KEYS
TO THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM
Thoughts and
Talks on Personal Transformation
By
Lester Levenson
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
THE
BASIC GOAL AND WAYS TO ATTAINMENT
LOVE, GIVING AND THE CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS
REALIZATION BY DROPPING THE UNCONSCIOUS
That which
everyone of us is looking for in this world is exactly the same thing. Every
being, even the animals, are looking for it. And what is it that we are all
looking for? Happiness with no sorrow! A continuous state of happiness with no
taint whatsoever of sorrow. Now, if this be the Goal, why is it the Goal? The
reason why it is the Goal is because unlimited happiness is our very basic
nature! This is the real natural state, before we encumber it with limitations.
Now why is it that most of us do not have this continuous happiness with no
sorrow? There's only one reason: being this infinite Being with infinite
happiness we do a way with this joy, this happiness, by saying, “I am an
individual, separate from the All.” To make myself separate from the All, I
must set up a means to accomplish this. The means is my mind that creates my
body and the material world. Then I proceed, creating more and more thoughts
that create more and more matter until the thoughts and matter have me so
bogged down and blinded that I have lost my real identity as the infinite
Beingness that I am.”
The original
thought of “I am separate from the All” necessarily creates a lack. Lack
creates desire. Desire therefore cannot undo the lack, as lack is not there in
the first place, it is not real but assumed. And we go on and on trying to
satisfy desire and we never, never succeed. If we could succeed, we would be
able to satisfy desire and therefore all desire would disappear! And then we
would be desireless!
The only real
purpose of being here on this earth is to learn, or to remember, our
original natural state of totality, of complete freedom and no
limitation. Once we are led to see that this is our natural state, then we
proceed to let go of all the limitations. The prime, the very first limitation
is: “I am an individual separate from the All.” Eliminate that and you eliminate
all limitation, all trouble, all sickness, all poverty.
To say this
in another way is to say: “God is all! Let go and let God be. It is not
I but the Father who worketh through me.” We must let go of the ego sense which
is the original sense of separation from the All and allow our natural Being
just to be and then everything would fall perfectly into line.
This is all
very, very simple. If you want complexity you'll never see simplicity. Once
this is accepted as the overall way, however, we do not find it easy of
accomplishment. We don't find it easy because of past habits that have been
established over thousands and thousands of years. And for some silly reason
we subconsciously like these past habits of trouble and so we continue them. We
do it in a manner that we refuse to look at. We call it subconscious behavior!
And we go on and on and on repeating all this behavior of limitation
automatically, calling it subconscious. Now the subconscious mind is only that
part of the mind that we refuse to look at! When our desire is strong enough we
will dig up these subconscious habits and begin to let go of them.
There is no
growing into the natural Being that we are. That Being is whole and perfect,
here and now. There is only letting go of concepts to the contrary, that we
have troubles, that we have limitations. Anyone who says, “I have trouble,” has
it in his mind. That's the only place where it is because you can't see
anything anywhere else but in your mind. Whatever you look at, whatever you
hear, whatever you sense, is through your mind. That's where everything is.
Change your mind and everything out there changes. Change your thinkingness and
you change the world for you. Do this and you have the proof!
So the way,
the path, is simple. The method of undoing the limitations is not easy because
of habit. We need a very strong desire to begin to let go of these wrong habits
from the past. Without that strong desire there is no growth. This desire must
be stronger than the desire to possess and control this world. The world as now
seen really is a fiction when you see the Truth. It turns out to be a dream.
First you'll see it as a dream, then you'll see it as a dream that never was.
It is exactly as happens in a night dream. While you're in the night dream
you have a body there are other bodies, there's action, interaction, there's
good and there's bad. And so long as you remain in that night dream everything
there is real to you. When you awaken from the night dream you say, ‘‘my
gosh it was just a dream! It never happened! This dream was all in me!” And
exactly in the same manner you awaken from this dream called the waking state.
You come to see that it was only a fiction of your imagination, it was only a
dream, and then you let go of it lock, stock and barrel and what is left over
is the infinite you! Then you call yourself fully realized totally free.
We are
actually fully realized all the time. We are fully realized Beings saying that
we are not. So all we do is let go of “we are not” and what's left over is the
fully realized Being that we are. Are there any questions on what I've said so
far? No? Then everyone understands this, at least intellectually.
Alright if
you understand it intellectually and you are not able to use it, it's because
you're not looking at yourself honestly, truthfully, with deep desire to see
your Self, in the process of which you have set up as the subconscious mind all
the things you will not look at. However, it's not necessary to dig up this
unconscious mind, in fact it's much better to try to quiet the mind. When we're
able to get the mind totally quiet, what's left over is the infinite Self.
Every thought is a thing of limitation. Therefore when we quiet the mind, we
still these limiting thoughts and this infinite Being that we are becomes
self-obvious to us. The Self is then not occluded by the limiting thoughts! We
see It, we recognize that we never were that mind, that body, and from that
moment on, the mind and body have no influence upon us. We determine for the body
as we would a puppet and it has no effect upon us, as a puppet that we would be
controlling would have no effect upon us. So the very best method of all
methods is to quiet the mind to see the Being that you are. Pose the question:
“Who am I?” and if other thoughts come in, ask, “To whom are these thoughts?”
The answer is “To me.” “Well, who am I?” and you're back on the track, seeking
to see your Self.
''Who am I?”
is the final question that everyone answers, so why not begin with the final
question? If you can, all good, all wonderful. But there are very few of us who
are capable of using this method of just holding onto “Who am I?” and rejecting
all other thoughts that come in. We have gotten ourselves so involved with
thoughts that we cannot let go of them and therefore we need other methods,
other aids.
The other
major methods are called in the East Jnana Yoga, Raja or Kriya Yoga, Bhakti
Yoga, Karma Yoga. (By the way, the only reason I go to the Eastern Teachings is
that they are a total and complete methodology and such a thing is non-existent
in the Western world. The Western world methodology is only partial and is
included in the Eastern.) I think we are all familiar with those various paths.
So if we cannot use the Self-enquiry, “Who am I?” we use the one that suits us
best. The path that we like now is the very path that we have been on formerly
in prior lives. The path that is best for you is the one that you
like best. Now each path includes all the other paths. The only difference is
the emphasis. If we are intellectual we emphasize the Jnana Path, the path of
intellect and wisdom. If we are devotional, then we emphasize the Bhakti path
of love and devotion to God. If we like to be of service to mankind we use the
Karma Yoga path. Each path leads to the quieting enough of the mind so that we
may see the infinite Being that we are.
Raja or Kriya
Yoga is a complete and integral path that suits the greatest number of people
today. It is a path of doingness in eight steps, with each step leading to the
next step after it. I think you are all familiar with the eight steps. If you
are not, you can get it from a book. The first two steps are the moral and
ethical ones, the do's, the don'ts. The third is posture and body exercise. The
fourth step is learning to control the breath and life force. The fifth is
letting go of the external world, interiorizing by disconnecting the sense
telephones and turning one's attention within. The sixth is concentrating the
mind, getting it quiet, holding one thought to the exclusion of other thoughts.
The seventh step is meditation, one-pointed meditation, and one-pointed
meditation leads into the eighth step, or the top state called samadhi. So this
Raja or Kriya Yoga path is one of step-by-step doingness that everyone can use.
We happen to be in an era that is in relatively low vibration. That's the
reason why we find the way difficult, and that's the reason why we need this
Raja or Kriya Yoga, a gradient and a most integral path.
There are two ways of growing: one
is what I call the negative way, eliminating the negative, going into the
mind, seeing the cause of the problem that originated in a thought some time in
the past. When we see this thought, when we bring it up into consciousness, we
naturally let go of it. We see how silly it is to hold onto it and therefore
correct that thought and behavior. However, the other way is the better. It is
the positive way. Quiet the mind and see who and what you really are, the
infinite Self. In the over all, there's really only two ways: eliminating the
negative and the better, putting in the positive, “I am that I am,” “I am He.”
The latter is by far the faster.
Let's now take a look at this so-
called apparency, the world. The world is only an illusion that we created
mentally. It is not external but in reality within us, within our mind. Someday
you'll discover that you created this entire universe that you see. The method
of creating is by first creating what we call a mind. We create our mind, which
is nothing but a composite of all our thoughts, conscious and subconscious, and
the thoughts create the material world. Every little thing that happens to each
and everyone of us is created in our thinking. We mentally set up a thing
called time which makes it even more difficult to see things because we think
now and things happen years later. But the only creator there is, is the mind,
your mind. Is God a creator? Yes, because you are. Thou are That! You set up a
mind and through the mind create. It is necessary and good to discover that
everything happening is caused by our thinking. Everything that happens to us
is created in our thought. It's a stepping stone toward realizing and
recognizing that we are the creators. First you discover that you created your
trouble, then you discover that you can create anything you desire. After you
discover that there is nothing that you cannot create, you're still unhappy.
The reason is that you have separated yourself from the Infinity. Only on
recognizing your Infinity are you perfectly satisfied.
So if there are any problems that
remain, they only remain because you are holding onto “hem in thought. The
moment you let go of them, they are gone! If you tell me that isn't so for you,
that isn't true. The truth is you're still holding onto them, telling me that
it doesn't work. Now trying to get rid of a problem is holding onto it.
Anything we try to get rid of we are holding in mind and thereby sustaining
that problem. So the only way to correct a problem is to let go of it. See not
the problem, see only what you want. If you would only from this moment on see
what you want that is all that you would get, i.e., what you want. But you hold
in mind the things you do not want. You struggle to eliminate the things you
don't want, thereby sustaining them. So it's necessary to let go of the
negative and put in the positive if you want a positive, happy life.
This subject cannot be learned
intellectually, it cannot be learned through the mind because it's perceived
just behind the mind. We can use the mind to gradually undo the limitations
enough so that we can get behind the mind by getting it quieter. If it were
possible to get this subject through the mind intellectually, all we would need
to do is to read the books on it and we would have it. But it doesn't work that
way. We have to very concentratedly dwell upon our Self that is just behind the
mind. Turn the mind back upon the mind to discover what the mind is, and then
go be yond the mind to the Self. So to get this subject, each one must experience
it, realize it, make it real by going to the place just behind the mind and
perceiving it there.
Now the very highest state is simply
Beingness, and if we could only be, just be, we could see our Infinity. We
would see that there are no limitations. We would see that we are the All. We
would be in a perfectly satiated, permanent, changeless state. And it is not a
nothingness, it is not a boredom, it is an Allness, an Everythingness, a Total
Satiation that is eternal. You will never, never lose your individuality. The
word “I” as you use it to mean your individuality will never ever leave you. It
expands. What happens as you re-remember what you are is that you'll begin to
see that others are you, that you are me, that you are now and always have been
gloriously Infinite.
Look at your
mind. That in itself is a good practice. It puts you apart from it. You are
looking at it. Watch your thoughts. It's a wonderful practice. If you examine
thoroughly the mind, you will discover that it isn't, it's an illusion. Let it
go it's way, just watch the mind. The ultimate witness is the Self. It's a tremendous
thing to watch the mind. Not only does it quiet it, it makes the mind not you.
If you trace the source of the mind, you find it is nothingness. This whole world
is a dream illusion, which means that it isn't.
***
This Session was recorded in
Do you want
me to talk or do you want to ask questions? I guess I could start with telling
you my impressions of you. It appears to me that since I was here last year,
you seem to have greater, more intense problems. This is for all in general,
not anyone in particular. This intensification of problems makes it appear as
though we are going backwards, but it isn't true. We have risen to the state
where we can outwardly better express ourselves, and problems now come out into
the world rather than remain held in the subconscious mind. When we are
apathetic it's difficult for us to express. It's difficult for us to outwardly
act, and so our problems remain swirling around in our subconscious mind and
most of them don't come out and materialize in the world.
When one begins to move a step above
the apathetic state, one is still in the apathetic state but is beginning to
acquire some of the capability of doing. Then one's problems increasingly materialize
outwardly and it seems as though the world is falling in on one. But it's
actually a state of growth to move up from the apathetic state and come up
into the beginnings of the doingness state, and that's the state of
apathetic-doingness. So when we come into this apathetic-doingness state we
begin to do with apathetic, agitated tendencies and therefore we're somewhat
destructive, even to ourselves. We become outwardly or expressively destructive
to the world and to ourselves, we have problems and things seem worse. We think
we're going backwards but actually we're moving ahead, because
apathetic-doingness is higher than apathetic non- doingness.
Now, the step
above apathetic-doingness would be one of doingness where we would be equally
constructive and destructive. Move up another step, and you move into the
doingness beingness state where you're a big doer and only constructive. When
you step up from there, you go into the beingness state you don't have to do,
you just only be. So the overall state of the world today is that it has moved
up into this apathetic-doingness state and the world seems to have bigger and
better problems. This is progress, a step forward, although it appears
otherwise. To sum up the foregoing, the stages of growth are set out on the
next page.
Q: Is this the world in general, or is it just the
people on the path who are caught up in this?
Lester: It's both. We are all involved in this. You see
it expressed in the race issue, the revolt again the establishment, juvenile
delinquency,
Q: Is this because people are more developed to cope
with it?
STAGES OF GROWTH
|
INACTION |
Apathy: Inaction due to apathy, with resentments
and hostilities, and fear to express for fear of retaliation. A subjectively
destructive state. |
|
(Between 1. and 3.) |
Apathetic-doingness: Beginnings of action,
enough will to express things outwardly. A beginning of an outwardly active
but destructive state. |
|
ACTION |
Doingness: Action that moves us out of Stage
1, toward the equilibrium of Stage 5. Here one is equally constructive and
destructive to oneself and the world. |
|
(Between 3. and 5.) |
Doingness-beingness: Energetic doingness with
calmness: much outward action, all constructive to ourself, the world and the
universe. |
|
INACTION |
Serenity: Inaction, the ability to just be, to
be the witness, watching and allowing the universe to be perfect as it really
is. |
Lester: They're more developed, not to cope with it, but
more developed. The way they're coping with it is in a destructive way.
Problems don't have to be solved by killing each other or by violence. Problems
could be solved by discussions and should be. However, it's a step forward from
a lower state (Stage 1).
The world
today is in a low state of beingness (Stage 2). It's called the materialistic
age. We came out of the lowest state, wherein we lived only to satiate our
appetites, about 1700 A.D. You know what the dark ages were. We're now in the
second stage and we're having the growing pains of getting out of the first
into the second. But the second is not a highly spiritual state; it’s the stage
where technically we advance tremendously. The third stage begins the state of
knowing that this is a mental world and that we are all related. We stop
fighting each other and we all love one another. And the fourth state is the
state in which man - knows fully his beingness in God, that he is a totally
free being. These four are the Iron, bronze, silver and golden ages the ancient
Greeks spoke of. (The fifth stage is really beyond this world, although
accomplished in this world.) However, at anytime, whenever anyone chooses, he
may move into the highest state. We don't have to stay at the level that the
world is in, and those of us who are on the path are moving up out of this
general level. Aren't we lucky?
Q: Even with our problems?
Lester: Yes. To the world everything seems hopeless.
They feel helpless. We know the way out. No matter how much the world hurts, we
know there's a way out. We have hope and a direction. And what is the way out?
Not looking to the world for happiness, but looking to the place where
happiness is, -and that place is right within us, within our consciousness.
Unlimited joy is our natural, inherent state which we have, through ignorance,
undone by imposing concepts of limitations: I need this, I need him, I need
her, and if I don't get these I am hurt, I have trouble. Growth is only letting
go of these concepts of lack and limitation or, on the positive side, going
within and seeing this unlimited Being that we are and choosing to remain as
such.
Anytime we
have trouble, anytime we have a problem, we're being the limited ego. We’re
trying to express the Self through the limited ego, and it's too small, we get
squeezed and it hurts. So, if there is a problem, the thing to do is to ask
yourself, “What am I doing? Wherein am I demanding, seeking with ego motivation?”
If the answer comes, if you see how, egowise, you're causing this so-called
problem, you'll automatically pull the cause up from the subconscious into the
conscious, and once it's conscious you'll naturally let go of it. The reason
why one doesn't let go is because the cause, the thought that initiated the
difficulty is subconscious. So, either we make the thought conscious and let
go of it, or, and this is the higher and better way, we know strongly enough
that we are the Self, that we are not this body, this mind, this world. And
when you feel the Self, the feel of the Self is nothing but unlimited joy, and
all problems immediately resolve!
I sound quite
indicting when I say any problem, any trouble, is ego motivated, but that
you'll find is true. When you will be your Self there is no problem, there is
nothing that will not fall into line perfectly, harmoniously, with no effort.
The more ego motivated we are, the more difficult it is to accomplish
something, the less harmony there is and the greater the misery we have. And it
is really as simple as I'm putting it. What's not easy is to let go of
these wrong habits of insisting upon being an ego. The habits are strong.
They've been well ingrained over thousands of years. But all of us on the path
are now letting go of these things and we don't let go easily because of the
habits that have been there such a long, long time. However, the moment we
choose to let go of them, we can. If we say we can't let go it's because we
really don't want to. The desire to let go isn't strong enough.
Do I make
this too simple? You know why I'm addressing you, Jim, because I know you've
had quite a lot of this. You've probably heard it presented in beautifully
complicated ways, with a lot of things added to it that complicate it, and make
it more difficult to see. But once we accept it and see the simplicity of it,
all we need to do is effect it. And no one can do it for us but we ourselves.
Q: I have a friend who has problems. She's Catholic and
very pious. When things get blackest and she has no more hope and is at the
bottom I at that very moment something happens so that everything turns out
right.
Lester: Do you know why she must reach bottom?
Q: Well she has faith and she knows that---
Lester: No, she doesn't have faith and she is not pious
I this is her trouble. You see I faith would cause her to let go and let God.
Pious would cause a similar thing, --- surrendering and being humble. Outwardly
she's the way you say I but inwardly she's the way I'm saying. You see, she
tries, herself, to control everything and that's not letting God. She tries and
she tries and she tries.
Q: She prays.
Lester: Yes I she prays, but she wants it the way she
wants it, not the way God would want it. She's found out that her praying for it
doesn't help her. You don't have to pray, if you surrender. You've got to let
go and let God. When does she let go and let God? When she herself can't do
anything anymore, she lets go. In the extreme she lets go, and the moment one
lets go, everything resolves itself. Can you see it? In the extreme, she feels,
“Oh, there's nothing I can do,” and that's when she lets go and lets God. If
you can show her this point she'll see it, most likely, and then be more
consciously able to use it.
Q: I keep trying to tell her that she must be confident.
Lester: Conviction, stronger than faith, absolute conviction
of God, that will do it! Let go and let God and then everything straightens
out, but when we try to do it, we have trouble.
Q: When you say, “Let go and let God,” does that mean
that you should work strictly on inspiration, or just sit back and let things
happen?
Lester: Have the feeling of “letting things happen.” To
accomplish this we have to let the ego- sense go. The ego is “I am an
individual, Lester:, and 1 have a
body and I do things.” That's wrong. If I am the Self, there is no Lester:, -1 have to get Lester: out of the way and let Self or
God operate. When achieved, you'll move in life, you'll sort of fioat through
things, but there will be no effort. If there's effort, there's ego. Now, of
course, you're going to have to use some effort, because you're not starting
off as the realized Self. You see, when this girl goes to the extreme, she lets
go and things happen effortlessly. That's letting go and letting God!
Professing
faith, professing all these things doesn't do it. Actually having them does it.
The fact that she has troubles is proof that she doesn't have the conviction of
God because God is All, God is Perfect, and if God is All and God is Perfect,
everything must be perfect, and that leaves no place for imperfection or
troubles. If you take that attitude, so be it! So, it's the feeling that I am
not the doer and that I let go and let it happen.
Q: I can't tell when I'm ego.
Lester: When there's no effort, there's no ego. The more
the effort the more the ego.
Q: When the effort is extreme you have to more or less
go the other way anyway.
Lester: Yes. I'm trying to give you a method of knowing
whether it's ego or not. The more the effort the greater the ego. However,
you're going to use effort until you're fully realized. Now, there will be
times when you'll use no effort and everything will fall perfectly into line
for you, so at times you'll be your Self.
Q: Out doesn't this type of thing make you indolent,
that you don't do any action? Is it that you shouldn't try to do anything,
that's what I don't understand?
Lester: Indolence is an action, a negative action. It is
the act of holding yourself from moving. Now it is impossible for you to be actionless.
To achieve the actionless state you should try to let go of your ego more and
more, because now you can't do it totally. If you could you'd be fully
realized. But if you keep letting go of the ego, you will eventually drop it
and be the witness and be not the doer. Does that make sense or have any
meaning? Be not the doer. Let it happen. Have the feeling of it's God's world,
whatever's happening, so let Him!
Q: How do we get rid of problems?
Lester: The moment you say, “I have a problem,” you're
stuck, you are making it real! You can't get rid of a problem, because you are
making it real. You've got it.
Q: So, if, when we have problems, we say, “There is no
problem at all, “-will they vanish then?
Lester: No. If you say, “There's no problem,” they won't
vanish because you're saying, “There's no problem.” You're mentally holding the
problem in mind and therefore sustaining it. Erase the problem from your mind.)
Know that everything is perfect and then the problem is necessarily
non-existent.
Q: Well, I think that way, that everything is really
perfect.
Lester: If you really do” then everything must be.
Q: How easy it would be if we understood this from the
beginning.
Lester: Yes. You see, life, naturally, is totally effortless.
There is no effort in life whatsoever if we would just be our natural Self. But
we're trying to be a limited ego. That takes effort. It takes effort to be
limited when your natural state is unlimited, and the more you try to be
limited, the more effort it takes. But to be your unlimited Self it takes no
effort. Just like your friend, when she got to the extreme she would let go and
everything would straighten out, - with no effort. All the time she was trying
and trying, things were getting worse and worse. But when she gave up and let
go, -things resolved.
Q: Well, she
had to go out and look for a job, she had to go to an agent, she just couldn't
sit down and wait.
Lester: I say all she
had to do was to let go and be herself. Then even if she locked herself in a
chamber somewhere, the things would have come to her. You don't sit down and
wait, you don't do anything. Just let go of the sense of doership. You just
know that everything is perfect and then the slightest thought you have will
quickly come into being. There's no limitation on God, the Self. Whatever you
thought, would have to come into being if you let go, because you're invoking
your infinite power, your Self. Nothing can stop it!
Q: But at the
same time you have to struggle to get some action.
Lester: No, I said just the opposite, I say lock
yourself in a chamber and padlock the outside of it and if you do what I'm
saying you'll find that it will be effected. It has to be. Nothing can stop it!
Omnipotence is invoked!
Q: What is prayer for, what does praying mean?
Lester: Praying is for those who need praying. When you
know what you know, -to whom are you praying? If you are That, why do you have
to pray to It? See, praying admits duality. “I” pray to “God.” Maintain your
Oneness. However, when one prays it is best to pray for one thing only, more
wisdom, so that you eliminate all need for any prayer, for any asking.
It all depends on one's state of understanding. Most people in the world today
need to pray. But prayer admits duality, God is out there. And we should know
that God is within. Even though Jesus said, “The
Q: That's a very good feeling.
Lester: Yes, because it's reminding you of what you know
subconsciously, that you are that Self. Just hold onto the word “I” only, “I,
I, I, I,” and you'll become more exhilarated. Just try it when you're alone.
Just “I, I, I,” and not “I am a body, I am a mind,” but “I” I, I, “-that
feeling of Being. I think the word that describes God more than any other
single word is “Beingness.” God is all Beingness. We are, when we look within,
all Beingness pretending we're a tiny part of It, a limited body mind. But
when you look within you'll see that you are all Beingness. Beingness is
God! Beingness is also Awareness, Consciousness. They are the same thing.
Later on, you'll see them as identical: Beingness, Awareness, and
Consciousness.
So be your
Self and there never will be a problem. Seeing a problem in the world is
trying to be a limited ego-body-mind. If you think you have a problem, you do.
If you'll just accept that God is AU, God is Perfect, that's all there is and
look at Perfection, that's all you'll ever meet with!
Q: Then we have to wipe out the word “problem.”
Lester:
Yes. You have to wipe out the words “problem,”
“can't,” “don't,” “won't,” all negative words. In the future when man is in a state
of harmony all these words will disappear.
Q: As you progress more on the path so many things seem
so much more superficial. I don't know if that's progress or if I'm becoming
indifferent to the world around me.
Lester: Well, that also is progress, being indifferent,
i.e., non-attached.
Q: I really couldn't care less about politics or all
these things which at one time seemed so important. Is that bad?
Lester: How does it feel?
Q: I
haven It analyzed the feeling, I've just seen that all these people think what
they're doing is so important, maybe I'm wrong in that I don't feel that way.
Lester: No, you are right. The higher you go the more
you see the Perfection and therefore the less you see the problems. The more
one sees problems, the lower one is. What you’re talking about is problems. The
people who see them want you to be the way they are, and will ten you that
you're wrong. This is one thing you must be on guard against. As you grow those
who are not up to you will try to pull you down to where they are. Let them
think you are wrong. You know you are right! Don't argue. It's fruitless.
Q: I find that the people try to make me feel selfish because
I feel that way. I don't know whether that's true or not, that's why I wanted
to discuss it.
Lester: It's this way, when you don't think the way they
think, they call you selfish. Just check it out. This is what's going on, this
is the way they think. When you don't think the way they think you are selfish.
No, it's not how much you recognize a problem that shows unselfishness. It's
how much you see that there is no problem and help others to see it that shows
unselfishness. This way you offer help, you're very constructive and unselfish.
Q: Just do everything with a desire to help and that is
love.
Lester: Yes, just feel love, you don't necessarily have
to do. Love, -and your thoughts are positive. Thought is far more powerful than
action. It's the basis of and effects action. It's the initiator, comes before
it and determines action. A realized being sitting in a cave somewhere all by
himself is doing more good for the world than organizations of action. He is
aiding everyone, his help being subconsciously received by all.
Now we're
back to what we were talking about before: the bottom state is inaction, the
middle state is action, the top state is inaction. The bottom state is one of
apathetic inertia. It's destructive. It just wants to stop everything,
actually destroy everything. The top state lets everything be just the way it
is because everything is perfect and one in this state mentally and powerfully
projects this to everyone. The middle state is the action state which moves you
up from the bottom toward the top state of equilibrium. Now, as you move up,
those who are not as far along as you are will try to pull you down to where
they are.
Q: So, it's sort of a proving ground, or a testing, to
see how much those things bother you.
Lester: Yes. It tests your conviction. Where is your
conviction if you go with them? If you go with them your tendency is to believe
more the way they do.
Q: Which is easier, I know.
Lester: No, try it. If you think it's easier, just go
their way and you'll have more misery as they do.
Q: Sometimes 1 think it's easier to just be one of the
mob.
Lester: Desire for ego approval makes it seem easier.
You'll find out otherwise. You've been one of the mob, haven't you? You've been
like them. It's not easy. No, the right way is easier. Do you see that? The
right way is letting go and letting God and then everything falls into line
perfectly, -no effort. But when I have to do it, it's not God, it's me, the
ego, wanting to do, to change things, correct this world, and so forth.
Q: Would a mantra or something like that be the best
thing to remember when these things come up that way?
Lester: Affirmations are always good. A mantra is an
affirmation that's repeated again and again. Do whatever will help you to do
and be what you think you should do and be.
Q: That's what I don't know.
Lester: To seek who and what you are, to know your Self,
is the very best thing to do and be. There've been moments when you've let go
and felt your real Self. How does it feel?
Q: Marvelous, could I have it all the time?
Lester: Yes, certainly, stay that way, that's all. Be
what you are! You're infinite, omniscient, and omnipotent, right here and now.
BE THAT! Stop being this limited, miserable, little ego.
Q: Well, I have the same problem he has and I thought I
was' becoming indifferent.
Lester: Yes, you're becoming indifferent to the
negativity, and what's wrong with that? What is politics? It's a mechanism of
force and control. In a society where everyone loves everyone do you need
politics? If you want to help the world, help yourself grow, and you'll do far
more than you could by being involved in politics. The more you're capable of
loving, the more you're helping the world. Parliments cannot right the world,
but enough people loving can. The President of the
Q: But doesn't this sort of thing take a great deal of
courage many times? Sometimes I don't really have the guts to be able to do
the things I want to do.
Lester: Alright, why don't you have the guts?
Q: I don't know.
Lester: Ego. You want approval from them. You're seeking
their approval; you want to go the way they want you to go.
Q: It isn't that I want their approval; I don't want
their disapproval.
Lester: Well, isn't that the same thing?
Q: I remember what you said last time: when you resolve
a problem it doesn't come up again, and it's true. But then you get new ones.
When you have solved something within your own mind and you know that you have
come up a step on the ladder, it doesn't present itself again, which is a great
help. But then there are always new problems.
Lester: There's no end to problems in the world. You go
on and on forever and ever solving problems in the world, and you'll have more
and more. As long as you are conscious of problems they exist. Only when you
discover the real you, are there no problems!
What we do is
we put our hand in a fire and say, “Ouch, it's hot, my hand is burning. Boy, do
I have a problem.” That's all. When you see that you are doing it, you stop. If
you have a problem, you're putting your hand into a problem and yelling, “It
hurts!” and acting as though you're not putting your hand into it. You act as
though you are not doing it. But you are. That problem is in your
consciousness. It's in your mind. Change your mind, change your consciousness
and immediately that problem is no more. Try it and you'll see that it's so.
Q: Last year when we were all together we were higher
and we had fewer problems.
Lester: That's the prime purpose of coming together as a
group. You're reminded of your direction. You're with people who are striving
in that same direction and you're moving opposite to the way the world is
moving. So keep positive company as much as possible. And when you are by
yourself stop being what you are not, a limited body and mind, and just be what
you are an Infinite, totally free, grand and glorious being, whole and
complete.
How to see
the ego? Every time there is a reaction to anyone or anything that reaction is
ego motivated. Look within for the ego motivation and when you see it, let go
of it. Each time an ego motivation is seen, the ego is weakened. To see ego
motivation is to feel it, not just see it intellectually. The more it hurts,
the more we are involved ego- wise.
***
This Session was recorded in
IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE BELOW APHORISMS BE
ABSORBED ONE AT A TIME. TRY UNDERSTANDING ONE BEFORE GOING ON TO THE NEXT.
***
The whole object on the path is to let go of the
ego. What remains is your Self.
***
The only growth there is, is the eliminating of
the ego.
***
Ego is the sense of “I am an individual separate
from the All.” In the extreme, it is egotism.
***
Growth is transcending yourself, your habitual
self, which is none other than ego.
***
Growth is the ego getting out of its misery.
***
Recognize that all joy is nothing but your Self,
more or less.
***
There is no happiness except that of
experiencing your Self. When you see that, it makes the path very direct. You
stop chasing the rainbow and you go for the happiness where you know it is,
right within you.
***
Everything you are seeking, you are, and very
foolishly saying you are not. That's part of the enigma: everything everyone is
seeking with such intensity, one has, and much more.
***
“It,” is you, when you say, “I,” that is the
Infinite. Great big joke! Here you are infinite looking for your Self, which
you are!
***
When anyone says he is not a master, he is
lying.
***
Your effort should be for proper identity.
Identify with your Self!
***
Spiritual advancement is determined by how much
you identify with your real Self.
***
The ego is very tricky. It often talks us out of
this path for a short period of time, sometimes for a longer period of time.
But once we've gotten into it, we usually almost always come back to it. So you
have to be careful of the trickery of the ego-part of us. It can really take us
away. No matter how far we have advanced on the path, the ego is always a treacherous
companion that can take us off the path, and sometimes for an entire lifetime.
***
This is something we should be on guard against.
The ego- sense latches on and says, “I am God. It latches onto the progress and
it feels good and it says. “I am It” and by doing so it sabotages further
growth.
***
When you recognize the opposition of the ego,
you can let go of it. After practice it is easy and after you let go of enough
ego, you just naturally feel the peace and joy of your Self.
***
It's actually a path of taking on more and more
of your natural state of being infinite. You give up limitation. You give up
misery. But you never give up anything worthwhile. You never give up anything
good.
***
On this path you constantly give up trouble.
***
The first teacher is misery. It is usually the
first thing that causes us to seek the way out.
***
First we start on the path to escape misery.
Then we taste the Self and want It because It tastes so good.
***
. On the path you never give up anything, you
just take on more and more of what you really want until you have the All.
***
Take it for the sweetness that's in it, not to
get out of the bitterness that's out of it.
***
We discover that we never give up anything on
the spiritual path but our self-imposed bandages and miseries.
***
If you are weakly for the path, you are strongly
for the sense-world.
***
You think you can't, that's why you can't.
***
It's only the thought “I can't do it,” that
stops you from doing it.
***
Those who can’t, don't really want to.
***
Your growth depends only on you.
***
It will happen as fast as you can do it.
***
The only one who is going to change you, is you!
***
Wishing won't do it, nor will trying. You have
got to do it!
***
Good intentions are no substitute for right
action.
***
To change more rapidly, expect it!
***
You must have a very strong desire to change
because you are such a victim of habit that you want the world as much as a
drowning man wants air. To offset that, you must want to know your Self as much
as a drowning man wants air.
***
Your success is determined by your desire for
it. If you get discouraged, you are not really interested.
***
Your only real friend is you. Your only real
enemy is you. You are an enemy to yourself to the degree you limit your Self.
You are a friend to yourself to the degree you de-limit yourself.
***
What you do to yourself, it being your own
doing, only you can undo it. You did it. You must undo it.
***
This entire path is a do-it-yourself path.
***
Do what is available to you to do. Do your best.
***
Every experience is to bless you, not to hurt
you. If you stay in accord with principle, you will come out higher!
***
Every place and every situation in life presents
an opportunity for growth.
***
The best place to grow is right where you are.
The best time is now.
***
Be thankful for the opportunities to grow.
***
The greatest of all tests are those at home,
with your immediate family. Therefore, home is an excellent place to grow.
***
A lot of spiritual growth can be had by
practicing the real selfless love on your mate and family.
***
It is a good opportunity to grow when people are
saying things about you, opposing you. It gives you a chance to practice the
real Love. It gives you a chance to practice the real Peace. Because they are
making sounds with their mouths is no reason why you should feel bad about it.
Opposition is a very healthy thing. It provokes and firms growth.
***
It is necessary to remember that everyone can be
our teacher. If we react to praise or pleasantries, that is developing ego. If
we're depressed on criticism, that is ego. When we are our Self, there is no
reacting.
***
There isn't anything that happens that can't be
used. There's no incident that cannot be used as a teacher.
***
Every minute of every day should be used to grow
by.
***
If we assume that we are there and we are not,
circumstances soon awaken us to the fact that we are not.
***
If you tell others of your high experiences, of
your gains, because of their jealousy, they say, “Ah, who does she think she
is?” And that works against you and tends to pull you down.
***
Anytime you brag about anything, you're inviting
a test of it. So, I warn you, if you are growing into these things, when they
start coming, unless you're so sure you know by experience you can't lose it,
its better not to tell anyone.
***
Be proud of your spiritual accomplishments. Be
happy with them. Be proud of them to yourself.
***
When you have false spiritual pride you invite a
challenge of the thing that you are proud of.
***
It is necessary to do away with doubts.
***
It takes more than faith. It takes knowledge.
You start with faith, but you must convert it to knowledge. You must test it
out, and then you know it.
***
In order to really understand, we must
experience the knowledge.
***
When you experience, it is no longer
intellectual.
***
You can get understanding without being able to
put it into words.
***
The only maturity there is, is spiritual
understanding.
***
Stand ye out and be different and don't let the
others trick you back into where you were. It's not easy. It takes fortitude.
***
We should try to go all the way. To us it is
given to do that. We have the possibility of going all the way back home, right
to the Absolute.
***
Expect infinity, no more. You cannot expect too much.
***
Toe the line to the very end. The more you toe
the line the sooner the end.
***
Every gain is an eternal gain. Every step
forward you make now is forever.
***
We climb a ladder and each time we get up to
another rung we forget about the rungs below. Then, when we get to the top, we
kick the ladder a way.
***
The proof of this subject is the result you get.
***
The more you grow the less you feel the need to
grow.
***
The higher you go the less the incentive to go
further.
***
You never learn anything by disproving; you
learn only by proving.
***
Studying the illusion helps make it real. If you
want to know the Truth, don't study the opposite.
***
The whole process of growth is letting go of
thoughts. When our thoughts are totally eliminated, there is nothing left but
the Self.
***
Don't try to complicate it; it's too simple.
***
We can only expand out of the ego. The Self is.
***
Growth is letting go of being what you are not.
***
Let go of your ego, and be your Self!
***
As you grow, the whole world opens wide for you,
you experience so much more. However, even if you have this whole world, you've
only got a dot. Take the whole cosmos!
***
Longing for liberation is the key. Once you get
that you'll be carried all the way.
***
In our desire to attain liberation or
realization we are helped to the degree that we help all others.
***
Grow to the point where your whole attention is
off you and on others.
***
Why shouldn't we all be masters, all of us, here
and now?
***
The moment we decide to be the Self,-really
decide,-it is so!
***
The higher you go, the more non-difference
comes. You accept the leaders of all religions alike.
***
Having peace under ideal conditions isn't
indicative of spiritual growth, it is escape.
***
When people are not growing they are going in
the opposite direction.
***
You should thank those who oppose you because
they give you an unusual opportunity for growth.
***
When we start concerning ourselves with what
they are doing, we're turning away from what we are doing.
***
You need constant confirmation until you don’t
need it anymore.
***
Perseverance is necessary.
***
Adversity is a prod to growth.
***
The more intense the crises in this world, the
more we have an opportunity to grow.
***
It would be so fast if people would, with
constant, intense effort ask: What am I?
***
When you get the answer to What am I?, then you
have control over your body and mind.
***
If there is anything you don't like out there,
there is a need to change yourself.
***
You may see
fully who you are and not be able to maintain it. What happens is that, being
the infinite Self, we can get a glimpse of the infinite, hold it for a while,
and then suddenly feel as though we've lost it. The reason for that is that the
mind has not been eliminated. The subconscious thoughts of limitation are
submerged for the moment. You may go completely into your Self and let go of
the mind temporarily. You haven't eliminated the mind, you just momentarily let
go of it. So there you are, for the moment, totally the infinite Self. However,
the mind that has been submerged, re-emerges and then the ego takes over and
you just can't understand what happened to you, what brought you back into the
heaviness of the world again. What is required is that we re-establish that
state of the Self again and again until it becomes permanent. Each time we do
it, we scorch more of the mind, until finally we have scorched the entire mind.
Then we are permanently established in the Self. Then you sit back and the mind
is out there and the body is out there and you are not the mind, you are not
the body. As long as you know you are not the mind and the body, both of them
can go on to their heart's content, and you know that they cannot touch you.
***
I'll start
with that which we're all interested in, all right? The word that I like best
for our subject is Happiness. When we analyze that which everyone is seeking or
looking for, it is happiness, right? And when you find God, your Self, that
turns out to be the ultimate happiness. When we seek and find the full truth,
the absolute truth, again that turns out to be the Ultimate happiness. We're
all seeking the greatest good for ourselves. The ultimate good turns out to be
the ultimate happiness. Every being is seeking freedom and the complete freedom
or liberation is nothing but the ultimate happiness.
So in the end
the words God, good, truth, liberation, freedom, Self turn out to be the
ultimate happiness. And every one is seeking this Good, Happiness, Liberation.
Truth, God, Self. There isn't anyone who's not seeking It. The only difference
between us and others is that we're consciously seeking It in the direction
where It is. The others are seeking It blindly through seeking happiness in the
world and never really getting the full happiness that they're striving for. We
go after it directly. We seek for it where it is. We seek it within.
Everyone
wants a continuous, constant, eternal happiness with no sorrow whatsoever, and
no one is ever satisfied until he or she finds that. Everyone is seeking what
we're all seeking, the major difference being that they are seeking It in the
world and are frustrated, while we are seeking It within and are successfully
becoming happier.
When we go
within we discover that all happiness is there. The only place where we
can feel happiness is right within ourselves. That is exactly where it is.
Every time we attribute this happiness to something external, to a person or a
thing external, we get more pain with it than we do pleasure. Anyone disagree
with that? If you have experienced enough, if you've lived long enough, and if
you've examined it, you've discovered this. The happiness that we're
seeking and thinking is out there external to us, isn't there. The “happiness
with no sorrow” can only be found by going within. Point number one.
Now point
number two is that this great Happiness that we're seeking is nothing but our
very own Self I our very own beingness. Our most basic inherent nature is this
thing that we are seeking and is ours, here and now. We are that happiness that
we are seeking, looking for it externally and not finding it there. Looking
within, we discover it to be our very own Self unencumbered with our
self-imposed limitations.
There is not
one of us who is not in direct touch with, in possession of, an infinite
Beingness that's all perfect, all present, all joyous and eternal. There is
not one of us who is not in direct contact with That right now! But due to
wrong learning, by assuming, over the ages, concepts of limitation, by looking
outwardly, we have beclouded the view. We have covered over this infinite
Being that we are with concepts of “I am this physical body,” “I am this mind.”
“With this physical body and mind I have heaps and heaps of problems and
troubles.” So, in order to discover this truth, this unlimited Being that we
are, we must quiet the mind, and finally let go of the mind. And only in this
way may we achieve it.
The mind is
nothing but the sum-total of all thoughts. All thoughts are concepts of
limitation. If anyone of us could stop thinking right now and remain that way,
he would be an unlimited Being from this moment on. It is really that simple,
though not necessarily easy of accomplishment.
The job is to
first undo negative thinking in order to get positive enough so that we may go
in the right direction. Then, to drop all thinking, drop all negative and all
positive thinking. When that happens we discover that we are in the realm of
knowingness, of omniscience, we have no need to think as everything is known
and we are all joyous and totally free. Knowing everything, there's nothing to
think about!
Thinking is
just relating things to other things, connecting things together.
Knowing everything, we know the unity, the oneness and there's no necessity for
relating things by thought.
Thereby we
are free, free of all concepts of separation and limitation. This leaves us
free to use a mind should we want to communicate with the apparency of the
world.
The process
of going within is a process of looking within and discovering what the mind
is, discovering that the mind is nothing but thoughts and the thoughts are
nothing but numerous concepts of limitation. We quiet the mind by letting go
of these thoughts until the mind gets quiet enough so that we see this infinite
Being that we are. This takes away the mist, the clouds covering this infinite
Being, and leaves us totally free.
When we first
see this infinite Being that we are, the job isn’t finished yet; we still have
the remaining habits of thought to do away with. Then, when there's no more
remaining thought, subconscious and conscious, (and the subconscious thoughts
are the difficult ones to let go of,) when there are no more thoughts, that's
the end of the road of playing limited. Then 'we are totally free, forever!
Actually we
have no choice, we are infinite Beings. If there is a choice, it can
only be to choose to be limited! We have chosen to be limited to such a degree
that now we are b1indly behaving as though we are extremely limited beings,
consequently, all the apparent troubles.
Troubles are
only an apparency because they are assumed as real through our mind.
Everything we see in the world, we see only in our mind. There's nothing but
our consciousness; nothing can be seen except through our consciousness.
Whatever we see is in our consciousness, in our mind. When one begins to
realize this, then one works to change one's consciousness and by so doing, one
changes his environment.
Changing
one's environment is a step on the way. Doing so you have the proof, you
understand what I'm saying. Nothing should ever be accepted on hearsay. Never
believe anything you hear. If you accept what I say to you just by listening to
it, it's only hearsay. You must prove everything for yourself. Then, when you
do, it's your knowledge and it's useable. To progress in the direction
of wisdom and happiness, it's absolutely necessary that everyone proves it out
for himself.
As said
above, Truth can never be found in the world. The world as we see it now is
multiplex, dual. When we go just behind the world, we discover the absolute
Truth, that there's a singular Oneness throughout the world and universe and it
turns out to be our very own Self, our very own Beingness, which some call God.
The world is, but not as people see it. The world is truly only our very own
Self. The “I” that we use when we say “I am” is the exact same “I” falsely
appearing separate and divided. When we see the Truth we see that you are me,
that there is only one Beingness, there is only one Consciousness, and that we
are the sum-total of all the Beingness or Consciousness that formerly appeared
separate.
So, again, to
find Truth or Happiness, you have to go within, you have to see the Oneness,
you have to see the universe as it really is, as nothing but your
consciousness, which is nothing but your Self.. Now this is difficult to
describe, it's something that must be experienced. Only when someone
experiences it, does one know. It cannot be picked up from listening to anyone.
Books and teacher s can only point the direction, we must take it. That's one
of the nice things about the path. There's nothing to be believed, everything
must be experienced and proved by each one to his own satisfaction before it's
accepted.
To sum it up,
I can take two quotes from the Bible: “I am that I am,” and, “Be still and know
that I am God.” Or, in other words, thou art That which thou art seeking, quiet
the mind until you see It. O.K.? Now we may go into questions.
Q: I come upon a difference, -these people, all of us in
this room, each of us have a form and I see it.
Lester: You're seeing wrongly. You're seeing in error.
When you look at me, you should see the Truth, you should see your Self. Strive
until that day in which you will see this Truth.
Q: After one has a certain amount of inner experience
and begins to believe, there still comes an important decision as to what to do
with yourself as you find yourself at that point. And then you have to decide
what to do with the rest of your life.
Lester: Yes. You must decide whether to pursue your
welfare by seeking it in the world or by seeking it within you.
Q: You've had a certain amount of experience but you
will always be called back to a certain contact with the outer world unless…
Lester: Unless you make the outer world you. However,
be not attached to the world and it cannot disturb you. Then you may carry on
with equanimity.
Q: In order to make the outer world me, I would think I
have to self-purify myself.
Lester: Yes. Practicing serving the world will purify
you.
Q: I would have to almost go out and sacrifice what
remains of myself in some kind of service.
Lester: The only thing you will ever sacrifice in this
direction is your misery. Rendering service would give only happiness, to the
degree your heart is in it. The more you willingly serve the world, the more
you discover that you are related to everything and everyone. There is no
isolation. It is serving and becoming the All that should be our direction. You
don't cut out and let others be separate from you. You become them through the
practice of serving them.
Q: The only
reason I would make an effort in this direction is so I could better help other
people.
Lester: Good, but you can't help other people any more
than you can help yourself. So, the best way to help others is to help
yourself. It's automatically so, that you'll help others to the degree that
you'll help yourself. Do both.
Q: So help yourself by helping others? Isn't it a two
way action?
Lester: Yes. However, it's the motive that counts. If
I'm helping you with selfish motives, it doesn't help me or you. If I help only
to help you, I grow. But there are many people in the world who help for their
own ego-glorification and it doesn't help them any, nor does it help you,
because they then help you ego-wise, i.e., they help validate your ego.
Q: That's a very subtle thing, a very difficult thing to
get rid of, that ego.
Lester: Right. When there's no more ego, the only thing
left is the infinite Being that you are. Ego is the sense of separation from
the All. 1 am an individual, Lester:,
and I am separate from the All, and all you people are other than I, that is
the sense of ego, separateness. The moment I'm not the All, I lack something
and then I try to get it back. I think I need the missing parts of the All and
I start trying to get them. Thus I assume I don't have the All, I am limited,
and this starts a downward spiral and we continue until we get where we are.
However, we're all on the way up, now. And the big problem is to get rid of our
ego, the sense that I am an individual separate from everything. We can do this
by looking at our motivations. When our motivation is selfish, we change it,
make it altruistic; we act for others rather than for ourselves, and in this
way we grow.
Q: Is growth a constant becoming aware?
Lester: Yes. You must first want to. When you want to,
then you do become aware of your thinking. Then you become aware of your
non-thinking which shows up as periods of peace and well-being.
Q: Like trying to find out, for instance, why one feels
things or why one is sick like these past two years of illness for me. It's
tremendous, Lester:. Even this
morning when I was talking to my sister on the telephone, after speaking to her
I kept thinking, “Why? Why? Why?” and I tried to be still, as still as I could
possibly be, and all of a sudden, a realization of the why I had been so
negative came to me with such tremendous clarity. And I thought of you so
intensely and I thought, “Well, this is what Lester: possibly means.” It's finding out the why, and when one
sees it, one immediately turns it into something positive and one is released.
Lester: Right, very good. Keep that up until there is no
more.
Q: That's what you always meant about making the
subconscious thought conscious and then letting go of it.
Lester: Yes. Pulling the subconscious thought up into
consciousness and when it's there, you'll see it and naturally let go of it
because of its negativity. But as long as it remains unconscious, you don't see
it and can't do anything about it, can you?
Q: No. And tremendous things come up when one begins.
Wow! Alligators! It's not easy.
Lester: Ego-wise you don't like what comes up and you
tend to fight it.
Q: Many times I go along on an even keel and then
something comes up in personal relationships or from other directions, and all
of a sudden you feel a severe pain, and then you realize that anytime you feel
pain, you're showing your own limitation, and you step back, look at it, and
release yourself from the whole situation.
Lester: Yes, every situation can be used for growth by
observing what's going on, the way you do. Do this all the time, until there is
no more needed to be let go of, until there is no more ego.
Q: Creative work, for instance, has the ego involved in
that, too. It's very subtle. And the more one sees spiritually, the more one is
able to paint a picture, or make music, or whatever one does, -this is a point
that has always bothered me, the ego-involvement in this. It has worried me,
how can one channel it, commercialize it, sell something?
Lester: The answer is simple: Commercialize it but be
not attached to this creativeness.
Q: Difficult, it's the ego saying, “I am the creator.”
Lester: It doesn't matter what you do, be not attached
to it. Let go of the sense of “I am the creator.” Let the creativeness flow
through you.
Q: I would think that in almost any creative act there
has to be a spiritual part, the stem of it is basically some pure motivation,
but it's almost always mixed with ego.
Lester: Let me clear up one thing, everything you do is
creative, it's impossible to do anything that's not creative. That's because
the mind is only creative, but when we create things we don't like, we call it
non-creative and destructive. When we create things we like, we call that
creative and constructive. But the mind only creates. Everyone is a creator.
What we hold in mind, we create.
Q: So all this ego of ours is our own creation?
Lester: Right. It's better to create constructive things
like beauty, health, affluence as they do not demand as much attention
from us as a sick body or a sick pocket- book. Consequently we have more time
and ease to look in the direction of Truth and to discover our Self.
Q: Sometimes I think that one thinks too much of the ego
and then the ego grows, and you want to fight it more and you give it more
importance.
Lester: Yes. But it's too well grown right now, far more
than you can see, in the unconscious part of your mind. Mind is nothing but the
sum-total collection of all thoughts. The unconscious part of the mind is
holding all the thoughts that we are not looking at this moment. But those
hundreds of thousands of thoughts are there, and they're active. Unconsciously
you're operating that body; you're operating every cell. You're working a
chemical plant, a circulatory, a cooling and a heating system, all these
thoughts are active and are actively operating your body. Also there are
thousands of thoughts of wanting things and not wanting things, likes and
dislikes. But even if they're unconscious, they're active; whether we look at
them or not, they are still active and they are sustained and motivated by our
ego. This is the difficult part for us, to make these ego-motivated thoughts
conscious so that we may let go of them. However, someday we reach a place
where we will not be that ego-mind. When we see that “1 am not that mind, I am
not that body, I am not that ego,” then we'll really see, and when we really
see we are not that, it's possible to drop that ego-mind-body, once and for
all.
Q: Because one has re-become what one is?
Lester: Not re-become, one has re-remembered, re-discovered,
re-recognized what he always was.
Q: So the ego-thing falls off like a crust.
Lester: Right, gone forever. Now that's what we do
eventually. At first, we work at dropping the ego until we get enough attention
free so that we can seek who and what we are. Then, when we see who and what we
are, we say, “This is ridiculous,” and we don't identify with the
ego-mind-body any more. Then we watch the body go through life like we now
watch every other body.
You watch it
and you know that the body is not you. You're really above that body, you're
not limited nor bound by it. You know you are eternal, whole, perfect and free,
and you let the body go its way, like a puppet.
Q: And then you use the body for whatever you like, if
you want to, or if not, the show just goes on.
Lester: Yes. You let the show go on. It's a show that
you wrote called “Bodies Playing Limited.” However, you are free to choose to
use the body to communicate with others, to help them grow.
Q: Isn't everything we see, a piece of wood, a potato
chip, part of that eternal Truth?
Lester: Yes, but you have to see it as nothing but you,
then you see the truth of it. The world doesn't disappear, our perception of it
changes, completely. Instead of the world being other than we, it becomes us,
or we become it. When you see the world as you, it will look entirely different
from what it looked like when it appeared separate. You will love and identify
with it and everyone in it.
When you
fully love someone, you identify with and you become one with that one. When
you become the universe you love the universe, or, if you fully love the
universe, you become the universe. Love is absolutely necessary. When we love
totally, we totally identify with the grand and glorious infinite Being that
we are!
***
Human love is
that which most people think love is. Real, divine love, however, is a
constant, persistent acceptance of all beings in the universe, fully, wholly,
totally, - as the other beings are, and loving them because they are the way
they are. Divine love is wanting and allowing the other one to be the way the
other one wants to be. Divine love is seeing and accepting everyone equally,
and I think that this is the test of how divine our love is. Is it the same for
every person we meet? Is our love for those who are opposing us as strong as
for those who are supporting us?
Real, divine
love is unconditional and is for everyone alike. The greatest example of it is
Christ with His teachings of: turn the other cheek, love your enemy, and so
forth. If we as a nation were to practice this we could make every enemy of
ours completely impotent, - just by loving them. They would be powerless to do
any harm to us. However, we would have to do it as a nation, at least the
majority of the people would have to love the enemy.
Real love
itself is something we can't turn on and off. Either we have it or we don't
have it, and with it, it's impossible to love one person and hate another. To
the degree that we hate anyone, to that degree we do not love the others. Our
love is no greater than our hatred is for anyone person.
What most
people call love is simply a need. If we say that I love this person but not the
other, we feel that we need this person, and therefore we'll be nice to this
person so that we can get what we want. But that's not real love.
Human love is
selfish, divine love is completely selfless. It is the selfless love that gives
unlimited joy beyond our greatest imagination. Try it and discover this for
yourself.
***
The real love
is the love we feel for others. It is determined by how much we give ourselves
to others.
***
Full love is
identifying with every other being.
***
When we
identify with everyone, we treat everyone as we would treat ourselves.
***
Love is the
balm, the salve, that soothes and heals everything and all.
***
When you love
you lift others to love.
***
The most you
can give is your love. It is greater than giving materiality.
***
When you
understand people you see that they are doing right in their own eyes. When you
understand, you allow, you accept. If you understand, you love.
***
When we love,
not only are we happy but also our whole life is in harmony.
***
Happiness is
equal to one's capacity to love.
***
If we love
completely, we are perfectly happy.
***
There is
always either love or the lack of it.
***
When one is
not loving, one is doing the opposite.
***
The highest
love is when you become the other one. Identity is love in its highest form.
***
If you love
your enemy you have no more enemies!
***
The power and
effect of love is self-obvious. Just try it!
***
If you will
look at it from your very own center the words love, acceptance,
identification, understanding, communication, truth, God, Self are all the
same.
***
The original
state of man was all love. His troubles are due only to his covering over of
his natural state of love.
***
Love and
discover that selflessness turns out to be the greatest good for yourself. .
***
Love is
effortless and hate requires much effort.
***
Apply love
and every problem resolves.
***
Human love is
needing the other one. Divine love is giving to the other one.
***
Love equals
happiness. When we are not happy~ we are not loving.
***
The concept
of possessiveness is just the opposite of the meaning of love. Love frees”
possessiveness enslaves.
***
Love is a
feeling of oneness with, of identity with, the other one. When there's a full
love you feel yourself as the other person. Then treating the other person is
just like treating your very own self. You delight in the other one's joy.
***
Love is a
tremendous power. One discovers that the power behind love, without question,
is far more powerful than the hydrogen bomb.
***
One
individual with nothing but love can stand up against the entire world because
this love is so powerful. This love is nothing but the Self. This love is God.
***
Love will
give not only all the power in the universe, it will give all the joy and all
the knowledge.
***
The best way
to increase our capacity to love is through understanding ourselves.
***
I think
everyone knows the wonderful experience of loving one person, so you can
imagine what it's like when you love three billion people. It would be three
billion times more enjoyable.
***
Love is a
constant attitude that evolves in us when we develop it. We should try
practicing the love first on our family. Grant everyone in the family their own
beingness. Then apply it to friends, then strangers, then everyone.
***
The more we
practice love the more we love, and the more we love, the more we can practice
love. Love begets love!
***
The more we
develop love, the more we come in touch with the harmony of the universe, the
more delightful our life becomes, the more beautiful, the more everything. It
starts a cycle going in which you spin upwards.
***
The only
method of receiving love is to give love, because what we give out must come
back.
***
The easiest
thing in the universe to do is to love everyone. That is, once we learn what
love is, it's the easiest thing to do. It takes tremendous effort not to love
everyone and you see the effort being expended in everyday life. But when we
love we're at one with all. We're at peace and everything falls into line
perfectly.
***
In the higher
spiritual love, there's no self-deprivation. We don't have to hurt ourselves
when we love everyone, and we don't.
***
With love
there's a feeling of mutuality. That which is mutual is correct. If you love,
you hold to that law.
***
Love is
smothered by wrong attitudes. Love is our basic nature and a natural thing.
That's why it is so easy. The opposite takes effort. We move away from our
natural self, cover it, smother it with concepts of the opposite of love and
then, because we're not loving, unloving comes back at us.
***
We feel the
greatest when we love.
***
The real love
wins the universe, not just one person, but everyone in the universe.
***
Behind the
concepts of non-love, there is always the infinite love that we are. You can't increase
it. All you can do is peel away the concepts of non-love and hatred so that
this tremendous loving Being that we are is not hidden any more.
***
Love is an
absolutely necessary ingredient on the path. If we ever expect to get full
Realization, we must increase our love until it is complete.
***
When you
really love you can never feel parting. There is no distance, because they're
right in your heart.
***
Only through
growth do we really understand what love is.
***
When you
really love you understand the other one fully.
***
Love is an
attitude that is constant. Love doesn't vary. Love cannot be chopped up.
***
All love,
including human love, has its source in divine love.
***
Every human
being is basically an extremely loving individual.
***
When you
love, you think only the best for those you love.
***
The more you
love, the more you understand.
***
There's one
word that will distinguish the right love from the wrong love, and that is
giving.
***
You could hug
a tree the same way as a person when you are very high. Your love permeates
everything.
***
Total
self-abnegation is the most selfish thing we can do. When self-abnegation is
total we think only of others and are automatically in the Self.
***
Love is the
state of the Self. It is something you are.
***
Consideration
is a necessary part of love.
***
Anything but
full love is, to a degree, hate.
***
Can you see
why you can't be against anything? The ant is God, the enemy is God. If you're
limiting any part, you're holding God away. Love cannot be parceled. Love has
to be for all.
***
The greatest
of all progress is love.
***
Your capacity
to love is determined by your understanding.
***
If you don’t
trust someone, you don’t love him fully.
***
If we love
this world we accept the world the way it is. We don't try to change it. We let
it be. We grant the world its beingness. Trying to change others is injecting
our own ego.
***
The more we
love the less we have to think.
***
Being love is
higher than loving. The real devotee of God has no choice but to love, he is
love.
***
Love is your
Self. That is the highest love.
***
Love is an
attitude that is constant. Love doesn't vary. We love our family as much as we
love strangers. To the degree we're capable of loving strangers; to that degree
we're capable of loving our family.
***
Love is
togetherness.
***
Love is the
Self. The Self doesn't love. The Self is love. (Only in duality can you love.)
***
It's not
loving, it's being love that will get you to God.
***
Love: Each
one glorifies himself by service rendered to others and must, therefore,
necessarily receive from others. Thus God flows back and forth and we delight
in His exoticism. There is nothing so delectable as the spirit of givingness.
It is intoxicating beyond any other experience capable to man. Discover this.
Service is
the secret to bathing in the ever-new joy of God. Service opens the doors to
the greatest fields of beauty and charm, wherein is enjoyed the nectars of the
infinite variety of tastes, all blended into one drink, that of superlative
love.
Come into the
garden of the most delicious and everlasting joy by an everlasting desire to
love and serve. Let go of the emptiness of selfishness. Fill yourself to the
full with selfless love.
***
We try not to
be intellectual. That knowledge may be gotten from reading books. Most of us
already have the intellectual knowledge and yet are not realized. What we want
is knowledge through experiencing it, through feeling it, through realizing and
integrating it into our very being. The only knowledge that is useful for
growth is the knowledge that we realize with our inner sight and feeling. As we
contemplate, knowledge should fit in with our feelings, i.e., feel right, and
should integrate with our whole Beingness. Then it is a realization, a
revelation. Then we know, and we know that we know.
A realization
is seeing something really for the first time, although you've heard it again
and again. When it's realized, it's as though you've heard it for the first
time. It's like an electric light bulb turning on in the mind and you say, “Oh,
now I see.” It is something that you might have heard a hundred times before,
but this time, on seeing and experiencing it, it's a realization. It has become
real to you.
This
perceived and experienced knowledge is the only knowledge that does us any
good. We can read everything on the subject but it doesn't help and our life
doesn't change much. And it doesn’t because we don't integrate the knowledge
into our beingness through realization.
Realized knowledge is non-intellectual although the
means we use are intellectual. We use our mind, we direct our mind toward the
answer. But you will discover that the answer does not come from the mind. It
comes from a place just behind the mind. It comes from the realm of
knowingness, the realm of omniscience. By quieting the mind through stilling
our thoughts, each and everyone of us has access to this realm of Knowingness.
Then and there you realize, you make real. You know and you know that you know.
Is there any question about what I just said?
Q: Is knowingness and feelingness the same thing?
Lester: No. The feeling comes just before the knowing.
Q: Is knowingness beyond feeling? Is knowledge that
which feels true?
Lester: The answer to both your questions is “Yes.” It's
something you'll have to experience. There's a feel to things, and also there
are times when you just know and you know you know, and there's no feeling to
it. Knowing is really a higher level. We start with reasoning, thinking, in the
realm of thinkingness. Then we move into the realm of feelingness. The top
realm is the realm of Knowingness.
Q: Is ego implied in feeling?
Lester: Yes. The ego does the feeling. It is a higher
ego state. Therefore there's duality, “I” feel “emotion.” Knowingness is
awareness. When I said: “You know and you know that you know,” you're aware and
you're aware of the fact that you are aware. There's no thing conditioning it.
The very top state is the state of All Awareness, of All Beingness. Beingness
and Awareness turn out to be the same thing when we get there. Before, it seems
as though they are two different things. But when we move to the top,
Beingness, Awareness, Consciousness are all the same thing, because the
Awareness you are aware of is of Beingness being All Beingness. We see that we
are not only this body, but that we are every other body, every other thing and
every atom in this universe. So, if we are every being and atom, we are all
Beingness.
Q: You mean I am That?
Lester: Yes, definitely! It's “I” The top state is “I.”
That's all, not even “am.” Just below the top it's “I am.” A step below that is
“I am that I am.” A step below that is “I am unlimited.” A step below that is
“I am great.”
Q: Or one with God?
Lester: Well, where is “One with God?” One with God is
not a top state because it's in duality. If I am one with God, there are “I”
and “God.” In the ultimate we discover
that “I” is God, there's only a singular Oneness in the universe, and we are,
we must necessarily be, that Oneness. That's what we discover at the end of the
line, or the beginning of the line, whichever way you look at it. We are
unlimited Beings covering over this limitlessness with concepts of limitation,
the first of which is “I am an individual separate from the All,” that's the
very first and a very big error that we make. “I am separate, I am a
personality, my name is Lester:, I
have a body.” and I spiral right down. After we assume a mind and a body, then
we assume all these troubles and all these problems and they're nothing but
assumptions. They are only a fiction which we see after we go within, quiet the
mind, and discover all this truth right there.
This whole
world, as now seen, is nothing but a dream illusion that never was. The Truth
is just behind the outward world. So why make trouble? The growth is simply the
eliminating of all the concepts of limitation. That infinite perfect Being that
we are must always be infinite and perfect and therefore is perfect right now.
That's one thing we can never change, -our unlimited Self. That is all
the time. But I, the unlimited Self, can assume that I am limited and that I
have a mind, I have a body, I have problems. However, it is only an assumption.
Q: What's the technique for cutting through all that,
for getting right to that state where you have that total awareness?
Lester: Pose the question “Who and what am I?” and await
the answer to present itself. The thinking mind can never give the answer,
because all thought is of limitation. So, in quiet ness and meditation pose
the questions: “Who am I?” “What am I?” When other thoughts come up, strike
them down. If you can't, ask “To whom are these thoughts? Well, these thoughts
are to me. Well then, who am I?” and you're right back on the track of “Who am
I?” Continue this until you get the answer to the question “Who and what am I?”
regardless of how long it takes.
The answer is
the unlimited Self. The only way It becomes obvious is when the mind stills
almost completely. The only obstacles to immediate full realization here and
now are the thoughts, everyone of which is limited. Eliminate those thoughts
and you'll see this infinite Being that you always were and are and always will
be.
The
difficulty is the past habit- patterns of thought, the unconscious constant
turning and churning of thought in a mechanism we have set up that we call the
unconscious mind. The unconscious thoughts are simply our thoughts now that we
do not look at, and so we call them unconscious. This is the enemy we set up.
To lessen these unconscious thoughts, we first make them conscious. When we
make them conscious, then we may let go of them and they are gone forever. This
quiets the unconscious mind. Now, the more we eliminate the thoughts, the more
obvious our real Self becomes. The more obvious our real Self becomes, the more
we are able to scorch the remaining thoughts, until the mind is totally
quieted.
Q: You have to still the conscious thoughts before you
can get to the unconscious thoughts?
Lester: The conscious thought is only the unconscious
thought made conscious.
Q: They come through dreams too. at that state, don't
they, the unconscious thoughts?
Lester: Yes, but it's only in the waking state that we
can eliminate them and thereby grow.
Q: You still your conscious thoughts through meditation,
other techniques, etc. Now. the “ Who am I?” will go right through both, is
that correct?
Lester: Yes. Also, you can use “Who am I?” to still or
eliminate thoughts. Pose the question “Who am I?” and when a thought comes up
you say. “To whom is this thought?” The answer is “To me.” “Then, who am I?”
and you're back on the track. Thus you eliminate the thoughts as they come up.
Q: But what keeps the unconscious thoughts from popping
up at that time?
Lester: They will and should pop up. If they pop up they're
conscious. Then you can drop them. Eventually you eliminate all of them.
Q: How many minds do we have?
Lester: There’s only one mind. What we are looking at
this moment is what the world calls the conscious mind. The part of the mind
we're not looking at this moment the world calls the unconscious mind. It's the
mode of mind that we give a different name to. That which we are talking about
now, that which we are aware of now, is what we call the conscious mind, the
conscious thought. The unconscious mind is all the thoughts we are not interested
in at this moment.
What some
call super-conscious thought, there's really no such thing as super-conscious
thought. The super-conscious, that which is above consciousness, is already out
of the thinking realm, that's the omniscience, that's the realm of
knowingness. The super-conscious realm is All Awareness, All Knowingness.
There is no thinking when you know.
Q: Is unconscious different from subconscious?
Lester: Subconscious and unconscious are the same.
Q: Do you agree with Jung's collective unconscious
theory?
Lester: I only agree with Truth. And this is one thing I
emphasize, truth is the only authority for truth. Accept nothing until you can
prove it out. Don't even accept what I say, no matter how much I speak as
though I know. If it doesn’t fit into your knowingness at present, you can
accept it for checking. But only that which you can prove out for yourself,
only that should you accept. This is basically important. IT IS ABSOLUTELY
NECESSARY TO PROVE ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR YOURSELF. Otherwise it's hearsay to
you. You must make this knowledge your knowledge.
Now, there's
only one Truth, one Absolute Truth. So putting names to it doesn't mean
anything. Whether so-and-so said it or I said it, doesn't mean anything. Is it
true? Does it integrate into your understanding? That's the only thing that
matters. That's the point wherein we are different. We try to make this very
practical so that you can use this knowledge and move toward the total
understanding as quickly as possible.
Q: Is it necessary to go through stages?
Lester: No. How long should it take Infinite Power,
Infinite Knowledge to know that It is infinite?
Q: Wouldn't take any time.
Lester: Right. When man so wills with full intensity of
will it happens quickly.. If you would want this more than anything else, you
would have it in a matter of weeks or months.
Q: Is there any way of making yourself want it more and
more?
Lester: Yes, make yourself want it by experiencing the
wonderfulness of it.
Q: Or make yourself more and more miserable?
Lester: Well, there are two incentives; misery is one
but not the best. The sweetness of it, the wonderfulness of it, the glory of it
should make us want it more than the misery should.
Q: The glory in what sense?
Lester: The glory of it, of knowing what you are. It's a
tremendous experience, it's an ecstasy, a euphoria. There are no real words to
describe it because, well, we're in an age where these things are not
experienced and therefore not understood, so how can there be words for things
that are not understood? There are no words to describe these feelings, they're
so beyond present understanding. So you pick the words you know best to
describe it and that's it. Paramhansa Yogananda uses the words “ever-new joy
welling up every second,” and that's a practical way of describing it. At
first it's a joy that spills over every second, just keeps pouring out, pouring
out, you feel as though you can't contain it. Later on, it resolves itself into
a very profound peace, the most peaceful peace you could ever imagine. It's a
delicious peace which is far more comfortable than ever-new joy. But please,
get the ever-new joy!
Q: But don't stay there.
Lester: That's it. It's very easy to get stuck in the
ever-new-joy state. That's what they call the ananda sheath. It's the last veil
we have to remove. It is the last wall we must break through. When you start
this ever-new joy, it's so good you just want to continue it. Also you have no
feeling of need to change, everything is so wonderful. But it isn't the final
state. The final state is the peace that passeth all understanding. It's a
deep, deep peace. You move in the world, the body moves, but you have absolute
peace all the time. Bombs could be dropping all around you and you have that
perfect peace regardless of what's going on.
Q: How do you maintain that state?
Lester: If you get it you don't have to maintain it, because
you have it, you are it.
Q: Well, in that particular state then, you are really
omniscient and all the other things, and there's no necessity for thinking.
Lester: Right. That's the top state. Now, it is possible
to dip into this state to a certain depth that's very deep and not maintain it
because the habits from the past, the habits of thoughts that have not been
eliminated, re-emerge and take over. We can feel this infinite Being that we
are and it's a wonderful experience, then, the next minute, “Oh, so-and-so
wants me to do this and I don't want to do it,” a thought comes in and there
you are: identifying with unhappy limitedness. You, the Self, are trying to be
this unlimited Being through a very narrow ego, a very limited ego, and it
hurts. That's all it is.
Q: How do you bombard that ego and get rid of it?
Lester: First and foremost, an intense desire to let go
of the ego. Second, listening to someone who knows the way and following
through on the direction, especially if that one is a fully realized Being.
Q: That’s hard to find.
Lester: No, they are available right where you are.
Wherever you are, they're right there. I can name some of them: Jesus, Buddha,
Yogananda. I don't know of any in the
However,
since we think we're physical bodies, sometimes we more readily accept a fully
realized Being when He is in a physical body. Therefore we will take more help,
because in our physical sensing, He seems to be more real. Because of that it's
good to have a fully realized Being in the flesh. However, if we don't have
one, it doesn't mean we can't take the guidance of those who are omnipresent.
Q: Some aspect of the Hindu thought says you can't do it
without a live Guru, but I think they've evolved beyond that now, and you're
confirming it.
Lester: Yes. However, a Guru is alive, whether in
physical body or not.
Q: Do people need a live Guru?
Lester: People need a Guru, a Teacher. He doesn't
necessarily have to be live in a physical body but he has to be accepted as
being alive. He doesn't have to be in a physical body.
The reason
why we need a Guru is that we are in a very difficult age. It's an age of
materialism where everything, everyone, is shouting at us: “This is a material
world. This IS it!” We have been in this world again and again and again. So we
really need the assist of a fully realized Being to offset that constant weight
of the world that says we are physical, limited bodies.
We should
want the Truth more than we want air. Then we would get full realization very
quickly.
Q: Did you coin that, is that yours, an aphorism?
Lester: Nothing is mine. Anything I say will have always
been said before. I might just twist the words around this way or that way, in
my own style, but there's nothing new. Truth always was and always will be.
There's a
story in the Eastern writings of a master and his disciple. They were bathing
in the
They have
some great stories .That snake and the rope story is an excellent analogy of
the physical world. I guess every one knows that, don't they? A person walks
along the road at dusk and sees a rope on the ground, mistakes it for a snake,
goes into an intense fear and a complete involvement as to what to do about
this awful snake. Well, the snake is only an illusion. The real thing is a
rope. So he spends a lifetime of maybe sixty-five years struggling and fighting this snake-world, and
then takes a rest on the astral side and comes back and fights it again and
again and again until he wakes up to the fact that the snake was only the rope,
and it really never was. And that's exactly what happens to this physical world.
It's just like that snake, it's an illusion.
The example I
like best is that what goes on in this world is exactly the same as what goes
on in a night dream. While we're in the night dream it's very real, we are
there, there are other characters, it's either beautiful or ugly, and when it's
a nightmare, we're being killed. It's a real struggle. All the time we're in
the dream, it is real to us. But when we awaken we say, “Oh, my gosh, it was
only a dream, it never really was.” And that's exactly what happens when we
wake up out of this waking-state dream of the world.
***
This Session was recorded in
It is now the
Christmas season so let us direct our attention toward Christmas. Maybe I ought
to allow you to lead me into what you would like to hear about Christmas, or
should I just talk? All right. Christ-mass, the day when the masses look toward
Christ, when mass is held in reverence to Jesus.
When I
interpret the Bible, it's the way I see it, not the way I've read it or someone
else has said it's so. Christmas is related to Christ. Christ is not the man
Jesus. Christ is the title of Jesus who has attained the Christ Consciousness.
And I think if you separate the two, Jesus and Christ, you will far better
understand the meaning of His words and the meaning of the Bible. When He
says, “I am the way,” He doesn't mean Jesus” He means Christ. So first I'd
better explain what I mean by Christ and Jesus.
Jesus
was a man who was born on 'this earth approximately 2,000 years ago, who
through righteousness or righteousness, rightly used the world to attain the
Christ Consciousness. By so doing He showed the way to immortality that each
and everyone of us must take. We must die to death, i.e., eliminate from our
consciousness all thoughts of death and hold in its place only eternality and
immortality. In order to show us, He allowed Himself to be crucified so that He
could prove immortality by resurrecting Himself. He was a way-shower and
dedicated and gave His life only to show us the way.
Christ
Consciousness is the consciousness that saves us from all this mess that we
find ourselves in when we try to be worldly man. It is the attaining of the
Christ Consciousness that saves us from all the horrors and miseries of the
world. It is the Christ Consciousness that gives us liberation from all
difficulty and leads us into our immortality. If we were to try to be Jesus, we
would have all the trials and tribulations that He went through. However, when we
become the Christ, by being Christ-like and thereby attaining the Christ
Consciousness, we eliminate all and every misery and have nothing but infinite
joy.
So
Christhood is a state that was attained by the man Jesus. He attained His
Christhood before He was born and He came back to show us the way by actual
example. And if you will keep these two in their meaning as you read the Bible,
I believe it will make much more sense.
Christmas is
known mostly by the spirit of givingness, good will toward all men. Locked up
in that word “givingness” is the key to all happiness. It's in the spirit of
givingness that we have and experience the greatest joy. If you'll think back
you'll see that when you were giving, you were most joyous. “Love” and “giving” are two words that are
synonymous. It's in the spirit of givingness that the secret to joy lies.
When we fully have that we want to give every thing that we have to everyone we
meet, and we have infinite joy. It's so important. It's in the spirit of givingness;
it's not in the givingness of things, unfortunately, because Christmas is a
great time of gift-giving. People are giving, giving, giving. But it's not in the givingness; it's in the spirit
of givingness that the joy lies.
The feeling
of the spirit of givingness is felt more around Christmas time by more people
than any other time of the year. It's a wonderful thing. We should make every
day Christmas. When we get full realization we do just that. There isn't a moment in which we're not wanting to give
everything we know to everyone.
Q: You mean giving things, or giving of yourself?
Lester: Well, first givingness. If we give with strings
attached, with reservations, with recriminations, there is little joy in it.
But when we give freely we have the greatest of feelings. And it's this
constant spirit of givingness that is the secret of eternal joy. Now, the
greatest thing we can give, as the Bible says, is wisdom, because when you give
one wisdom you give one the method of attaining everything, not just one single
thing. So, the greatest of all givingness is giving wisdom, is giving
understanding, and is giving knowledge of this subject that we are interested
in.
I might
explain it this way. If you give a man a meal when he's hungry, he's made happy
for the moment and he's satisfied. But three hours later, he needs another
meal, and probably thousands of meals after that. So what is one meal that you
give to him? Relatively little. However, if you give the man the understanding
of how to produce a meal, he will never go hungry! You will give him the
knowledge of how to always have all the food he wants. You will have given him
sixty thousand meals! So, that's the greatest
givingness, giving understanding and wisdom.
Practicing
this would be an excellent method of growth and I think, as a group, you're
ready for it. Give this understanding to everyone whom you meet who asks for
it. It's excellent in that it takes you out of your little self onto others.
It's an act of love. I'm suggesting that this givingness be taken on as almost
a way of life from here on,-to help others to get this understanding. It will
help you to rapidly attain mastership, - and it will give you the greatest of
all joys.
It's good to
give gifts. They should be given from the heart. However, I think we are all at
the point where we can give much more than just things. We should try to give
wisdom and understanding. Did I answer your question, Lil?
Q: Yes.
Q: This is only if we are asked?
Lester: Yes. If we try to help people who are not asking
for it, we are just expressing our own ego. “I know something you should know,”
see? “I,” talking down to “you,” trying to teach you something when you're not
asking for it, is just ego-expression on my part. So it should only be given
when asked for.
Q: Is there a time when you become sensitive enough so
that you do say things to people which they need, even without them asking?
Lester: Yes, there is. As you let go of your ego you
automatically tune in more with others. The less your ego, the more you are
attuned to others. You reach a state in which they don't even have to ask.
You'll discover that some people who ask don't really want help. Likewise, some
people who say “I don’t want any help,” are really wanting it. It takes a
little experience to handle situations like that. But it's true that as we
grow, as we let go of our ego, we become more attuned to others and we automatically
help them. And we help at all times, no matter what or where the situation is.
It could be the cashier in a market, or someone you meet on the street. There's
always a certain givingness that should be going on all the time. And it
doesn't have to be only words of wisdom, it could be a kind word, an expression
of love.
It wouldn't
hurt to try helping others. That would be the greatest of all givingness. Any
more questions?
Q: What is the second coming of the Christ? .
Lester: The second coming of the Christ is not the same
as the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Jesus will be the time when
He returns and walks on this earth again in a physical body; and I believe it
will be the body that He had the last time He walked the earth. The second
coming of the Christ is when we attain the Christ Consciousness.
As a group,
we are very fortunate in that we are close to Jesus. This was very evident the
very first time we had a meditation when Jesus came into this room and walked
around to almost everyone here. It was a very definite and a very important
sign that, as a group, Jesus is very interested in us, is trying to help us
with all the power that He has. That power is never given unless we are
receptive to it. There's no forcing it. He can only use His power when we open
ourselves to Him. If and when we do, He is right there, ready and very capable.
Just try Him. We need this direct connection with a master if we want to go all
the way this lifetime. As I've said, it's so difficult in these times to
achieve mastership, that it is necessary to have this connection with a master,
so that when we are ready to leave this plane he will assist us in getting full
realization. There isn't anyone in this room who cannot make it this lifetime,
if he or she will just stay faithful to the path until the end. Everyone of us
can make it this lifetime if we really want it.
Q: Will you define “making it”?
Lester: Christhood and full realization. “Making it” is
becoming a master. What is a master? A master is one who is master over all
matter in the universe, and who is master over his mind. A master is one who
sees his own infinity right within him. A master is one who has undone all
thoughts of limitation, who has ripped off all these sheaths of limitations and
is free.
Q: And this we can do in this lifetime?
Lester: Yes, definitely! You must want it more than
anything else. You must want it more than you want things of the world. And if
you do, when you're ready to leave this place, you'll get the assist from the
master that you look to and he will help you over. The way he will do it is
this way: If you don't make it before you die, you will make it at the time of
your so-called death. When a person dies, all thoughts of this lifetime and all
thoughts of prior lifetimes come up for review. The master identifies with us.
He sees us as himself, and as these thoughts come up in our mind, it's like
coming up in his mind, and he, identified with and as us, helps us undo them.
When they are totally undone, we are totally free!
Q: This is what we are doing every day when we say,
“We're not limited. I won't accept this. I'm not this limited being.” Isn't
this what we should be doing all day long?
Lester: Yes. We should continue it until the end of all
thoughts. We should not be limited by anything or any thought.
Q: But this is jumping so far. I'm interested in being
able to walk down the street without getting mad at the fellow in front of me.
Lester: I'm trying to show you the entire way. What I'm
trying to do is to give you a map that takes you all the way. I'm not saying,
“Bob, be this today,” But I think if you have a map that shows the entire
route, you can take it all by yourself. You don't need to have people like me
say this to you. Once you've got the map, all you need to do is to follow it.
I'm trying to give you a complete picture, a complete understanding of what
full realization is and the way to accomplish it. And it's a very difficult
thing to do because you'll never really know what it is until you attain it.
Q: And the ego is simply the feeling that I am not this.
Lester: Right. The ego is a feeling that I am a separated
individual, separated from the All and I need a body and a mind to be separate.
Q: That I s limited?
Lester: Well, if I have a body and 1 have a mind, I have
thousands of limitations; I have to feed the body, take care of it. I have
thoughts. My feelings are hurt. This goes on and on and on. Realize what you
are. You'll see that you are not the body, you are not the ego. Discover what
you are and be infinite.
Q: Can Jesus save us?
Lester: Jesus doesn't save, the Christ Consciousness
saves. We should believe not in Jesus but believe as Jesus believed. When we
make an effort to attain the, Christ Consciousness, Jesus helps us to realize
it. Jesus is always available to anyone who asks and is receptive to His help.
You may and
can contact Jesus, to the degree you actually accept the fact that you can.
Were you to accept that you could talk to Jesus in a physical body, then you
would meet with Him in a physical body. If you can accept meeting with Him in a
vision or in a dream, then you would meet with Him in that manner. If you can
accept Him as a presence ,then you will feel His presence and receive His
support. It is all up to you.
***
This Session
was recorded in
The ego concept is the root cause of all
delusion and therefore, all trouble. It is the false identifying of “I” with a
body rather than with the Self.
***
Ego is the concept of individuality, of
separation from the “I, and the All. Therefore ego is a false assumption. We
are really the “I,” we are not separate from It.
***
The ego is all the evil there is and your Self
is all the good there is.
***
The ego is the source of birth and death and
when the ego is let go of, you die to death.
***
Everything that isn't good has its source in the
ego sense and is therefore unreal. Our real nature is an ultimate goodness.
***
Everything of the ego is the opposite of
everything of the Self.
***
Everything an ego sees is a lie in the light of
Truth. Everything an ego sees is in duality. An ego can't see Oneness. The ego
has an eye of duality only. There's nothing true that an ego sees. And on the
opposite side, the Self sees only the Truth, the Self.
***
The coloring agent of Truth is ego. The less the
ego the less the coloring of truth.
***
The entire trouble is wrong identity. We say we
are the limited ego.
***
Ego can't do anything but be limited.
***
There’s
only one single growth and that is letting go of the ego.
***
Whenever you are not growing spiritually, you
are growing in the other direction.
***
Every time you express ego you are growing
downward.
***
The more you grow the more you can face your
ego.
***
When things bother us and we look for the
source, we find our ego.
***
The whole object of the path is to let go of the
ego. What remains is the Self.
***
The whole thing is simple. Any complexity in
life is the e go trying to undo the simplicity of Reality.
***
It is the ego that makes life difficult.
***
Think you are a limited ego and the more you
think so, the more effort you need to get along. It is the ego that requires
effort.
***
There is only one basic trouble in this world.
It is the common denominator of all problems. It is trying to be an ego.
***
Identify with the ego and you identify with
trouble.
***
We should shift from a desire to get out of
misery to a desire to let go of the ego.
***
The ego dies hard. But once you know the ego is
the source of all misery and the Self is the source of all happiness, then it
shouldn't be so hard to work at letting go of the ego.
***
When we start moving into the Self, the ego
starts putting blocks in the way: we get sick, we go to sleep, we have other
things to do, etc., because we feel we will be destroyed if the ego is
destroyed. We have convinced ourselves over the millenniums that we are these
limited bodies, and we think it takes time to let go of these concepts of
limitation.
***
Time is an ego - thought.
***
The ego will always try to keep us from letting
go of the ego.
***
Getting involved in intellectual questions and
discussions validates the ego and avails you nothing.
***
To pose a question an ego is necessitated. There
are no questions when one is realized.
***
All enquiries about the non-Self are directing
one's attention away from, and are delaying, one's realization of Truth. Any
question about the ego directs the attention to the ego. The ego is the unreal,
the untruth. No matter how much you talk about illusion it will not give you
the perception of the Real, the Truth.
***
In the beginning the ego is the only thing you
know.
***
There is only one thing to do, let go of the
ego! There is no other way to grow. You are fully realized now! Just let go of
the ego I that’s how simple it is.
***
The weaker the ego the more you can put
attention on the Self. However, if you spent all your time on the ego you would
never see the Self, not until you looked at the Self. It amounts to weakening
the grip of the ego enough so that you can turn toward the Self..
***
The more you do away with the ego the more
unselfish you are.
***
When a person is ego-centered, almost all of his
attention is centered on himself. Everything he sees or hears is colored
because it has to filter through his self-attention.
***
When you have completely let go of your ego, you
are not interested in yourself, you are interested only in others.
***
If you do things to win approval, then you are
doing it for yourself. If you are doing anything for your self, it isn’t
selfless.
***
A problem is created whenever you want to assert
your ego.
***
Whenever we react, it is always because there is
something we selfishly want.
***
Whenever we want to make the world different
than it is, that is ego motivated.
***
When there is no ego involved, we see things
exactly as they are.
***
We are blinded to the degree of our ego.
***
Wanting our ego to be accepted, we see things
the way we think they will help us to be accepted.
***
If you have any emotion, it is ego motivated.
***
Any human need or desire is ego motivated. My
ego thinks it needs things. My Self feels and knows that everything is
mine.
***
We should have no wants. Then we are never in
trouble.
***
Talking is asking for ego attention. It's
wanting ego approval.. If you will remain quiet you may feel that happiness
that you are seeking through making the noise.
***
Almost every time we talk we are asking for ego
acceptance.
***
Ego is only destructive to one.
***
Everyone who has ego is destructive to the
degree he has ego.
***
Ego is the opposite of love. Love is the Self.
***
Egos want to direct the universe.
***
If you want to be most creative do away with the
ego.
***
Ego is the most expensive thing in the universe,
dollar and sense wise.
***
Any sense of doership is of the little self.
***
Ego equals blindness. Blindness equals
ignorance.
***
Seeking any ego fulfillment is seeking the letting
go of the agony of the concept of lack.
Any lack is necessarily an ego concept for the
ego is necessarily a sense of limitation or lack.
***
Ego is a mere notion that feels like the deluge
of an ocean.
***
When you are unhappy you are looking for ego approval
and not getting it.
***
Another definition for trouble is trying to be
an ego.
***
Any defending of oneself is asking for ego
approval.
***
If you want to be good at anything, the less the
ego the better you are. The ego is a limiting adjunct on the Self. Since the
ego is a limiting adjunct of the Self, the less the ego the more capable you
are in everything (except one thing, -misery).
***
It took you millions of years to develop this
ego. Keep letting go of the ego until you begin to see the Self. When you see
your Self, you quickly drop your ego in short time.
***
After having eliminated much of the ego, when
one is acting ego-wise, at that moment the ego seems like all. However, what
has been eliminated has been eliminated.
***
It's the ego sense of being an individual
separate from the All that is the source of all trouble.
***
Soul is a glorified ego concept of the ego.
***
It doesn't matter what you do, it does matter
with what you identify. If you identify with the limited ego, then you are unhappy.
***
After dropping enough ego, it gets weak and the
Self takes us the rest of the way.
***
All growth is letting go of ego.
***
The ego is a false imposition of the “I.” When
you say “I” that is the eternal you.
***
The ego cannot be subjugated by one who takes it
to be real.
***
Seek the source of the ego and it turns out to
be your Self .
***
Humility is letting go of ego.
***
If you are hurt look for the ego motivation and
let go of it. You'll then feel happier.
***
Unless you are eliminating ego, you're not
growing. You see, you can't grow into the Self because that's what you are. You
just lift off the cover, which is ego.
***
The ego creates and maintains the subconscious.
***
All subconscious thought is originated by the
ego and hidden a way in the subconscious by the ego.
***
The ego-principle is the cause of the seeming
separation of you from the All.
***
The high states should be used to scorch the
ego. The higher we go the more we are capable of scorching the ego. When you
are high you can say, “All this silly reaction and ego, I'm through with!” -
and be through with it!
***
The real you, your Self, is infinitely grand and
glorious, whole, perfect and in total peace, and you are blinding
yourself to this by assuming that you are a limited ego. Drop the blinder, the
ego, and be forever in perfect peace and joy!
***
Our subject
is Happiness. We say that when understood, Happiness and all the following -
God, Realization, Wisdom, Understanding - become the same; that the Happiness
that we're seeking is only the real infinite Being that each one is. And when
we recognize this, we then attempt to discover this inner Being that we are
more and more, until we see it completely, totally and only. And when we
do, the ultimate Happiness is established permanently, forever. And with it
goes immortality, unlimitedness, imperturbable peace, total freedom and
everything that everyone is seeking.
The way to
this inner Being that we are, is to direct our attention inward. We first focus
the mind back upon the mind until we discover what mind is. We then focus our
attention on our Self to discover our real nature. And it turns out that our
real nature, the infinite real Self that we are, is simply we minus the mind;
that the mind was a limiting adjunct covering our Beingness; that all thoughts
have limitation (and we develop millions of thoughts of limitation) which
prevent us from seeing this infinite Being that we are; and that by turning our
attention inward we discover all this. When we do, we naturally let go of all
these limitations. Then we see that we have always been, are now, and always
will be, this unlimited Being.
The prime
obstacle that we meet is the subconscious mind. It is full of thoughts of
limitations that propel us every day, automatically. And we have made these
habits of subconscious thoughts so strong that even when we recognize the
direction we would like to go in, the subconscious thoughts keep directing us
for quite sometime (even lifetimes) until we finally succeed in over coming
them. We overcome them with thoughts of what we really want to do in life, and
in that way become matter over the mind, controlling the thoughts until only
the thoughts we want determine our behavior. Then we're in a position where we
can do something about the mind and we start to transcend the mind. We rise
above it and we drop it. We let it go! And when we do that we find ourselves
this pure, infinite, limitless, totally free Being that we naturally are. And
then happiness is complete.
The direction
is to go within, seeking and meditating to quiet the mind enough so that we can
see the infinite Being that we are. The major steps are first, becoming aware
of the fact that we are master over matter (and matter includes the body).
Then, the second major step is becoming master over mind. And when we become
really masterful over mind we are able to and we do let go of mind and operate
in the realm of omniscience, in the realm of knowingness. Then we are fully
aware of' the infinite Being that we are, and are in the ultimate Happiness.
We should
start with the first step, consciously controlling matter. Whether we are
aware of it or not, everyone is controlling matter all the time. Whether one
wants to be a demonstrator or not, he is. It is impossible to not be a creator
all the time. Everyone is creating every day. We are not aware of it because
we just don't look at it. We have demonstrated or created everything we have!
Every thought, every single thought, materializes in the physical world. It's
impossible to have a thought that will not materialize (except that we reverse
it). If we think the opposite right after we have a thought, with equal
strength, we neutralize it. But any thought not reversed or neutralized will
materialize in the future, if not immediately.
So this thing
of demonstration that we are all trying so hard to accomplish, we are doing all
the time, unconscious of the fact that we're doing it. All we need to do is to
consciously direct it, and that we call demonstration. Everything that everyone
has in life is a demonstration. It couldn't come into our experience had we not
had a thought of it at sometime prior.
If you want
to know what your sum total thinkingness is, look around you. It has determined
exactly what you now have. It is your demonstration! If you like it, you may
hold it. If you don't, start changing your thinking. Concentrate it in the
direction that you really want, until those thoughts become dominant over the
subconscious thoughts. And when you begin to consciously demonstrate small
things, you may then realize that the only reason why they are small is because
you don't dare to think big. The exact same rule, or principle, that applies to
demonstrating a penny, applies to demonstrating a million dollars. The mind
sets the size. Anyone who can demonstrate a dollar can demonstrate a million
dollars! Become aware of the way you are demonstrating a one-dollar bill and
just increase it next time to a much larger amount. Take on the consciousness of
the million, rather than the one-dollar bill.
The material
world is just an out - projecting of our minds into what we call the world and
bodies. And when we realize that it is just an out-projecting of our minds,
just a picture out there that we have created, we can very easily change it,
even instantly, by changing our thought!
So, to
repeat, everyone is demonstrating, creating; every moment what he or she is
thinking. You have no choice. You are a creator, so long as you have a mind and
think.
Now, to get
beyond creation, we must go beyond the mind. Just beyond the mind is the realm
of perfection where there is no need for creating. There is a higher state than
creation, it's the state of beingness, sometimes called awareness or consciousness.
That state is just behind the mind. That's beyond creation.
The mind
finds it very difficult to imagine what it's like beyond creation, because the
mind is involved constantly in creating. It's the creating instrument of the
universe and everything that happens in the world. So, if you take this thing
called mind, which instrument is only a creator, and try to imagine what it is
like beyond creation, it's impossible. The mind will never know God or your.
Self, because you have to go just above the mind to know God, your Self.
To know the
infinite Being that you are, to know what it's like beyond creation, transcend
the mind. The final state is beyond creation. It is the changeless state. In
creation everything is constantly changing, and therefore the ultimate Truth
cannot be there.
So, to
demonstrate what one wants, one needs to become aware of the fact that all we
need to do is to think only of the things that we do want and that is all that
we would get, if we would do just that. Only think of the things you want and
that's what you'll be getting all the time, because the mind is only creative.
Simple, isn't it?
Also, take
credit for creating all the things that you don't like. Just say. “Look what I
did.” Because when you become aware that you've created things that you don’t
like, you're in the position of creator, and if you don't like it, all you have
to do is to reverse it and then you'll like it.
After you can
master matter by consciously creating that which you want, then master your
mind and get beyond it.
Any
questions?
Q: No, but I think you did a good job of laying it out
like that. I could almost understand everything you said.
Q: The most perfect explanation yet!
Q: Am I to assume that everything that I see and meet
during the day has been created by subconscious thoughts?
Lester: Yes. The difficult thing is the unconscious
thinking. Every unconscious thought is active whether we are aware of it or
not.
Q: So, if I have a habit of having someone who doesn't
pay rent, this is a subconscious thought that was put there by parents or
someone before.
Lester: No, put there before by you, it's your thought.
Q: All right. It's best to look at it and say, “Where
did this habitual thought come from?” By looking at it, I can see where it came
from and erase it from my consciousness and erase that particular habit of
thought, can't I?
Lester: Yes. Putting it a little better, rather than see
where it came from, see that it's been in you. Then you see how silly it is to
have this thought working against you and you automatically drop it.
Q: I wish I would. I just don't automatically drop it.
Lester: No, you do. There isn't just one thought on each
subject, there are millions. I don't like to say this, but there are millions
that you've acquired over many millions of years.
Q: If I have a habit of having something reoccur in my
life, let us say a delay in getting things done, which is quite common in my
business, is this purely my consciousness?
Lester: Yes.
Q: And its nonsense to say this is the way real estate people
operate isn't it? I've got to look at my consciousness and if I say this is
nonsense because it's my thinking, I can eliminate this type of delay.
Lester: Yes. It's possible.
Q: How does one eliminate reoccurring conditions in
one's life?
Lester: By constantly working to undo it. Looking for
the subconscious thoughts that are causing it and dropping them.
Q: It's my thoughts; I don't look at anything but my own
thinking.
Lester: Yes. Now there's another way, a better way. If
you can't pull up the subconscious thoughts, you can now put in a conscious
thought with strong will, - so strongly that it overrides all the prior
unconscious thoughts. This is possible. This is called using will power.
You can will it. And if you will it strong enough, it'll override all the
subconscious thoughts. When you're feeling high, that's when you have your
greatest will. Just will it to be the way you want it to be. The mechanism is:
You put in a thought with so much power behind it that it's more powerful than
all the former subconscious thoughts put together.
Q: A man died last night and he left $25,000,000! And
the man next door had nothing. He died and went to heaven.
Lester: It's easier to get to heaven when you don’t have
$25,000,000 holding you here.
Q: It's easier to go, if you don't have $25,000,000.
Lester: That's right. He's attached to that twenty-five.
Re's trying to hold onto it right now, even though he is dead. And when he
tries to pick it up, his astral hands go right through it and he's in trouble.
It holds him back, whereas a man who didn't have anything will just go off into
higher, freer realms.
Q: You mean now that he has so-called “died,” he can
still be attached to his money?
Lester: Oh sure! What he was the moment before he died,
he is the moment after, except for the fact that he has let go of the dense
body. The physical body is an exact copy of the astral body. And when you step
out of the physical body, it feels the same to you and you try to do the things
that you were doing just before in the physical body, if you have attachments
to the physical world. If you don't have attachments, you adapt much easier to
the freer way of life in the astral body.
Q: I like your explanation of creation.
Lester: For the intellectuals, there are schools that
argue this way: Is creation gradual or is it instantaneous?
Q: It's gradual because
Lester: What makes it gradual? The mind, by saying it's
gradual.
Q: True.
Lester: And if you keep thinking on it, you'll discover
that creation is instantaneous.
Q: Sure it's instantaneous, but it appears differently.
Lester: And the instantaneity, - the instant also has
the concept of time in it. That's just something I'm throwing out for you to
work on, if you want to.
Q: An instant, you're confining it to a certain amount
of time; you are limiting it.
Lester: I'll give you a clue to it. You went to sleep
and you had a dream and you dreamed that you were born into a little infant
body and you went through one year, two years, three years, into youth, middle
age and old age, all the way up to ninety years. And it took ninety years to
get up to that old body. It was a long, long time, right? Ninety years? Until
you woke up and then realized it was a dream and it might have taken a second
or two. The dream lasted a few seconds and in that time you went through a
ninety-year period! And it seemed like ninety years while you were in the
dream. It wasn't until you woke up that you realized it was only a few seconds.
Some day you'll see that creation is instantaneous, with the mental concept of
time in it.
Q: How do you equate our effort, trying to create that
which we might desire with the statements: “Seek ye first the
Lester: Well, it fits in. “Seek ye first the
Q: Until you reach the higher state, I wonder if it
isn't possible to get caught up in still trying to create before you become
aware of the higher state?
Lester: Yes, I say that you are caught up in trying to
create. You now have no choice whether to be a creator, you are that all the
time. You should now consciously create only the things you want and stop
creating the things you don't want. One of the grossest errors we make is to try
to create in the future: I will have this. I will get that, and
when we do that, it keeps it in the future all the time, thereby keeping it a
way. This is the greatest stumbling block for most people. When you create
something, it has to be seen in present time, in its is-ness, now. It is mine,
now!
Q: Well, even if I can't believe that I may be going to
have something, at least I can believe that the thought is mine, so, if I build
on “The thought is mine,” this gives me more foundation.
Lester: Yes. Discover who the thinker is.
Q: What happens when you reach the desireless state?
Lester: Well, what is desire? Desire comes from thinking
we are not the All. When you reach the desireless state, you see yourself as
the All, as the sum total, and there's no more need, there's no more lack,
everything is you. It's not 'yours, you are it!
Q: So, it's really a state of seek ye first the
Lester: Everything, every last atom in the universe.
Please note that most of your questions have been on havingness, the havingness
of things. This indicates what you think happiness is. However, you will
discover that should you obtain all the things you desire, you would still find
yourself unhappy.
You must go
beyond the havingness state and reach the beingness realm where you only are.
There you know that you lack nothing and that you are the infinite All. There
lies the ultimate joy which is a deep and a most profound Peace, the ultimate
Satiation!
***
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