in pain any more. Your dreamland is all nightmares. Ask, ‘What is this in me that prefers to be tormented than to be free?’ It really is better to not be the slave of every pretty face and figure, and being free is the meaning of life. So, seeing all these ridiculous behaviors is an invitation to the higher world. Here’s an exercise in right memory. No longer think of yourself as virtuous in any way, for if you do, you’re a hypocrite, lying about yourself. The truth is you care for nobody. So simply go through this dropping of all self-pictures and a miracle will happen. You’ll no longer exist as you did formerly, but you’ll be happy, free, the slave of no one, because you’re no longer the slave of your thoughts. I’ve explained to you the way out. Follow it!”

EXERCISE IN RIGHT MEMORY
     “NO LONGER THINK OF YOURSELF AS VIRTUOUS IN ANY WAY, FOR IF YOU DO, YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE, LYING ABOUT YOURSELF.
     So simply go through this dropping of all self-pictures, and a miracle will happen. You’ll no longer exist as you did formerly, but you’ll be happy, free, the slave of no one, because you’re no longer the slave of your own thoughts. I’ve explained the way out. Follow it!”

THE DOOR
     “The next time you enter your home or leave your home, know you’re passing through the doorway.”

LIFE AIM
     “Write down or say to yourself, or both:
A. My aim in life is to (use as many phrases as you want): 1) Wake up 2)  Be authentic 3) Find God 4) Live in the light 5) Do something different with my life 6) Give my life real purpose.
B. Regardless of what happens, I will always return to what I really want.
     Your aim to wake up is always stronger than what opposes it. That aim is stronger than anything in the universe.”

CANCEL SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
     “The next time you’re ready to pounce on someone because he doesn’t jump when you yell, and you want to criticize him, think of something wrong with you.
     Now, what’s the purpose of that? It’s not to condemn yourself or to wallow in your negativities, but to cancel out that self-righteousness by which you are always the innocent party and they are always the guilty one.”

BE AWARE
     “From now on wherever you are, you will know that you are there. When in the kitchen, be aware of your physical self. Also be aware you are in the kitchen by seeing the stove and refrigerator. This is the cancellation of divisive thought, and illuminates the physical outer world and your inner feeling. This cuts off the flow of your heartaches so that they don’t rebuild you. At the time you see the physical kitchen, you’ll know you are in it. You’ll know what is right for you and that’s what’s important.”

START LIFE ALL OVER
     “As often as you can, you will become awake and start life all over. Whatever you are thinking or doing, you will realize that you can start life all over right now. Just say, ‘I am new now. I am starting life all over.’ It is not a reality to you yet. It will come to you that you are new any time you realize that you are. Snap yourself awake constantly and suddenly realize that you are starting life absolutely fresh right now; that you are as fresh as the present moment is. Start life all over many, many times.”

STOP FIGHTING REALITY
     “We’re going to destroy through a little special exercise — work now —  your bad habit of fighting reality when it wants to shake you awake. Here is what you’re going to do: For the next seven days, you are going to do one simple but very effective thing. You are going to notice how other people influence you. You’re going to notice in your talking, and walking, communications, relations with other people, you’re going to notice how they affect your mind, your emotions, how they cause you to say a certain thing, react a certain way.
     For example, notice whether you want to linger around them or whether you don’t, and also notice whether you would call that contact a pleasant relationship or an unpleasant one.”

BUILD A NEW NATURE
     “You can build a new kind of a nature, which is strength and wisdom and right action. You will be taken over by something that you should be taken over by, which has nothing to do with your old nature or anyone else’s and it operates through you, and here’s what it says internally, silently, and with 100% pure success.
     Something happens to make you feel angry, despondent, and you want to strike back and get revenge. You now have 100% power to say to that and all other weaknesses and evils, ‘There is something in me that does not submit to that.’ It is superior to everything.
     You must never acknowledge that anything is stronger than the Truth, God.”