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!
***
This Session was recorded in
The mind is an -instrument created by you to
image the Oneness as chopped up and separated into many parts I interrelated.
***
The mind is simply the sum total composite of
all thoughts.
***
The mind becomes habitual.
***
The subconscious mind is merely the thoughts
that we are not looking at now.
***
The subconscious mind is running us - making us
the victims of habit.
***
The thing that keeps us from recognizing and
expressing our infinity is simply the mind, conscious and subconscious. If we
are to express this infinite nature, we can do it only by getting behind this
mind. When we reach the realm behind the mind we operate without thoughts,
intuitively, and are in harmony with the whole universe. .
***
The direction is to still the mind. Quiet the
mind and you'll see your infinity right there.
***
Just let go of the mind completely and what's
left over is your infinite beingness, all knowing, all powerful, everywhere
present.
***
Were we to direct all our energies to stilling
our mind, we would soon be realized.
***
The mind quiets spontaneously in the company of
a great soul.
***
The more you quiet the mind, the more you feel
the Self, and the better you feel. You feel as good as your mind is quiet.
***
When the mind vanishes, there the Self is. Where
the Self is, there is no mind.
***
The mind is reflected consciousness, reflected
from its source, the Self, just like the light from the moon is reflected from
the sun. While the moonlight may be used to reveal objects, it is no more
needed when the sun rises. Although the moon may remain in the sky while the
sun shines, it is dim and useless. Likewise, the mind is useless when we let
the Self shine.
***
Your mind is an instrument used to identify your
real Self with your body and world.
***
If you do not identify with your body or mind,
neither your body not your thoughts will effect you. So it is when you sleep.
Not identifying with your body or mind you have no problems nor suffering.
***
In meditation one subdues the mind and feels the
wonderful peace of the Self. This is the start. The finish is the total
dissolution of the mind. This is accomplished by recognizing the mind as not
being apart from the Self, by seeing it as a phantom product of the Self.
***
In this dream-illusion there's a thing called
thought. And thought determines and is the cause of all matter.
***
In your imagination you have written and
projected a cinema show of acts, actors and audiences on a screen and have lost
sight of the fact that it is all in your imagination, your mind. Discover this
and you discover the absolute Truth.
***
The world and universe are a mental concoction.
***
Mind subsidence is Realization. There are two
ways to obtain it. On recognizing what the mind really is, it is seen as an
illusion and therefore subsides. By concentrating on your Self and discovering
You, mind also subsides. Complete subsidence is full Realization. . .
***
The reason why thoughts wander back into the
world is because we believe the world is real. But for this belief, Realization
would be!
***
Mind distraction is wanting more the things of
the world than the Self. Wanting more to hold your Self, the world is not
looked at!
***
A thought is an assumption of lack causing a
wish to fulfill it.
***
All thoughts are of non-truth. It's so simple.
You just stop the thoughts and the infinity that you are is self-obvious.
***
You've got to use the mind to quiet the mind.
You need to use determination to still it.
***
When you begin concentrating on the mind, you
begin rising above the mind.
***
Once you see what the mind is, you won't be
subject to it any more.
***
Strength of mind is the ability to concentrate
undistracted on a single thought.
***
Without concentrated mind progress is relatively
small.
***
A wandering, wavering mind is one that
dissipates one's energy in the form of many thoughts. Hold one thought and the
energy is less dissipated and more conserved. Direct this conserved energy
toward the Self and your Self will be revealed. The more you do this the
stronger becomes your direction and the easier it becomes to abide in your
Self.
***
In the beginning the mind pursues the Self
intermittently between long intervals. As one continues, the intervals shorten.
.Toward the end, the mind is constant in the pursuit and does not wander from
it.
***
The power of the mind is almost infinite. When
there is only one thought all that power is right there.
***
Restless thoughts keep the Great Ones away. A
quiet mind keeps the door open to them.
***
The more you eliminate mind, the more peace you
feel.
***
The mind will never discover the Self because
the mind is the cover-up over the Self. It's only by letting go of the mind
that the Self is seen. You get the mind quiet enough to allow your Self to be
obvious to you so that you may use It to let go of the mind.
***
Eliminating what you are not is growth.
***
The biggest difficulty is the subconscious mind.
We have relegated things to the subconscious, stored them there, and thrown
away the key.
***
If we could make our subconscious fully
conscious, we would be fully realized.
***
Every mind uses the very same unlimited
intelligence. Everyone uses it as much as he believes he can use it to fulfill
his desires. When he learns that his mental limitations a self imposed, he lets
go of them. Then his intelligence (I. Q.) can be raised to the degree that he
knows he has no limits.
***
We are all in the same mind and the only thing
that keeps us from reading the other one is that our attention is too centered
on our own little self.
***
Everyone unconsciously reads everyone else and
thinks that it is his own thoughts.
***
All minds are influencing each other.
***
A high-level mind tunes in with other minds of
high level. A low-level mind tunes in with other minds of low level.
***
Mind is catchy. It's immediately infectious.
***
Thought is a mechanism of limitation.
***
The only intelligence the mind has is what you
give to it.
***
Thoughts smother the capacity to be happy.
***
Every thought causes a demonstration.
***
There is no limit to the number of new ideas
that man can have.
***
Anything man can think can be.
***
You use your mind to still your mind. When you
are meditating, holding one thought, other thoughts drop away.
***
Mind is always seeking external knowledge.
Direct it internally.
***
Introvert the mind and realize to full
realization.
***
The ego-mind struggles for survival and tries to
subvert your direction.
***
The mind cannot give the ultimate answer because
it's part of the ego, part of our limitation.
***
Real knowledge lies just behind thought, which
is relative knowledge, and relative knowledge is ignorance.
***
When the Self, which is just behind the mind, is
discovered, you see that the mind is limited and let go of it.
***
There is a mind that runs this planet. There is
a mind that runs the solar system and a mind that runs the universe. All these
minds are in the illusion.
***
Where is the world without your mind? Is there
such a thing as world when you submerge the mind? The thought of the world
creates it. This whole solid universe that you mentally say is a solid universe
is just your thought that it is a solid universe.
***
Anything your mind is absolutely convinced of
materializes instantly.
***
Mind can do anything with the body.
***
The utmost that the intellect and reasoning can
do for us is first, recognize its limitations and secondly, do that which helps
the quest for the Self.
***
Every thought is an affliction. When the thought
waves are completely stilled there are no more afflictions.
***
Every thought is motivated by a desire for
pleasure or an aversion to pain.
***
Letting go of all attachments and aversions is
letting go of all your thoughts.
***
Thought and desire are the same.
***
The only thing we are aware of is our own
thoughts.
***
What we're seeing out there is our own mind.
***
That which you really want you never forget,
it's always on your mind. Really want to discover your Self.
***
The mind is the brain of the astral and causal
bodies.
***
The mind can be made quiet wherever you are. The
place to do it is right where you are.
***
Don It mind the mind and the mind won It need
minding!
***
The mind is not made noisier, it is just that
you get quiet enough to notice how noisy it is.
***
Everything falls perfectly into line
effortlessly and harmoniously without thoughts.
***
As mind gets quiet, first the sense of
havingness decreases until a measure of security is felt. It becomes less
necessary to have in order to be. Then the sense of doership decreases until a
further security is felt in that one is not the real doer, that the real doer
is a higher power, that one can actually be with much less doing and it becomes
less necessary to do in order to be. Finally your real Self that has always
been in the background steps in and takes over and you feel that there is
nothing necessary any more that you must have or do, that there is no choice
but to only be!
***
Use omniscience, don't use the mind! The goal is
to eliminate the mind.
***
If there are no thoughts then there is no mind.
Mind is only thoughts.
***
If you take away your mind what's left over is
Omniscience. You are that omniscient Being that you are seeking, clouded over
by mind.
***
Mind detached from world and centered only on
Self is Liberation.
***
Depth of meditation is the degree of quietude of
mind.
***
Unless we're eliminating mind, unless we're
eliminating ego, we're not progressing.
***
The more we keep looking into the mind, the
quieter we become.
***
Where the mind is all quiet, there is all
knowledge.
***
Knowing the mind is full Realization.
***
The first thought of all thoughts is “I am an
individual, separate.” In order for there to be a he, she or it, first there
has to be an I. So we create I, and then there are others. Without the first
thought of I there can't be any other thoughts of anyone else. That's the first
basic error, I am a separate individual. If I am separate then there has to be
others, he, she and it. And you start dividing up the One by first becoming an
individual separate from It. Thought first divides and separates you from the
One Beingness, and then creates a multitude of beings and things and all the
relationships. It's all your thought, that's all it is. Let go of thought and
what1s left over is you, infinite, eternal, glorious, all joyous. serene!
***
See the
source of the mind and you will find your Self .
Turn the mind
back upon the mind and it will reveal its secrets.
Concentrate
the mind on one thought and all other thoughts will drop away. Then drop this
one thought.
Learn to
control the breath and you will automatically control the mind.
Eliminate the
ego. The ego thinks' and causes all thought. The ego is the identifier of the
Self as the body.
Surrender the
mind to God.
Eliminate all
objectivity and the mind resolves. Then there is only subjectivity.
The mind must
be eliminated permanently by realizing that it is not real but only an
apparency, an illusion that has its source in your Self.
Where there
is only subject and no object, there the Self is.
***
The prime
purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind. When we hold one thought with
interest, as we hold it, other thoughts keep dropping away. Thoughts of the
day,-what he did to me, what she did, what I should have done, etc., all these
thoughts are active on a subconscious level. As we hold to one thought, these
subconscious thoughts quiet; they become still. They drop into the background,
and that quiets the mind.
Now, the most
important thing in quieting the mind is interest. When you are very interested
in something, you'll override all other thoughts. Likewise, if, with intense
interest, you want to know: What am I? What is this world? What is my relationship
to it? If there's a real burning desire to get the answer, then all other
thoughts drop away and the mind becomes extremely concentrated. Then the answer
shows itself. It comes from within. The answer is there all the time. The
quieting of the thoughts allows us to see it, to see the answer that was there
all the time, there in the realm of Knowingness, the Self.
The starting
point should be a strong desire for the answer. When that desire is strong we
get the answer. That's why man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Extreme
adversity causes in us a desire to get out of it with such intensity that we
concentrate our mind and discover the answer.
When I
started my quest I thought “thinking” would give me the answers. I had a mind
that was as active as any mind could be. But I was at the end of the line. I
had had a second heart attack and they told me I was finished, that I had only
a short time to live, and so I had to have the answers. And even though
my mind was far more active than the great majority of minds, the intensity of
the desire for the answers caused me to hold to one question at a time,
obliterating all else. This concentration did it!
I started
seeking with no knowledge of metaphysics, no knowledge of the way. In fact 1
was anti all religion and all metaphysics; I thought it was nonsense, for the
weak-minded, for people who believed in fairy tales.
But it was
only because of the intensity of the desire to get the answers, I had to
have the answers, that they began to come, and they came relatively quickly.
Over a period of three month’s time I went from an extreme materialist to the
opposite extreme: the material is nothingness and the spiritual is the All.
The wish to
get the answer was so strong, that in spite of my mind being one of the
noisiest of minds, the answers began to come. I automatically fell into things
(I knew no words for them) like samadhi. I would concentrate on a question with
such intensity that I would lose awareness of the world, lose awareness of this
body, and then I would be aware of just a pure thought, the thought itself
would be the only thing existing in this universe. That's absorption when the
thinker and the thought become one. One loses consciousness of everything but
that one thought. That's a very concentrated state of mind and the answer is
always discovered right there.
I started
with “What is happiness? What is life? What do I want? How do I get happiness?”
I discovered that happiness depended upon my capacity to love. At first
I thought it was in being loved. I reviewed my life and saw that I was very
much loved
by my family
and friends and yet I was not happy. I saw that was not it. Continuing, I
realized that it was my capacity to love that gave me happiness.
The next
question was “What is intelligence?” I persisted until Ah! I saw it! There is
only one intelligence in the universe and we all have a direct line to it.
Then I worked
on responsibility and discovered that I was responsible for everything that
happens or happened to me. Creation was something I created!
Finally, I
held the question “What am I?” until the answer presented itself.
And this went
on and in a matter of three month’s time I believe I saw the entire picture,
went all the way, only because of the concentrated approach. I knew nothing
about the subject; I knew nothing about the direction, the way, the path, but I
wanted to know: “What am I? What is this world? What's my relationship to it?”
You discover
that the whole world is nothing but you, that there never was anything but you
all along, because there's only One and you are It! But that isn't the final
state. You come out of it and there's still a certain amount of mind left. So
you go back into the meditative quest until there is no more mind controlling
you. When you've eliminated all the habits of thought, all the tendencies of
mind, you are free; then you can use your mind and you are the master and
director of it. It no longer determines you, you determine it.
At present we
are over 90% of the time controlled by the unconscious mind.
Q: That's the conscious and unconscious mind both?
Lester: Well, the conscious mind is easily controlled.
The subconscious is not because it is not easily seen. It's a mechanism we set
up of not looking at our thoughts. of making them operate automatically. We
did it to our entire body; it's all automatic now. And then we did it to all
thoughts but the thought we're interested in at the moment.
Q: Why is it that we did it to all thoughts except the
one we're interested in at the moment?
Lester: Because we don't want the thoughts in the first
place. so we push them away to the background. We are happiest when there are
no thoughts. Sometimes, when you work with your hands, you’re very happy,
right? Why? The thoughts are quiet.
Q: Then your mind is quieted at that time, or is it operating
on the subconscious level?
Lester: Well, consciously and even subconsciously it's
quieter. We really don’t want thoughts. Thoughts are the things that make us
unhappy; even the happy thoughts make us unhappy because while we are enjoying
something, we're concerned about the possibility of maintaining this pleasure
which we know is not going to last. The thought of the pleasure at the same
time evokes the thought that it's not going to last. Even thoughts of happiness
are limited. The really happy state is the no-thought state; it's the state of
Knowingness and is beyond thought.
We started
with the subject of meditation. Meditation does seem to be a question in many
people's minds who have meditated for years and years. The best type of
meditation is with question. When you just drop into a nice quiet state
without question, you get a good feeling but no progress of getting the
Knowledge.
Q: There isn't any progress when you're just quiet?
Lester: There is in that you're moving toward the quiet
state. And the quiet state is a better state than the noisy state. In that
sense it's a step forward. But the only problem we have now is called
ignorance. We're ignorant of the fact that we are infinite. To get rid of
ignorance we need the Knowledge of our infinity. To get the Knowledge we have
to enquire. So when we go into meditation and just get peacefully quiet,
that's good, -but don't stop there, then get the answers. It's necessary to get
quiet to get the answers. Only the answer to “What am I?” gets us to the top.
That is easy to see, isn't it? So if we want to take the -quickest way, we
start with the question that we finally have to answer: “What am I?”
I want to
relate this to meditation. For more rapid growth meditation should be with
question. Here's where the jnanis get the advantage over the bhaktas. Surrender
and devotion throw us into nice feelings and they're good: But a jnani goes
further; he says, “All right, don't stop there, get the answer.” It's only when
we fully know who and what we are that we're at the end of the road. So the
fastest and best way to meditate is to pose a question, get quiet and stay
quiet until the answer shows itself. Then go to the next one until all the
answers are there.
Q: If we find we aren't making much progress, could we
pose the question “What's holding me up?”
Lester: Sure, you should. It's a good one.
Q: You know I think you had it easier because you didn't
have a lot of preconceived ideas.
Lester: You're right. I was very lucky that I knew
nothing because intellectual knowledge about the subject is an obstacle. The
ego substitutes the intellectual knowledge for the real experiencing of it. I
was very, very fortunate not to have had any knowledge of it.
Q: You also didn't realize that it's as difficult as
most people think it is.
Lester: Yes. However, knowing what you're telling me
helps one let go of that obstacle of intellectual knowledge. I prod you in this
direction, don It I? I say: “Don't believe anything. Start from scratch. Build
up your knowledge on the solid foundation of proof, step by step.” Everyone
must do this.
Q: You can't take someone else's experience?
Lester: Right, you would be working on hearsay, on what
they have said, and the only useful thing is that which you experience. I
relate it to driving a car. If I say I know how to drive a car after reading a
book that directs you to turn the key on, start the motor, shift into drive and
step on the gas, do I know how to drive a car? No, not until I experience it
can I drive a car. It's the same thing on the path; we must experience
everything.
We must, of
course, adopt the attitude that what the Great Ones say is so, that they have
experienced it. However, you must check it out and prove it for yourself. And
the basic Truth is that there’s only one Reality; there's only one absolute
Truth, and that is that this whole world or universe is nothing but God, but
better than that, is nothing but my very own Self. God could be far away; He
could be miles and miles away in cosmic space, but my very own Self is right
here, is something I know about, is something I can perceive, it is my very
own Self! So, using Self as God is far more practical than putting Him out
there, putting Him apart from us. But each one must start from the bottom and
prove this whole thing for himself. As the proofs come, the more they come the
more we accept until we experience the whole thing.
You still
want to hear more on meditation?
Group: Yes.
Lester: Every aid should be a means of quieting the
mind. If meditation is difficult we can prepare the way by chanting. Chanting
puts our minds on the meaning of the chant itself and the thoughts of the day
drop away and that quiets the mind. Exercising the body, doing certain asanas,
etc., do the same thing. Anything that helps is good whatever it is. The basic
thing is to quiet the mind. Being loving and good makes the mind quieter.
The mind is
the only thing that keeps us from seeing our Infinity. The mind is nothing but
a collection of thoughts of limitation. And in meditation we try to quiet that
mind so we can see this infinite Being that we are.
Meditation
should never be passive. We should never try to force the mind to go blank.
Meditation should always be with question for the best results.
The more we
practice meditation the easier it is to do. To get the real deep insights
requires a momentum. When meditation gets to be more enjoyable than things of
the world, then we go at it with enthusiasm and desire for it. And then we just
can't wait until we get back to it. When we get that momentum going, the mind
gets quieter and quieter until this infinite Self is self obvious and just
glares at us and we laugh. Now maybe with all this talk on meditation, we ought
to try it, O. K.?
Q: Just one question, does concentrating on your hands
help to get your mind quiet? It seems to me.
Lester: If it helps, it's good.
Q: It's not harmful then?
Lester: Oh no. There are several centers one may
concentrate on. A good place is up here, between the eyebrows. Concentrating
here takes your mind off other parts of the body. It is the center for the
third eye, the astral eye, the spiritual eye. It pulls us away from the lower
centers of the body when we come up here. Some prefer the heart center. But
anything that helps, helps!
Q: I used to concentrate between the eyes but now when I
do enquiry, I let the “I” sink down to the heart.
Lester: The heart is a good place because it is the center
of feeling, and feeling is closer to the Self than thought. It depends on your
background. If you're a vichara jnani, it'll be the heart, but not on the left
side, on the right side. If you're a raja yogi it'll be between the eyes. When
I did my concentrating it wasn't on any location; it was on wanting to have the
answer. Concentrate on seeking the answer.
Q: I haven't thought in terms of answers. I just thought
in terms of getting there, that's all.
Lester: You see, anything in life that you wanted with
intensity you always got. This goes for everyone. It's the same with the path.
But it's the unconscious conviction that our joys lie in the world that keeps
us away from getting the answer.
Q: It sounds so easy the way you say it.
Lester: The thing that determines the ease is the
intensity of your desire for the answer. That's the crux of the whole thing.
***
This Session was recorded at Self Haven.
February, 1967
A desire is a disturbance of one's natural,
inherent peace and joy. Desires keep one involved in trying to satiate the
desires, consequently detracting one from his constant, natural, inherent
happiness. In short, desire is the enemy of happiness and the source of misery.
***
The more desire is let go of, the less disturbed
the mind becomes allowing it to become concentrated. The more concentrated the
mind, the more capable one becomes of discerning or r realizing his Self.
***
Silence silences the noisy demands of ego
desires and allows your Self to be seen.
***
Solitude is the absence of desire.
***
The absence of desire is serenity.
***
Every time one tries to satisfy a desire he
creates a greater intensity of that desire. This comes about because the
momentary pleasure, which is inhering more in the Self due to momentary
stilling of thoughts, is attributed to the object of the desire and therefore,
one wants the object more and more, vainly attempting to satiate the desire,
which is satiable only in being constantly quiet from thoughts. i.e.,
constantly inhering in the Self.
***
The simultaneous fulfillment of all desires is
in the finding of your real Self.
***
Desire is a bottomless pit that can never be
filled up.
***
Desire constitutes the world and desirelessness
constitutes the Self, God.
***
Desire is seeking the joy of being our Self
through objects and people. The mind originally creates the thought of need,
or lack, which agitates the mind and covers the Self. When the object is attained, the
mind stills, the joy of your Self shines forth and this joy is attributed to
the object, and the mind then goes on seeking the object as the source of the
joy. But the joy being not obtainable from the object, the mind seeks it more
and more from the object and is never satisfied.
***
Desire is the mother of all motion, the
disturber of all peace.
***
The basic mechanism of desire is, first, we
create a lack and then desire whatever is necessary to fill that lack. The
desire creates thoughts. The thoughts cover the Self and this makes us unhappy.
Then we look to relieve that unhappiness by fulfilling the desire which
momentarily stills the thoughts. The stilling of thoughts removes a bit of the
cover of the Self and it's the feeling of a bit more of the Self that we call
pleasure. We wrongly attribute that joy or pleasure to the thing or person
that was used to fulfil the desire to relieve the agony of the thoughts of
desire that were covering the Self. Because of this wrong attributing of the
joy to the person or thing, the desire will never be satiated because the joy
is not in the person or thing. The only possibility of satiety is to remain in
your Self.
***
Fulfilling desire is momentarily letting go of
the agony of the feelings of being limited by lack. This understanding should
help you let go of the frustrating drive of seeking happiness where it isn't,
in the world!
***
Desire is mind disquieted.
***
Recognizing who and what you are instantly satisfies
all desires.
***
We should desire only God.
***
Desire leads only to misery and death.
***
Any desire upsets and disturbs the natural
inherent tranquility and peace.
***
If one will stop thinking of something, his
desire for it will disappear.
***
After you discover that desires are undesirable,
you discover that there is a joy and peace that is ever-constant and more
profound than any joy you have experienced before.
***
Desire is the start of all agitation.
***
A desire is an artificially created lack.
***
Ignorance creates the universe, desire sustains
it, and enlightenment dissolves it!
***
If there were no desire there would be no world
or universe of limitation.
***
Desire is the source of all trouble.
***
If desire overwhelms us it is because we want it
to. Who turns on the desire? If it's in your power to turn it on, it's in your
power to turn it off. The more it is turned off, the weaker it becomes.
***
Desire only growth. Everyone makes the Goal
eventually, but the intensity of the desire determines when and how soon. If
your desire is strong, you think only of that. The doubts then drop a way.
***
Don't suppress desire, actually let go of it. If
you create the desire in you, you can uncreate it.
***
The worst thing to do is to suppress a desire,
any desire. When it is suppressed, from that moment on it will try to express
itself. Recognizing it does not mean we must try to satisfy it, but does
prevent suppressing it.
***
Nervousness is caused by wanting two opposing
things at the same time, one consciously and the other subconsciously. The
battle is resolved when you make the subconscious desire conscious. On the
other hand, if you will know what you are, there will be no conflicts. You can
do that through seeking. It's not necessary to understand the negative. It's
far better to be the positive. Be your Self.
***
Seeking any ego fulfillment is seeking the
letting go of the agony of the concept of lack. Any lack is necessarily an ego
concept.
***
In order to be infinite beings, we must have no
desires because any desire is a limiting action upon -ourselves. If we think we
need something, we think of ourselves as being limited. If you have everything,
if you are everything, how could you want something? You know you don't need
anything and you go through life knowing all the time that you need nothing.
Your attitude is different. With this attitude, should there be a need of the
body, it's immediately fulfilled. You don't have to think about it, it's taken
care of immediately.
***
The only thing that creates thought is desire.
As long as there is one single desire there will be disturbance and lack of
complete contentedness.
***
Any desire satisfied disappears forever.
***
There's an easy way to realization, just get rid
of all desires.
***
One way to overcome desire is to have a very
strong desire for God. And, in the end, you have to get rid of your desire for
God. Then you are It!
***
Every little ego wish is a clamp down on your
freedom which is tantamount to saying every desire is a clamp down on your
freedom.
***
Desire creates thoughts; desire to have or not
to have. Before desire is ego. So ego is the starting point. I'm an individual
separate from the All so I've got to desire to get the All.
***
The only thing that disturbs peace is desire.
***
Internal pressure is caused by desire.
***
When things are approached with pure love there
is no more desire.
***
Desire plants seeds for the future.
***
Decrease desire for the world, increase desire
for the Self.
***
You must get rid of all desire. You can enjoy
without desire. In fact, if you really want to enjoy things, you can enjoy far
more without desire.
***
Desire is the cause of everything. Any time you
have any problem there I s desire behind it.
***
Any desire except desire for liberation is
causing misery.
***
The odd thing about desire is that the more you
try to satisfy it, the stronger it becomes. The more people try to satisfy
their desire by having things, the stronger that desire becomes. People have
more things today than they have ever ad and they are unhappier than they have
ever been.
***
Desire just cuts off happiness.
***
You should
have only one desire, a desire for complete liberation, complete realization.
Any other desire will keep you in trouble. We should try to let go of all
desires. We should not try to fulfill desires. Every time we fulfill a desire,
we strengthen that desire rather than weaken it. I believe that is obvious to
all of us, that we never satiate desires. The more we try to satisfy them, the
more we want of them. So it's better to not satisfy desires and by doing so
the mind gets quieter. When the mind is quieter, we have a better chance to
see the Truth. When we see the Truth we scorch the desire, and this is the
better way, actually the only really effectual way of getting rid of desire.
When you see
the Truth, desires are scorched because a desire is really trying to be your
own real Self through some in direct means, through some thing, through some
person. When you see this you let go of these silly desires because why
struggle through an indirect means to be that which you are? The indirect means
cannot make you what you are, so it's fruitless and extremely frustrating.
Consequently, we have this frustrated world. We're all trying to satisfy desire;
it's absolutely impossible to do it, and we go on and on lifetime in, lifetime
out, until we recognize that desires are our enemy.
Desire is an
admission of lack. If I am the infinite One I desire nothing; I am the All. We
must get back to that state by behaving as one would in that state. The
greatest behavior, the greatest ritual that we can perform, is living as a
fully realized Being would live. Try to attain the state of dispassion, no
attachments, no aversions. Try to attain a state of equanimity, a feeling of
equal mindedness toward every thing, everyone. Try to attain the desirelessness
state. Then you will see that you are the All, that you are That!
***
I thought
that a summary of what we have been through, where we are going, and what there
is at the end might be a good idea for the last talk of this series.
The way I
like to look at our direction is that the ultimate goal of every being is
total and complete happiness with no taint of sorrow whatsoever. We are all
striving for this in our every act, but somehow missing the goal. The reason
why we miss our goal, our target, is simply that we do not have a clear vision
of the target and we therefore are aiming blindly. So long as we remain blinded
we can never attain that goal of perfect happiness.
Someone comes
along and says, “Attention! You have spent many lifetimes looking in the wrong
direction! Stop looking without and look ye within! Only there will ye find
that which ye have spent lifetime after lifetime seeking!” And then you meet
someone like Lester: who tells you,
“Seek ye your very own Self. Therein lies your complete happiness. Stop looking
for happiness in people and things. Here you merely eliminate the pain of the
desire for something, and the relief you get you call pleasure. And .the
pleasure is short-lived because the desire is not eliminated and is still
there, and therefore the pain of it continues to gnaw at you. “
Now the
starting point is you. You must take the way toward discovering you, and only
you can do it. Accept nothing unless you can prove it yourself. Prove it and it
is yours. Prove it and then you can use it.
The
uniqueness of this science, and it is a science, someday you'll see it is the
science of all sciences, is that this is a subjective science. We have to seek
it within; we can't put it out on a table in front of us and examine it. We can
only examine it within our own mind, or better, within our own being. Also, the
intellect does not avail it to us. The intellect can get us in the right direction
to find it. The right direction is turning within, stilling the mind and
experiencing this truth, this knowledge. And only by experience can we get to
know it.
Methods are
many, but the very highest is the method that everyone uses in the final end,
and that method is finding the answer to “What am I?” This quest should be kept
up all the time, not only in meditation, but during the day. While we're
working, no matter what we're doing, in the back of our mind we can always keep
that question posed: “What am I?” until the answer makes itself obvious to us.
Now, any
answer the mind can give us must necessarily not be it because the mind is an
instrument of limitation. All thoughts are qualified; all thoughts are limited.
So any answer the mind gives cannot be right. The way the answer comes is
simply by our getting out of the way the blindness that we have imposed upon
ourselves by assuming thoughts that we are a thinking mind body. When the
thoughts are quiet, the limitless Being is obvious. It's Self-effulgent; it’s
there all the time; it’s just covered over by thought concepts, every one of
which is limited.
So, the way
is to pose the question “What am I?” and quietly await the answer. Other
thoughts will come in, and the biggest difficulty is quieting these thoughts.
When other thoughts come in, if we pose the question, “To whom are these
thoughts?” the answer naturally is, “To me.” Then, “What am I?” puts us right
back on the track again. That way we can continuously keep our attention on
“What am I?”
In addition
to posing this question until we get the answer, it is good practice in our
daily life to be not the doer, be not the agent. Just be the witness! Acquire
the “It is not I but the Father who worketh through me” attitude (which several
in this group already have). This is the main conduct of life that we should
strive for. The more we become the witness in life, the more we become
non-attached to the body, the more we are our real Self.
So, there are
two things I'm suggesting, one is the quest “What am I?” and the second is, in
life itself, be not the doer; be the witness. Let things happen; allow life to
be. That's the way we are in the top state, and the best behavior in life is
that which is characteristic of the top state.
There are
many other things which I'm sure you are aware of: humbleness, goodness,
kindness, honesty, etc. All these things help, but the greatest aid is to be
not the doer 1 but be the witness.
Now, when the
Self of us presents Itself to us, it's a tremendous experience! It's a very
difficult one to contain. We feel as though we're going to burst, because we
recognize our omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence! But just seeing it
once doesn't establish us in that state. However, once experiencing it, you'll
never let go until you reestablish it. You'll continue to try, and you should
continue to try, to get back into that state. The next time, it'll last a bit
longer, the third time, still longer, until finally we are in it twenty-four
hours a day.
When we
attain this top state, we are not zombies, but we are all-knowing and
everywhere present. Everything falls perfectly into line. We move in the world
just like anyone else moves, but the difference is that we see the world
entirely different from the way everyone else sees it. We see our body and
every other body equally as our Self. Likewise, every animal and every thing as
our Self. Seeing everything as “I,” gives us that singular Oneness throughout
the universe which is called God, or the Self. We watch our body moving through
life like an automaton. We let it go its way. And since we are not really that
body, nothing that happens to that body can effect us. Even if it were crushed,
it wouldn't mean much to us because we fully know that we are not that body.
We know our eternal Beingness and we remain That!
So ,one who
has attained the top state is difficult to distinguish from anyone else. He III
go through the same motions of life and whatever he was doing before, he might
continue to do. But his outlook on life is entirely different. He is completely
egoless; he has no concern for his own body. He is interested in others and
not in himself, he is interested in all humanity. Whatever he does has
absolutely no ego motivation. His body will continue to live its normal span
and usually goes out, in the eyes of the unknowing, the same way most bodies
go out, via so-called death and coffin. But the one who was originally
connected with that body never sees any of this death. He sees this entire
world and body as an illusion that was created mentally just as we create
scenes, cities and worlds in our night dreams. When we awaken, we realize
there never was such a thing. And in the same way, when we a waken from this
waking state, we see that the whole thing was a dream and never really was.
That the only thing that ever was, was my Being, the absolute Reality, being
all beingness, infinite, all perfect, all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent.
So, to
reiterate, the main two points that I wanted to bring out today were that
firstly, the very highest method is the quest “What am I?” As we pose this
question in quietness, when other thoughts come in, ask” To whom are these
thoughts?” The answer is “To me.” “Well, what am I?” and we're right back on
the track again, until we get the total answer. And, secondly, the way in life
is to be the witness., to be not the doer. I believe that sums up what I've
been trying to get across up until now. Any questions on this?
Q: To not be the doer, don't you plan? Don't you do
everything normally?
Lester: No, the right way is not to plan. Let it happen.
Let go and you'll be guided intuitively. Instead of planning with thought,
you'll do the exactly right thing, perfectly at the right moment, from moment
to moment.
Q: There is a situation where someone might take a
position of that kind when he hasn't really felt it; for example, he will say,
“I'll just stay in bed until I'm moved.” Meantime his rent isn't paid.
Lester: So, he'll have to move! If we assume that we are
there and are not, we are soon awakened to the fact that we are not there, see.
Bob, I'm talking from a higher level now, the perfect state, where everything
is in absolute harmony every moment. There you never think, and at every
moment you know from within just the right thing to do. You're guided
intuitively each and every moment and everything falls perfectly into line.
Now, if you're not there, of course you have to think; you have to plan.
Q: Well, in practice then, in the beginning, it's probably
a combination of the two where things go very easily, and then there's a hump
in which you have to plan.
Lester: Definitely yes! In the top state you do by knowing;
you just know from moment to moment. One feels “I know it!” That's just the way
it feels and there's no thinking to it, only “I know it!”
Q: I know from my own experience, I slip back and lay
out a plan, but sometimes that plan comes very easily and quickly to me and
sometimes I have to struggle like the devil to work it out, step by step and I
don't know what's going to happen. Other times I just layout a plan and I know
what's going to happen and I have no difficulty with it.
Lester: The word “know” as you use it is the key. You
know how that word feels when you say “I know it!” There's no doubt, not one
iota of doubt there. And it happens. That's the key. That's the realm of
knowingness. Make that all the time. Keep working for it until it comes and
stays. The quickness with which we attain this is determined by the intensity
of the desire for it. The more we desire this top state the sooner it comes.
Everyone makes it eventually. I'm convinced the majority of people on earth
today will probably take millions of years. But anyone of us who is consciously
seeking the way out can do it this lifetime.
The so-called
grace of God is always there also. All those who have made the top grade before
us are radiating the consciousness of perfection to us. We have tremendous
grace being actually pushed our way all the time. However, they have no right
to impose themselves and don't. We have to open ourselves to it in order to
receive it.
We need this
grace. Because of the state of affairs today, man is relatively low. We are
very strongly convinced that we are a limited body and by long habit we are
trying to hold onto it. So it's not easy to let go of this body, and because of
that we need the grace of the Great Ones who in our eyes have passed on, but in
their eyes, they're still here. When we recognize that they are still here, we
can see them and talk to them the way we talk to each other. If we accept them
partially, we can talk to them in a dream or a vision. The way we meet with
them is determined by our acceptance of them. If anyone of us believed that he
could go down to a restaurant and have a snack with Jesus, the way you believe
you could do it with me, - if you had that much acceptance then you could do
it..
Now, some of
us know that He came into this room. He gave a sign proportionate to our degree
of acceptance. If He were suddenly to appear in a physical body in the room, it
would be too much for most of us to accept and therefore He doesn't. But the
way He comes to us is determined by our acceptance of Him. He gave signs to
some here and some did not recognize that He did. However, most of us did!
The point I'm
trying to make now is that we should open ourselves to the help of the great
masters. Jesus and the Great Ones want each and everyone of us to know our
perfection. They can't force it upon us. But their hand is always extended.
It's good to keep this in mind. Then we open ourselves more to the help.
Q: How do you request and receive this help?
Lester: You have to be accepting of Jesus as being
alive, just as much as we are, and capable of meeting with you, the way we meet
with you,-then it can happen. You have to be open to it. The help is always
being sent to you.
Q: Are there words to say, thoughts to carry?
Lester: Yes. But I can't give them to you; that’s up to
you. See, I give you the general principle, acceptance of Him, the way He is.
Don't expect Him to be not Christly because He won't be that. However, He can
appear as a very humble human being in form. Being omnipresent, at any moment,
He can appear to anyone and speak with him.
Q: Lester:,
He will be as Christ, He won't be in disguise, will He? The beggar at the
door?
Lester: No. The only disguise is the one we put on Him.
He would never disguise Himself. He wants to be recognized, as Christ. That's
not His name. The man Jesus had the Christ Consciousness. And we have to accept
Him and His consciousness which is extreme humility, simplicity, no Hollywood
glamour.
Q: Would you define humility?
Lester: Yes. The greatest humility is through surrender:
not I but thou; it is not I, but the Father who worketh through me; everything
I do is God's work, I am not the doer. It is surrender of the ego, the ego
being a sense of separate individuality.
Q: If you surrender yourself as an individual, how about
the other person? I think we mentioned before that we recognize the other
person as ourselves and we treat them as though we are the same. Who is this
other person?
Lester: From where you stand now, the other person
should not concern you. The only thing that should concern us is what we do.
For me, it matters not what your attitude is toward me. You could hate me with
every cell in your body. But it's of extreme importance what my attitude is
toward you. While you're hating me I should love you fully and completely. Then
you'll understand the answer to your question and you will see only the One.
When you separate and then ask what's up here in the One, it just doesn't fit.
When we love,
and only love, we are using the most formidable power in the universe. No one
and no thing can harm us. We can never ever be hurt or unhappy if we would only
just love without any hate. You can never be hurt when you love in the sense
that the love is full, complete, divine love. It's just love with no, not one
bit of, hate in it. It requires turning the other cheek, loving your enemy,
that's the kind of love it takes.
Q: Love is understanding?
Lester: When you love fully you understand the other one
fully. Love is understanding. It's identifying with the other one, being the
other one. Coming down a step, it's wanting the other one to have what the
other one wants, loving the other one, the way the other one is.
Q: Then who is our enemy?
Lester: In reality we have only one enemy and that's
ourself. No one can do anything to us; no one can do anything for us. Someday
you'll see this, that we in our consciousness determine everything that
happens to us.
Q: Then it is our idea of ourselves which is incorrect?
Lester: Right. And that could be made better!
Q: When you say under standing, do you mean under
standing in a logical sense, or do you mean acceptance of them without question
of the reason why they're doing things, good or bad; just acceptance of
whatever they are in an entirety.
Lester: It's acceptance in an entirety. But the real
understanding requires knowledge of what the universe and the world are. When
we see someone doing wrong, we have to know that this is a god-being,
misguided. He's looking for God in the wrong place. Am I making sense? That's
the understanding.
Q: Which in his mind would be happiness, right?
Lester: Yes. He's looking for happiness the way he sees
it. Even a Hitler, in his mind, is doing right, and therefore should not be
hated, but should be loved, -wanting him to be what his real basic nature is.
Now this doesn't mean approving of his program, it doesn't. But whether we
approve or not of his program, loving and hating are two different things than
not approving. of his program. So we love everyone, see them as misguided beings,
forgive them for they know not what they do. They're like children, misguided.
Attain the highest state of loving everyone equally as Christ did!
***
This Session was recorded in
I made the
statement that I would give you the key to maintaining constant happiness. I
was aware that several individuals were dropping in the level of their
happiness and not coming up, which is one of the reasons why I didn't get here
sooner. You see, when you were down and you were frantic, and you thought
things were terrible; I couldn't have communicated with you very easily. Also, if
I had come and you had received this lift and gotten out of it, you would have
said that I did it. This develops a dependency relationship, which isn't good.
You can do anything and everything that you want. You can have, be, or do
whatever you will or desire. And when the disturbance lasts long enough, you
get fed up with it and you let go of it anyway. Then you do it. It's
much, much better when you do it and don't need someone to lean upon.
What the
group would like to know is how to maintain this new found happiness. Why don't
we have it all the time? We should! And so I thought I would give you the
understanding, or the key to the understanding, that will help you develop
happiness that remains.
All right,
now this is the key: When you understand, when you really know what happiness
is, then you're able to establish it. Then you do it more and more until it's
all the time. But the key is knowing what is happiness. When you do know what
it is, you look for it where it is rather than where it isn't. Looking for it
where it isn't is what causes you to drop. Is there any question on what I've
said so far?
The key is
knowing what happiness is, so that you can go directly for it. Not recognizing
what happiness is makes it difficult to establish permanently. So when you get
to see what this happiness really is, then when you become miserable you'll
move in the right direction and establish that happiness.
All right.
what is happiness? Most people call it pleasure but what it actually is, is
escape from pain! What most people call happiness is their getting away from
their pain through socializing and entertainment. It is really an escape! They
cannot stand being by themselves, with their own thoughts. They have to run to
a movie, a nightclub, visit someone, just to get some action going so they are
not facing their own thoughts. When their mind is taken away from their own
thoughts, they feel better, and then call that pleasure and happiness. All
entertainment is actually that! A happy man needs no entertainment and no
socializing. He is content.
However, when
you become free, if you choose, you can enjoy entertainment far more than
before because you are free from the hunger-need for it.
The happiness
that I'm going to talk about now is not the escape-from-misery kind. It is
really the only happiness. It's the joy that results from being your own real
Self. The more we are our real Self, the more we feel joyous. Sense-joy of the
world is accomplished not because of the thing or the person out there with
whom we associate it. It's accomplished by satisfying and stilling the thoughts
of wanting to acquire that person or thing. When we quiet those thoughts, we
feel our Self more so and are happier. The quieter the mind is, the more we
just be, the more we abide as our real Self and the more joyous we feel!
But this is
something you've got to see for yourself, that the quieter you get your mind,
the happier you are. It's good to play with this. Experiment with it until you
see it. Whatever that joy was, it always resulted in quieting of the mind, and
then you felt happy. Seeing this, you will begin to let go of attaching
happiness to people and things. You will begin to see that the joy is only in
you abiding as your very own Self. Then, when you discover this, you're not
going to look for joy where it isn't. You will immediately let go and just be.
And finally, you reach the place where you need no one and no thing to be
happy, you just are happy, all the time!
Is there any
question on that? I guess intellectually it's seen by everyone? Whether you see
it through your own mind's eye or not, you should have it intellectually at
first, then experiment with it, test it out, and you'll discover that this is
so, that every time you feel happy, your mind is quiet and at ease, and that
what you attributed to the person or thing outside of you is something going
on within you. It is a quieting of your mind so that you abide more as your
Self. Then, when you see this, you won It bog down anymore, because the moment
you become unhappy, you'll know just where to look to re-establish the
happiness!
Q: That would be within yourself, wouldn't it?
Lester: Yes, but it's first recognizing that the happiness
is not the external person or the thing, but the quieting of the thoughts of desire
for the person or thing, which allows you to go within and just be your Self,
i.e., just be. When your mind is on things out there, you're not just being,
you're being involved with externals. But I say the key is seeing just that
point, that your happiness is the quieting of your mind through the satisfying
of the desire, which stills the hunger thoughts for the thing and allows you to
just be. When you actually see that in your own mind, you can do it directly.
(You can let go of those thoughts without achieving the person or the thing
and immediately you're happy!)
The prime
overall thing is that you move toward happiness in the direction of where it
really is, in you, not in the externals. In that way you establish a state of
happiness that is continuous. Did I tell you anything new, Frank? I did? Was
that new, Lil? See, I've told you this before many times, but it seems new to
you!
Q: You told it to us but before it was not received.
Lester: All right, before it was just an intellectual
thing or it did not connect and so it's as though it were new now. But, as far
as that goes, I always feel as though I'm saying the same thing over and over
again, from this side, from that side, from another side,-but it's always the
same thing. However, until you see it in your own mind's eye, until you
recognize it, until you realize it, it isn't meaningful to you.
Q: It sounds as though you're saying we should not desire
automobiles, we should not desire homes, we should not desire wives or
sweethearts, we should not desire anything, but become nothing.
Lester: Everything was right but the last part of your
sentence. You become everything instead of nothing. Become everything and you
need nothing. Desire is lack and the consciousness of separation, the source of
all trouble. If you are everything, the All, you need nothing. See, everything
was right down to that last part of your sentence, just reverse that and you've
got it. O.K.?
Q: If we become everything, then we become the wife,
then we become the world, we become everything. Instead of separating
ourselves, we become the other one.
Lester: And that is the greatest of all feelings! That's
the highest love, -when you become the other one. That identity is love in its
highest form. In other words, you think that she didn't break the dish, we
broke the dish; she didn't spend money on a dress, we spent the money. This is
the highest love.
Q: I become the automobile, therefore I don't desire the
automobile. Or, you become everything, you become
Lester: Now, you're going to have to work this out for yourself. You are going to have to
realize that when you become everything and feel that you need nothing, then
the slightest thought for something will bring it to you immediately.
Q: The desire is, “I haven't got.”
Lester: Yes! You create an artificial lack, you create a
lie when you say, “I haven't got.” Desire, causing you to feel “I have not,”
will cause you to have not! Let go of desire and you feel “I have.” This causes
things to come to you.
Q: If I look at the world as though I'm writing a novel
and say I am the characters, I'm all these creatures that I create in my story.
And yet this is what I'm living today, aren't I? I create my difficulties; I'm
writing this story. Instead of doing that, I should say I am the power, and why
bother creating limitations? I don't need to. So, I stop it. But what do I have
when I don't create?
Lester: What do you have when you don't create? Everything
that you really want, our pure Beingness.
Q: I have peace.
Lester: Yes. You are the All, everything is in you.
Feeling that way puts you completely at peace.
Q: Until the phone rings; then I'm right back in my
habits.
Lester: Don't allow a little bell to push you around
that way. Again, I say each one has to realize this for himself or herself, but
when he or she does, then happiness can be made permanent, because then you
look for happiness where it is and you stop looking for it where it isn't.
There's no happiness in people or things. Happiness is our basic nature.
Happiness is our very own beingness. And when we are only being, we are
infinitely happy. Yes, when we are only being, and nothing else, we are infinitely
happy!
Q: In other words. when you have these various things,
like you have an automobile, you utilize that automobile but you have no
attachment to it, in order to attain the feeling of joy. Because if you become
attached to that automobile, then that attachment has some sort of hold on you
wherein you have a responsibility to it.
Lester: Yes. The greater the attachment the greater the
unhappiness. (Likewise, the greater the aversion, the greater the unhappiness.)
It's unfree to be attached to anything. You can’t have things and not be
attached to them. Be attached to them and you are necessarily putting yourself
through unhappiness.
Q: Now, when you're in a state of beingness, that does
not mean that you 're an ethereal being who floats from spot to spot. That
means that you are in that state where you know the Truth and thereby don’t
have to go through all the habits that have been piled upon you by your ego.
Lester: Yes. It's knowing your infinite Beingness that
is eternal and never changes. Then this world cannot touch you. You see it as a
fiction, a dream. You witness it. You move through life with no attachments and
no aversions. Then no one and no thing can disturb you, and you have the
infinite peace and joy that is constant.
Q: When I try to explain this to people they think that
I become a shadow or substance which vanishes from the sight of everybody, or
something like that.
Lester: The only difference between a fully realized
individual living in the world and one who is not is his point of view of
everything. An unrealized person identifies with a single limited body-mind. A
realized person identifies with everything, every being, every atom and sees
them as his Self. He sees the beingness in everything as his beingness.
Q: Therefore getting joy out of everything that happens.
Lester:; No, your very nature is joy. You don't get it
out of everything that happens, your basic nature is unlimited joy. That is
your natural state! No need to get it!
Q: Therefore being in a state of joy perpetually.
Lester: Yes. As long as you don't lock it onto a person
or thing, it's there all the time. But if you say you can't have joy unless you
do or have something, you limit your joy. The natural state is unlimited joy.
This is the real natural state. The natural state is being infinite, but we
superimpose over that all these ideas of limitation, of needs, attachments and
aversions that block out this infinite joy that is natural. If a being would do
absolutely nothing, he would be this infinite Being. He would then be only a
witness.
Q: But you can still put in a hard day's work.
Lester: Oh, yes. You go through life like everyone else.
Q: But it's your attitude.
Lester: Right, you see things differently. You see
yourself as a witness rather than a doer.
Q: It's there but you're detached somewhat from it. It's
an eerie feeling sometimes.
Lester: It's a nice feeling, isn't it? It's eerie
because you're not used to it. When you get used to it, it's dearie rather than
eerie!
Q: Lester: is
this thing really easy, and we're making it hard?
Lester: Yes. You are right! All your difficulty
is keeping yourself limited. You have compounded limitations on top of
limitations and are holding onto them in your thoughts. Therein lies your
difficulty. You must let go of all your thoughts. Every thought has limitation
in it. Drop all your thoughts and what is left over is you in your infinite
happiness, your Beingness. Then you will realize that it is as easy for you to
discover that you are an infinite Being with infinite happiness as it is for
you to discover that you are a male or a female!
***
This Session was recorded in
Why should we have need for this body? If we are
infinite beings, why need we a body? The fact that we were born into a body
shows that we are ignorant of our infinite Being. It's an indictment right in
its own de facto situation.
***
The body is the greatest shackle, imprisonment
that we have, the greatest obstacle we have placed in our way.
***
The only way out of all difficulties is to know
that you are not the body.
***
We came into this world to be a body in order to
learn that we are not a body.
***
The worst habit we have gotten into over the
millenniums is that we are this body.
***
The body is a slow action machine, that's all it
is.
***
The desire to survive as a body is the basis for
all our present aberrated behavior. Everyone wants approval (love), struggles
hard for it, and spends almost all his effort in life to attain it. As an
infant, as a child, in our formative years we believed our parents would not
take care of us if they did not approve of us and we would therefore die! So we
developed perverted aberrated behavior patterns through suppressing our own
wishes and desires in order to get that approval from our parents, which meant
survival. The patterns are so deeply subconscious because of being formed in
the very first days and years of our life and with so much suppression, that it
is extremely difficult to reopen and consciously examine them now. However,
once we know that we are not the body, all this behavior is gone.
***
You fear that if the body isn't you are not.
***
All fear is either directly or indirectly the
fear of the body dying.
***
You're infinite and there's nothing complicated
about that, but the habit of being a body is so strong it complicates and
overwhelms your abiding as your Self.
***
The entire body of misery relates to the
physical body.. The entire body of happiness is being what you are, the Self.
Happiness is exactly what you are. Misery is exactly what you are not. The
natural state is happiness. The artificially self-imposed state is misery. That
is the choice, to say that the body is real or the Self is real.
***
How attached are you to the body? That's how
attached you are to misery.
***
The body is life conditioned. You are life
unconditioned.
***
This body is nothing but a dying mechanism, from
birth till death.
***
If you have a car you do not say that you are
the car. Why then, if you have a body, do you say you are the body?
***
Sleep is the pleasure of non-bodily existence.
***
You actually drop your body when you are in deep
sleep and recreate it in the morning when you wake up. There's no difference
between sleep and death except that after death you pick up a different body
while after sleep you pick up the same body. The time between sleep-bodies is
short and the time between death-bodies is long.
***
Wrong belief that one is a body is the basic
cause of desire and aversion.
***
We shouldn't pay too much attention to the body.
Give it what it needs and no more. Do it without attachment.
***
Because of the extreme limitation of the human
body, the incentive to get free is great. It affords the greatest prod for
growth.
***
To make your body perfect and to live in a
consciousness of the body is not as high as to live with an imperfect body in
a consciousness of your Self.
***
It's a higher state to have a sick body and not
identify with it. And that's why certain Masters do that. They will go through
life with a weak or sick body, all the time maintaining their peace and
equanimity. And they welcome it because it is an opportunity to be constantly
reminded that they are not the body.
***
The body is the disease, not the sickness of it.
***
A perfect body can keep one in bondage as well
as an imperfect one can.
***
If you know that you are not the body, you are
not the mind, so what if they hurt?
***
The body is just a thought. Everything about the
body is a thought.
***
All functions of the body at one time had to be
done consciously before they became unconscious.
***
People are not aware that they run their bodies
entirely. Subconsciously we know more chemistry than all chemists today know
consciously.
***
The mind is the switchboard for the nervous
system of the body.
***
The body is nothing but a robot, controlled by
us. We create it and then say, “That's I. “
***
It makes just as much sense to identify with
this body as it does to identify with a body on a movie screen.
***
“Me” and “mine” are binders to this body and to
pos sessions.
***
Some people who take no care of the body are
very attached to the body. It is our attitude toward the body that counts.
***
When you think of the body as God that is
conceit.
***
If you think you are the body, then make it
perfect. If you think you are the Self, - then it doesn't matter.
***
Body equals pain and Self equals infinite joy.
***
If you think you are the body. you are
distracted by it. If you know you are not the body, the body doesn't distract
you no matter how sick it is.
***
The basic motivational force in physical life is
the desire to survive as a body. (And it is impossible!)
***
One of the basic troubles today is that people
are much too interested in the body. Most people live 99% of the time for the
body.
***
The body is a real jail. There's nothing about
this body that needs glorification.
***
If you want to know how attached you are to your
body, consider throwing it off a cliff.
***
There's no mind in the physical body. It's the
mind of the astral body that operates the physical body.
***
“I am the body,” is ignorance. “The body is not
apart from the Self,” is Knowledge.
***
The body is one of the least things that we can
have.
***
All trouble starts with wanting to be a body.
***
The body operates on the law of cause and
effect, and is an effect of the mind.
***
There is always a decision to leave the body
when we do.
***
Misery is caused only by identifying with the
body.
***
Give the body its due. Keep the body healthy
etc., and then forget it.
***
The healthiest foods are fruits and vegetables
from the flower of the plant. The unhealthiest foods are flesh.
***
Cooking kills the vitality. We should eat fruits
and vegetables uncooked.
***
Exercise is good if one believes it is good.
***
Best method of exercise is seeing cosmic energy
moving in and out of the muscles and body as they are tensed and relaxed.
***
We should see every body as our body.
***
It's all right to be that body if you'll be
every other body. Then you see every body as your Self.
***
You are so convinced you are the body that you
don't want to look away from it and therefore you look away from your Self.
***
You feel yourself as you no matter what body you
have on you.
***
You're only free when you know that you're not
the body.
***
If you want immortality, stop holding onto the
body.
***
Once you know you are not the body, it doesn’t
matter what happens to the body.
.***
Be a body and be forever submerged in misery. Be
your Self and be forever at peace.
***
The body is like a strait-jacket when you see
the Truth.
***
You have the concept that you are only that body
and only through that body can you be somewhere. That's not true. If you would
see the Truth you would see everything going on anywhere right now.
***
When you see you are not a separate individual,
you transcend the physical, astral and causal bodies. Separate individuality
is the cause of body form. You should see your individuality as the one Being.
***
In the process of realizing what you are you
will see all bodies as your bodies.
***
An unusual thing happens, you become all beings.
You give up being one body and become all bodies. But the bodies appear
different from the way they look to you now. They become a flimsy, dream-like
substance.
***
Nothing that the body does should shake you from
abiding as your Self.
***
We should live our way of life so that we are
not identifying with this extremely limited, garbage producing vehicle called
the body. It only cuts off joy because we attach joy to it when really the joy
is nothing but the experiencing of our real Self. Our way of life should be to
be not the body, but be the witness of it.
***
It's impossible to find God if we're accepting
the body and the world as real. When you are the Infinite Self you don't see
bodies, you see only the Beingness in them.
***
To be not the body is a beginning step. As long
as you are trying to be the body you haven't got a chance of seeing the Truth
because the Truth is you're infinite and the body is at the opposite end of
infinity, it's the most limited thing you can be unless you want to be a
stone.
***
Saying “I am a body,” is tantamount to saying,
“I, the limitless Self, am a limited body.”
***
Identify with your body and the extreme
limitations of a body are yours. Identify with your Self and you are all
bodies, all things, all knowledge and power, with no limits, and totally
free!
***
Be not the body and the world is a dream, a
beautiful and perfect dream.
***
There is a physical, astral and causal body.
When you know what you are, you let go of all bodies. When you let go of the
concept of being a body, you go all the way to the top. This physical plane is
the greatest because in it we can transcend all planes and be Free!
***
We have free will to identify with the body or
to identify with our unlimited Self.
***
If you think the body is so great, after
realizing your Self you can make a thousand of them, all alike, all perfect!
***
Die to the body and you die to death!
***
Would you
want one practical key for quickly reaching the Goal, I would recommend that
you take full responsibility for everything that happens to you. We have lost
sight of our mastership and have ~eluded ourselves into thinking we are
victims in a world that controls us, that pushes us around. It isn't so! We are
causing what is happening to us by giving power lour power, to the
external world. If you want to regain your control, you must take full
responsibility.
How to regain
your control? By examining your thinking and correcting it. Develop the habit
of honest introspection by asking yourself, “Wherein did I cause this to happen
to me?” and holding it until the thought that caused the happening comes out of
the subconscious into the conscious plane. Then you recognize your mastership I
that you caused that pleasant or unpleasant experience to happen to you.
The more you will do this, the easier it becomes and the more able you become,
until finally, -you recognize that you were always the master.
Q: Then I, myself, am my own block, and other people do
not influence me.
Lester: Yes. It's not what other people say; if you follow
their thinking it's because you want to.
Q: Yes, because I think they know more than I do.
Lester: I say you know everything. You've got to accept
this as a premise at least, if you want to grow.
Q: Well, I can accept that a part of me knows everything,
but that part of me does not appear to be operating, because my world out there
is not in good shape.
Lester: It does not appear to be operating? You don't
operate that part of you? That is the way you're talking! No, you operate it.
You choose not to use your omniscience, your basic nature. You choose to be
ignorant of your omniscience by saying, “I am a limited mind-body.” That's your
choice. When you choose to identify with your real Self, then you'll see that
you always were omniscient, are right now, and always will be; and you'll stop
foolishly saying you're not.
Q: You mean I can actually make that choice?
Lester::-Yes, not only you can, someday you will. When
you get tired enough of all this limitation you have set up for yourself, then
you'll make that choice. Who thinks all your thoughts? You do! It's all your
doing. What we accept is what we choose to accept. It's always our choice. It
is now our choice to be extremely limited bodies. And when you don't accept
your responsibility for that, you have no possibility of getting out of that
extreme limitation.
Q: I say I want to get out of that limitation and think
I want to get out of that limitation and then when certain things happen I
just don't get out; I'm right there in that limitation.
Lester: What you need to do is not to say it, but want
it so strongly that you override the contrary unconscious habits and do it!
Q: Overriding the unconscious habits is hard to do because
they keep sneaking up on you and you don't realize sometimes you've got them.
Lester: It depends on how strong your desire is for the
thing that you want as to whether the unconscious habits override it. We have
infinite power, infinite will, and when man so wills he's immediately set free.
Q: Gee, that sounds so easy.
Lester: That's the easiest way to do it. Just will it!
And it's possible for everyone of us, because we are infinite and therefore
have infinite will power. And the reason why we don't do it is that we don't
have that much desire for it. We still have more desire to be limited bodies.
Q: I believe that anyone would take the other choice, if
he really had a choice.
Lester: Oh, if you had a choice, pardon me! (Laughter)
You see what's happened? You're convinced we don't have the choice.
Q: No. speaking from experience, sometimes when you
really want something, it seems like the opposite happens.
Lester: Everything you really wanted strongly in your
life you got, because mind is only creative. These are things you have got to
dig out and recognize for yourself. You're getting exactly what you want, as
is everyone. Because you don't look at your thoughts and you call them
unconscious does not mean you don't have them.
Q: I'm afraid of my unconscious, did you know that?
Lester: How does that help you see your unconscious
thoughts?
Q: Consciously I tell them to go a way.
Lester: So they stay operative all the time. Thoughts
have no will of their own. You have the will. Unless you pull them up into
consciousness and look at them, you can't let go of them. When you see them
consciously, you'll automatically let go of them, the ones you don't like,
because you don't like them.
Q: How can you become conscious of your unconscious
thoughts?
Lester: By practice. Just the way you're doing it now;
anything you want to think of comes to your mind. What you are going to say to
me five minutes from now is not conscious right now, it is unconscious. Five
minutes from now you'll pull up what you want. Now if we make it a habit of
pulling up thoughts, we can do it easily. The more we practice it, the easier
it is to do. It's a good habit; saves a lot of unnecessarily living out karma.
Honest introspection works quickly and beautifully like a surgeon with a knife.
We control
the unconscious; we keep back there all that we want to keep back there, and
then when we want it up in the conscious, we pull it up.
Q: You really believe that we control it?
Lester: Do I control your unconscious?
Q: No, I don't think you do it.
Lester: Then who does?
Q: Well, I don't know. I think it is unconscious
control.
Lester: It's your unconscious. Can you remember right
now things that happened yesterday that you're not conscious of? What did you
have for breakfast yesterday!
Q: Oh, ham and eggs!
Lester: All right, a minute ago that was unconscious,
and now it is up in your consciousness, right? Do you have control of your
unconscious? Can you pull things up from it? You did just then!
Q: But, you see that does not have any emotional impact,
what I had for breakfast.
Lester: It had a good emotional impact. You showed you
liked it. However, it does not matter whether there is emotional impact. What
matters is the desire to pull up something from your unconscious.
Q: But you triggered her bringing it up. She wouldn't
have brought that up otherwise.
Lester: Yes, but so can she. She wanted to. If she had
not wanted to she just wouldn't have remembered. Pleasant things are easy to
bring up and unpleasant things are difficult because we have little desire to
bring up the unpleasant.
Q: Do you have to go through this phase of clearing up
the unconscious before you can accept the theory that you are unlimited?
Lester: It is necessary in the beginning and it also
makes for rapid progress. Later, after much progress, you can will it out.
There are basically two ways of growing: one is eliminating the mind, the
subconscious; the other is putting in the positive, seeing who and what you
are.
Q: When you put in the positive doesn't the opposite
seem to take effect?
Lester: Sometimes. However, when you see your real
Beingness you'll scorch the opposite. You'll say, “That's ridiculous to remain
miserable, sick, unhappy, etc.” and you'll begin to scorch it. There is
a tendency in the direction you're asking. If I say “hot” you think of “cold,”
right? If I say “up” it implies “down.” That is in the nature of thought
itself. But I wouldn't use that to imply that we can't wipe out the negative by
seeing the positive that we are, because we can.
Q: Well, I don't know. You see, at the hospital I went
around trying to use light, love and peace because I thought that these were
the 'things that were essential. And it seemed like the more I tried to dwell
on light, love and peace the worse things got.
Lester: Love is something that can't be turned on and
off. Either you've got it or you haven't. If you have love you may say horrible
things to people and they don't mind it. So this thing called love isn't
something we can turn on and off like a faucet. We can only express it to the
degree that we have it. Now, if you have love for these people you would want
them to have what they want.
Q: So what I'm doing is playing an ego game?
Lester: Yes. Can you see it? When you see it, that's
good. Then you will, I hope, let go of it.
Q: By the way, you mentioned before that by bringing up
the subconscious you could eliminate karma. How?
Lester: Karma is in the thought, not in the act. When
you do something, it's the thought that's carried over in the subconscious
that instigates the act next time. Eliminate subconscious thought and you
eliminate future karma. It's the thought that carries over from lifetime to
lifetime. So if you bring the thought up and you reverse it, karmically it's
gone.
Q: I want to know how to control what you think. I do
not feel I can control how I think.
Lester: You do it by first accepting the idea that you
can. Then you try it and you succeed once; when you succeed once then you know
you can try it again. When you succeed twice, the second time is easier. The
third time is yet easier than the first two, etc. The more you do it the easier
it gets. This leads to complete control and freedom.
Q: By control you mean changing your thinking?
Lester: Yes. We control all our thinking. If I do something
wrong it's because I decide to carry out something wrong, that's all. And if I
make it unconscious, I do it. Did I hear you say, “Take full responsibility?”
that's it! If you want to grow you must take full responsibility for everything
you do, for everything that happens to you. Trace all happenings to their
originating thought in your mind.
Q: I still feel I can hurt people.
Lester: You can't. People hurt themselves; you don't
hurt them.
Q: I wish I could finally see that.
Lester: I call you” stupid.” You've got a certain reaction
there, right? It wasn't good, was it? Who made you feel sad? You thought,
“Well, he called me stupid, well, I'm going to feel sad.” All right, now I say,
“You're brilliant.” You thought, “He called me brilliant. I'm going to feel
happy.” But you do the up and down in your feeling; I don't do it. I come out
with a sound “stupid” “brilliant” and you choose the way you feel about it.
It's just a little tiny bit of sound energy that went from me to you, to your
ears, and you felt first sad, then happy. You did all the doing there. Can you
see that?
Q: Well, if I can't hurt anyone. I can't help anyone either!
Lester: Yes, that's true.
Q: This business of when you try to put in the positive
thought and oftentimes the negative seems to be strengthened, is it because
while you're putting in the positive, you're holding onto what you're fighting?
So that all you need to do is just do it?
Lester: Yes. When you want to do it enough, you'll just
do it.
Q: When you do that, you just let go of it. You don't
hold it in mind and it isn't.
Lester: Right! When the conscious wish to let go is
stronger than the unconscious wish to hold on, then you let go. These habits
are very strong; the unconscious wish for them is very strong. The conscious
wish has to be stronger to override it.
Q: Then if you have a conscious wish and you're trying
to accomplish something and you can't do it, it's because you have a
subconscious habit that is blocking you. Well, how do you get rid of that
subconscious wish that I s blocking you?
Lester: By making the conscious wish stronger. Or, by
pulling up the unconscious wish to the contrary and looking at it. When you see
it, you automatically let go of it; you won't hold it down there any more.
Q: I want to meditate well and I can It seem to.
Lester: How many hours a day do you practice meditation?
Q: Three-quarters of an hour in the morning because when
I’m working I can’t do any more.
Lester: How many hours a day do you do the opposite?
Q: An awful lot of hours.
Lester: That's why it's difficult. Now, out of a sixteen-hour
day if you spent eight hours trying to meditate and eight hours in the world,
you'd have an even push for and against it in your daily doing. Meditating is
quieting the mind. Activity in the world is doing the opposite.
Q: But even when during the day you try to think of God
you can't.
Lester: Because you’re mental habit is so strongly on
things of the world and every day you develop that habit further. So when you
take some short time off and try to do the opposite, you don't find it easy.
You've got to take more and more time off for meditating until you succeed.
Q: You mean by increasing the desire for meditation, the
opportunity will present itself?
Lester: Yes, and therefore you will succeed. If your
desire for meditation were intense, you I d be meditating rather than doing
other things. Then you would become able to keep your mind on God while in the
world.
Q: When you once reach Oneness in meditation, do you
regress back into your separateness?
Lester: Yes, when you first see it, it's a tremendous
experience that you'll never forget. But the mind has not been undone and
therefore reemerges. But seeing it scorches a good part of the mind each time
you see it.
Q: The more you see it then
Lester: The more you scorch the mind, until the mind is
totally undone. Then you're in the steady state. You regress no more. It's
possible to see all the way, see the Oneness, by momentarily submerging the
mind. But as long as that mind is not undone it will re-emerge. But you'll
never let go once you drop into that state of Oneness. You'll go into it again
and again until it becomes permanent.
Q: You can't will that?
Lester: Oh yes! Oh yes, by wanting it that much. The
reason why it's so difficult to want it that much is that we have been wanting
the illusory world for so long that we don't let go of the illusion very
easily. Even though intellectually we know the illusion causes the misery,
through long-time habit of thinking that the joy is in the external world, we
just don't let go of it easily.
Q: That's why I say traveling is a fool's paradise.
Lester: Yes, it is chasing rainbows. The ultimate joy is
closer than flesh. How far do you have to go to get It, that which is closer
than flesh?
Q: Right here; wherever you are, that's where It is.
Lester: Yes, that's where It is. It's the “I” of you. Find
that “I” and you've got It. So the place to go is to go within.
Q: Is isolating running away?
Lester: It could be. If one is isolating just to get
away from the world, that's escape. If one is isolating to dive into one's
Self, that is not escape.
Q: How do you know which one you are doing?
Lester: By being honest with yourself.
Q: There's something about being next to nature.
Lester: The nice thing about nature is it gets one away
from worldly re-stimulation.
Q: That's escaping though, isn't it?
Lester: Right. You go out into nature to enjoy nature;
what you're really enjoying is the freedom obtained by the dropping away of all
the unhappy thoughts and pulls of society. And that's escape.
Q: You mean you can't enjoy nature and at the same time
be going within and trying to go Home?
Lester: No, I don't mean that. All joys should be being
what you are. We should never enjoy anything. In order to enjoy something we
have to go into the illusion of separateness. The joy should be independent of
things, independent of people. However,
then one sees
the Truth, one can choose to enjoy, and the closer one gets to Truth the more
one is capable of enjoying. One becomes sensitized and everything becomes far
more intense. But there’s no need to go out and enjoy nature because your basic
nature is joy.
You are the
ultimate joy. Looking for joy would be like me going around looking for Lester:. I am Lester:. I don't have to go out there and look for him. If I am joy
I don't have to look for it out there. There's no need to go out for joy when
it's inside you.
Q: It's simpler to get it in an isolated spot.
Lester: Yes. Even if you're escaping you'll reach a
point where your thoughts will get unbearable; then you'll be forced to go
within.
Q: You're helping us today through throwing back some of
the things we're saying, and giving other things to us, one needs that, doesn't
one, in one's search?
Lester: Yes, it is an aid. The only thing anyone else
can do for us is to point and support us in the direction. And when we are pointed
in the wrong direction, it's very good to have someone re-point us in the right
direction. Mirroring your thoughts back to you helps you see your wrong
direction, so that you may change it.
Q: How do you know if you're pointed in the right direction?
Lester: Intuitively, or by the results achieved. Unconsciously,
everyone is seeking his infinite Self. We call it happiness. When we beat
ourselves long enough and hard enough, we begin to open ourselves to the right
direction. Then a Christ, a Yogananda, a Ramakrishna, a Buddha comes into our
experience. Becoming acquainted with these Great Ones is no accident. They
point the right direction.
Let me
conclude with the following: You are responsible for everything that you feel.
It's your feelings; it's your thoughts. You turn them on; you think them, and
no one else but you doe s it, and you act as though you have no control! You
turn a faucet on your head and you say. “Oh, someone is getting me all wet.”
It's you who's turning on the faucet and getting yourself wet. So your
direction has been, remains, and will be, take full responsibility for
what's happening to you. Then you'll see by looking in the direction of “I am
doing this,” that you are! Then when you see that you're torturing yourself,
you'll say, “My gosh, how stupid can I be?” And you'll stop, and instead of
torturing yourself, you'll make yourself happy.
Now no one is
an effect of the unconscious mind, the unconscious habits and tendencies,
unless he chooses to be. You are cause over the unconscious mind; you set it
up; you're choosing to follow it. The day you decide not to, that day you're
through with it!
It's simple.
When you don It look at what you are doing, it's a forever process of being
miserable. You think miserable thoughts and you feel miserable, and you don't
take responsibility for thinking these thoughts. So what chance have you got
for getting out of it? Once you take responsibility for your thoughts, you've
got control. You can turn them off, change them, put in good thoughts, until
you overcome the bad thoughts. Then you'll drop thoughts. You'll see how stupid
it is to think. All thoughts are things of limitation and you're happiest when
there are absolutely no thoughts. And when there are absolutely no thoughts
you are in the top state. So what’s difficult about that?
Q: The unconscious mind.
Lester: No. It is you! It's not the unconscious mind.
This is the point I've been trying to get across. It's not the unconscious
mind. You would like to make it the unconscious mind. You would like to make it
other than you. That’s why you want the Masters, or you want Lester: to pass a wand over you and do
it for you, but you don't want to do that which makes you happy. You're
choosing to do that which makes you unhappy. Can you see this? It's so simple.
Whose thoughts do you think? Why all these unhappy thoughts? The moment you
choose not to have them. you won't have them.
Q: We’ll look to you and us.
Lester: Look to you, look to you. Look to find out who
and what you are. Only when you know who you are will you know who I am. Only
by discovering what you are will you understand what this universe is. Until
you understand what you are, you can not see this universe clearly. It's a
hazy mist. When you discover who you are, you'll see that this whole universe
is right within you. Like the universe in a night dream is within you.
You must take
full responsibility. Otherwise you have no chance of ever getting out of the
mess. If you attribute the cause to it as something other than you, that not
being true, you can never get out of the mess.
So the day
you decide to do it, that is it! Because! Take full responsibility and have
your Mastership!
***
This Session was recorded in Sedona. February
10, 1967.
A Master is a
fully - realized Being. A Guru (or Sat Guru) is a Master who has chosen to help
others find their Freedom. God, Guru and Self are all one and the same. This
becomes obvious when the illusion is gone and the Reality is known.
There is no
greater aid than to have the guidance of a Master or Guru. To quote the
greatest accepted authority on Monism of the East, Swami Shankara, “No known
comparison exists in the three worlds (physical, astral and causal) for a true
Guru. If the philosopher's stone be assumed as truly such, it can only turn
iron into gold but not another philosopher's stone. The venerated Teacher, on
the other hand, creates equality with Himself in the disciple who takes refuge
at His feet. The Guru, therefore, is peerless, nay, transcendental!”
A Guru may be
in a physical body, or an astral or causal body. The finer the body-form, the
more readily He gets around.
Can everyone
have a Guru in a physical body? No, because rare is the Guru who chooses the
extremist of limited form, the physical body. There just aren’t enough of them
to go around.
Can everyone
have a Guru? Yes, if he will accept a Guru who has transcended the physical
body. Having transcended the physical, the Guru can use His omnipresence and
actually help everyone calling on Him.
Can we sense
a Guru who is not in a physical form? Yes, everyone can, to the degree of his
acceptance. If we are up to it, He can appear and talk with us in a physical
body. If our acceptance is less, He can appear in an astral body and talk with
us, If we have less acceptance than this, He may appear in a vision. Least of
all, we may feel Him as a presence. However, He may come to us and to our aid
in anyone of the foregoing manners. All we need to do is to demand it and then
accept it when it comes.
Is it
necessary to have a Guru? Theoretically, no. Practically, yes! Our present era
is one in which we are so sunk in the apparency and delusion, that superhuman
means are needed. Should we have a Guru? Definitely yes. Can we find one?
Definitely yes. When the pupil is ready, the Teacher appeareth! If you have not
found your Guru, just expect and know that you have contacted Him and you
cannot but experience Him!
How can we
know a real Guru or Master? How can we tell the degree of one I s realization?
A fully- realized Being has an inner peace that cannot be disturbed. He is
completely selfless and His every act is for others only. He is equal-minded
toward all. He is desireless. He is fearless. He is Love that is all
givingness. He expects nothing from anyone. His every moment is oneness with
God. To the degree that one has all the above qualities, is the degree of
one's realization.
***
Getting a Guru we garner the greatest good and
get our godly goal.
***
Although we don't see it, the Great Ones work
more and more with us as things get worse in the world. Don't lose your head.
Keep yourself open to them and you will be safely led through.
***
On the stage of earth a Realized One play- acts
a character as a human and knows Himself as divine. He sees no contradiction
between human and divine. He merely sees the world as in Him rather than
external to Him. The unrealized one sees the world as external.
***
It is hard to judge a Master by His behavior
because He is free to be any way He wants to be. He can even choose to be
human. The top state doesn't exclude the limited states. It takes them in, too,
without being touched by them.
***
To the degree we have reservations about the
Master or Teacher, to that degree we cut off His help.
***
If one’s ego feels it can dominate the teacher,
the teacher has no chance of helping.
***
When the pupil is ready, the Teacher must
necessarily appear.
***
When a Master in this world looks around, He
sees His body and He sees all bodies around Him, but He knows that every body
is His Self, -that's the difference. He sees every body as much His body as His
own.
***
Just point of view, -that's the only difference
between a Master and a non-master.
***
For a fully-realized Being, His outer activity
does not disturb or effect His consciousness. Likewise thoughts do not disturb
His consciousness.
***
I think the hard thing for disciples of a Master
(in physical body) to see is that the Master is in the world and not of it,
that His body is the least part of Him.
***
You are always pointed in the Direction when you
are with the Wise.
***
You think a Master in a physical body is more
effective because you are unable to see Him in His finer body and therefore
think He is not with you.
***
The greatest of all aids is a living Teacher who
has realized. Why? Because, although we all potentially have infinite power,
the more we realize, the more we can exert this power. When a living Teacher,
who has realized something, is trying to convey that to another one, He puts
all His power behind what He is saying to help the other one realize it. He
sees the other one as a limitless being, gives him an inward lift, points and
sets him up to receive that which is being said, and uses the power emanated
to effect the realization.
So, the greatest of all aids is a Teacher who
has realized what He is saying. The next greatest aid would be reading His
words. There's a definite import to His written words. That's why I say that we
should read only fully-realized Masters. Everything that They have in writing
is intended and calculated to give the reader a realization. The written word
carries the original import of the One who said it.
***
As to behavior in life, the very best behavior
is imitating that of a realized Being, because that is conducive to giving you
His realization. When you're acting it out, it points you in the direction of
seeing that which you're acting out.
***
Stay with your Master and be with your Master
all the time by constant thought of Him and by constant reading of His words, as
though He is talking directly to you.
***
The Masters are living to give us realization.
But if you don't accept this, Their love does not allow Them to impose
Themselves on you.
***
All the Masters are at every moment helping us
to see who and what we are.
***
A savior is a servant who serves.
***
A Master's behavior is completely selfless.
There is a total self-abnegation in a Master.
***
A master feels like a servant.
***
A Master does not interfere with the lives and
ways and wishes of others.
***
Masters seldom give advice. They give principle.
***
It's not that Masters mind the world, it's that
the world minds them that causes them to withdraw.
***
There's no realized Teacher who wouldn't want
you to listen to all other Masters. They want you to listen to any realized
Being, because They all see Themselves as the same. But They don't want you to
listen to anyone less than a realized Being.
***
All Masters are exactly the same Self with
different names.
***
When you can accept every Master as your Master,
that's good. Then, when you can accept every person on the street as a master,
you're almost there.
***
Every fully-realized Being that comes into the
world, in order to come in, must assume some desire and karma. If you don't
have some desire you cannot stay.
***
Masters will go through life with a weak or sick
body, all the time maintaining their peace and equanimity. They welcome it
because They use it as a constant reminder that They are not the body.
***
For one who's in a body, it's nigh onto impossible
to look on a Master as not a body.
***
Christ is against nothing. Love is
all-accepting.
***
Masters never reject, They only accept.
***
A Realized One doesn't enjoy bliss, He is bliss.
***
The Guru helps set the background for
realizations - the peace.
***
A Master is a help in that He points us in the
right direction and reminds us of the direction when we want to be reminded.
***
Reading Their words is association with the
Sages.
***
A fully-realized Being is inactive in his own
consciousness. To others, He appears active. He looks at His Self and other s
look at His body.
***
It takes a Master to understand the behavior of
a Master, right? If you could understand His behavior, you would be like Him.
***
Any time you get totally absorbed in any saying
of a Master, you make contact with that Master.
***
There are no limitations to a Master. He can be
one body; He can be a thousand bodies. A Master can actually have a thousand
bodies, and talk through the thousand bodies at one time to a thousand people,
a thousand different people. There are no limitations on a Master.
***
There is another thing you ought to be convinced
of now, that the Masters are a 100% correct!
***
Masters, isolated, are doing far more good for
the world than presidents and kings are.
***
A Realized One, being unlimited, may or may not
use the mind.
***
When we start on the path, we start with much
confusion. We don't recognize that what is out there is only that which we
have set up. The Teacher we look up to is in our consciousness and only there.
However, when we look up to a Teacher, we humble our ego, our ego being the
only thing that prevents us from seeing the Truth. Looking up to a Master puts
our ego into the background and we take our direction from someone who knows.
Now the outside Master or Teacher will always
point us inwardly to the Teacher of all teachers, our very own Self. This
doesn't become apparent at first. When we allow the Teacher out there to become
successful enough, He shows us that the Teacher has always been right within
us, that the Teacher has always been our real Self. So that, in the end,
there's only one Teacher, the Teacher within, your Self.
***
When you're moving in the Direction, every Guru
and Master is supporting you, yes, everyone of Them.
***
If your mind is on a fully-realized Master. He
works to pull you over.
***
The place where saints are is right where “I
am.” So when you find out what you are,
you'll see the “saints come marching in.”
***
Read the words of a Master. Better, imagine His
saying them to you. Best, hear Him saying them to you as you read them!
***
Truth is Truth and all Masters speak
identically. It appears different because They tailor it to suit the hearer.
***
The Teacher is only as effective as is His
conviction that the other one is a Master.
***
When you know your Self, you know everything. A
Master knows far more about every field than the top world authority in that
field.
***
When an individual becomes a Master, He operates
by intuition. He doesn't need to think.
***
Just one Master could help every single one of
the nearly four billion people on this earth at one and the same time because
Masters are unlimited and omnipresent.
***
What is night to all humans is day to the
Realized. What is day to all humans is night to the Realized. What the human
sees the Realized doesn't see.
***
To the Realized One the world may be likened to
a moving picture on a screen. He sees the changeless screen as the substratum
of the action. The unrealized man takes the moving pictures to be real, and if
he would investigate by grabbing hold of the moving pictures, he would discover
the truth, - that it is just a changeless screen. Grab hold of your Self and
discover the changeless substratum of the world!
***
A Master sees nothing but the one Self which
others chop up into millions of parts.
***
Since Masters are Beingness, they can never not
be. But Their Beingness is other than what you attribute to Them. Beingness
has no body or form. Beingness is unlimited. Form is limited to the form.
***
A Master has equal-mindedness toward all beings
{even animals and insects}.
***
When one is around a Guru, if one gets quiet and
digs for Truth, whatever one is aiming for, he will get through the assist of
the Guru. He gets it through the silent teachings, which are the very highest
of all teachings. This can also be done from afar!
In the end the teaching has to be in silence
because it is an experiencing thing; it's not a verbal thing.
***
A Master sees us as Himself, as His very own Self.
There are no others to a Master. There's just one infinite Being. This helps us
to see what He sees.
***
You can meet the Master s in body when you can
accept meeting Them just as much as you can accept meeting me.
***
You cannot invoke a Master without His coming
in.
***
As we are
approaching Christmastime again, I would like to say a word on love. As you
know, the real love, the divine love, is a feeling of givingness with no
expectation of receiving something for it in return. When we attain to this, we
see and feel nothing but the most enthralling love everywhere and in everyone.
We taste the sweetness of God and are effortlessly locked in harmony with Him.
We are intoxicated with a joy that defies description.
Loving God,
loving All, loving everyone is the easiest and most natural way to attain full
realization. It requires no give up, as it is an expanding of our inner
feeling of love to encompass and embrace all, everyone, everything living.
Expand your love, for your family, for your friends, for those of your country,
for those of the entire world. Expand it until there is no more room for
expansion and then remain eternally intoxicated and one with God!
Love is
basically an attitude. To express this attitude, we do so at Christmastime with
greetings and gifts. As you give, do so from the bottom of your heart and
discover hat it is the giver that is most blest. Having been away from you for
sometime and knowing that you have been meeting and communing weekly, has
anything come up that you might want me to clarify?
Q: We just said what we individually thought, and in
that way we reached for a better understanding and I think it helped.
Lester: All right, “reached for a better understanding,”
see if I can tie in there. We're moving toward a Goal that is unlimited. We
must become totally free. We have been moving in ups and downs; and our lives
have become much better and happier. Yet as we feel there is a distance to go,
right? To date, as a group. I would say that you have mastered much of the
principles as applied to life. You've learned how to let go of a certain amount
of limitation; you I’ve learned to accept the positive; you've learned to
accept the power of thought; you've learned that you are the creator in your
life; and of course the thing that goes along with that is that you have
increased your capacity to love. As we expand our consciousness, our love
automatically increases. Likewise, as our love increases, so does our understanding
and wisdom, have so far gained are not all- satisfying; that even though life
has become happier, it still isn't full, complete. Anyone take any is sue with
me so far?
Q: Not a bit.
Lester: All right, the path we're on is from here on
until we make the goal, -total Freedom. That's the first point I'd like to
make. Second, we can do this in this lifetime! Generally it takes many,
many lifetimes for the great majority of those seeking to make it. However, we
can do it this lifetime, for two reasons: First, we are an unusual group, i.e.,
rare are the ones wanting this quickest, most direct way. Second, we have the
right direction to make it this lifetime. Then, if we ever come back in the
future it will be by choice, not by necessity. Those of us who very much want
to help others might come back just to help others. But that's a matter of
individual choice. The main thing is to achieve the ultimate state.
Now, becoming
master over life is really a basic and necessary step through which we learn
that rather than victims in life, we are the masters. Then after we master the
ways of making our environment the way we want it, we look beyond. No matter
how happy we make our life, so long as it’s involved only in everyday living
itself, it will never fully satisfy us because our rea1 nature is that of being
infinite. Are there any questions on that?
Now I'll go
into what I think should be our direction in the future. We must become more
universal. We should let go of our own livingness to the point where we can
live outwardly more for others. If we are universal beings, we must behave like
universal beings. “Every human being is me” is the way we should “You are me”
is the attitude ee should have towards other people.
I used the
word “attitude.” We can't help people much by giving them things; there's just
too much needed and we do not have it. But we can give them that which is much
more than things. We can begin to give them the wisdom that we are getting. Our
attitude should be one of wanting to help everyone who wants help.
Never help
those who don't want it; that would be imposing on them. We should try to help
just those who cross our path and ask us. We don't have to extend ourselves
looking for people as they will just fall into our experience. They'll ask us
questions and as we give them the answers, we'll find that certain people will
feel that we are giving them the right answers, that we are helping them and
they will ask for more. And it's really an obligation to help those who come to
you sincerely seeking the right direction. Remember, “You are me.”
The irony is
that we begin to live more expansively, thinking less of our little self and
more of the other one, we really help ourselves. The worldly see it
differently. They would probably interpret it as we helping the other one. But
there is no other one to help but ourself, and we actually get the greatest
benefit. By helping others we help ourselves toward the Goal. We will never
make it unless we have an attitude of love and a feeling of compassion, of
oneness with everyone, with a wish that they too know .what we know.
So, to
repeat, we have gotten to the point where we have learned how to better control
life and make it happier. Now we should try to make it happier for others who
want it. This does not mean stopping our own growth; that we never do. We keep
working for our own further growth, - by helping others. Any questions on that?
Q: I feel that I have to work for a living and I've got
to pile up so much money or so much goods and that if I give some body else
something, well then I won't have. Isn't that basically wrong?
Lester: Yes.
Q: Because, in reality, I don't have to work for a living,
isn’t that the first thing I have to know to get rid of that idea that I have
to work for a living?
Lester: Yes. However, we should feel that we would like
to give away what we have; and this is the way you'll feel later on. You'll
just want to give away everything; you'll have to control yourself. The world
is in such a state that people think all they need is things, and if we try to
provide things, we're not really helping them; we're confirming that they
cannot provide for themselves. It's not things that they need; it's
understanding. Just look at the wealth and the accompanying unhappiness in our
country today.
Q: That is a little different slant which is very important.
Giving them things without giving them the power to be the thing they
really want is not giving them anything..
Lester: Yes. Comparatively, things are small when wisdom
is gained.
Q: But you see, I don't demonstrate this. We have come
to the point where we have an easier life, a happier life,-I feel I can talk
for all of us, - but certainly, at times, we sure fall on our faces.
Lester: Some of us do, but why?
Q: Because we think limited thoughts?
Lester: We're trying to be happy in the business of
everyday livingness itself only, aren't we?
Q: I, speaking for myself, would say, “Yes.” When a deal
goes through, I'm happier than when it doesn't.
Lester: Right. Try to not be the doer. Let go and let
God. Be happy at making others happy.
Q: Because, in Truth, all there is, is God perfection.
But I put my fingers in and mess it up, don't I?
Lester: Yes, you do. But you don't have to.
Q: Just let go and let God?
Lester: Yes, why don't you do it? Why don't you let go
and let God?
Q: I would say habit is in my way.
Lester: It's habit. all right. but why allow the habit
to run you? You’re living in a world of separation; there are you and people
and deals. If you see the Oneness, you begin to live for others; you see them
as you.
Q: But the others that I see come to me because they
want things. I never had anybody come to me and say. “I want peace.”
Lester: That's your consciousness. Expect to meet people
who want peace. Then peace seekers will come into your experience.
Q: You spoke of love and compassion. Define what they
mean.
Lester: Love is only understood when you love. Basically,
it is the attitude of givingness, with an understanding of and an identifying
with others. Compassion is understanding what the others are experiencing
without sharing their misery and with a wish to promote its alleviation.
Q-: Love as
far as I feel then, should be wanting for others the same as I would want for
myself with no feeling of “I am limited. “
Lester: Yes.
Q: This group is trying to rise high.
Lester: All right, what should we do now since life has
become happier? The next step is to live more outwardly, more expansively; live
for others, or, live more for others. This, in another way, is seeing G” J
everywhere and in everyone. Feel that everyone is you because there is only one
Beingness, -you. There is only God and God is All. Therefore, that which I am,
my Beingness, is God!
* *
(This Session was recorded in
One who is
not in some way helping others is injuring them. This “some way” is basically
and generally in thought. Any thought other than one of good will or good
wishes toward anyone, is injuring others and therefore injuring oneself.
The above is
effected through the interconnection of all minds and by the fact that the law
of compensation, i.e., karma, is affected in the thought, whether the thought
is carried through into action or not.
* *
Your helping
others is more by your attitude of how much you love them, than by your
behavior.
* *
When you love
you are very constructive whether you are in action or not. Just feel love and
your thoughts will be those of love.
Thought is
far more powerful than action. Thought
is the basis of action. It is the initiator. It comes before it. It determines
action.
* *
The degree of
the lack of recognition of the woes of others is the degree of one's ego. The
more one knows his Self, the more compassion and desire one has to help others.
* *
The more you
are capable of loving, the more you are helping the world.
* *
All minds are
interconnected, interact and interreact. The more an individual increases his
love, the more everyone is helped.
* *
Your thought
force either helps or hurts the world's spiritual progress and is consequently
hurting or helping yourself.
* *
He who is not
helping the world's upliftment is helping its degradation.
* *
The greatest
good is done by the person who best understands himself.
* *
Everyone can be
helped in every situation that involves more than one person, and no one has to
be hurt when love determines.
* *
When you let
someone know you are doing something for them, they are obligated and return a
“thank you.” When they don’t know and don’t return, then the Infinite returns,
overflowing!
* *
When I give
and you give back, you stop me from receiving a blessing from the Infinite.
* *
It's helpful
to you to help others, provided there's no ego motivation behind it and that
it's done without attachment.
* *
A high being
sitting in a cave somewhere all by himself is doing much good for the world by
his sending out powerful thoughts of love and peace.
* *
To the degree
that we know the other one is perfect. to that degree we are effective in
helping the other one.
* *
Charity is
aiding and abetting the lie that God will take care of the sparrow but not man.
Charity is
saying. “You can't help yourselves.
* *
Charity is
good and necessary for one who is at that level of givingness and havingness.
* *
The greatest
thing we can do for others is to help them to help themselves.
* *
Blessed is
the giver because he is the happier, if he gives from his heart.
* *
To
the degree you straighten out yourself you may help others. Again I say, you're
not going to help others any more than you help yourself. But try to help
others because that will help you to help yourself.
* *
You don't
need any special training to help others. You do it naturally, from your own
state of beingness.
* *
Everyone is a
teacher teaching at his level. He does it unconsciously in his daily
relationship with others
* *
The
greatest givingness is not in things. The greatest givingness is your attitude
of love.
* *
Giving out
money is like giving out snake protection (the snake and the rope concept). The
greatest giving is giving the understanding that there is no snake to protect
yourself from.
* *
Have an
attitude of givingness. It's not how much you give; it's your attitude. Some
people give to hospitals etc. to get their nameplates on them, and that is the
extent of their reward.
* *
Whatever we
do we should do with a desire to serve.
* *
Serve with
the feeling that it is not you but the God in you who serves.
* *
The giver
should say “Thank you” and the receiver should say “You are welcome.” (The giver is the more blest.)
* *
The less ego
we have the more we know the perfection of others. And it's to the degree that
you know they're perfect that you support them in their being perfect.
* *
A completely
giving person always has whatever he wants.
* *
We help
mostly by raising our own state of being.
* *
The higher
you go the more you lift everyone.
* *
When you're
holding good thoughts, you're sending out good thoughts to everyone.
* *
When you're
helping others, where's your attention?
* *
Selflessness
is an excellent yardstick to measure the state of beingness of an individual.
* *
Givingness is
also a good yardstick. One's state of beingness is proportional to one's
feeling of givingness, one's wanting to give.
* *
Does a Master
ask things from the devotees, the disciples? A Master is all-givingness.
* *
Our feeling
of givingness should be equal toward everyone. Giving to someone who likes you
is ego motivated. A Master has equal-mindedness toward all.
* *
Anyone who
has spiritual pride is only giving out words, and the other one picks it up as
words with no import or authority.
* *
To help
another one you have to equate him to you, i.e., not think you are spiritually higher.
* *
When one
understands, one sees everyone equally a Master.
* *
If everyone
lived only for others, that would right the world. It would make it a utopia!
* *
When we live
only for others, then we're at the top.
* *
Any and every
relationship should be for the purpose of helping the other one attain
realization, or for your being helped in attaining Realization.
* *
Service to
mankind will get you full realization if you do it with no interest in the
fruits thereof.
* *
I see there
are several doctors in our group. A doctor who is already trained in the field
of healing becomes a better doctor when he seeks for deeper understanding of
life and finds more of the basic causes behind the life in a body. Now, getting
into the personal life of a doctor, I'd say, “Gosh, you're in a sick
business!" And you’re seeing this sickness is unhealthy for you unless
you, in your mind, reverse all this sickness that you apparently see.
Q: Well, that's the one question I had for you tonight.
I don't know how you knew that.
Lester: I wasn't conscious of it. When I let go and let
God, the questions in the minds of the listeners usually get answered.
Q: I feel this very strongly and how do I reverse it?
Lester: You see, the mind is only creative and it creates
the pictures we hold in mind. Having a picture of sickness we tend to create
sickness unless, as we see it, we mentally reverse what we are seeing.
Q: Would you define what you mean by
"reverse"? I had a patient today, for example. I’d like to reverse
the whole incident, or I'd like to see none of the imperfection, see only the
perfection of God. But when I looked at the patient today, it was very
difficult for me to see any perfection.
Lester: You're in a most difficult situation. It's easy
for me because I have been doing it for 16 years. When people say, "Oh,
this is bad, and this hurts, and the doctor said that…" I hardly hear it.
I become aware that they are telling me there is imperfection. I see that they
are trying to convince me of an illusion. I look at them and I know the perfect
Being that they really are and I immediately reverse the apparent imperfection
by seeing their perfection. The Truth of our Beingness is absolute perfection.
The more you study the truth of Perfection, the more you will realize and know
it, the more you will see what they say is an apparency and the more able you
will be to take care of it. But it's going to take a knowingness on your part
of the Truth behind this world. That Truth is its beingness, its existence
(which is the source of its apparency).
Q: Well, you say exactly what I read but I have not had
the realization of it.
Lester: Because you are so much with the apparency as
being real. It makes it extremely difficult to see the absolute Perfection that
actually is, here and now. If you've read Goldsmith, I guess that what I'm saying
is very familiar to you. However, you must discover the real You in order to
discover the apparency of the world.
Q: Yes.
Lester: Let's take the snake and the rope idea, have you
heard that? We see a rope on the road at dusk; we think it's a snake. The
moment we think it's a snake, we're very involved in fear and want protection
from this snake. There's quite an involvement so long as we think it's a
snake. Now the reality is the rope; the illusion is the snake, and that is
compared to the world. The world is the snake; the reality (the rope) is just
behind it and
is the basis
for it. So long as we keep looking at the illusion of the world we do not see
the reality of it. It requires getting quiet enough with oneself to see the
Reality, the basic Reality being "I Am That I Am.” We are that infinite
Beingness of the world. And what is required is quieting the mind enough so
that this infinite Beingness that we are is self-obvious.
When you
discover that you are a perfect Being, then you will know it. When you see your
real Self, then you see that the Perfection that you are is omnipresent. And
this Perfection is the rope, wrongly seen as the snake. So what is necessary is
to stick to this path, meditate, dive within, dig within until you see the
Reality of you. When you see the Reality of you, you'll see the Reality and
perfection of the world. And although it now looks like many bodies and much
separation, when you see the Truth, you'll see an absolute Oneness wherever you
look. You'll see nothing but you wherever you look. You'll see that this whole
world is in your mind. You'll see it's your universe. You created it just as
you create a world and people in your night dream-world. So, to sum it up,
you're in a very difficult situation because of your profession but that
doesn't make it impossible. If your wish to discover the Truth is strong
enough, you'll see it.
Q: When you see it and that so-called "ill"
patient comes to you, you don't see that at all; you just see Perfection?
Lester: Yes. By your knowing he is perfect, you help him
drop the image of illness that he holds in his mind. If people come to me and
tell me of body ailments, I don’t see the ailments; I don't hear the ailments.
As they're telling it to me I'm mentally saying, "You are perfect."
You can do this as well.
Q: And you're speaking of the perfection of the spirit.
Lester: I'm speaking of the perfection of the person I'm
talking to. The sick body is an illusion. The person is real.
Q: You mean the twisted…
Lester: The distorted body is an illusion. But until you
see it, it doesn't seem that way. Take a mirage on a desert where we see water
in the mirage. If we never check it, it always seems to be water to us. If we
go over to the spot and discover it is sand, from that point on we know the
water is a mirage. The next time we see the mirage, we still see the water, but
with this great difference: we know the water to be an illusion. Until we
discover the reality of the body and the world, we are looking at an illusion
as real. Discover the real you, your Beingness, and only then can you know the
reality of the body and world.
Q: In dealing with a patient, if I see the Perfection,
that helps me. By seeing the Perfection, am I helping the patient?
Lester: To the degree that we know the Perfection of the
other person, we support the other person in knowing his Perfection. To the
degree that he accepts it, is the degree of his healing. When these faith
healings or instantaneous healings happen, it's because the one who had the
sickness within him sees the perfection, and there's an instantaneous healing.
I can't have
a sick body without having a mental picture of sickness. It's impossible to
hold anything in the body that's not in the mind. The body is composed of
carbohydrates, minerals, etc. It is only matter. It has no intelligence. We are
the intelligence; we image and hold the life of the body. It's impossible to
be sick without holding that sick picture in our minds of course,
unconsciously. If it were conscious, we would correct it immediately. Being
unconscious, it's difficult, because we are not looking at it.
Have you seen
spiritual healings? Have you seen so called "miracles"?
Q: Yes.
Lester: Well, then you know it is possible. It's done
simply by the individual, who's running the body, mentally changing things,
that's all. The instant we change the mind - picture, the body changes. But
again, because the sick picture is unconscious, is the reason it's difficult.
Q: How can we become, first, aware of our unconsciousness
and make it conscious, and secondly, how can we help the mind visualize much
more perfectly that which we wish if we do not know Perfection ourselves?
Lester: To become aware of our subconscious we must
engage ourselves in the practice of honest introspection. The more we turn our
attention within, the more we become a ware of our subconscious thoughts. When
we become aware of any subconscious thought, we are able to do what we want
with it as it is now on the conscious plane. The more we practice this, the
more proficient we become.
We get to
know the Perfection by looking in the direction of where the Perfection is.
The Perfection is in here where we are, where the "I" of us is. So,
first, we have to direct our attention inwardly; we have to pose the question,
"What am I?" until the answer comes. When the answer comes, you know,
and you know you know. And to get the answer to "What am I?" it's necessary
to still the thoughts. The thoughts are the noise blanketing the Truth. The
thoughts are concepts of limitation and there are many of them constantly
bombarding us.
Q: Yes, yes, when I've sat quietly I've had this
experience. How can you make the mind quiet?
Lester: Intense and persistent desire to discover what
you are. When your interest in knowing what you are becomes stronger than your
interest in this world and body, then your thoughts of the world and body are
quieted and you discover that you are not the mind I that the mind is an
instrument you set up and is other than you. Then you are in control of your mind.
Intense and persistent desire is the key.
Q: The reason I asked this is because I've come to a
point in my life where I've made it real for me that nothing that happens in my
life that is bad or good is outside myself. In other words, I create this If
something is wrong. I originated it. I'm responsible for my life; I'm creating
my life from moment to moment. Now I've come to this. I accept it. I take full
responsibility, but I'm stuck. I've seen this, but now I want to go beyond
this. I want to break the barrier you see what I mean?
Lester: Yes, you want to go further. Taking full responsibility
is an excellent means of growing, because you will get to see your mastership;
you will get to see that whatever is happening to you, you created.
Q: Oh! Yes!
Yes! Definitely, I
agree.
Lester: All right, you first become master over
matter and body is part of matter, then you become master over mind - now this
is the part you want.
Q: Right.
Lester: When we are master over mind, then we are a full
Master. So you keep on until you gain that mastership. In the Eastern teachings
they call this “tapas,” or discipline.
Mastering the mind is consciously changing your likes and your dislikes;
walking out into the cold and not minding it; walking into a high temperature
and humidity and feeling comfortable; having pain in the body and not being
bothered by it.
Q: That's conscious suffering?
Lester: No, you don't have to suffer when you can do
this. When you know you're not the body and the body pains, you know the body
is in pain but it just doesn't bother you. Just as when someone else's body
hurts, you do not feel it because you do not identify with it. If you would
identify with that other body, you would feel the pain of it.
Q: Yes, I understand that. I've come to a point where my
body might be hurting me and I say, "My body is hurting," but in my
mind, I feel good; this is what I mean, I feel good. I had tremendous disorder
this past week; I misplaced a few things and I went through such a mess and I
was observing myself constantly, but behind the whole thing there was something
that was always - you know, O.K.
Lester: Always O.K. All right. There's a well-beingness
behind the whole thing.
Q: Right, now how do I get to it and hold it?
Lester: By continuing to do it you develop it more and
more until someday it remains permanently. You'll have complete mastery over
the mind and then you're a Master. Are you your mind?
Q: Am I my mind? My answer to that is partly intellectual
and partly feelings and I think that no. I am not my mind, but I am the life
behind it.
Lester: Yes, that is the right attitude to take. The
mind is a composite of thoughts. Who thinks the thoughts? You do, see. So you
are other than the thoughts if you are thinking the thoughts. Continue what you're
doing; continue working to master the mind. The more you do it, the more you
will see that you are not the mind; the more you will see what you really are.
You've got a
wonderful method. Take full responsibility, then work to master the mind. If
you can have pain in the body and not mind it by saying, "I am not the
body," and the pain gets to be dull. What you are actually doing is moving
out of that body. You're moving your center of consciousness out of the body.
Most of us put our center of consciousness right within the body and we are
imprisoned by it. But it is possible to operate the body from outside the body
and this is what we should do.
We should see
the body as other than we. Then, as a puppet, move it around. And this practice
will get you to the full knowingness that the body and mind are external to you
and are at your command. And when you see this strongly enough you'll throw the
mind out; you'll work in the realm of omniscience, which is just behind the
mind. You won't need to think any more. Everything will be known and perfectly
in tune. Every action will be a right action because you'll be initiating it
from omniscience, which is perfect. The mind is imperfect because it takes tiny
bits of omniscience and lets them filter through it.
Am I
answering your question?
Q: Yes, you are. The thing, I guess, that has stopped me
is my desire to experience supposedly some of the psychic phenomena that come
with development. In my studying and reading I became interested in astral
projection, or the ability to see the aura, because I was a doubting Thomas.
But, something in me has grown that needs no proof but still I would love to
experience just for the sake of experiencing one of these things.
Lester: Getting interested in these psychic powers is a
wrong approach. Being interested in the powers one might develop the powers.
Then using the powers without having your understanding up to them, you will
misuse them. You will use them too selfishly and they'll boomerang and hurt
you, your growth, and the powers, causing you to lose the powers. This happens
to all psychic people who develop beyond their level of understanding. So I
suggest that you develop your understanding until all the powers naturally open
up to you, and then if you choose to use them, you'll use them rightly and you
won't be hurt.
Someday we
all go back to recognizing that we are all powerful, that all the powers are
ours, and they happen with no effort. When you try to develop these powers it's
extremely difficult because you need to use effort, right?
Q: Right.
Lester: The state in which all powers exist is the effortless
state. And the reason for that is it's the ego concept with its concept of
limitation that requires effort. In omniscience, omnipotence we need no
effort. If we are the all powerful Self, there is no effort needed. It's also
in the idea of letting go and letting God. When we let go of our little ego-
self, then we can let any miracle be, and it is instantly effected without
effort, by just letting go and letting it be. Does that make sense?
Q: Yes, very much so.
Lester: So developing powers isn't something we should
strive for. And when they do come, should we get interested in powers, then we
are interested in the external, illusory world. Powers are simply taking the
external material world and working it short cut. We work the world
miraculously just by eliminating time, effecting things instantaneously.
Q: When you say you picture a perfect body, what do you
picture as a perfect body?
Lester: Well. I never suggested that you picture a perfect
body. That's picturing the perfect trap and prison. There is no better prison
than this physical body. However, if you're going to image yourself as a body,
image a perfect body, an ideal body, completely free from pain, distortion,
imbalance, etc. Can you picture that? It's hard for you because you've
experienced so much imperfection in body, but you can do it.
Q: I have personal problems and if I could be just a little
specific I might get past this point. I had a patient yesterday who is a
Jehovah's Witness, who would not allow blood to be given him. They did the
surgery too supposedly save his life and through out the surgery, which was at
least three times longer because of complications, he lost at least half of his
blood volume, which is close to the point of no return. I am in surgery taking
care of this patient.
Lester: Is it your responsibility?
Q: Yes. I have the problem of thinking. "Well, it's
his business; if he wants to die, let him die." But I can't do that. Am I
doing a wrong thing by using my desire? All I said was, "God, you take
care of him and I'll just be your helper." That's what I did.
Lester: If you did that, it works, doesn’t it?
Q: It does work. Am I imposing my will on anyone when I
do that?
Lester: Not when you let go and let God, you're not.
Q: I don't want to impose my desires on these people.
Lester: You are not imposing your will when you let go
and let God. If you can do that, you're a great, great doctor.
Q: Thank you, now I want to find out if I am doing that?
Lester: You know by experience. That man could survive
even if he lost all his blood, if you let God take care of it. Everything is
possible to God.
Q: That's what I did. I don't know how to pray. I don't
know how to say the prayer for this patient.
Lester: Yes you do, your prayer is "Whatever is
best for him should be." The prayer is there all the time; you don't have
to voice it.
Q: That's what I've said and I didn't know if it were
sufficient.
Lester: It's sufficient. The prayer is there whether you
voice it or not. He's alive, isn't he?
Q: Yes.
Lester: When a person decides to die, no one but no one
is going to keep him alive. We can't keep anyone here who has really decided to
leave. And you've seen the opposite where the body has had very little chance
of surviving yet the person lived. See, it's the individual who's running the
body who really makes the decision. We can only guide and support them.
Q: Is there a subconscious desire to leave?
Lester: Yes. Also, we all have preset the time when
we're going to leave.
Q: Oh, we've already preset it. Can we change that
presetting?
Lester: No, but you can transcend it. When you transcend
it, you do not die. You consciously and by choice leave the body in a manner
that you choose.
You can't
change the karma of the body. That's a law we set up and it goes on and on. In
trying to work out karma, we are creating karma. The only thing we can do is
rise above it. When we get above it, if we want a body, we can make a hundred
bodies. But when you get above it, you're not that foolish to limit yourself
into a little physical body. The most extreme limitation that you can impose
upon yourself is the state we call physical. And when you get above it, there's
no need for it. You've had your lesson. If you want a body, you'll use an
astral body which moves around instantaneously and if it is damaged, you will
instantly straighten it out.
When you get
above the physical body, unless there's a reason, and there could be, for you
to maintain one, you won't maintain a physical body. So, to answer your
question, you can't change a preset course. But you can get above it where the
body becomes like a puppet to you.
Everything in
the physical is cause and effect, action and reaction, and this is called karma,
the law of compensation. When we know this it makes life easy because we do not
fight it. Now this can help you in your profession. Everything is going to be
exactly as it has been predetermined by us. We can't change anything in this
life. We can just change our attitude toward it.
However,
there is a free choice. It is to identify with this physical body or to
identify with our real Self; that's the free choice. When you identify with
your real Self, everything is perfect. When you identify with the body, you
necessarily subject yourself to untold body misery. Worldly life necessitates
pounds of misery for every ounce of pleasure. But we're so steeped in the
misery we don't know really how much misery we're in. We reach a tolerance
point at which we can tolerate very much. I guess you know that from your
experience.
So the thing
to do is to properly identify with the infinite Beingness that you are. Try to
accept the physical state as an illusion until you actually see it that way.
When you see it that way, you see it as a game, and you play that game knowing
that it's only a game.
Now all these
things cannot be done intellectually; you have to experience this knowledge. If
you accept anything I say just because I say it, you're just harming yourself;
you're working on hearsay. You must experience this yourself; you must prove it
out yourself. Then it becomes your knowledge and is useable. The only thing I
can do is to point out the direction, the way to get this knowledge.
Q: Other than what you've told us tonight, how can you
heal yourself except with realization?
Lester: To relate things relatively, if a person can
spiritually heal himself, he should; it's instantaneous. If he can't, he should
do it mentally; it's from instantaneous to quick. If he can't do it mentally,
he must do it physically; he must go to a doctor. So we use that which is
available to us. I suggest to people that they see doctor s because that's the
level of healing that they need and it will help them. Doctors are necessary,
as necessary as they are today. You wouldn't have this large medical field if
it weren't necessary to help those whom the field is helping.
Q: I've read in so many writings that the state of celibacy
is necessary for realization. Is this true?
Lester: This thing we call happiness is merely the
infinite Beingness that we are experiencing to more or less of a degree. The
real Self we are is infinite joy. And if we would take it only directly from
where it is, that's all we would have. But we miserly take it in tiny amounts
through external means by assuming that we need something; we are not whole;
we are not complete; we need something out there to make ourselves complete;
and we create a want, a lack, which, when we fulfil it, the thoughts for it
drop away, and when our thoughts drop away we remain at that moment more in
our real Self. And that's what is called happiness, joy.
So, any time
we are seeking joy in the world we are fooling ourselves into thinking it's out
there, creating a need for it, satisfying it and feeling a bit of pleasure,
which is only a relief from the agony of a desire. But we are trapping
ourselves into thinking that the thing out there gave it to us.. What we did
was to still the thoughts for it, create enough mental quietude to allow the
Self to be a little more, and that's what happiness is. Now we have to give up
all that seeking for joy externally. So it is not only sex, but it is
everything out there that we credit as giving us happiness. Point one.
Point two.
Giving it up and intensely wanting it can be as mentally disturbing as having
it. What we have to do is let go of the desire for it, which seems impossible
for most of us. So the best thing to do is, rather than fight it, be moderate
and keep digging for the Truth until someday we get the understanding of what
that joy was that we were having in sex. And then we see that we are always in
a state of joy that's higher than anything that sex ever gave us and it's no
problem to let go of it. Then, if you try to enjoy through sex, instead of it
giving you joy, it takes a bit of it a way, because you're limiting it through
the sex act. So the main thing is be moderate as much as you can; stay away
from it as much as you can, and as you get your realizations you'll get to a
place where you'll let the whole thing go because you've got the joy all the
time that you were trying to get through sex.
Now the
pleasure we get from sex is merely being more aware of our Self by the stilling
of the thoughts. There are more suppressed desires and thoughts over the many
lifetimes on sex than any other thing in life, so that when we satisfy
ourselves sexually, we still the greatest number of subconscious thoughts.
Q: You mean we have brought thoughts into this life from
past lives too? And we have to quiet all of them? Mama Mia!
Lester: Eventually you get to the place where you can
drop the whole remainder of the mind. To sum it up, celibacy does not give
realization. However, you won't get realization without it and also the
dropping of all desire. But as you grow it gets easier and you reach a point
where it's very easy to let go of sex. It's silly to tell someone to let go of
sex who's so involved in it that he can't. A person like that has to be lifted
to the point where he is able to let go of it. I guess there's another reason
why people are down on sex. Originally we created bodies mentally. In the
Garden of Eden we decided to do it the way the animals were doing it. And we
got caught up in that. And it's a mess.
We are now on
the way up. We'll reach a state where again we'll let go of the animal way of
procreation and two physical beings will get together with one astral being and
create a third physical body into a family. And when we do it that way we don't
lose our memory of the past. And someday we return to that, here on earth.
And so,
desire for sex is a thing that has really run us down lower than anything else.
And unconsciously the race knows it and makes it evil. It's such a stupid
approach we have to sex; "its evil,"-and yet we all come in that way.
But people don't see the overall reason why and therefore distort it. Eating
food is evil if having sex is evil. The evil thing is creating lack and then a
desire for something, and keeping ourselves bogged down in this delusion. So
I see food as evil as sex, if either one of them be evil. The thing to do is to
attain the desirelessness state. No desire, no needs, and then you are in the
happiest state.
Q: When I have nothing to do the rest of the day I ask
myself, "Well, what am I going to do? Want to go to a movie? No, I don't
want to go to a movie. Want to go visit? No, I don't want to go visit." I
don't want to do anything; so I force myself to do something to fill my time
because what am I going to do, sit?
Lester: Yes, and dig into yourself to learn more of what
you are. The more you learn what you are, the happier you will be and therefore
your restlessness will drop away. And this can be a joy beyond anything in the
world.
Q: Then it's not necessary to be coming back and coming
back? One can do it in one lifetime?
Lester: Anyone can do it in one lifetime. This is a
great advantage that we have that we are not aware of. There are a small
percentage of the worlds in the universe as difficult and as gross as our
world. And because it is so gross and it is so difficult, the incentives to
get out of it are the greatest. Therefore we can go all the way back Home from
where we came, all the way in to infinity, this lifetime.
* *
This Session was recorded in
Attitude and action in our daily life should be
consciously used for growth all the time. When so used there is no time when
you are not growing. It is an excellent way of constant and continual growth.
Remember, when you are not growing, you are regressing.
***
All attitude and action should be in the
direction of helping yourself and others toward Realization.
***
Have an attitude of harmlessness toward all
beings and do not want them to behave as you would like. The same thing said
positively would be: Have an attitude of love toward all beings and
allow them to be the way they are.
***
To every action there is an opposite and equal
reaction. This is the law of compensation, also called karma.
***
Daily toil is a waste of time unless you continuously
use it to learn what you need to know from the resistances of it. Square it
with love, take full responsibility and the resistance melts. The less toil and
more quest and realization of Self, the righter the direction and the easier
becomes living.
***
Every act and every attitude is a step forward
or a step backward.
***
Everything that we do that is not in the
direction of the Self forestalls the continuous bliss and sustains the misery.
***
Determine the goal of your life and then find
the shortest road to it.
***
Everyone is doing exactly what he or she wants
to.
***
It isn't right for us to tell anyone anything
unless they want us to.
***
Don't waste your time socializing; use it
realizing.
***
It matters not what you believe or do not believe,-it
does matter what you do.
***
Anything that you do that is not directly
related to growth is a waste of time.
***
You can only be interested in negativity if
negativity is interesting to you.
***
Never evaluate for the other one; let the other
one do the evaluating for himself.
***
“I’ll try” means “I think I can't.” That's why
trying doesn't accomplish anything but trying. Rather than try, do it!
***
If you can't do it yourself, how can you tell
someone else how to do it?
***
Nothing happens to us that isn't caused by us.
***
“I can't” means “I won't.” Everything is
possible.
***
Hurriers are worriers and worriers are hurriers.
***
Everyone is right as far as he goes.
***
The more you act out the law of mutuality the
more capable you are of carrying it out naturally.
***
Praise is destructive. It encourages and
develops ego.
***
Every act and thought that is not for the good
of others creates a bondage, a limitation, that must necessarily materialize.
***
Attitudes are far more important than actions.
***
No matter what happens to a human being, no
matter what it is. the heaviness is caused by his attitude toward it.
***
When anything bad happens to you, know that only
you are causing it. Then you can change it.
***
Trying is an excuse for not doing.
***
If two people want to fight, should we stop
them? If it is mutual, it's right for them.
***
Economize your time. Minister only to your
needs. Don‘t waste time creating things beyond your needs.
***
Spend your time in search of ever-new joy or
bliss. Then rest in the eternal serenity of bliss, night and day.
***
Dependency is deadly for growth.
***
A dependency relationship does not allow you to
think for yourself, admits you are dependent on another human being, and
prevents you from seeing your infinity. Conformity is dependency, is having to
do what others do, wanting their approval. An independent person is always an
oddball, not understood by society.
***
Everything you do is with your inner motivation
and is motivated from your inner state of beingness that you have attained.
***
All action is ritual.
***
You've got to read behind people's words.
***
Life in the world should consist of only two
things. that which helps us grow, or that which will help others grow.
***
Crying is motivated by a feeling that we cannot
do. If we feel that we can do something about it we have no grief. Our thought
goes to doing it rather than thinking, “Oh, I can't. I'm helpless.” If you
thought you could do, you wouldn't cry. If you have the determination that you
can do, you won't cry. It's good not to give in to grief. Cancel grief when it
comes by affirming that you can do.
***
There's no such thing as a mistake, we do it!
There is no such thing as an accident, we do it!
***
To be interested in things outside of yourself
you must get your interest off your little self.
***
You shouldn't support people in their
weaknesses, it boomerangs.
***
Any advice comes back to you karmic ally.
***
If you explain something, do it through the
other one's point of view.
***
That which you embrace becomes a part of you.
***
It's so much faster for your growth to know that
only you can do it for you.
***
There's nothing bad; there's just making errors
on the way back Home.
***
Advice is ego playing God.
***
Outlook differs according to the sight of the
person. In gross eyes, all is gross. In mental eyes, all is mental. If the eye
(1) becomes the Self, the eye is infinite and all is seen as your infinite
Self.
***
Attitude toward a child and an adult should be
the same.
***
Behavior is general. We don't behave one way
with one person and another way with another.
***
Everything one does is motivated from one's
basic motivation, therefore one behaves similarly in all situations. Only a
freed person doesn't. That is why a freed person is an enigma to others.
***
Your behavior with the world will be the same as
it is with your parents.
***
One is a fool who doesn't use the experience of
others. It is a wise man who learns from others' experiences.
***
Your attitude toward anything will be your
blessing or your curse.
***
We look for confirmation of our feelings,
positive or negative. Better look for the reality of things.
***
Fully trust a crooked person and he will be
honest with you.
***
He who excuses, accuses himself.
***
Don't defend yourself, reform!
***
Sympathy is something we should never feel as
sympathy is supporting the other one in his misery. Compassion is understanding
him and wanting the best for him.
***
If they think that sympathy is love, you have to
grant them their right to think that. When they want sympathy there is nothing
you should do. You can't join them, so you just let them be.
***
Complexity is the lack of understanding.
***
Tension is caused by wanting to go in two
opposite ways at the same time.
***
Being a skeptic is good if it causes you to
prove things.
***
Non-attachment is the way to happiness. Disown
all things from your heart while taking care of them. Consider them borrowed
for use only. Use them with gratitude.
***
Perform material duties with service. Otherwise
you are limiting yourself, your consciousness, your growth.
***
When you act in the world, you shouldn't care
for the fruits thereof, If they are good, O.K. If they are bad, O.K. It
shouldn't matter how it comes out. Whatever you do don't have attachments or
aversions to it and you will transcend this world.
***
Action does not cause bondage, but the sense of
doership does. It is the wrong identifying of yourself as the doer of the
action that causes bondage.
***
It doesn't matter what we do in the world so
long as we remember what we are.
***
If your interest is in God you should talk only
God. If one is on the path one should never talk about anything but God or the
things necessary in living. Other than that the lips should be sealed. Talking
not about God sends you in a downward direction. Anytime you are not talking
about God, you are actually talking about the opposite.
***
Nothing said should ever bother you.
***
Anything that bothers you is not outside you.
The bother is within you.
***
Rebellion is better than the inability to rebel.
Be st is acceptance with no wish to rebel.
***
Gratefulness is a very joyous state. Want to be
always happy? Maintain a state of gratitude.
***
Have no doubt and you can do anything.
***
There is no doubt when you have radical reliance
on God.
***
See no obstacles and there will be no obstacles.
***
He who gets elated necessarily gets deflated.
***
Everyone should be your friend. We've got to
attain equal-mindedness toward all beings to reach the top.
***
Our attitude should be the same toward all life.
***
Almost everything that we do lessens God.
***
When all are included, one is not deluded.
***
There is one thing we cannot do and that is to
give up our mastership. We only blindly believe we can. We blindly give our
power to others to hurt us.
***
Discussing good actions and bad actions is
discussing whether you should be good in the illusion or bad in the illusion.
Realize that there is no illusion!
***
When your understanding is high enough, you see
only confirmations of truth in everything you hear, see or read.
***
Isolation does not give quietude. Elimination of
thought does.
***
Escape, by moving away from problems, is not
quietude. It's momentarily escaping the disturbance only to meet it again.
***
The only quietude is within. Get to the place
where no one and no thing can bother you.
***
The highest compassion is to know that no
compassion is necessary.
***
Rightest action is completely selfless.
***
The two greatest things you can do are to keep
up the quest of “What am I?” and to be not the doer but be the witness.
***
The greatest
act is to only be.
***
Beingness is
higher than doingness, and doingness is higher than havingness.
***
The more you just be, the more you
realize that you are the world, everyone and every thing. The more active you
are, the more you are being limited by the particular act you are involved in.
You are that personality involved in that act doing that particular thing which
is quite infinitesimal in the realm of infinity! The greatest action is in the
realm of inaction, being the All. A master is aiding every being on this
planet. By his seeing every person as a master he is supporting them as being a
master. So seeing and supporting nearly four billion people as masters is quite
an activity, isn't it?
***
A contented
person needs no action. One who is not content must do.
***
In Reality,
there's nothing to be done, nothing to be achieved. If you can realize that,
you've got it made!
***
The best behavior is that which is in accordance
with the way a master would act, dispassion, seeing all as equals, being the
witness, being not the doer. Maintain the state which is natural in the
realized state!
***
Be
what you really are! Be your Self!
***
You can be,
- when there is no striving!
***
All behavior should be that which is
characteristic of the egoless state or the state of the Self: changelessness,
equal mindedness; seeing only the Self, seeing only perfection; having the
same attitude toward good and bad fortune, identifying with all, indifference
to praise or censure; having joy only in your Self, having complete passivity,
complete humbleness; being not the doer, having desirelessness, dispassion,
non-attachment, forbearance.
***
We perceive
the world through our physical body, more specifically, through our five
physical senses. If we perceive the world and our physical body through our
physical senses, then we cannot be the body vehicle that we are perceiving
through, it being an instrument that we are using. Our prime object is to
discover the perceiver.
Say to
yourself, "I am not this body, I am not this mind, -what am I?" In
the background of all seeking and thinking, always keep this quest going.
The more
difficult the world is, the more incentive there is to seek the true Happiness,
-the Self. When life is easy, the incentive is not as strong. This human,
physical life that we are now in, is the most difficult of all living that we
will ever experience and therefore presents the greatest opportunity for growth
and realization. However, if one does not seek the Self and goes along with the
world, then one’s delusion and ignorance increases, and that is the extra
hazard of being in this difficult world.
When things
get worse, if you lose your head the Masters cannot help you. If you don It
lose your head, you can see it as' a motion picture and grow through it.
* *
The world has
a slave consciousness. Man is convinced that it is necessary to work for a
living and therefore it is. Were this not so, nature would freely supply all
needs.
* *
If you want
to know how much hatred there is in the hearts of total Americans, look at the
present conditions and the war. However, we are not going backwards
spiritually; we are advancing, in spite of what you see. We have been in a
docile state of deep apathy holding subconscious thoughts of hostility, and now
we are moving up and out of it. This is shown by our ability to express our
hostility. Expressing is higher than suppressing. And this is what is happening
in the world. You see it throughout everything today. The people are growing.
However, the
important thing for you to know is that there is nothing out there in the world
but your consciousness. Let go of hostility and war and see the peace and
harmony just behind it. A Master, a Christ, sees no hostility and destruction;
He sees the Truth. He sees God as all. Now, if God is all and God is perfect,
where is there imperfection? In Truth, in Reality, there is none. You must get
to see this. You have to start with the correct assumption that God is all and
God is perfect, and if you look through that consciousness that is all you will
see.
* *
We should not get too interested in this world
if we want to know the truth.
* *
The more you want and have of the world the more
you let go of your limitless joy.
* *
The things of man are not the things of God. And
man wants to foolishly hold onto the things of man.
* *
The world is nothing but a grinder-up of bodies.
* *
Desires bring us here and keep us coming here
until we tire of it and have no more desire for it.
* *
To play with this world, to try to make it a
good world, as is generally done in metaphysical teachings, is fruitless as far
as Realization is concerned. However, it is useful in giving us a life that is
more conducive to seeking the Truth.
* *
Accepting people's limited ideas of the world is
injuring the world (and yourself).
* *
Accepting worldly limitations adds your force to
them by your validating them.
* *
Education today is mis-education. We are taught
limitation and illusion. The most important things are not taught. Colleges
have no courses on the most important subjects: happiness and love, and the
life-principle itself.
* *
What we call knowledge in the world is
ignorance. Everything that man is trying to learn is constantly changing, so
therefore, all of it is incorrect. That which is true never changes. The
knowledge of your Self requires dropping all knowledge of the world.
* *
The world authorities are generally those who
don’t know.
* *
The more multiplex one is, the more multiplex
the world.
* *
When we want to change the world, it is the ego
playing God.
* *
People set the vibration of a place.
* *
The whole world is thrashing, dashing, gnashing,
gashing and slashing, which in the end, results in ashing.
* *
Exclusiveness is a blight on the world. Oneness
is its salvation.
* *
You cannot exclude even one percent of the
people in this world and attain Realization.
* *
A frustrated person is one who attempts to do
and carry out things by himself instead of letting the forces of the Infinite
do it.
* *
The real history of the world is not a series of
dates, battles and events. It is the continuous story of its spiritual growth.
Someday the history of this world will be rewritten correctly by a Master, but
not until the world wants it.
* *
Clairvoyance and TV are similar except that
clairvoyance is on a much higher frequency.
* *
People are like dogs with a mean master. No
matter how much the world beats us we keep coming back for more.
* *
The world has moments of pleasure with far more
pain between.
* *
Chasing after joy in the world is an extremely
frustrating thing. Has anyone attained full satisfaction in this world?
* *
Never let anyone know or tell anyone your
weaknesses. People accept us at our own values and their mind goes to work to
support the concepts.
* *
Our vision of the world is our own. No one sees
this world as any other one sees it.
* *
If the world pulls you down it is because you
have its negativity in you.
* *
Weather is caused by the total of all people I s
consciousness.
* *
The world beats you until you know your Self.
* *
There is no such thing as a good world. It’s the
extremist limitation man can impose on himself. It is the helliest hell that he
can live in.
* *
The world is a grand graveyard. Everything in it
dies or disintegrates.
* *
If the world is real to you, you are all the
time validating ego.
* *
All knowledge of the world is knowledge of
delusion and must be let go of for Realization.
* *
The highest enjoyment in the world is a mere
pittance compared to your natural inherent state of joy.
* *
The realer the world, the greater the misery.
The realer the Self, the greater the joy.
* *
There is much more to this world than meets the
physical eye. That which the eye sees is the least.
* *
The world is only God chopped up into little
nothingnesses.
* *
The world is one long misery when seen as world
but eternal joy when seen as your Self.
* *
The world is powerful only because we have been
in the habit of it for a long, long time.
* *
Progress in the world lifts us from the physical
agonies to the mental agonies. The world is a trap, attempting to trap
infinity into finiteness, -an impossibility!
* *
The true view of this world is intense joy. The
deluded view is misery. See the world aright and have nothing but joy!
* *
The Absolute Perfection is above the perfection
of the world.
* *
The only good world is a transcended world.
* *
When you take your attention off the world, you
can see what you are.
* *
If you do not know the world is in you, how can
you let go of it? If the world is out there, what can you do about it?
* *
Any pleasure in the world is a momentary ego
satisfaction.
* *
The world is a limitation no matter how high you
go, until you see the truth of it.
* *
People who have enough spiritual understanding
don't need laws, don't need parliaments.
* *
The only way to get a good society is to get the
individuals composing it good.
* *
All legislation is to control acts resulting
from selfishness. When all are selfless, no laws are necessary.
* *
In the not-too-distant future, the president
will be the highest spiritual person in the country, the vice-president the second
highest and so forth down.
* *
The world as world is one long sadness. The
world as Self is one constant joy.
* *
World equals misery. Self equals joy. The cause
of misery is that you think the world is real. The cause of joy is the knowing
that the Self is real.
* *
In the world we are seeking to know the truth
about the world as we see it. This is tantamount to wanting to see the truth
about a lie. There is no truth, no changelessness that can be found in the
world. Only within our Self can we find the truth of the world.
It should be obvious that with all the
tremendous increase in knowledge of the world acquired in the past 25 years,
man has become less happy rather than more happy. Any knowledge other than
knowledge of one's Self is not right knowledge. It is because of the aforesaid
that our authorities of today are of muddling minds, are constantly changing
their knowledge and theories. Someday they will discover that they are about
90% wrong. Only the knower of his Self can be correct in the knowledge of the
world. He can change the 90% to 0%.
* *
The world is a play act. You have written, in
your imaginative mind, the script, the acts, and the actors, and yourself as
one of the actors. Recognize this and dwell in your authorship.
* *
The limiting of infinity gives the appearance of
matter and energy.
* *
You have to master the world; otherwise, it is
master over you.
* *
If there is anything in the world we like or
dislike, it is master over us.
* *
Use the world to transcend the world. Look at
your attachments and aversions to it and drop them.
* *
Not seeing the world as it is, is an aversion to
it.
* *
You have to start mastering the world because
you are convinced the world is master over you. You must see that you are the
one who determines it. That makes you master over it. The next step is to
become master over your mind and then you are a Master. (It's a nice feeling
when you start mastering the world. isn't it?)
* *
The world is a tremendous magnet.
* *
Primarily, you have to un-want the world and
want your Self.
* *
You don't have to be subject to anything because
you are master of everything.
* *
The truth is, we created the stars and the
planets. The important thing is to run them. Don't let them run you.
* *
Look at the earth t s influence on you and undo
it.
* *
Rather than be automatically locked into the
world, keep up your vigilance of remembering your true Self.
* *
The world is a very good place for rapid growth
because your ego is being presented to you every time you talk to someone or
someone talks to you. Daily, look at your ego motivations and let them go!
* *
Every' act in the world is motivated by your
ego, until, of course, there is no more ego. Then action goes on egolessly.
* *
After you scorch enough of the mind, then the
world doesn't trap you.
* *
There is immediate realization of the Self the
moment one sees the unreality of the world.
* *
When the eye sees the world as "I",
-that is Realization.
* *
Now you see the world as a very variegated
variety. When you see the singular substance just behind it, you see the
reality of it. Seeing the reality, you will see the singularness as the Self, -
your Self.
* *
When you see the Self, the world does not
disappear; your view of it changes. It will not look like it does now. You will
see it as your Self.
* *
The only reason people do not get Realization is
that they have more desire for the world than for Realization.
* *
It is the belief that the world is real that is
the cause of one's difficulty in keeping out habitual thoughts. Were it not for
this belief, realization of your Self would be easy. And this is your prime
difficulty, - this belief that the body, mind and world are real.
* *
Our pleasures must be taken directly, not
attributed to things outside of ourselves.
* *
Looking for joy in the world makes Realization
impossible. The source of that joy is you, and it is not outside of you.
* *
Only desire for this world keeps us in the
world.
* *
You are causing everything around you, - even
when someone else seems to be doing it. When you realize this, you'll take
responsibility for everything.
* *
If you don't like the world, change your
consciousness. That is all there is out there (your consciousness) and it's the
only thing that you can change, the only thing that you should try to change.
Make the world perfect by perfecting your consciousness and all will be
perfect.
* *
The Truth of the world is just behind what you
now see.
* *
Declare your mastership rather than be a victim.
* *
The whole world is just a mere thought, -think
on that!
* *
I and world, seer and seen, rise simultaneously,
concurrently, co-dependently, and necessarily exist co-existently. The
creation is instantaneous with the creator. Realize this. There is no world
without the one who sees it. Realize the seer, within whom the apparency, the
world, was imaged. The reality then is only the Seer.
* *
Should we try
to achieve a perfect body? I would say yes, definitely yes, if you can't do it.
Q: If you cannot do it?
Lester: Yes.
Q: That's a contradiction!
Lester: No. Change your inability to being able. If you
cannot perfect the body you should learn to do so. Although we should be able
to perfect the body, once we are able to do that then it is better to let the
body be the way it is, healthy or sick, and not be affected by it. When one has
enough understanding, no matter what happens to the body, it is all the same to
him.
I've given
you an over-all approach and now I'll go into it in more detail. If we want a
perfect body and we don't have a perfect body, it means that we don’t have the
conviction that we make the body perfect. It means we are subconsciously holding
in our mind a consciousness of an imperfect body. The body is an exact copy of
the mind, the body being only our consciousness projected outwardly. We must
change our subconscious thinking until we subconsciously have the conviction
that our body is perfect. That will do it.
Now, is it
necessary to have a perfect body? No, it is not. However, it is necessary
to have a perfect understanding. To get this understanding, if you cannot have
a perfect body, then learn to make your body perfect. When you can, then go
beyond the necessity of a perfect body by getting the spiritual understanding
of "I am not the body" and "The body does not affect me."
This is a much higher state. In fact this is one of the highest of states to be
able to maintain your equanimity regardless of what is happening to the body!
This body is
not infinite. It's an extremely limited vehicle and very, very delicate.
Change the internal temperature 12 degrees and it dies. Put tiny amounts of
chemicals (poisons) in it and it dies. Cut out oxygen and it dies. So, this
body is an extremely limited vehicle. It is much better to not be the physical
body, to be what you really are, and get out from under the fear of death, the
basic fear behind all other fears.
The
discipline of having an imperfect body and not allowing it to bother you is a
very high spiritual discipline. Many fully realized masters go through life
with a sick body, setting an example of non-emphasis on the body, because the
body is a cage of limitation. We are not in the body but the body is in us. Our
greatest limitation is, "I am this body." Not only is the body a
limitation but also associated with it are hundreds of other limitations. So,
although at first I corrected body imperfections instantly, I now prefer not to
correct the body, but to have it touch me not, not even in the slightest,
regardless of what is happening to it. This is something I started three or
four years ago.
I can tell
you what happens when you do not identify with the body. I was just thinking of
the time I was loading trees for firewood onto a truck and one tree wouldn't
go. I said, "I'll make this go,” and I gave a tremendous push while I had
my shoulder against a tree trunk. The tree went on and I slipped a disc at the
bottom of my spine. The reason why I mention this incident is that this was an
excruciatingly painful one. Immediately I almost collapsed from the pain. Then
I said, "Lester:, be not the
body."
Now, what
happens is that the body doesn't bother me if I'm not the body. I was aware
that there was a pain, but it was like a weak distant pain and did not bother
me. I could immediately load other trees. The body acted just as though it were
not imperfect.
I've done
that at other times. I once sprained an ankle and it swelled. That's painful
too, and when I did not identify with the body, I walked off as though the foot
were perfect and yet there was a sprained ankle there. When I had that slipped
disc, I'd awaken in the morning and, forgetting, I would not immediately not
be the body and the pain would be severe. To get out of bed I'd actually have
to fallout on hands and knees. I remember doing this the first day or two. Then
I'd shake my head and say, "Wow, what is this!" Recognizing the
situation, I would say, "Oh, I am not the body," then I'd stand up,
move through the day as though the body were O.K. and the body could do any
thing and every thing; and yet, there was a weak distant pain that I knew was
there but it didn't bother me. Now, this type of disciplining is excellent if
one can do it. Be not the body!
Q: Wouldn't it be so much simpler to simply say,
"The body's perfect," and then have a perfect body? After all, you
control your body,-why even have the pain or feel uncomfortable when you get
out of bed?
Lester: Well, when I got out of bed I was identifying
with the body; that's why it pained so. But the moment I didn't, everything
was all right. I'd stand up and the body would do anything. Now, this is a test
of your spiritual knowingness. This is much higher. This is being not the body.
Q; How can
the body be imperfect when you said before your body is a reflection of your
mentality, and if you know hat there's only perfection, how can you have an
imperfect body?
Lester: At first I identified with the body and then,
after minutes, I did not. You want me to come down a step? Or do you want me to
stay where I am?
Q: All right, go ahead and stay up where you are.
Lester: A perfect body is not the highest state. A body
is a limitation even when it's perfect. It's a perfect body. It’s still a body,
but perfect. A higher state is not being the body but being the All. Ah, you're
shaking your head now. Have I answered it?
Q: I'm beginning to follow what you're getting at.
Lester: So again, it's a matter of level, but because
we're now into a level that is high, I want to stay there. Be not the body! Be
what you really are! Be infinite! Be the All! Perfection is not a perfect body.
Perfection is absolute perfection. Although you have a tendency to bring it
down into perfect things, perfection does not relate to things. No thing is
perfect. Every thing is a thing of limitation, confined to form and space. So
the top state, the absolute, is a state of no things. It’s just beingness, or pure
consciousness, pure awareness. That's not being a body, a thing. It's just
being. So to sum it up, of course we should have perfect bodies! If we have
bodies that pull on our attention all the time, it’s difficult to seek the
Truth. So rid yourself of body demands. Make the body as perfect as you can;
however, it is a higher state when the body does not affect us because of our
not identifying with the body.
Is it clear
now, these two different aspects of body? It's great to make a perfect body. It
is far better to be not the body.
Q: You see, it's very difficult for me to be beingness
or awareness without being something or aware of something. Lester: You and most of us. But the top
state is just beingness, only beingness, or consciousness, only consciousness.
It's consciousness conscious of all consciousness. It's beingness being all
beingness. And consciousness and beingness mean the same thing at the top.
Q: Well, can't we enjoy the limitation at the time?
Lester: You can. You can if you choose, but that's not
the ultimate joy. If you want more joy, don't enjoy the thing, -be joy!
Happiness is our natural inherent state. We are the All.
We
artificially create a lack and then a desire to relieve that lack, which, when
that lack is undone, we feel better. It's like sticking a pin into you. It
hurts and you take it out and say, "Gee that feels good." This is
exactly what enjoying things and people is. We hurt ourselves by creating a
lack and then remove the lack, the pain, and say, "Gee that feels good.
That makes me happy."
Every time
you feel happiness, you feel only your real Self, more or less. The happier,
the more you feel your real Self. And you wrongly attribute it to things and
people outside of your self.
The mechanism
of it is this: When you create the lack, you start up thoughts of I need this
person, this thing, to make me happy. That causes a bit of pain, -a need, a
lack-which when you are relieved of that thought of lack you return back to
being your Self and this is what we call happiness. This is something very
great to be achieved: to see that your happiness is inherent. That which you
have been calling happiness is doing away with happiness and then restoring it
and wrongly attributing it to external people and things.
So, if you
want to enjoy a body, that's your privilege. If you want more joy don't enjoy
the body, just be joy, which you naturally are. That's the natural state. It's
not necessary to need things. When you see that you are the All, there's
nothing lacking. So, take your joy directly, be your Self. That's being
infinite joy.
Q: Now step down and discuss your experiences of
changing your body because really, many of us are in the area where we don't
quite understand this. Or let's talk about myself, not "us."
Lester: O.K. What happened to me was that I saw
that there's as much life in this body as there is in a piece of wood. It's
composed of carbohydrates and minerals, the same chemicals as in a piece of
wood; that the only life in this body is I. I put the life into the body. I saw
that the body is my consciousness, and my consciousness puts the life into it. When you see that you make
the body, then you can change it. You can mentally change it.
Now, the body
we have now is the accumulated education, body-wise, that we have gathered up
to date. This is my concept of a body. That's your concept of your body. It's
deeply subconscious right now. This is why it's difficult to change the body.
To perfect it requires seemingly impossible letting go of all these past
concepts of imperfection of body. This, however, is the negative way of doing
it, that is, of eliminating the negative concepts of imperfection. It's a
difficult way.
Then there is
the better way, the positive way of putting in what should be there, a picture
of a perfect body in your mind. Now, this picture of the perfect body must be
put in with will power, more powerful than the sum total of all the pictures in
the past of an imperfect body. You must image the picture of a perfect body
with a thought that's stronger than all the past thoughts. Does that make
sense? This is the mechanics of it.
All right,
now what is a powerful thought? A powerful thought is a concentrated thought.
The more concentrated, the more powerful the thought. A concentrated thought is
a thought without other extraneous thoughts present at the time. The very best
way to get a most powerful thought is to let go of your self, your little self;
let go of your feeling that I have this and I have that. Then say. "Yes,
there is only perfection, and that includes this body." Let go of the
world; let go of your thinking as your mind is your biggest obstacle. Your mind
is going all the time, whether you're aware of it or not. When you're not
conscious of it, it's going on subconsciously. You've trained yourself to
think, think, think. You've got the mind spinning with all these thoughts.
You've given a lot of importance to this thinking. The importance of it is also
subconscious, so it's not easy to let go of the importance of thinking. And
this is an obstacle to your concentrating.
If you could
let go of thinking, and in just one easy thought with no other thoughts around,
think "I am perfect," you'd instantly have a perfect body. It'll take
a continuous trying until you achieve it. An almost effortless thought is the
way it is effected because your mind is quiet at the time. And you might not
even be aware of it when it happens. You might become aware of it later on.
I was just
reminded of a case of a man who was in a wheel chair for many years, I believe
ten. His house caught on fire and he packed two bags, ran out of the house and
sat down on them. It was after he had sat down on the bags that he had realized
what he had done. He had forgotten that he couldn't walk. See, when it does
happen, you're accepting the positive so much that the negative is forgotten
for the time being.
To sum it up,
the thing that will affect a perfect body is a very strong conviction "My
body is perfect." Saying it in another way, it is a concentrated thought,
which is a thought undisturbed by other thoughts at the time. And the feeling
is a feeling of let-go. You just let go and let the perfection be.
Q: Well then, what you're really saying is that when you
see all perfection, your thoughts are so based upon perfection your body
automatically takes that perfection.
Lester: Yes, if you see the all-perfection, then everything
is absolutely perfect, everything.
Q: Then you cannot have an imperfect body.
Lester: Right.
Q: And this being very, very peaceful, - if you go into
psychosomatic medicine, they claim that the body difficulties are caused by
turmoil in the mind. And if these are quieted, then the body may be corrected
without any thought about it.
Lester: Yes, if you quiet the subconscious mind. You
see, the body is working on an automatic pilot. Everything happening in the
body, we are doing subconsciously, automatically. So, you have to straighten
out the subconscious thinking.
Q: When you were in
Lester: Well, when I did it, it was almost like a byproduct.
I sat down with a determination to get the answers to "Who am I, -what am
I? What is this world? What is my relationship to it?" In the process of
which I saw the Perfection and that this universe, including this body, was a
product of my consciousness, my thinking. I therefore imaged the body as
perfect and instantly it was. Gone were the ulcers, the jaundice, the coronary
trouble and other imperfections. It was very easy. It was like an almost
effortless thought.
There are
different levels of healing the body. Spiritually, it's instantaneous. There's
only perfection and that's all there is and it is instantaneous. Mentally, it
is done from instantaneously to very fast, in days or in weeks, depending upon
your mental concept of how fast you can do it.
Q: When you're using the word "body," it also
would include all our environment, wouldn't it? There's really no difference
between our body and our environment.
Lester: That's true in the sense that it is all our consciousness,
but I’m speaking specifically of the body because we're talking on that.
Actually, the whole material world and the body are very similar in creation.
They are the physical out-projecting of our mind.
Have I
answered all your questions on it? See, it does not help you much when I tell
you what I did. You've got to do it your way. And as I see it, your way is
overcoming the accumulated wrong body-thinking of the past. Now this is a
carry-over from a prior life. This is how deeply engrained it is in you. If you
can perfect it, good. If you can't, don't make a big issue of it because it's
better to live with it and not be it. Get your spiritual understanding. That's
far more important.
What's so
great about the best of bodies? They decay sooner or later. The very best of
bodies becomes awfully stenchy sooner or later when it starts decaying. So,
what's this big thing about bodies? Approach it from a higher point.
Q: As I understand it, if I have a sense of perfection,
which would include my body, the body could not be imperfect.
Lester: That's correct. Get it! And when you get it, not
only the body but everything becomes perfect, which is far better than having
just a perfect body. Then you have the whole universe perfect and that's a
very, very high state. To see the perfection where the imperfection seems to
be is the highest state.
***
This Session
was recorded in Sedona, October 31, 1964.
Most of you
don’t realize that every day you are presented with wonderful opportunities to
make major steps in your growth. Were you to look at and see this, the Goal
that seems so difficult and elusive would soon be in your possession. A waken
to this fact and be done with worldly miseries!
To do this,
you must accept the worldly happenings as they relate to you, your means of
growth, even as your teacher. You must look at all the unpleasantries; you must
face them squarely with an objective eye and you must seek and find their
cause.
The method
should be either or both of two approaches. Whenever someone or something
bothers you and you 'are unhappy, or whenever you react to someone or something,
ask yourself, “How and wherein did I cause this?” Look within your mind to find
the past thought, now subconscious, that caused the event. Discover the
originating thought in you and you discover your mastership over the event.
The second
approach is more readily available to you. Every time you react or experience
something unpleasant, it is always because of some ego motivation. Ask
yourself, “What is my ego (selfish) motivation behind this? What in this
situation do I want to be different from what it is?” When you discover it,
drop it and be freer. Use your daily unpleasantries for growing freer every
day. The more you do this, the faster and easier it is to do.
Either or both of the above methods will free
you and return to you your mastership in a relatively short time. Make it a
habit of using both, or one or the other, every day.
***
Whenever you're unhappy do not look for escape
from it via distraction, doing something else, or seeking entertainment. This
is the worst thing you can do. You will never be able to let go of or eliminate
unhappiness. Either discover your mastership of the event or see the ego
motivation behind the misery and there by undo that particular unhappiness.
Almost everyone, when unhappy, looks for escape and calls the escape or relief
from the misery, happiness. This allows the unhappiness pattern to continue in
the future. It postpones the time indefinitely as to when one will have to
eliminate the unhappiness. Escape is the worst palliative in the world, worse
than drugs. Every escape is a complete waste of time and a further continuing
and holding onto misery. The more you feel misery, the deeper it becomes
ingrained. Therefore one should not escape from nor remain in misery, but
should use one of the above two methods to get out of it permanently.
***
All unhappiness is caused by our trying to be
limited, an ego. The more we are our Self, the happier we are. We will never
be completely happy until we are completely being our Self.
***
Why waste time in entertainment, escape? Looking
to entertainment each time delays and pushes the Goal a bit further away. Only
a realized non-attached being can enjoy things in the world without creating
bondages and miseries.
***
What everyone is looking for in entertainment is
escape from misery and the happiness of the Self.
***
Escaping misery keeps you forever miserable.
***
Problems are a constant reminder that we are in
the wrong direction.
***
Every pain is basically a pain of limiting your
Self.
***
A person cannot be happy if he has inner
anxieties. Anxieties are expecting to happen that which you do not want to
happen. Expect only that which you do want.
***
It's the ego sense of being a separate
individual that is the source of all trouble..
***
All unhappiness is separation.
***
Limitation and misery are the same.
***
Misery is caused when an infinite being tries to
be a limited being.
***
If, when you are miserable, you would think and
feel the opposite, that is what you would effect.
***
Misery is complexity. Happiness is simplicity.
***
If you see misery, it’s your misery. When you
see the perfection where the seeming imperfection seems to be, the misery is
only an apparency.
***
The more miserable you get, the less you should
look for an escape (socializing, entertainment). Rather isolate until you see
and let go of the reason for it, or move into your real Self. Never let go of,
through escape from misery, a good opportunity to grow.
***
Misery is just the whip we set up to whip
ourselves into
happiness.
***
The more we move away from our Self, the more
miserable we become until finally we get so miserable that we cannot take it
any more and then we begin to move back into our Self.
***
You create a lie when you say "I don't
have," and that starts the unhappiness of not having.
***
Anytime you're miserable, you're dwelling in
your ego. Just being miserable should be a re-aligner for you. Say, "Here
I am in the wrong direction." Then change it and you'll be happy again.
***
Anyone can feel happy; anyone can feel
miserable. You don't have to see why, -just change it!
***
Every worldly attachment is a dedication to
misery.
***
Misery is the setting up of limitation.
***
Misery is to the degree that we think we are
limited.
***
Every pleasure in the world has an accompanying
pain because there is associated with it the feeling that this pleasure may not
be sustained in the future.
***
You turn your feelings on and if you take credit
for them, you can turn them off, that is, control them. However, be careful not
to suppress them.
***
If you really see the reality of a problem, it
is licked.
***
You can resolve any problem here and now.
***
Every problem is an ego problem. In order to
have a problem there has to be an ego frustration.
***
Martyrdom can be ego.
***
Suffering is the opposite of godliness.
***
Suffering is not spiritual.
***
God is joy. Suffering is Satan.
***
The more you suffer, the more you will suffer.
***
Suffering karmically develops and leads to more
suffering.
***
Suffering is good when it drives you to God, or
to seek your Self.
***
Every time you feel miserable there is presented
an excellent opportunity to make a big step forward.
***
The less we allow our Self to be, the more
miserable we find ourselves.
***
Feeling sad about anything is holding onto it. Say,
"This is something I have to let go of," and immediately you will
feel better.
***
When you are miserable you shouldn't try to
escape it. Get quiet and go within until you see the reason for it, or better,
be your Self.
***
If you will take full responsibility for feeling
bad, you will feel like a master.
***
Every time you feel restless or unhappy, there
is ego desire behind it. If you can get it up into view, you'll let go of it
with a chuckle. It’s an opportunity to let go of something that's running you.
Look for the ego-motivated desire and when you see it, let go of it and
immediately feel lighter and happier.
***
Every time you drop ego, you experience joy.
***
Discover who the sufferer is and on discovering
this you find all joy.
***
This Session was compiled from various Sessions.
Why do we
marry? Why do we have children? What are we seeking in marriage? In children?
The answer to
all these questions is: We want the greatest happiness. We believe that in
marrying and in having children we will be happy. Were that true, all married
people would be happy. A mere look at our institution of marriage belies this.
Wherein lies
the fault? Is it in marriage? No, the fault lies within us. We wrongly look in
the wrong direction. We externally seek happiness outside of ourselves, -in
others. We shall never find a continuous happiness with no sorrow so long as we
look to others or to things outside of ourselves. A happy person is one who
takes his happiness from within and he is happy, whether married or single.
Should we
marry or should we not marry? That is a moot question. You will do exactly what
you will do. You have predetermined precisely what you will do on this point.
Therefore the important question should be: How can I attain the ultimate
happiness?
Marriage
affords an excellent opportunity for growth and should be so used. One is
constantly confronted with situations where one may increase one's love for
one's family. Every day we should make it a practice of increasing our love,
using all the situations we find ourselves in wherein we are not loving, to the
best of our ability, by consciously increasing our love for the other one until
it is completely selfless. When we reach the state of selfless love, we have
reached the Godhead.
***
Q: What a difficult thing it is to be married, Lester:?
Lester: Some people find it very easy. The difficulty is
in us and not in marriage.
Q: It has a positive aspect, hasn't it? Isn't there a
release from selfishness?
Lester: Yes. Marriage should teach us selflessness.
Q: So in that way there is a positive step if it's
handled correctly. It teaches love of one person, therefore you can enlarge it
in the family and then to a larger unit. Isn't that true?
Lester: Yes. It's a positive step wherein you're involved
in a situation in which you can learn non-possessiveness. It's a very positive
step in that direction. The thing we're looking for in a mate is the thing
called love. Love is this Beingness that we are. Love is God. Looking for it in
a mate, we never find it. However, if one is married, one should very
definitely love his or her mate as much as possible. When we learn how to love
a mate properly, we can love others properly.
When we
realize what love is and what we are really seeking, we stop seeking it
externally in a mate or in the world, and we seek it within. The very best
marriage is to marry God. Could you get a better mate?
Q: Should we be married?
Lester: I don't talk against marriage; I don't talk for
it. I want you to have what you want for yourself. A married person can find
God, but has more obstacles than a single person. A single person can more
easily concentrate on the path. A married person is forced to be concerned
about his mate and children, if there be children. Now, most people who say.
"I'll get married and continue on the path," almost invariably get so
involved in their marriage they don't have time nor inclination for the path.
So, in that sense it's an obstacle.
Q: Unless you married someone who was searching for it
also, wouldn’t it be a very difficult thing?
Lester: Yes. The very best situation in marriage would
be to help the other one get realization. Marry only to help the other one
fully know God. That should be the basis for marriage. And the other one should
do the same for you. It should be mutual.
Q: It should really be a spiritual state, not a possessive
state?
Lester: Love is a freeing of the other one, not a
possessing. That would be spiritual.
Q: How best could you guide children into the path?
Lester: The best thing you can do is to set an example.
That’s the very best way to teach children, -by example. They want to be
like their parents. So it always comes back to: If you want to help your
children you must help yourself. Then you'll find out you don't have to
consciously do anything. Just help yourself and you'll see them grow with you.
Q: We have two children and they're really different.
They desired to be our children and we desired them, right?
Lester: Yes. We often choose parents who have characteristics
similar to ours so that we can have a constant lesson in front of our eyes.
This is why we find parents so difficult sometimes. If there's anything that I
see in you that annoys me, it's because I have it in me. If I didn't have it in
me, I couldn't even see it in you.
Because we
choose parents who have characteristics similar to ours is one reason why
people believe in heredity. (We only inherit our physical appearances.) Every
child is different from every other child. You parents know this, that each one
is a completely different individual. And if the present environment and
heredity had any appreciable effect they would be very similar.
Q: A thought struck me that a child is born an absolute
stranger to the parents. They don ‘t know anything at all about that child.
They are a stranger and it is up to you to make them love you. It is the amount
of love that you pour out that induces the amount that they can pour out, isn't
it?
Lester: Yes, assuming that our memories are cut off and
we begin at the beginning of this lifetime. But I have to say "No."
if you take the history before this lifetime. We keep regrouping together.
Attachments and aversions to each other keep us coming together lifetime after
lifetime. An attachment between two individuals will bring them together again.
Or, an aversion will do the same thing because an aversion is a holding on by
holding off. Attachment is holding them to you; an aversion is holding them
away from you. But you're holding them.
Q: Lester:,
as a parent, am I loving the flesh or loving the spirit of the children?
Lester: You're basically loving your own ego.
Q: Because they're part of me.
Lester: Yes. You did it. You created them. You did that
tremendous thing. And you want them to be a good example of you. See? Now, if
we love our children we free them; we allow them to grow, to bloom and come out
like a flower does. We don't try to fence them in. We free them and guide them
and love them, unattached to them, knowing that they are God's beings. They are
just as much God as I am, is the way you should feel. Also, they are going to
go through life just the way they have set it out anyway. But you should
strive to free them, to feel non - attached. This is a higher love than a love
with attachment.
Q: Course, as
you say, you do have to lead them.
Lester: Guide them. And they'll ask you for the guidance
if you just free them. But they resent being dominated and dictated to the same
way you do, the same way you did when you were a child. They don't like to be
ordered around. But they want to learn. They have a natural curiosity; they'll
ask you. And if you can start from the beginning by freeing them from the first
day, bringing up a child is one of the easiest things to do. They'll follow
you. But when you start telling them from the first day what to do and what not
to do, they behave like an adult does when he is told what to do and what not
to do. He resents it. He opposes it. Then, oppositional patterns are set up and
by the time they're able to walk around, they've got this oppositional pattern
well developed. That's what makes bringing up children so difficult.
Because of
all our attachment we're trying to steer them, and they resist. We were trained
that way; we train our children that way and they will train their children
that way and it goes on and on.
Training could be accomplished without
opposition if it starts right. Show them the possibilities, the alternatives,
and let them, make the decisions. Then they're working with you from the
beginning and they don't develop oppositional habits.
* *
Families are regroupings of people who have been
together before. Strong loves and strong hates bring us together again and
again.
* *
Our attitude toward relatives should be the same
as that toward all beings.
* *
The first place to practice love is at home with
the family. We should try to love our family more and more by granting them
their right to be the way they are, more and more.
* *
It's a great thing for spiritual growth to
resolve relationships with parents (even if they have passed on). Parents present
excellent opportunities for growth if and when we try to resolve our
differences until there is only a feeling of love with no attachment.
* *
Family is excellent for bringing up to us all
our reactive automatic behavior because there is where we developed most of
it.
* *
Giving unselfish love to a child will develop
unselfish love in that child this lifetime and will condition the child for a
most happy life.
* *
The main thing that a child wants from us is
love, and we cannot fool a child. Children know our feelings and that is what
they read. We fool ourselves with words but we don't fool them.
* *
When children are contrary it is because they
are seeking to get attention from their parents. In early years this meant
survival: If I am approved of by my parents they will take care of me, and I,
the helpless child, will not die. A child tries to be good to get approval and,
if impossible, becomes bad and in that way gets attention. This attention subconsciously
implies approval. It becomes an aberrated pattern of behavior.
* *
If you can get to see your parents the way they
really are and then love them the way they are you would be accomplishing
tremendous growth.
* *
You behave most automatically with parents.
You'll find your parental behavior patterns applied to the world. You carryon
the automatic behavior patterns set up before the age of six for the rest of
your life (unless, of course, you change them).
* *
Normalize your behavior with your parents and
family. You've got to see your parents the way they are and accept them that
way. Nothing should be blamed on your parents. No matter what they do you
should accept responsibility for what you are.
* *
Total non-reaction to parents is close to
realization.
* *
It doesn’t matter how we act as long as the
feeling within is love. The attitude is more important than the act. Use this
with family.
* *
If we were capable of selflessly loving, instead
of conflict with children, there would be complete harmony. But it is only
because we have lost sight of what selfless love is that we are in this
difficulty of opposition between parent and child.
* *
Parents want to do wrong and yet want their
children to do right. This makes the parent look dishonest in the eyes of the
children and disconcerts them, causing rebellious feelings.
* *
A child will learn no better than the parent's
example.
* *
Our responsibility toward children, because they
cannot take care of themselves, is to feed, clothe and guide them until they
are old enough to take care of themselves. But after a person is an adult, we
should let go and let God take care of them, even though they seemingly can't
take care of themselves. They need to learn that they, too, are taken care of
if they take responsibility for themselves, or better, if they surrender to
God.
* *
The only real difference between children and
adults is size and experience.
* *
When parents say "don't" they are
instilling inhibitions. When parents say "do" they are instilling
compulsions. Both cause feelings of inability in the child.
* *
Children we see as an extension of our ego. We
should see them as individuals and extend to them the rights we do to individuals.
* *
You want to help your child, - help yourself.
* *
Every child is a whole, complete, infinite
individual.
* *
Seeing Truth doesn’t belong to married people or
single people. It belongs to those who seek and discover Truth.
* *
Married people can get Realization, if they are
determined to get it.
* *
The only happy couples are those with an
understanding of Truth. They know that their joy is within and not in the
other one.
* *
What people are really looking for is love of
God. Not knowing this they look for it in a mate.
* *
Once you get the taste of God, it is easy not to marry. You feel no need for a
mate. Being married to God you reach satiety.
* *
It's an obstacle to have a mate. It's an added
obstacle to have a child. It doesn't have to be; it can be an aid to growth if
we so use it.
* *
There is no one married whose unhappiness does
not come from looking to the other one for happiness.
* *
The only ideal marriage is when each marries to
help the other one grow spiritually.
* *
The top attainment is to have nothing but love
for each parent, each sister, each brother, each child. Resolve this and you
will resolve your relationship with the world.
* *
This Session
was compiled from several Sessions.
What is the
difference between the divine and the worldly, the spiritual and the material?
Is there a difference? Is there a difference between being spiritual and being
in the world? There is a tendency for us to separate the two. That is a gross
error. There is no difference between the spiritual and the material when we
look at it from the viewpoint of Truth.
The
difference is in our outlook, in the way we see the world. It's the way you
look at it, that's all. You may look at it from the ego point of view, or you
may look at it from the Self. A realized person sees the world only as an
out-projection of himself; therefore, it really is his creation. And as an
out-projection, it's like a cinema screen out there with this whole universe
projected on it and which, at will, could be changed or withdrawn. To the one
who doesn’t see the Truth, this cinema, this moving picture, seems not
self-created and as such, one makes himself subject to it and becomes a slave
to it.
A Master is
very much in the world. A Master has His feet firmly planted on the earth, but
He sees the basic substance just behind the apparent world as His very own
Self. And when He does that, everything is in harmony, everything is perfect.
It is not a matter of separating one from the other, or having one or the
other, it's merely seeing the truth of the world. When one does, one is
realized. When one doesn't, one is forever shadowboxing with his self-created
world of opposition. Both see the world. The Master sees the Truth just behind
it and there's nothing but harmony! The unrealized one sees separation and opposition
and there’s much disharmony! The unrealized person sees it as a thing running
him; the realized person sees it as his own projection and therefore he can run
it and it cannot run him. Being a Master over it, He resides ever the same, in
peace and tranquility, and lives in complete ease all the time.
We must, in
our everyday lives, be in that state of tranquility, and until we can be in
that state while in the details of daily living, - we haven't reached the top.
So there are
no two categories, the world and spirit; it’s all one and the same. It’s just a
matter of the way we look at it. We should strive to get to the place where no
one and no thing can perturb us. When you get to that state, you are at the
top. You are in the world and nothing and no one can disturb you in the
slightest. Develop this. Make this a practice. Make this your way of life. Do
not react to people; do not become angry, jealous, hateful and so forth. Remain
ever the same, ever the same; no matter what happens, no matter what goes on,
you really are ever the same, serene and poised.
Q: But. Lester:,
when I look at the world. I see differentiation?
Lester: Any time we see any difference, or a difference
between the spiritual and the worldly, it’s because we don't have enough
understanding of the spiritual as yet. We are separating. The highest state is
when we are in the world and in spirit at one and the same time and there is no
difference. When we're there, we don't see it as world and spirit. We see it as
one and the same thing; we see a oneness; we see it all as our very own Self;
or, If we want, we see the whole world as being within us, as a dream is within
us in sleep. No matter what happens in the dream, we remain the same. We see
absolutely no difference in anything; there's a singular oneness throughout
everything. Nothing changes. Ever-the- same is our feeling.
This can be
used as a yardstick to know how far we are on the path. Is everything ever the
same? Do things really not change? It is a little shocking when we start
examining it from this point of view. How far am I on the path toward seeing
the sameness, the Oneness, the no-otherness, the nothing but God, God in all,
the God in everyone?
When you
accomplish that non - duality, you lose the feeling of separation, of “I.” If
you want to recognize the "apparent" others, you use the word
"We." But more than that, you would rather talk about yourself in
third person. That is the feeling a Master has. And He talks that way. Certain
Masters will not speak of Themselves by name; they’ll speak of Themselves in
the third person as Their disciples do. For instance, if everyone called me
what Ken jokingly calls me, I would talk about Father Divine. Instead of
saying "I," "me," or "Lester:," I would talk about him (pointing to himself).
Father Divine. That's just the way you feel when you're in the state when all
is one and all is the same. You don't identify yourself with just your body.
I've been
emphasizing this point because quite a few were asking questions and talking
about the two, the world and spirit, not knowing that in Truth they are one.
Q: There is no difference?
Lester: Right. It's one and the same, when you see it
aright. If you see it through illusion, if you see it wrongly, you'll see
separation; you'll see the differentiation that this is spiritual and that is
worldly; that this is divine and that is mundane.
Q: The "Me's" are our ego?
Lester: Yes. The "Me's" are a condescension on
the part of a Master in order to communicate with the apparent egos. A Master
sees nothing but Masters; specks of infinite light, all looking alike, -
blazing effervescent radiant Beings, points of Beingness all being One. This
is the way a Master really sees everyone; He doesn't see people the way we see
them.
Q: Does He see them as different shades or all one
shade?
Lester: Identical points of light, of one ocean of
light, brilliant effervescent, emanating, with center everywhere and circumference
nowhere. Are you trying to imagine what it I s like?
Q: Well, I had an experience of seeing something like
that and it's a light like a bright sun.
Lester: Yes, a bright blazing sun. Masters can see
nothing but a Master in us, and at the same time, They can go through the
pretense of seeing it otherwise by saying. "Harry. Yes, you do have
problems." or, "Harry, you do have a body and you do live in a
house," but as They say it, to Them, it's like a dream voice talking, or
apparently talking, and it's all an apparency. It's a pretense, - They're
actually pretending as Their view of the omnipresent, infinite One never
changes.
Q: They are pretending a duality, then, actually, where
we're more or less living it?
Lester: Yes. However, we're pretending it too, but we
don't know that we're pretending it. A Master pretends it and He knows that
he's pretending it. We are ignorant of the fact of our pretense.
Q: In that way He's coming down to our level?
Lester: Yes. And He does it only to help us.
Q: Well, why can't I as a human being say, "I will
play a game of baseball"? When I say I'm a baseball player I can make
myself subject to all the rules. But I don't have to play baseball. So
why can't God say, "I will play the game of being Bob?” And then He puts
Himself subject to the limitations of Bob as He defines it, as when I play
baseball, I make myself subject to the rules. Now, why can't God, to entertain
Himself, be a Bob? Or be a Lester:?
And be limited in a sense - the thing is, if I play baseball, limit myself to
all the rules of being a baseball player. Well then, I will play baseball and
have a good time and be Bob.
Lester: God can, - and does, but never forgets He is
God! Do you never forget?
Q: Therefore, I am God who is playing Bob and for the
moment I forgot?
Lester: You only are if you know that, not if you state
it. Stating it, lip- service, doesn't equate with knowing that.
Q: I agree absolutely.
Lester: So theoretically you are right. Now, the important
thing is to carry it out practically, -to know your Beingness in God while you
are playing the game, to know that you are God and that you are pretending to
be limited as a body and so forth.
Q: And any time I don It want to, I don't have to play,
and I don't have to take that particular step of being limited because I am
the creator of the game; I make the rules and I don't have to play anymore than
I have to playa baseball game. I can quit just like that (finger snap)!
Lester: That's the way it is. All right now, when you
don’t really know that you are God, you can discover it by tracing the source
of “I.” If we trace the source of the ego- “I,” we'll discover it is the
infinite Being. If you'll trace the source of the mind you'll discover the same
thing. The infinite Being is putting this pretense of limitation, ego and mind,
over Itself so that we don't see this statement of Truth: that this world is
only God –playing a game of apparent limitation. The way to discover it
is to seek the source of the ego- “I,” and if we stay with it we'll discover
that it is really the Infinite I that I am.
Q: Well according to your book and let me use Bob's
words, if I play the game of ball looking up to God, then I don't have
it made. If I do anything at all looking out from God, then I know who I am.
But if I play the game looking up to God, from the outside, then I don’t know.
Lester: You are very right Frank. Translating that into
Christ, if I look up to Christ, or believe in Christ, that isn't it; I have to
look out through the eyes of a Christ; I have to believe as Christ believed; I
have to be as a Christ. I'm just taking what Frank said and putting it in a
biblical way.
Q: It's in your book. I read it in the Gita this morning
and also in your book, so you get your stuff from a good source.
Lester: In the beginning of the book there is a disclaimer
stating that the knowledge is not mine. It is Truth; I can't make it; I can't
unmake it; I can recognize it or not recognize it. That's the choice that we
have, -to recognize the Truth or not to. We can't make it; we can't do anything
to it; but we recognize it.
Q: All the books that I read say the same thing; Patanjali
says it, Yogananda says it, the Gita says it and the Vedas say it; they all say
it.
Lester: And they said it a thousand years ago, a million
years ago, a billion years ago, a billion, billion years ago, and in the future
they'll say the same thing. Because Truth is that which never changes; It is
changeless. The basic Truth will never change in all eternity and you can know
this for the entire universe. If somebody comes from a planet billions and
billions of light-years away and tells you otherwise, no matter how high he
looks, acts and talks, if it doesn't fit in with what you know of the
changeless Truth, you can be sure he's wrong, even though he's acting and
looking like a god.
Do you know
what I'm saying? Even if an angel tells you something, if it's not in
accordance with Truth, reject it, because there are so many high appearing
beings that look like gods that you can be very easily fooled,-until you know
the Truth. Truth is the same throughout from infinity to infinity.
Q: We're trying to get ahead as quickly as we can and we
listen and read and we think the right thing to do is to be on the path, but I
go to church and I see a priest, a monk, up there and he's been struggling on
the path for twenty years. How can I make it quickly when I see in front of me
someone who has been on the path much longer and he's struggling?
Lester: All right, look at it this way. If you want to
go from Los Angeles to New York City and the direct route is not known to you,
you start probing; you might go up to Washington State first, then cut
eastward, then come down to Nevada, then go up to Montana. However, if you know
the direct route, you take the direct way and get there much sooner. Probing
may take you a whole lifetime. Going directly you could do it in three or four
days time.
Q: Don’t say another word to me, because I got the
answer.
Lester: All right. Now the priest or monk doesn't see
the direct route and he's probing and he's learning bit by bit. He'll get to
Q: But doesn't each of us have different abilities? One
person gets over something very easily, very quickly, and someone else has a
problem that's deep-seated and it's been with him a long while which takes a
very active struggle to get over?
Lester: Yes. However, quickness of realization is
determined by the intensity of the desire for it. How far have we gone in our
desire for it? If we've gone very far, the realizations come fast and easily.
Q: And we stick by them then?
Lester: Yes. They really stick with you. I say to you:
I'm not teaching you. You're getting something you've known; you are doing it;
you're just re - remembering things you've always known. I can't give you this
knowledge; no one can. I just suggest and you open yourself up to that which
you already know, have always known and always will know, subconsciously.
Q: In other words, you just read a page of your true
Self.
Q: Well, it's Self-realization, - actually.
Lester: Yes, and this is also true: If you haven't grown
much, or as much as someone else, you can go way beyond that one if you have a
very strong desire for it. Only a very strong desire for full realization will
give it to you this lifetime. Anyone who has only a desire for Truth will get
full realization quickly. You can override your past conditioning when you want
to. How long should it take an infinite, omniscient Being to know that he is
omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent? How long should it take him to do that?
Q: One realization.
Lester: When man so wills, he's immediately set free –
totally!
So, really
what this growing turns out to be is that we play with the path as we’re doing
now, getting more and more realizations and then one day we say, “Oh, my gosh,
look at this tremendous thing I have always been! What silly playing around
I’ve been doing! The heck with it!” And boom! It’s finished!
Q: And at that moment your looking out from God!
Lester: Yes, you’re looking out from God and seeing the
whole thing, seeing the silly dream you have been going through of playing the
game of limitation, and you just drop it, lock, stock and barrel.
***
This Session
was recorded in
I thought
tonight I might talk on the subject of love. Love is one word I don't often
use, mainly because it's so misunderstood. I also believe that only through
growth do we understand what love is. Defining it, we just add some more words
to the usual words, and it doesn't really convey the meaning. But 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.
Now the love
I talk about, of course, has nothing to do with sex. Sex is a body
gratification. However, most of us confuse it and tie it in with love. When
you see what sex is and what love is, you'll see that they are two different
things. They can be tied together and also they don It have to be. The love
that we talk about is the love of Jesus Christ. It's the love complete, which
expressed in the extreme is: "Love thy enemy." I think the best
definition of the word is: "Love is a feelingness of givingness with no
expectation of receiving for the giving." It’s a very free giving. And it's
an attitude that is constant. Love doesn't vary, not the type of love we're
talking about. The amount we have we apply to everyone. We love our family as
such as we love strangers. This might sound odd, but this is the truth. To the
degree we're capable of loving strangers; to that degree we're capable of
loving our family.
The concept
of possession is just the opposite of the meaning of love. In love, there is
never a holding onto, a fencing in, or anything like that. Love has a sense of
freeing the ones we love. When we are giving in our attitude, we want the other
one to have what the other one wants. I guess the best example of this type of
love is the love of a mother for a child. A mother will sacrifice and give
everything to the child, without considering herself.
There are
other definitions for love. I think acceptance is a good word. When we love
people, we accept them as they are. 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 the same way we should grant every other person his or her beingness.
Let them be the way they want to be; never try to change them. Trying to change
them is injecting our own ego. We want them to be the way we would like them to
be.
Identity is
another definition. Love is a feeling of oneness with, of identity with, the
other one or all other ones. When there is a full love, you feel yourself as
the other person, and you treat the other person just like you treat your own
self. There is complete identity.
A constant
state of gratitude accompanies a state of complete love. We are thankful for
everything. We even thank God for the bad as well as for the good. To
understand this requires reaching the state of high love. Only then does
thanking God for the bad have any meaning to us. The practical aspect of this
is that the more we practice being in a state of gratitude, the more loving we
become. Try this and learn the truth of it.
Love is not
only a feeling, love is a tremendous power. This is so little understood in the
world. We have an example of this type of love being expressed today by Martin
Luther King. No matter how much he's attacked, he will give out nothing but
love to his attacker. He teaches non-violence. And the greatest demonstration
of this type of love was Mahatma Gandhi’s winning a war against
It is said
that God is love, and I add: "One with God makes a majority." One
individual, with nothing but love, can stand up against the entire world
because this love is that powerful. Love is nothing but the Self that we speak
of. Love is God. When we are only love we are God. To quote the Bible,
"God is love. God is all powerful." So there's some authority for
what I'm saying besides my saying it. Love will give not only all the power in
the universe, but also all the joy and all the knowledge.
Now, how do
we make this practical? The best way of increasing our capacity to love is
through wisdom, understanding. Also, we can do things in our every day life
that will increase our love. The first place to practice love is at home, with
the family. We should try to love our family more and more and more. I think
everyone knows the wonderful experience of love, of loving one person. Can you
imagine what it's like if you loved three billion people? It would be three
billion times more enjoyable! Home is the first place to keep trying to
increase our love for the ones around us, by granting them their beingness.
That's the most difficult thing, I believe, to do in a family, especially if
the other one is a child. But every child is a whole, complete, infinite
individual, and a child of God.
Next, after
loving the ones in our home, we should try to love our neighbors, then our
larger group, our state, our country. Then we should try to love all people
all over the world.
Q: The Russians?
Lester: Even Russians.
Q: The Chinese too?
Lester: I heard Oral Roberts say something on that some
Sundays ago. He said, people ask “What would the attitude of Jesus be toward
the communists if He came back today?” And he answered, “He wouldn’t be the way
people expect. He wouldn't have anything against anyone. He would not hate the
communists. He would talk against doing wrong doing evil, but He would never
say anything against any human being.”
I believe
that if we understood the power of love, and that if the majority of Americans
loved the Russians,
After we
learn to love all the people in this world, there are many more people outside
of this world. I think loving all the people in this world would allow us to
meet with our brothers and sisters of other worlds, because in this universe
there are many, many mansions; many, many places of abode. And because of our
inability to love on this planet, we have cut them off.
So, to come
back to the point of being practical: The more we develop love, the more we
come in touch with the harmony of the universe, and then our life becomes more
beautiful, more bountiful and more delightful. It starts a cycle going where
you spin upwards. Love begets love! Love falls in love with love!
There is
another thing. If we want to be loved, the way to get it is to love. It is not
only the very best method, but it is, I think, the only method. To receive love
we must love because what we give out must come back. Looking for love without
loving does not bring love to us, does not satisfy us. This is a basic error in
many, many people’s thinking. They go through life wanting to be loved, never
feeling that they are even when they are really getting the love. The feeling
has to be in us. If I love you, I feel wonderful. If you love me, you feel
wonderful. It's the one who loves who feels great. So wanting to be loved is
getting into a direction that can never be satisfied. The happy one is the one
loving, the one giving. Blessed is the giver because he's so much happier.
Love should
be felt equally for all. When we say we love one person more than another, if
we would trace it through by going inwardly, we would find that the one we love
more is a person whom we think we need, who has something that we would like
to have, and therefore, we say we love that person more. This is propitiation
in the guise of love.
Actually,
love cannot be chopped up. If you want to test your own state of love, look at
your enemies. This is the real test. Or, if you don’t want to go that far, look
at strangers. Examine your attitude toward strangers. It should be one of: they
are me; they are my family; every mother is my mother; every father is my
father; every child is my child. This is the attitude we achieve through
understanding. This is the real sense of the word love.
Q: Lester:,
it seems to me you're talking about love as giving, giving of yourself and so
forth and yet the conflict that I have occasionally is that it seems that as
you give of yourself, people tend to take more and more. And eventually, if
you don't put a stop to it, they bleed you dry emotionally, mentally,
financially, and they use you as a crutch.
Lester: That's impossible. If we feel the real love, if
we have the correct attitude of love, that doesn't happen. What you're saying I
often hear. What is needed is for us to know what real love is. The givingness
is an attitude. We can always maintain an attitude of love. Most people who
give are not giving lovingly. They're giving because of the recognition they
think they will get for giving: "Look at me; I'm doing good" or
"I may get my name in the paper," or something like that. You see, that
kind of love will get us into trouble. People will drain us on that because
we're looking for something in return. We're looking to put ourselves up in
the process and therefore, they'll pull us down.
Q: Don't you think it’s easier to love somebody five
thousand miles away than somebody next door to you?
Lester: The easiest thing in the universe to do is to
love everyone. This is what I think. This is what I've discovered. Once we
learn what love is, it is the easiest thing to do. It takes tremendous effort
not to love everyone and you see the effort being expended every day. But when
we love, we're at one with them; we're at peace, and everything falls into line
beautifully.
The main
thing is to know love in the sense that I'm defining it, then those things
don't happen. But when we love in the sense that humanity understands the word,
then you're right. But I don't call that love.
Q: What do you call it? Or do you have a name for it?
Lester: Selfishness, actually. We are doing things really
to help ourselves.
And yet in the
real love, in the spiritual love, there's no self-abnegation. We don't have to
hurt ourselves when we love everyone, and we don't. When we love, there's a
feeling of mutuality. That which is mutual is correct. If you love, you'll
hold to that law, and therefore people won't take advantage of you. If you are
loving, you're applying the most powerful force in the universe. But it's the
love of a Jesus Christ I'm talking about, not the every day selfish love.
Practically
speaking, if people are trying to hurt you, and you just feel love for them, if
they continue, you will see them hurt themselves. If they continue further,
they hurt themselves more. They won't be able to oppose you any more. But we
have to practice this love that I'm speaking of, not the love as we have known
it.
Q: It's a basic attitude. It's nothing you physically or
even mentally do?
Lester: It's a constant attitude that evolves in us when
we develop it. However, we should try practicing the love, as said before.
First, on our family. Grant everyone in the family their own beingness, if you
can. If you can't, keep trying, keep trying until you can. Then apply it to
friends, then strangers, then everyone. By doing this, you will develop it,
although it isn't something you can turn on just like that.
Q: In a way, all of us have it, but it's just layered
over by many attitudes?
Lester: Yes, it's smothered by wrong attitudes. Now this
love I talk about is our basic nature. It's a natural thing. That is why it's
so easy. The opposite takes effort. We move away from our natural Self and
smother it with wrong attitudes.
Q: Isn't love almost like a selfishness, because when
you love somebody, it's such a wonderful feeling for you?
Lester: Well, this is a matter of semantics. The way you
put it yes, but not in the general sense.
Q: I know when I love somebody, I feel so good. It's
such a wonderful feeling.
Lester: It's true after you discover what love is. It's
the greatest thing in the universe. It's the thing that everyone wants, only
because it's his basic nature in the first place. Every human being is
basically an extremely loving individual.
Q: To understand this thing of joy, is it the same type
of thing as when your mind becomes stilled in one avenue of thought, of
acceptance of the other person, and therefore the mind is stilled?
Lester: Yes. The more we love, the less we have to
think. If I'm not loving you, I have to be on guard. I have to protect myself.
If I'm not loving the world, I'm always protecting myself from the world which
causes more and more thoughts. It puts me extremely on the defensive, and
subconsciously it builds up year in and year out, and then I'm a mass of
thoughts protecting myself from the world. Now if I love the world, the world
can't hurt me. My thoughts get quiet; the mind gets peaceful, and the infinite
Self is right there. And that’s the experience of this tremendous joy.
Q: In other words, it's not the object that brings this
out. It's the quieting of the mind that actually lets the beingness come
through a little more, and that really is the love experience, isn’t it?
Lester: Yes.
Q: The light shines through!
Lester: Yes. What you mean is that we take our infinite
Beingness, our infinite joy, and we cover it over with thoughts. We take the
natural state which is unlimited, and we cover it up with thoughts of
limitation. The thoughts smother this infinite Self that we are. It smothers
the capacity to enjoy just being. And so all we need to do is to quiet the
thoughts, or rid ourselves of all thoughts, and what's left over is the
infinite, glorious Being that we are, which is our natural state. Isn't that
odd? That is our natural state. That's the way we were, that's the way we're
going to be. We are actually that now but we don't see it. This infinite glorious
Being that we are, being absolutely perfect, can never change. It's always
there. We just don't look at it. We look away from it. We look far away
from it. What we should do is turn, our mind inward, and begin looking at It,
and the more we look at It the more we see It.
Everything
seems to point to the same direction, does it not? That happens as we get more
understanding of what life and the universe are. Everything fits together more
and more, and gets simpler and simpler, until there's just one absolute Simple
called God. God is simple; everything else is complex. The greater the
complexity, the further we are from God. God is One and only One; One without a
second.
Q: If someone else has a desire and there's a feeling
that if I went along with him that I might lose something, then that isn't
love. But if my love is complete in the sense of whatever they wish I wish,
then I wouldn't be afraid?
Lester: Yes. There's a word for it today, togetherness.
It's a very good word. Doesn't that fit what you're saying, togetherness?
Q: The thought occurred to me that when I know my
beingness, I can't get hurt, so how can anybody else hurt me?
Lester: That's true. It's impossible to be hurt when we
love fully. We only feel wonderful when we love, in fact, we feel the greatest!
Q: If you feel a sense of togetherness with one more
than another then you begin to separate?
Lester: Yes, it is not full love. Its partial love, and
the more partial it is, the less good it feels. When we love fully, we love
every being. We have nothing but a tremendously wonderful, warm attitude of:
everything is fine; every person is just right. We see only perfection, and
that's the way we see the world. When we hate, we see the same world in just
the opposite way.
Q: When you speak of giving, are you speaking of giving
things or spiritual understanding?
Lester: Love is an attitude of givingness. When things
are given with this attitude, it is love. If I give you something because I
want you to like me, that is not love; that is trying to bolster my ego.
The greatest
givingness is giving understanding, giving wisdom. If I give a meal to a man
in poverty, four hours later he needs another meal again. However, if I give
him the principle of how to produce a meal, he will never go hungry again.
Let me end
with a quote: "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful.
It is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. It is not
irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the
right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things."
***
This Session
was recorded in
For those who
are here for the first time I our method is one of question and answer.
The reason why I use question and answers is that I find it to be one of the
very best methods of discovering truth. The most effective teaching is
individual teaching, rather than group or mass teaching. The knowledge
or truth we’re after cannot be picked up intellectually. It cannot be gotten
from books. Were it possible to get it from books, we would all have it for we
certainly have books.
Instead, I
find that the only really effective teaching is accomplished when the teacher
gets the pupil to really experience the answer. Only when one experiences the
answer can one understand. This experience is also called realizing.
So,
do you have a question?
Q: I’d like to know a little more about how karma works
and why it works. I'd like to know what puts it into effect; what starts the
wheel. In your book, you mention that it's the thought.
Lester: The word "karma" is a Sanskrit word
meaning action. Its general use means action and the reaction to the action.
Other explanations are cause and effect; what you sow you reap; what you give
out comes back to you.
Karma is
initiated in thought. Thought is the cause and action is the effect. When we
create a desire we want something. The desire initiates the thought of wanting
something. Wanting something causes us to act to get that something. That
something does not satisfy us and therefore we increase the desire. That goes
on and on and on, and we become bound by desire, never able to satisfy it. If
our desires were capable of being satisfied, we would have no desires, right?
Q: Would you say that again?
Lester: If our desires were capable of being satiated or
satisfied, we would soon lose all our desires. They would soon be satisfied and
we would have no more!
Q: Which is the state to which we should attain?
Lester: Yes, we should attain the state of no desire, no
longing. Then we are happy always.
Q: I understood you to say that karma is a law of action
and reaction and could be used, not in the sense of punishment for a wrong
deed, but as a reward for a good one.
Lester: Creating things we don't like we call
punishment. Creating things we do like we call reward. Creation is initiated
in the mind. The mind doesn't know good or bad; it just creates. When we
create things that are distasteful to us (and we don't take responsibility for
the creation) we say we're being punished.
Let me get
back to the question of what karma is? To every action there's an opposite and
equal reaction. It's called the law of compensation. It is initiated in the
mind. Every thought we have creates a vacuum and nature immediately moves to
fill that vacuum. The pace at which nature fulfills it is also determined by
our thought. And every thought is initiated by a previous desire.
Since a
desire is not real but is an assumed lack, an assumed agony of need, it can never
be satisfied and it actually becomes stronger the more we try to satisfy it.
The only way
we can be happy is to let go of all desire. Then we become perfectly content.
Q: So it takes the two, the thought alone without desire
won't do it?
Lester: Without a desire would you have a thought?
Q: Never.
Lester: Correct. You wouldn't have any thoughts without
desire.
Q: Well, there are intellectual desires, aren’t there?
Lester: Yes, but they are desires. Otherwise, there
would be no thought. You desire to be heard; you desire to communicate with
people. It might not be a desire for ice cream, food, for things that the body
needs, but it might be a desire for approval.
So, desire
initiates the whole cycle. Way back in the beginning, it started with a thought
of lack. Then there was a desire to fulfill the lack. The desire caused more
thought, the thought caused action. Since the action does not fulfill the
desire, we increase the desire and action, keeping it going until we are
apathetically spinning in an endless cycle, with satisfaction impossible.
All our
present thinking is initiated by something from the past. Our total feelings
now are all from the thoughts and actions of the past. So, all thinking is now
motivated by something that has already happened. Action and reaction go on and
on that way and we are caught. It's almost impossible to have an original
thought any more, every thought being based on past thoughts.
Q: So then, it all started way back when?
Lester: It's beginningless and it's endless. I'll take
you a step higher. Let us look at the example of the rope being mistaken for a
snake. You're walking along the road; there's a rope on the ground and you
think it's a snake. Karma is in the realm of the illusory snake. When did that
snake begin and when will that snake end,-so long as you think it's a snake?
It's beginningless and it's endless, because in reality it never was; it was
always a rope. If you are in karma, it is a forever thing. If you are not in
it, it never was. Does that make sense? Karma is beginningless and endless.
Hence it's
impossible to work out karma. Some schools of metaphysics teach that you must
work out your karma. While you're trying to work it out. you are creating new
karma for the future. So, it's impossible to work it out.
Well, what
can we do? Awake from the illusion and see the Truth! See the snake as the
rope! Once the rope is seen as the real, the snake no more is. When we see the
Truth of our Being, all this action and reaction turns out to be a dream-
illusion and therefore, as such, cannot touch us any more.
Q: Didn't you say we become the observer? I under stood
that the cycle still must be performed, regardless of enlightenment, is that
correct?
Lester: No, that is, once your understanding is full,
from that moment on, there's no more karma. When I say, "Be the
witness." that is still in the realm of duality, witnessing the duality,
but it's a giant step forward. It's a method of letting go of the ego sense of
being the doer. It's a mode of behavior that's very conducive to growth.
However, when
you are fully realized, you'll look at the world and you'll see only a singular
oneness in everything and everyone. And you'll see that it is all nothing but
your very own Self. And the Self is only the Self. So, what happens to the
world is that you see it as it really is; you look at it as the rope instead of
seeing it as the snake. Then you are out of karma and there is no more karma.
Now, what is
a little confusing to you is statements that have been made at different
levels of approach. Things at one level seem to contradict things at another
level. However, when the Truth is seen, all contradictions vanish. So, from the
highest point of view) when you see who and what you are, there is no karma.
When you see you’re real Self, there's only Beingness; action and reaction are
only apparently going on.
Q: Let's say I'm driving out onto the freeway and I see
a guy coming and I step on the gas and get in front of him. What does this do
to me? Is there a reaction coming back from this?
Lester: In this dream world, to the last ounce there's
action and reaction.
Q: One of the big things with any human, and I know I am
no different, are thoughts of sex. This is quite a strong interplay and quite
a strong force. How does this all get worked out?
Lester: It's one of the most difficult things to transcend.
However, it's possible and it's relatively easy to do it once you recognize
that all that joy that you’re seeking through sex you can have all the time,
but much more once you're out of the trap of desire. That's why I say,
"Get to the higher place where, in order to have sex, you give up
joy." Then it's an easy thing to let go of. Meantime, moderation is the
best guide.
Happiness is
only your very own Self; happiness is your basic nature. You don't need
anything external to have it. But you think you do because you've covered over
this happiness with layers and layers of limitation: I must have this to be
happy; I must have that to be happy. And this has been going on for a long
time. But the more you see who and what you are, the less desires have a hold
on you.
Q: You have shown the way or method for me, by which I
have realized that there is something greater than sex. I have now realized
that sex is actually a giving up of something, giving up of a higher feeling
for a lesser feeling. It's much easier to understand in that light.
Lester: Sex will keep you earth bound. It's necessary to
get above it. Having sex will not prevent you from moving toward realization,
but while you are enmeshed in it, you are a slave to it and can never get full
realization. You are making the physical thing the joy and it isn't. The real
thing is that you are that joy, only a million times more so! As high as
the feeling is that you get from sex, you
can go way, way beyond that feeling in joy, and have it
twenty-four hours a day. And it is this unlimited joy that you are really
seeking, but you sacrifice it for sex.
Q: When we do things and realize that they should not be
done, can we dispose of them by doing the opposite?
Lester: Well, if you're doing the opposite, you're involved
in action again, creating the opposite for the future.
Q: You just have to be desireless?
Lester: Yes, that's it! Being desireless, you will see
who and what you are; you'll see that you're above all this illusion of karma
and then it can touch you no more.
Q: When you do see that, the release is so tremendous,
it's like a sex release.
Lester: Much greater, much greater. I’ll have to get
some testimonials for you, I believe. (Laughter)
Q: If you drop the desire for some thing, will it still
come your way?
Lester:
No. The desire is the cause for it. You can mentally
undo karma by mentally undoing desire. Karma is caused by desires that remain
in the subconscious mind. Dropping desire drops all thoughts of it. If you take
desire out of the subconscious mind, the seeds of karma are no more there. This
is the fastest, the very best way of undoing karma. If you want to undo karma,
do it mentally. Why experience it again and again and suffer it? If you let go
of things mentally, you let go of them forever; then you don’t have to
experience them. As Jesus said, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery with her already." The act originates in
the mind. Every negative thought, every bad thought we have creates karma that
we don't like and we call it bad karma. If people only knew this! It doesn't
matter whether we carry out the act or not. The seed is sown in the thought.
* *
Karma sows the seeds of its own destruction.
* *
What we go through is determined by what we have
gone through. This is the law of compensation or karma. In between physical
bodies, we choose a certain part of what we have been through to go through the
next time around; we set up similar situations, hoping that this next time we
will transcend them. You always get another opportunity - ad infinitum.
* *
Bad karma keeps us so miserable with negativity
that we change our bad karma to good karma and that turns out to be a golden
chain instead of an iron chain. Freedom is above karma.
* *
Whenever we move up, something happens to test
us. What actually happens is that we subconsciously feed ourselves more karma
because we have become stronger and can face it.
* *
Karma is nothing but the accumulated past habits
of thought that are going on subconsciously.
* *
Karma is the conglomeration of all the
subconscious thoughts running you. Get rid of these thoughts; quiet the mind totally
and there is no karma.
* *
Where is karma? It's in the world of illusion.
* *
Anything karmic is really comic.
* *
Karma is a harmer. It is a bondage maker.
* *
We hurt ourselves when we judge others because
it is karmic and returns to us.
* *
The fastest way out of karma is to grow.
* *
Karma and reincarnation are part of the illusion
and have no part in the Reality. Past lives should not be gone into as it is
playing with the unreality, making it seem more real.
* *
Get to accept karma. The idea that you can fight
it is contrary to the accepting of it. If you accept it, your fears, frustrations,
tensions, miseries, etc., are alleviated and you are no more holding onto it by
attempting to avert it. Since there is nothing you can do about it, you just
let it be. Everything this body is going to go through, it will go through.
Understand this and remain as you really are - free.
* *
You can't change what the body will go through.
That was determined by you by prior action. However, you can choose not to be
that body, but to be your Self.
* *
The ego doesn’t like to hear that it doesn’t
have free will. But the ego itself is a product of karma.
* *
If karma is, what does advice mean?
* *
Examine karma and you will discover that karma
and destiny are one and the same.
* *
Acts performed with no interest in the fruits
thereof produce no karma.
* *
If action is being done without attachments and
aversions, there is no karma being created.
* *
Once you reach the state of non-attachment, you
can enjoy the world and do it without creating any karma.
* *
It is when we rise above karma, good and bad,
that we move into being our real Self.
* *
How can an infinite Being be subject to karma,
karma being an extreme limitation?
* *
Get above karma; don’t work out karma.
* *
Karma comes to an end when one recognizes that it
is all in his mind and he is not his mind.
* *
There's one act that will do a way with all
karma, - be your Self!
* *
All actions that the body will perform you have
already concluded before it came into existence. The only freedom you have is
whether or not to identify yourself with the body and its action.
If an actor plays the part of a king or a
beggar, he is unaffected by it because he knows he is not that character. In exactly
like manner should we carry out our part in the world, and whether we are king
or beggar, we should be unaffected by it, knowing that we are not that
character but are a grand and glorious being, our very own infinite Self.
* *
This Session was recorded in
Happiness per
se is not necessarily' an indication, of one's state of realization. Aborigines
and natives are as happy as we are, and sometimes more so. We who are supposed
to be at the upper end of civilization, as a whole, might not be as happy as
they are. Their enjoying is mostly through the physical senses. Our enjoying is
more through the mind and hence we are capable of more joy. However, because
this allows more joy it, therefore allows more misery.
Many of us
think that the things we do that give us a state of happiness are giving us
spiritual growth and therefore are the right things to do. This could be true
and it could also be false. The happiness we get from a new realization is
definitely growth. We are delighted in the new revelation because we have
become a little freer and therefore permanently a little happier. However, the
happiness we get from avoiding or escaping unpleasantries is not growth. Rather
than furthering our growth, it keeps us bound to the unpleasantries we are
avoiding. Until they are faced, looked at, and dropped, they will remain in our
subconscious and emerge from time to time until we finally drop them.
Therefore, in order to be undone, they must be faced and not avoided. Then no
escape is necessary.
However, it's
really true that the greater our growth the happier we are. We gain an
accumulative total happiness that doesn't vary from day to day. It is freedom
from the constant nagging of our compulsive subconscious thoughts; it's a
sense of well beingness; it's a sense of security; it's a sense of peace. Even
when things are outwardly being expressed against us, when the world seems to
turn against us, we still feel a greater peace with in than we did before.
It's that
inner state that should be used as a measure of growth. A miserable person can,
for the time being, for the moment, be laughing happily. But you cannot use
that as an indication of that person's constant state of freedom. How can we
tell a person's state of freedom or happiness? By checking when everything is
against one. Use this as a method for checking yourself. When things go wrong
in the world then check your state of happiness.
Q: Aren't we inclined to be almost irritated when we see
someone else who is happier than we? Maybe it's a little jealousy?
Lester: Yes, it is called jealousy and when we see one
who's happier than we are. we don't like it. Sometimes we attack that one
indirectly. even if that one is our mate.
This goes on
between couples as they grow. When one moves ahead, the other unconsciously
resents it, does things to try to undermine the first one. It's motivated
subconsciously but sometimes it does become conscious and even when it’s
conscious, we sometimes don't understand why we're doing it. The reason is
that whenever two people get together, the higher one automatically tries to
lift the lower one up a bit and the lower one tries to bring the higher one
down a bit; they move toward each other. This is an unconscious behavior that goes
on whenever two beings meet.
To come back
to what I was saying before, the stability of one's peace is the best measuring
stick for one's growth; peace under circumstances not ideal. peace under
circumstances in which the individual is being tried. If you maintain your
peace while everything out there is going against you, then you really have
it. This peace that I'm talking about is the real happiness and can be measured
by its imperturbability. If a person cannot be disturbed in his peace, he's got
it! He has let go of much ego, because only the ego can be disturbed; the Self
of us can never be disturbed. And when we abide as our Self, we allow the whole
world to be as it is.
If you want
to know your state, check yourself under adverse conditions. Measure your
growth by the bottoms, not by the tops. You'll find that your growth goes in
cycles, up and down, but that the bottoms keep rising. You should get to the
place where the bottom is happiness, and that makes the top even higher, a
state of serenity, tranquility, bliss, - all with a deep imperturbable peace.
Q: Where is this bliss, joy, and peace felt?
Lester: People feel it in different places. Actually
it's at the very center of your beingness, wherever that center be. This is the
first time this series that the group has reached the state of spill-over joy.
During each series of the past we had gone from a low point at the start, to a
very
Q: Do you know why?
Lester: Yes. This is something I'd like to explain to
you. Why go down? We're supposed to be intelligent people; we know the way; why
go down? Somewhat stupid when you know how to be high and happy the way you
feel now; in fact, it's stupid not to be the way you are now all the
time.
The reason
why you go down after I leave you is that you have not undone enough of your
unconscious thoughts. I direct you toward the infinite being that you are. As
you see it, you undo the contrary thoughts and feel freer and higher. After I
leave, The remaining unconscious thoughts of limitation re-emerge, take over,
run you, and you feel lower.
What is
necessary is that you continue to eliminate the unconscious thoughts until
there are no more, until you are totally free. Only then will you be satisfied.
I'm pointing
up now, what you need to do to further your growth. The intellect is excellent
for growing and is necessary at the beginning; it sets you in the right
direction; it takes you forward. Then you reach a place where it can take you
no further. So, what do you do? Do you stop at the top of the intellect, or do
you go on? I'm saying let's go on! This doesn't mean let go of your intellect,
forget it, or suppress it. No, I'm saying go beyond it. I'm suggesting another
giant step forward.
I'm trying to
get you to see what this next step is, by first telling you what it is not. It
is not intellectual. Intellectually there's nothing more I can give you. What
is it? It is becoming a ware of your Self by actually experiencing your Self. I
could lead you much higher than we've ever gone before if you would draw it out
of me. This would help you to experience a higher state than you have ever
known before. Then the experience would be your knowledge, and after you
experience it, it would leave you with a stronger desire for freedom, a
stronger incentive to move faster toward the Goal.
Now, I don't
want to talk in riddles or intangibles. What is it that will draw out more than
the intellect has drawn out so far? It's your state of receptivity. It
determines the amount of the Power that flows into you. Stated another way, it
is letting go of your reservations. As you become more receptive, more of the
power flows through me into you and lifts you to the place where you experience
your Self. I, Lester:, do not do it;
it flows through me to the degree that you receive it. It can help lift you to
a higher state, and by experiencing that state, you definitely know it. You
better know that "Thou art That."
Q: How do we do that?
Lester: Greater acceptance of the direction coming
through me, and of the fact that happiness really lies within you and not
without. The direction up to now has been to quiet the mind by looking at and
letting go of subconscious thoughts. As you let go of these thoughts, you
become freer, your mind is quieter, your real Self is less obscure and you Ire
more able to be the real Self that you are. Also, the more you have this
experience, the more you are capable of being drawn into your Self by the Power
flowing through me into you. This could go on to the Ultimate.
You have
quieted the mind to quite some degree; there is much more to be done. That I s
why I asked last time, "Who can sit down and immediately quiet his mind
and have no thoughts come in?" If you can do that, you're a Master. To the
degree you can quiet your mind, to that degree you are a Master. But everyone
is quieter now than they were. Our next step is to get even quieter. And I say
we Ire not going to get it through intellectualism any more, through bandying
words up and back; we're going to get it through a method that directly helps
you experience the quietude of your Self.
Q: When you quiet your mind and no thought comes in,
then what happens? Is it a blank?
Lester: No, it's not a blank; you have no mind to go
blank! You're in the realm of All-Knowingness; you don't have to think any
more; you just know everything and everything falls into line perfectly, -every
moment. You operate on a feelingness, called intuition. Everyone in this room
has experienced it at times. Mind is nothing but the total bundle of your thoughts;
a small part conscious; the major part subconscious and held out of view. Mind
is not complicated when you see what it is; it's simply the totality of
thoughts.
Q: Isn't it true that subconscious thoughts are thoughts
that are not being thought of at the moment?
Lester: No, they're being thought of at the moment, but
they're not consciously being thought of; they're subconsciously being thought
of at the moment.
Q: So that's the difference between conscious and subconscious
thoughts?
Lester: Yes, subconscious thoughts are active right now,
but we're not looking at them. Are you consciously pumping your heart?
Breathing? Running that chemical digestive factory you have? Are you doing
these things consciously? Well, then you're doing them subconsciously.
Q: I didn’t have that in mind exactly.
Lester: I know, but I want to show you how all the
thoughts on the body, even though you're not conscious of them, are active
right now and there are many, many thoughts connected with running a body;
there's a lot of action going on there. They're active right now ~ even though
we're not conscious of them.
Q: That's automated; that's what I call automation.
Lester: Right. But who is now running the automated
action? We are. It was originally useful in that we didn’t have to consciously
operate the body. Then we lost sight of the fact that we threw this onto
automatic; and therefore it is now running us. It's difficult to change it
because we have made it unconscious. As we become aware, we see this and then
we change it. We become free of it; we reestablish our control over the body.
Our object is
to let go of unconscious thoughts, these habitual things of the past that keep
us automatically bound. Every habitual thought is a bondage that takes away a
certain amount of freedom, happiness. We must let go of all these old
habit-thoughts until we are totally free of them. Then we are liberated, fully
realized Masters.
Q: That's why some words will trigger us. If we hear a
certain word, we fly into a madness, or if we hear something else, we feel
good.
Lester: Right! So, our object is to let go of all these
subconscious thoughts. We have done a beautiful job so far, through using the
thoughts, the mind. Now I'm suggesting that we move on; that we get the mind
yet quieter by doing that which does it directly, that is, by experiencing
your Self.
It can also
be done in meditation. I ought to re-define the word "meditation."
When I say meditation, I mean holding one thought to the exclusion of other
thoughts and that one thought should be a question. As other thoughts drop away
the mind gets quiet and concentrated. When the mind is concentrated, you will
experience your Self and It will answer any and every question. It will answer
the questions that we need to have answered to show us the way out of the
bondages.
Now, in
meditation, the moment you sit down to quiet the mind, it seems to get noiser,
which is natural; the thoughts come up for us to drop, to let go of. And each
time we let go of one, that's one less that we have to let go of. As time goes
on and we keep dropping these thoughts, we have less and less to drop. Someday
the mind becomes quiet enough so that we fully see this infinite Being that we
are; and then in one lump sum. we drop all that is left. And when there are no
more thoughts, we are free and there is left only our infinite Self.
Q: My mind keeps getting noisier and noisier.
Lester: No, it is just that you are looking more at your
subconscious thoughts . You don't get more thoughts; you just become more aware
of them. The unconscious thoughts that control you will come up. Every
time you meditate this happens, and through practice, some day you will be able
to hold one question, one thought, without other thoughts coming in. When you
get that far, you are moving rapidly. When you have dropped all subconscious
thoughts, then you know what God is, that your beingness is He.
Q: I'd like to identify the feeling in meditation. Is it
similar to a feeling you get while listening to a fine piece of music?
Lester: Yes, it is one of the nicest and quietest feelings
you can have.
Q: Then the process of meditation, as I'm seeing it now,
has not to do at all with thoughts, but with identifying with this feeling and
allowing it to expand.
Lester: Yes! However, this nice feeling is accomplished
by quieting the thoughts. Someday the meditative feeling will be far more
enjoyable than the music was.
Q: I feel that it would be such a tremendous welling up
that you would almost explode!
Lester: Well, you won't explode because you take it on
as much as you can accept it. There is such a tremendousness in us, that if it
came all at one time, we just couldn't take it.
Q: Is meditation related to receptivity?
Lester: Definitely yes! The better we are able to meditate,
the more receptive we are and the more receptive we are, the better we can
meditate. I'm stressing meditation with the hope of helping us to become more
receptive. We should let go of the queer ideas we have about meditation. You
don't have to be a Hindu or a yogi; you can be one hundred per cent American
and be a very good meditator.
Meditation is
simply holding one question or thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts
and when that question or thought is on your beingness, that's right
meditation. Before we attain good meditation, we have to work to let go of
extraneous thoughts that come in while we’re trying to hold one question. Then
that one question will be answered, whatever that question is. "What am
I?" is the final question. When we get the full answer to that, we are in
the ultimate state.
Q: Don't you automatically try to answer that when you
ask yourself the question?
Lester: Yes you do, but your mind cannot. The mind can
never give you the answer to the question "What am I?" Why? Because
Realization is elimination of the mind and the mind posing the question is not
going to eliminate itself. It's almost like saying, "eliminate
yourself." The mind does not want to eliminate itself, therefore, when
the mind poses the question "What am I?" the mind will never in all
eternity, give the answer.
This is
another reason why the intellect can take us only so far. The mind cannot give
us the answer because it, itself, is in limitation, in finiteness. The answer
is in infinity. The mind can pose the question "What am I?" and when
the answer comes, it's from beyond the mind.. It's only by quieting the mind
that you will be able to see who and what you are. The mind is the blinding
cover over this infinite Self that you are.
Q: But underneath it all, I'm trying to find something
to hang onto here, is it this glow, this feeling?
Lester: Yes. If you will examine the glow you'll discover
it to be a feeling of “I-ness,” of beingness.
Q: Assuming this feeling that we all get occasionally is
our true being shining through, even though it's a very small part we're
experiencing, this is the constant experience we should attain to, right?
Lester: Yes! Make it nothing but that and that is It.
Then there's nothing but the experience of "I-I-I-I-I…" all the time,
and you are There.
Q: Up until now. I've only had an intellectual understanding
of these things and this is the first concrete experience I've had.
Lester: Well, that's not really so. There was always a
feeling of experiencing when you got a realization.
Q: Well, that's what I'm finding out; I've now
identified with this glow, this feeling.
Lester: Yes, the glow is the experiencing and is higher
than the intellect. It's simply experiencing.
Q: That's the way I want it because books make it sound
awfully complicated. How does that fit in with the Self Realization Fellowship
teachings?
Lester: SRF teachings will say the same thing from a
different approach. Their approach is for the majority of seekers. Christianity
is in the realm of love, devotion and surrender to God. So are the SRF
teachings. Instead of working so hard to eliminate the ego, they say,
"Just surrender to God." If you really surrender, it's only
surrender of the ego. "Thy will, not my will" is simply surrender of
the ego.
SRF directs
you to quiet the mind, mainly through meditation, so that your infinite Self
becomes obvious. Its main teaching is its methodology, called Kriya Yoga, an
integral method that can be used by everyone.
If you
understand the overall picture, you'll see that there's no disagreement. I'm
trying to get you to quiet the mind, to let go of the mind. Their teaching will
end up doing the very same thing. And it's a good balance to have our
intellectual, wisdom way and their devotional, love and surrender aspect. However,
you can’t really have one without the other. So approaching it from both sides
is beneficial. And we should use every aid possible. We need it; we’re in an
earth period that is extremely low. We're having opposition going on all day as
long as we associate with the world, and therefore any aid that is helpful
should be used.
When it comes
to aids, there is no greater aid than the actual, wonderfully exhilarating
experience of being your Self. Be more receptive, - surrender your little self
and allow the Power of your real Self to flow until It, the Power, is the only
power flowing through you. Glory in that Power! Remain in that Power! Remain
and abide as your infinite, glorious Self!
* *
This Session
was recorded in
The greatest
thing, and the most difficult thing, we have to do, is to drop the mind. It's a
junkyard full of refuse from ages past; refuse of thoughts of limitations: I am
a limited body; I have troubles. All thoughts contain limitation. We pile them
up in the thing we call mind. Mind is nothing but the total accumulation of all
the se thoughts. So mind is nothing but a junkyard of limitation.
All right, so
how do we get rid of the mind? By quieting it. When we quiet the mind we
discover our infinity. The more we see our limitlessness, the more we recognize
that junkyard called mind, and the more we let go of it, -until we go so far
that we drop the whole remaining mind at one time.
However,
before that, we keep battling the thoughts as they come up. As the thoughts
come up, we let go, let go, let go, until we let go of enough of them so that
the Self that we are is obvious. Then it takes over and takes us all the way.
The greatest thing is quieting the mind, which is eliminating thought, which is
eliminating the mind.
Meditation is
necessary. This is the major point I'm stressing: meditation. Learn how to
meditate. The deeper one goes, the more one discovers the innate joys to which
there are no limits; no matter how joyful you get, you can always go further.
If you were a thousand times more joyful than you are now, you could still go
on and on and on in joy. Joy is unlimited because we're infinite.
But the major
thing to accomplish is the ability to control the mind, to meditate, to drop
into peace at will. A man can control a whole nation and if he cannot control
his own mind, what kind of control has he got? He is a victim of his own mind.
Rather than being in free control over his thoughts, he is an effect of them.
He is actually pushed around by past habits. He is no Master. Only he who can
control his mind is a Master, a Master not only of himself, but of anything
and everything he does. Meditation is the way.
* *
Meditation is
directed thinking.
* *
Meditation is
putting your mind on the way to find God.
* *
Meditation is
looking for the answers in the right direction.
* *
Meditation is
basically thinking in the right direction and holding to it so that other
thoughts keep dropping away until the mind is concentrated. When the mind is
concentrated the answers become obvious to you.
* *
Concentration
is holding one thought to the exclusion of other thoughts and will lift one and
help one grow.
* *
The ability
to hold one thought concentrates the mind so that it can crack the secrets of
itself.
* *
Meditating to
get the mind quiet is good. Meditating to let go of ego-wants is better.
Meditating on "What am I?" is best.
* *
Meditate,
actively seeking.
* *
Meditation
should be on: "What am I?" "What is God?" "What is the
world?" "What's my relationship to the world?" "What is the
substance of this world?" "What is infinity?" "What is intelligence
?" "Where is this world?" Or on some of the statements you've
heard like: "I'm not in the world but the world is in me." Question,
and ask. "How come?" Try to see it. Try to see the meaning behind
these statements of Truth.
* *
We get to see
the perfection by looking in the direction where the perfection is. Now, the
perfection isn’t out there; we know that. The perfection is in here where we
are, where the "I" of us is. So first, we have to direct our
attention inwardly; we should pose a question and hold it until the answer
comes. When the answer does come, you know, and you know you know. And to get
the answer to "What am I?" it is necessary to still the noise of the
mind, to still the thoughts. The thoughts are the noise. The thoughts are
concepts of limitation and there are so many of them that they're constantly
bombarding us, one after another all the time. Keep on dropping them until the
perfection is obvious.
* *
All these
extraneous thoughts wouldn’t come in if we weren’t interested in them.
* *
We must learn
how to quiet the mind. We can never learn how by constant conversation. The
less conversation, the better.
* *
Meditation
does not have to be formal to be meditation. It can be any time one gets quiet
and seeks. Some of us find it is easier to meditate when it isn’t formal
because sometimes we unconsciously have objections and resistances to formal
meditation. However, we should work to drop the objections and resistances, and
be free of them.
* *
Reverse your
negative thoughts as they come into mind. Let go of negative thoughts by
reversing them and then eventually, let go of all thoughts.
* *
What you gain
remains. Even though you've undone one thought, one idea, there still remains a
multitude of thoughts and so another one comes up. Undoing one limiting thought
doesn't undo all the subconscious thoughts. What remains must be let go of by
dropping a tendency or predisposition, you drop all the thoughts motivating it.
* *
Meditation
should always be with a seeking.
* *
Everything
that everyone is looking for through work is far better gotten through
meditation. Meditation will sooner and better get you what you want than
working in the world for it will.
* *
It is the
doorway to the Infinite when you go inward. When you go outward, it is the
doorway to limitation.
* *
Internalize
your attention. All externalized attention is wasted.
* *
What you do
to yourself, being your own doing, can only be undone by you.
* *
God is known
only through your effort and direction. Look concentratedly within for the
* *
With
meditation, you will discover that you've covered up your unlimited Self with
your limited ego.
* *
Meditation is
the road to omnipresence.
* *
Meditate to
get into the practice and habit of meditation. We should meditate as much as
we possibly can. Meditation is getting the mind one-pointed in the direction of
who and what we are. It's taking the mind away from the worldly things and
focusing it on the direction that we're in. The more we do it the more we like
it. And the more we like it, the more we do it, until it becomes a thing that
goes on effortlessly all the time. No matter what you're doing, that meditation
continues in the background. Then you are really moving. Until then you're not
moving very rapidly, because most of the time you're in the world and in the
direction of limitation.
* *
There is only
one way to get to the high state, and that is by quieting the mind. The method
of quieting the mind is meditation. It's very difficult; the moment you sit
down and want to quiet the mind, up pop the thoughts. Well, as the thoughts pop
up keep knocking them out, putting
them out, dropping them, until you reach a state where you can sit relatively
quiet. Then you begin to like meditation because it's a deeper experience of
your real Self. Once you like it, the main obstacle to the practice of meditation
is eliminated. But you should never stop until you reach the place where
meditation is delightful. Then you will go on with ease.
* *
The most
effective meditation is when you are by yourself. Group meditation is for
beginners, for the purpose of accustoming one to meditation.
* *
Meditation
really should be communing with your Self.
* *
You'll see
your Self to the proportion that your mind is quiet.
* *
The way to
get rid of the ego is to get the mind so quiet that you can see what you are.
Then you know that you are not the ego and you drop it.
* *
Intense
meditation will get you to your realized Teacher, to your Master.
* *
To expand out
from being just a body is so difficult because of the state of the world
today. We do need the help of the Masters to lift us, actually to help pull us
right out of it. They cannot do that unless we are receptive. We cannot be
receptive unless our mind is quiet. And our mind becomes quiet through
meditation.
* *
Just go into
meditation, get quiet and expect that higher help and it will come. God and
Gurus are constantly helping us. If we just get quiet, with Their help we are
lifted into experiencing our Self.
* *
Meditation
has to get to the point where it is the most important thing. However, even a
little meditation will go a long way, especially if it is concentrated.
* *
Spiritual
things are spiritually discerned. Spiritual knowledge does not come down to a
lower level. We have to raise ourselves up to it. We raise ourselves in
meditation. Meditation should be used to get higher understanding by raising
ourselves up to where higher understanding is.
* *
Meditation is
wonderful. Things happen in meditation that never could happen while you are
talking or active.
* *
You can make
the mind quiet by the desire to discover what you are. When the interest in
knowing what you are becomes stronger than the interest in this world and body,
then you discover You. Desire, intense desire for it, is the key.
* *
The concept
of meditating by making your mind a blank is in error. You cannot make your
mind a blank.
* *
Meditation is
a stepping stone to the knowledge of the answer to "What am I?"
* *
Someday the
most delightful thing you will know of will be meditation.
* *
Meditate
until it becomes constant, i.e., until it continues in back of the mind
regardless of what you are doing.
* *
There is a
meditation of just getting quiet. Just get quiet, not in a passive way, but in
an active way of just being. It's awfully nice to just be and be and be. It's a
tremendous experience. It's a wonderful feeling of just being. However, don't
stop there. Keep dropping ego until there is no more.
* *
You'll reach
a point where you'll1ike meditation better than anything else, because you'll
reach a point where you're being very much your real Self. That is the greatest
of all joy which you, formerly thought was external in the world, in your wife,
in your children. You'll see your wife and your children as nothing but your
very own Self; you'll see that. And the joy will be direct and constant all the
time.
* *
The answer
won’t come from reasoning. It will come from quiet meditation. Someday,
sometime, it will come. It will just present itself to you, so simple, and
you'll say. "Oh-!"
* *
Meditation is
thinking, but thinking on one thing so that other thoughts drop away. When you
are intensely interested in one thing, other thoughts drop away.
* *
The quieter
we are. the more we are the Self. When meditation becomes constant. all the
time, even though we are outwardly active, we go through life and work
automatically, all the time remaining in our real Self.
* *
The mature
seeker of the Self starts with: The reality is that I was never bound; I was
always free and perfect, - and take’s off from there.
* *
Just look at
what you are instead of what you are not. When you discover what you are, you
simultaneously discover what you are not and drop it.
* *
Say, "I
am not this body; I am not this mind,” and stay with it.
* *
Seeing that
you're not the ego, you're letting go of big chunks of ego.
* *
The depth to
which you go in meditation determines how much you wipe out the ego.
* *
Depth of
meditation is the degree of quieting the mind.
* *
The longer
you can meditate, the deeper you can go.
* *
Once you
reach peace, then find out what you are.
* *
Getting the
good feeling is good. The higher you go the better the feeling is. But when you
look for the good feeling as the end, then that is the end. Growing is more
than dropping into the good feeling of the Self; it is dropping the non-self, -
the ego.
* *
Enjoying
meditation is a step, but don't stop there; go beyond it. You have got to get
the answer.
* *
One could
possibly meditate forever and forever.
* *
Meditation in
itself can get to be a trap, cart be used as a crutch. You've got to get
realizations.
* *
When you get
full realization, you're in the meditative state all the time. Actually,
meditation is the natural state.
* *
Constant
meditation is a constant remembering of God, Self.
* *
Meditation is
extremely difficult at first, but it gets easier as time goes on, - then, one
day you'll say. "This is great! This is what I want!" Then you do it
all the time. Then you're really on the spiritual path.
* *
Very
concentratedly dwell upon your Self. Turn the mind back upon the mind to
discover what the mind is, and then go beyond the mind and dwell in your Self.
Each one must experience it. It's a perception, but it's not really a mental
perception. You get recognitions, revelations, realizations by keeping the mind
pointed in one direction until it gets very quiet, until other thoughts drop
away. Hold one thought until that takes you to the realm just behind
thinkingness; the answer is there. We call it an experience, a revelation.
* *
We must learn
to quiet the mind so that when we sit down, we let go of the world. Only then
do we really begin to move at high levels on this spiritual path. We’ve made
this world a better world; we've made this dream a happier dream, -but we’re
almost as bound as we were before. We have replaced bondages to bad things
with bondages to good things. Now we must learn to let go of thoughts, all
thoughts. The way is through meditation, right meditation: quieting the mind,
stilling the thoughts, and finally, eliminating all thoughts.
* *
In group
meditation support is lent one unto the other. The power is multiplied and you
can get more deeply quiet as time goes by. But the very best meditation is when
you are by yourself and you need no group support. Then you are not confined to
any time period. You get with it and you might stay with it five, ten, even
twenty-four hours. And this should happen. When you get to like it so much that
you stay up all night continuing it, it has become more interesting than
sleep. Then you've got the momentum going. Then you'll get to see and be you’re
real Self.
* *
A way to
dominate the mind is to drop into the Self. You reach a place where it's so
delightful you just don't want to do anything but remain in it. It gets to be
very easy. Once you get to the point where it's easy, then just continue it.
Stay with it until you go all the way. By the constancy of it, each day, you
get quieter and quieter, and then the Self, as you see It, keeps scorching the
ego, which further quiets the mind.
* *
You know,
it's said that your spiritual growth really begins when you are' able to drop
into samadhi. I don't like to say this because it's discouraging to some
people. Samadhi is complete absorption in your thought. It's total
concentration.
* *
Meditation at
first is holding the thoughts on God, Self, to the exclusion of other thoughts.
When one is realized, meditation is the awareness, not of anything by anyone,
but only the current of awareness of awareness where there is no otherness and
no action, yet compatible with full use of the mental and physical faculties.
* *
At the end of
the road of meditation you discover your grand and glorious Self!
* *
This Session
was compiled from various Sessions.
Since we have
such a large and mixed group, I don't know how to start. The best thing is to
do that which is best for the greatest number. There really is no mass teaching
that is very effective. Teaching, in order to be really effective, must be on
an individual basis. The power of the Teacher when focused on a group is not
nearly as powerful as when focused on an individual. The power used by the Guru
is more intense with the individual; it's dispersed to the group; it's not
concentrated. When the Guru works with an individual pupil, all the power flows
through to the pupil to lift him to the place where he sees the Truth.
Now, each
individual has a particular thing that he or she is seeking and needing at the
moment. When I answer an individual on the point that he is asking, usually
there are others who have the same question and who can benefit by it.
Therefore, in general, I like to answer questions. But if you want, I'll give you
a short synopsis of the subject.
Basically, we
are all infinite, perfect Beings. I assume that most of us accept this, at
least theoretically. We are told this by the scriptures, especially the Hindu
scriptures. The Masters tell us this. I come along and say the same thing. But
why don't we express this infinite, perfect Being that we are? The reason why
we don't express it is that through habit of lifetimes, we have played a game
of limitation. We have played it so long that we have completely forgotten that
we have been playing a game of limitation and that our real basic nature is
infinite. We do not look at this infinite Being that we are. We continue every
day, every moment, looking at this little puppet that we set up, called the
body, and assume that we are that body. So long as we keep looking at this body
as being us. We are stuck right there; we cannot see our infinity, we don 't
know that it is; and we go on and on, lifetime in and lifetime out, assuming
that we are a body.
We have done
this for so long that it takes a super will to move in the opposite direction,
to look at and see the infinite Being that we really are. This super will can
take us a way from assuming every moment that we are a limited body. If we
would do it for just one second and see this infinite Being that we really are,
we would use that second to undo much limitation. But first we must assume that
we are infinite. Then we must start undoing the limitations. We must actually
accept that we are not this body, that we are not this mind. and until we do
that we have absolutely no chance of getting out of this trap, called "The
Game of Being limited Bodies."
So, as the
scriptures say: Thou Art That. Be still and know it. Every thought we have is
necessarily a thought of limitation. Let go of thought, - get still.
The methods
are, as we know, to get quiet. Quiet the mind. The moment the mind is quiet
enough, this infinite Being that we are becomes self-obvious. So the method is
very simple: quiet that mind enough so that you see this infinite Being that
you are. Now the moment you see it, the moment you see this infinite Being that
you are, you'll immediately go to work to undo the remaining thoughts that you
are not it. And when there are no more thoughts, there's only the infinite
Being left.
Very oddly,
what you are seeking is the very closest thing to you. Every time you say
"I" that's It. When you say "I," you're talking about the
infinite Being. When you say "I am a body" you're saying "I, the
infinite Being, am a limited body with a limited mind." It's really as
simple as all that. But simplicity does not mean it's easy to let go of the
habits that you have been hanging onto for eons.
This, that
everyone is seeking, the thing that everyone calls happiness, is nothing but the
infinite Self that we are. Everyone, in his every act, is seeking this infinite
Self that he is, calling it by other names: money, happiness, success, love,
etc. Having been told this, -and again, we've been told this many times before,
- why don't we just be what we are and stop trying to be what we are not, - a
limited body? Can anyone answer that? Why don't we stop being limited?
Q: Because we can't.
Lester: You mean an infinite Being can't stop being
limited?
Q: Because we don't want to.
Lester: Right. We don't want to!
Q: The infinite Being doesn't want to?
Lester: Yes. I, the infinite Being, think I am a limited
body, and I've been doing this so long that I, the infinite Being, don‘t want
to let go of constantly assuming I am this limited body. Does that make sense?
Q: Yes.
Lester: Every time you say "I" without going
any further, you're talking about the infinite Being that you are, but you
immediately add to it "am this body." If you would only just say
"I-I-I" from here on, you'd get full realization, because as you're
saying "I-I-I" you're concentrating on "I" and not saying,
"I am a little body with needs."
So there's no
one who is not every moment experiencing the infinite Being that he is. As long
as he experiences an "I" he is experiencing this infinite Being that
he is.
However, you
don't want to see that. You want to be the body. So, what is required? First,
saying to yourself "I am not this body, I am not this mind; then what am
I?" If we reject this body and mind enough, what we are becomes
self-obvious.
We can never
become an infinite Being because we are that. We can just let go of the
concepts that we are not it. We can just let go of the concepts that we are a
body, a mind. The first thing needed is the desire to let go of this limited
beingness that we think we are. A very strong desire to be the infinite Being
that we really are is the only thing that we need to get there quickly.
But, as he
said, we don't want it. If we really wanted It, we would have It. There is a
difficulty, of course, and what is the difficulty? It's the habit; it's the
unconscious habitual thinking; it's the mind. So we attack it by attacking
this unconsciously very-thinking mind. The mind is the only cover over the
infinite Being that we are. We must stop thinking long enough to see what we are, and that
"long enough" can be just one second. If you would stop thinking for
one second (thinking includes the unconscious thinking too), -if you would stop
thinking for one second, the tremendous liberating shock of seeing what you
are, would cause you to use this infinite power that is yours, to scorch the
mind. The mind can be scorched in large amounts, each and ever-y time we will,
just for a moment, drop into that unlimited state of no thinking.
I guess the
next question is: How do we create the desire for it? If the desire is strong
enough, anyone can see and fully be the infinite Being in a matter of weeks,
months, a few years. If anyone of you had a strong desire to see this
infinite Being that you are and just kept that desire only, in a few
months you would see and remain as the infinite Being that you are. You would
stop imagining yourself to be a limited body. So the key is desire.
When you
desire to be a body-beautiful, a body-healthy, all these thoughts prevent you
from seeing the infinite Being that you are. You simply must exchange all your
desires for the one desire to discover your infinite real Self, I'd like some
questions now on what I've said so that I can get closer to your wishes.
Q: While doing "What am I?" I looked at the
stars and I got an idea that I could be the stars. Then I talked to someone
else and they said. "No. you don't do that." And I thought.
"Well, for God's sakes. I am going to find out how to do it!"
Lester: You’re talking about a method called Self Inquiry,
which is really the very top method. The final question we all have to answer
is: What am I? And when that answer comes, that's It. So why not pose that
question at the beginning? When you pose the question "What am I?"
whatever answer the mind gives cannot be right because the mind is the cover
over your real Self. The mind is the thing that limits you. The method is to
hold only the question "What am I?" If another thought comes in.
quickly stop it by saying to yourself. "To whom is this thought? Well, to
me. Well, what am I?" And you're right back on the track.
Q: I see. Thank you.
Lester: Now there are just a rare few on our planet who
can successfully use that method. Therefore I suggest we use it this way:
always seek the answer to “What am I?” No matter what you do during the day,
whether in meditation, reading and so forth, in back of your mind always keep
that question poised and posed, ready and waiting for an answer: “What am I?...
What am I?” I use “what” rather than “who” because “who” is a personal pronoun
and tends to lead us into being the body. "What" is more impersonal.
But this question should always be held. No matter what path we follow, no
matter what method we use, we should always hold in the background "What
am I?" And if we do that, eventually we must see the full answer.
Q: Pertaining to that, how many times does one ask the
question?
Lester: Every time a thought, a stray thought, comes
into the mind, we must say, “To whom is this thought? Well, it’s to me. Then,
what am I?" This will have to be repeated after each stray thought.
Q: But if no thoughts come then it is not to be said?
Lester: Right.
Q: You wait then for an answer.
Lester: Wait to see; you don't wait for an answer, an
answer would come from the mind.
Q: You wait to see?
Lester: Yes, you wait to see. The Self becomes self
obvious. All of a sudden It's there and you realize It has always been there,
that you have been looking away from it by deluding yourself into thinking
you're a body, a mind. And then you see yourself as all beingness. You become
every person, every animal, every insect, every atom in the universe. That the
beingness of the universe is only your beingness, is what you discover. It's
there; It's there right now! But you are looking away from It all the time.
When the mind is quieted enough, It's there. It's the "I" that I am,
-that's It. There's nothing closer to you than that. Most of the time you are
seeking It out there, through a body, and It isn't
out there;
It's the "I" in here, that is the infinite Being.
Holding only
that question is not easy and therefore I suggest holding it in general. Get in
the habit of always seeking what you are, no matter what method you're using.
And when quietness of mind comes, to the degree that there's no other thought
on your mind but "What am I?" this stilling of all the other
thoughts makes your Self self-obvious to you. It's right there where you are,
wherever you are, - right where the "I" is.
So again,
hold that question, - no matter what method you use, until the answer shows
itself, until it becomes obvious.
Q: It seems very hard.
Lester: It's hard to let go of the habit of thinking
every moment that you are a limited body. We're just bombarding ourselves all
the time with the thought: I am a body; I am a body; I am a body. This goes on
all the time so that we don't see the infinite Being that we are. It's a
constant bombardment of: I am a body with involvement.
Meditation is
an attempt to quiet the mind by holding one thought so that other thoughts die
away. By holding that one thought, - if we can get to the place where just that
one thought is there. ---that's enough quieting to see the infinite Being that
we are. There isn't a method that doesn't try to effect the quieting of the
mind so that the infinite Being that we are can become self-obvious.
Q: When you say "self-obvious" what does your
real Self feel like?
Lester: When you get toward the end, as Vivekananda
said, you see that there never was anything but "I" all alone. Now,
if there's nothing but "I" all alone, then "I am everything,
everyone," is your feeling. You look upon every other body as equally
your body. You see everyone as you; just as you see your body as you, you see
everyone as you.
The feeling
is indescribable. It's such an intense experience, far beyond anything that
limitation today will allow, that you'll never know it without experiencing it.
But, from the level where we are, it's the thing we call happiness. It's joy
unlimited, - infinite joy. At first it comes on as an elation; it's overwhelming;
it's hard to contain; it gets to be uncomfortable. You get slap-happy, punch
drunk, ecstatic; it gets to be annoying. And then you work at it until it fall
s a way and what's left is a very deep, profound, delectable peace. It's a
peace that is so much better than the extreme joy that you had before, that you
don't look for that joy any more. The joy state is not the ultimate; the
ultimate is the peace state. Every one of us can get a taste of it at times.
Q: Then it's possible to come across this and then lose
it?
Lester: Oh yes. Many people do. The first time we really
drop into it, we are not able to maintain it because the habit of thinking
takes over again. And the moment we're thinking, we are thinking we are
limited. Every thought must be a thing of limitation.
Let go of the
game of being limited; let go of the world. Don’t try to control it. Don't try
to enjoy it. Take all your joy from within. Then, what was formerly the game
assumes a sameness picture. Everything becomes the same. If everything is the
same, and it is in the Absolute Truth, where can there be a game? If you get
caught up in a game, you're caught up in an eternal illusion. The game will
never end. And if you're in the game, you're away from your infinite Beingness.
There is always a certain limitation in the game that will always keep you from
being fully satisfied.
So there is a
step above the game of playing we are bodies and that step is where everything
becomes exactly the same. And that exact sameness is only you, your beingness.
There is an infinite Oneness left and that infinite Oneness is you and is your
beingness. It's beingness being all beingness. And there's no separation;
there's only beingness, being all beingness.
Now, of course
it takes experiencing it to really know what this beingness is. I am convinced
that the best description of the top state is Beingness being all Beingness.
Q: How can I increase my desire for It?
Lester: Only you can do it. No one can do it for you.
This is the unique thing about it. You have to do it. The grace we hear of
always exists. It’s the inner beingness that we are making us uncomfortable
until we reestablish the original state. Desire for happiness is the grace.
It's always there. All we need to do is to recognize it and take it.
Q: How does God get made into man? Isn't it somehow
sacrilegious to try to change back?
Lester: No. Anyone who tells you that doesn't want you
to attain the top state. But it happens this way: It's like going to sleep at
night. You dream you're born into a little infant body; then you are a week
old, a year old; then twenty, then forty; and you dream you have problems and
problems and problems. Remember, this is only a night dream. This goes on and
on, and you get so tired of it that you dream the body dies. Then you wake up.
Where did you ever change yourself while in that dream? You didn't! You say it
never was; it was all concocted in my mind, right?
That's
exactly how we do it in this waking state. This waking state is a sleep state.
We are totally asleep to the reality of this infinite Beingness that we are. We
are no more awake to the Truth right now than when we are asleep at night. We
are just dreaming that we are awake. Actually this is a sleep state that we need
to awaken from, and when we do, then we say, "Oh, my gosh, it never was! I
never was a limited body! I was always that infinite Being that I am!"
So we
mentally create a dream called the waking state of the world. However, it's
just a dream-illusion. But to recognize that it's a dream, you must wake up
out of this state. Does that make sense? So the answer to "How did we do
this?" is that we are dreaming it!
Q: Deliberately?
Lester: Yes, deliberately. You see, we start off
as infinite Beings in a passive way.
We go down to
the bottom, that's where we are now, - then go back to the top and again see
our infinity. But after going through that, there's a positive knowingness of
our infinity, whereas before it was a passive knowingness.
It's
something like this: "Perfect health" is a meaningless term to
someone who was born perfectly healthy and stays that way all his life; he
doesn't positively know what it is. And yet, it's a nice state when he's in it.
But he's passively healthy; he cannot fully appreciate it. However, if he got
very sick and was on the verge of dying for many years and then reestablished
the perfect health state, then that perfect-health state would be far more
meaningful to him than it was before he got sick. And this is the silly thing
we do to ourselves: We go from infinity down to where we are and back up to
infinity with a positiveness of knowing the infinity that we are. But we
pushed, on the way down, in a way that we lost sight of what we were doing. And
if we look within, we'll discover this.
Q: That's the first time live heard a sensible explanation
of the whole mess. First time it's ever been explained why we've been pulled
down.
Lester: O.K., now go back up.
Q: Is there one person doing this?
Lester: There is one Beingness doing this. I think the
best example of this is that of the ocean and the drops. We, the ocean of
beingness, imagined little tiny circles around parts of us that we called
drops; and this drop says. "I am separate from that drop and separate from
all the other drops." It's an imagined circle around part of the ocean
calling itself a drop. But actually every drop is the ocean. It has all the
qualities of the ocean: it's wet, it's salty, it's H2O, and so forth. I think
that example might make sense. Or, it's like a comb and each tooth says to the
other. "I am separate from you." It's all one comb, and we are the
teeth saying that we are separate, when in actuality it's just one comb.
Remember, you are the one infinite
* *
This Session
was recorded in
Our subject
is called many things by many schools. I like to call it happiness. That which
gives you the ultimate in happiness is the discovery of the Truth of you. When
you get to completely know you, you reach the ultimate joy, the peace of satiation.
You discover that you are the All and that your former worldly search was your
trying to find your real self in the world; and that there you never could
discover the real you, the consequence of which was that you were never
satisfied.
You are this
thing called happiness. Your basic nature is infinite joy, far beyond anything
your mind could comprehend. That's why everyone is seeking happiness. We're all
trying to return to that wonderful inherent state that, when discovered, is
ours all the time. However, we do not find it because we are looking away from,
rather than toward it. We must look within. Basically we are infinite Beings. Vole
have no limitation; we have all knowledge; we have all power and we are
omnipresent, here and now. There isn't anyone who doesn't possess these three
things.
The
difficulty in discovering our purpose and goal in life is that because we are
infinite, we can make ourselves infinitely small. And this is exactly what we
have done. We have achieved the extreme in limitation. We couldn't be much more
limited than we are right now. In this universe, which is infinite in size, and
in the three worlds, we are at the extreme end of limitation. We have imagined
ourselves, and frozen ourselves, into physical bodies, and because of so many
millennia of looking at ourselves as bodies, we have become convinced that we
are these physical bodies.
Beings are
capable of seeing all realms that are denser than their's. In the subtlest
realm, the causal world, beings can perceive the denser astral and physical
realms. In the astral world, beings can perceive the denser physical world. And
because we in the physical realm cannot see a denser realm, we are in the
densest, most limited realm possible.
The physical
body being the extreme end of limitation possible to us, we feel cramped; we
hurt; we reach out. We try to express our freedom in the physical world. We try
to eliminate time and space, to go faster and further.
I'm pointing
out how far we have gone in accepting limitation since we came into a physical
body, and that this is the reason why it is so difficult for most of us to
discover the Truth of ourselves, which is: we have no limits.
However,
there's an advantage to being in this very limited state. Because we are so
cramped we have more of a desire to get out of it than we would if we were
living in a harmonious heaven where everything was easy and immediately
available; where life does not prod us into trying to get liberation. We have a
very distinct advantage in being here. We are forced to seek a way out. We are
trying in many ways and with many methods to get free.
No matter
what the methods are, they all must end up doing the very same thing: freeing
us of our concepts of limitation. The methodology must quiet our mind, must do
away with thoughts. Every thought is a concept of limitation. When thoughts are
undone, what's left over is the infinite Being that we are. Unfortunately, we
set into motion an automatic way of thinking called the subconscious mind.
There, we relegate thoughts to the background and let them operate without
needing to pay any attention to them, and we have lost sight of them.
In the
beginning it was an advantage in operating a physical body, because originally
we had to operate every part of the body consciously, -every cell, every organ,
-and to eliminate all that attention, we put it on automatic control via the
subconscious mind. And the subconscious mind is the real difficulty when we try
to let go of thoughts. It's difficult because we are in the habit of not
looking at it. Not looking at it, we don It see it. Since we don It see it, it
goes on and on, lifetime in and lifetime out. We are so married to our
thoughts that we never even think of divorcing them. And until we do we will
continue, blindly attached to physical bodies and, in the overall, having a
miserable life. For every ounce of pleasure we take, we get pounds of pain; and
it must be that way because the pleasure we are trying to get is by seeking our
very own Self externally in the world and through the body, and it just isn't
there.
The methods,
to be effective, must be in a direction of first quieting our thoughts; then
actually getting rid of our thoughts. Make a conscious effort to bring up
subconscious thoughts and when they are brought to the conscious plane, drop
them. When they do come up, because they are very limiting and very negative as
a whole, you want to drop them and you do. After you have dropped an
appreciable number of them, then you can drop thoughts in large amounts.
To drop
thoughts in large amounts requires dropping the tendency or predisposition that
has evolved from the accumulated thoughts on that one particular thing.
Dropping the tendency or predisposition, one drops all the thoughts that caused
that tendency or predisposition. In this way you may, at one time, drop a
large accumulation of thoughts.
For instance,
if one has a tendency to like sweets, one could bring up from the subconscious
one thought at a time and continue letting go of them until there are no more.
This takes much time! However, if one drops the tendency itself, then all the
subconscious thoughts that made up that tendency are dropped, and one is
totally free from desiring sweets.
Later, you
reach a point where you can drop all the remaining thoughts at once, because
having infinite power, you will have reached the point where you can see that
you have this infinite power and you then can use it to wipe out the rest of
the mind. That is why it is sometimes said that Realization is instantaneous.
When you get that far that you can see that the power is yours, 'you wipe out
all the remaining thoughts at once. Then you are totally free; you've gone all
the way.
When this
happens, you don't become a zombie and you don't disappear or go up in a flash
of light. What you do is let the body go through that which you preset for it;
and when you reach the end of the line of the action for the body, you will
leave it with joy. You will leave it just the way you leave and let go of an
old, worn-out overcoat.
You will
never die. People around you might say so, but to yourself, you don't die; you
consciously drop the body the way you would drop an old, worn-out overcoat.
But, again, you won't do this until you run the course that you preset for it.
Now, I tell you this so you won't be fearful of dying if you get Realization.
So, attaining
the ultimate state is not disappearing into a nothingness; it's a moving out
into your omnipresence and letting go of confinement to only a physical body.
Now, to do
this you must have a strong desire to do it. The only thing that keeps you from
being the infinite Being that you are is your desire to be a limited physical
body. When your desire shifts into wanting to get free of the extreme
limitation I it's a start; but to go all the way you must have a desire
to be totally free that is more intense than your desire to be a physical body.
The reason
why so few of us do make it is that most of us have a stronger subconscious
desire to be a physical body than we have a conscious desire to be a free
unlimited Being. Until you confront this and see what your desire really is, it
is impossible to achieve total Freedom, total Realization. You should dig into
the subconscious to bring up your desires, because unless you see them, you
can't let go of them. The only reason why you are limited to the physical body
is that subconsciously, you have a strong desire to be this limited physical
body. When your conscious desire to be Free becomes stronger than your
subconscious desire to be a physical body, then you'll quickly achieve
your Freedom. And therein lies your ultimate happiness. I think that is an
overall presentation of the subject. Now, if you have any questions I'd be very
happy to do what I can to answer your specific questions.
Q: How do you dig into your subconscious?
Lester: Good question. You do it by first, wanting to do
it. It's very difficult when you begin, but as you do it, the more you do it
the easier it becomes. You can actually reach a place where it becomes easy.
Practice will do it. By practicing bringing up subconscious thoughts, the more
you do it, the more you're able to do it.
There are
many aids to doing it. In the little booklet, The Eternal Verities,
there are ways and aids like: "Get to the place where no one and no thing
can disturb you." When someone disturbs you and you don't know why, the
thought is subconscious. Bring up the thought. By constant trying you will
develop the habit of actually getting it up; you'll see that there's a limiting
thought, an ego or selfish motivation behind it and you'll drop it.
Q: Is just
seeing the subconscious thought or motivation enough?
Lester: Just looking at it is not enough. You must consciously
drop the thought or consciously will out the tendency or motivation. I'm
assuming you'll want to let go of these thoughts because they're all limiting
and negative.
One reason why
we don It like to dig them up is that we don’t like to see how awful we are.
But there's nothing good or bad; there's just moving in the right direction or
the wrong direction. When we move in the wrong direction, we move toward more
limitation and that's really so-called bad. But everything is experiencing.
And when we don 't judge ourselves, we move much faster.
Q: When we don't judge ourselves?
Lester: Right. When we don't judge ourselves, whatever
comes up, -so what? To get this far in your limitations, you have run the gamut
of everything bad. It'll come up, but it's from past experiencing. Also, when
you wake up you'll discover that you never ever were apart from your real Self,
which is whole, perfect, complete, unlimited; that all these experiences were
images in your mind just like in a night dream you imagine everything that's
going on. But while you're in a night dream, it's real to you. If someone is
trying to kill you in a night dream, it's real; you're struggling for your
life. But when you wake up from that dream, what do you say? "It was just
a dream; it was my imagination." This waking state is exactly as real as a
night dream. We're all dreaming we are physical bodies; we're dreaming the
whole thing. However, in order to reach this awakened state. it is first
necessary to drop a major part of your subconscious thinking.
Q: How do you see it when you come back after realizing
it is a dream?
Lester: You see it like you now see a dream you had last
night. You see it as a dream and that's how important it remains to you. The
before and after picture is simply point of view: before you thought you were
limited to a body and all these bodies and action were so real; after, you see
it as a dream, like a moving picture. When you see characters on the screen,
you can lose your awareness of yourself by identifying with one of the
characters on the screen and you'll emote with him and feel unhappy.
Q: But you don't have all the desires that you had before?
Lester: You have no desires because you wake up to the
fact that you are infinite, you are the All, -there's nothing to desire. Desire
limits you: "I don't have the All. Therefore, I must get it and I create
desires to get it. "So desire is only a limitation. When you see the full
picture you naturally lose all desire; there's nothing to de sire if you are
the All. Now, practically speaking, if you choose to go along with the dream
you can act out a desire for the time being. And then act as though it's being
satisfied. However, it's just an act and you play-act.
Q: How does the mind distinguish between bad and good?
Lester: By saying. "This is good and that is
bad."
Q: Is that an individual thing?
Lester: Of course. What's right in one country is wrong
in another; what's right to you is wrong to someone else. It's a very
individualistic approach. Of course, there's some general agreement on right
and wrong; we generally agree we shouldn't kill each other. So right and wrong
is a very individualistic standard. If you need a right and wrong, doing that
which helps your growth is right; doing that which hinders your growth is
wrong. That should be the right and wrong.
Q: Do we learn the right from experiencing?
Lester: Yes, you learn the right by doing the wrong,
(Laughter) right? And also by experiencing the right. Unfortunately, most of us
do it by actually doing the wrong thing. We learn to keep our hand out of a
fire by burning it. This is what seems to prod us more than anything else, -
the hardships of life. We all want to get away from the misery of it, don It
we? It should be the other way, that the wonderfulness of the right way
should be the attractiveness of it. When you do get that far, then your growth
is very fast and you're approaching the end of the line.
Q: What did you mean by "After you're Realized, you
live your life out as you preset it?" What does that mean?
Lester: We preset the behavior of this physical body
before we enter it to put us through experiences that we hope to learn from.
Q: Knowing that you would attain Realization this time?
Lester: No. Knowing that in past lives you subjected
yourself to the law of action and reaction, cause and effect, karma (they're
all the same thing), and that you want to continue that game. You did certain
things when you were in a physical body before, so next time you want to set
up similar things in a hope of undoing some of the things you don’t like, and
instigating the things you do like. But you cannot change anything that the
body was preset to do by you. You're going to do exactly what you preset for
that body before you came into it. There is no free will in worldly living.
However, there is a free will. The free will we have is to identify with the
real Being that we are, or to identify with the body. If you identify with the
body, you're in trouble. So the free will is one of identity. Knowing this, it
makes life much easier; you don't fight it. You aim for proper identity.
Q: The desire for bliss, would that be enough to start
your search for happiness?
Lester: Sure.
Q: If one is sincere and isn't succeeding will a Guru
help them?
Lester: A realized Teacher is the greatest of all help;
but He can't help you any more than you will help yourself. This is most
important: He cannot help you any more than you will help yourself. When you
try to help yourself, He joins you and helps you to a realization that you're
ready for.
Q: He helps?
Lester: He helps you get a realization that you're ready
for. If you're tapped on the chest and you get cosmic consciousness, it's
because you're ready for it. Of all help, a Guru's is the greatest because He
has gone the direction and He can help you go the same direction.
Q: How is it that when you see the dream structure of
maya and you see the real Self, then all of a sudden you're caught in
the dream again and you believe it? What happened?
Lester: It is possible to see your real Self and fall
back into the world. Why?-because you have not let go of the subconscious
thoughts "I am this physical body; this world is real." You must go
into your subconscious and make conscious all these thoughts and drop them. Or,
see your Self to the degree that you see that your mind is external to you, something
that you created, and then you just wipe it out. If you can't wipe it out, and
very few of us can, keep picking a way at it; keep bringing up the subconscious
thoughts and dropping them. Or, you can make it ineffective in large chunks by
willing out tendencies. Take a particular tendency like smoking. If you've
been smoking for years and years, you have thousands of little desires to
smoke. The tendency is strong. However, you can say to yourself with will
power, "This is ridiculous! I am through with this!" and
never again have a desire for a cigarette. That's getting rid of all the
thoughts of desire to smoke by willing out the tendency. That's one chunk:
smoking.
Q: That's one chunk; the whole bit clear back?
Lester: Complete. I've seen many people do this on
smoking with no problem. They just made that decision and that was it!
Q: And that's how you get rid of each thing that's bothering
you?
Lester: Yes. If you're jealous, look at it. If you're
disgusted enough with being jealous you say, "Finished! Done! It is gone!
and you can undo the whole thing. That's letting go of a huge piece of mind.
That's letting go of many, many thoughts of jealousy that you’ve had in the
subconscious; mind. It takes some maturity to undo that tendency.
Q: And it won't come back if you really do?
Lester: Right. If you, with resolve and determination,
really drop it, it is gone. You can try it on smaller things first. and when
you succeed then go to something larger. Do it on one thing. Then you can do it
on two, then on all. Do that which you can do. Keep doing this every day and
it won’t take you long. Make this a way of life. Grow every day. Every incident
is an opportunity for growth. Everything you're experiencing is an experience
of limitation. Every annoyance you have is an excellent opportunity to
transcend that. Develop the habit of digging into your subconscious for the
causative thought of the annoyance and then dropping it. Daily striving
assures quick arriving.
* *
This Session
was recorded in
Lester: You've been given the direction on how to go all
the way. So far, none of us have taken it. We've gone to the place where life
is nice, easy and comfortable; we're satisfied, not totally, but satisfied
enough not to go all the way.
Q: Well, I'd like to go all the way, but it's always
over the next hill. I get to this point and it's not there; and I get to the
next one and it's not there.
Lester: Not really, because it's right where you are.
Over the next hill is where it isn't. Right where you are, where the
"I" of you is, is where it is.
Q: How come we don't know it?
Lester: Yes, how come? That's what I want to know.
Q: That was my question.
Lester: Yes, but what is the answer? I say it's silly
not to, because once you do, you'll never, ever have a moment of
unpleasantness, ever again. It becomes impossible to be unhappy. What's wrong
with that? Why don't we do it?
I would say
you don't believe it enough. You don’t believe that you have no limits; you
don’t believe that life can be, every second, ecstatically happy; you don't
believe that it can be totally effortless; you don’t believe that you can do
things mentally.
Or, is it
that we keep procrastinating? I say that if we really do want to go all the
way, we do it. So, again, why don't we go all the way?
Q: Well, I think, in my case, I've probably hypnotized
myself into believing the opposite. I've associated with the finite me all my
life, in all my conscious awareness, to the degree that it is real to me.
Lester: Oh, then to you the Infinite would do away with
finite?
Q: Yes. Because the finite is what I believe in; it's
real to me. What you say about the Infinite has infinite possibilities but
until I can totally accept that, it's like when you touch a light bulb and it
burns you and somebody says, "Now touch it and it won't burn you";
it's difficult to overcome your subconscious reaction not to touch it.
Lester: Well, let me tell you then, that the Infinite
includes the finite, and is the basis for it. You see, you can hold onto all
the finite you want when you're infinite; you don't have lose a thing.
Q: Then, I'd be glad to give it up for the Infinite.
Lester: Give it up? Maybe this is what's bothering us;
that we're afraid that we're going to give up our bodies; that we're going to
give up our families and homes. It doesn't happen that way. When those who did
go all the way achieved it, they did not abandon their bodies, homes and
families. They only abandoned their former feelings of bondage and attachment
to their bodies, homes and families and in place of it felt free.
Q: If there's happiness greater than what I've experienced
in a body, to heck with this!
Lester: Well, again, you do not give up your body. Your
happiness gets more intense the more you move toward total freedom, until it
reaches a point where you just can't contain it any more. Then you resolve it
into a very beautiful peace that is never, ever again disturbed. And that peace
is really far more delicious than the intense joy was. And then, when you
choose to be active in the world, you'll never, ever lose that background
peace; you will feel it all the time. And you are free to do anything in the
world; you can act angry, scared; be poor or rich; you can do anything you
want; but you do not disappear.
Q: It doesn't affect you?
Lester: The world can never, never touch you again,
because you have imperturbable peace.
Q: I understand.
Lester: So then, why don't you come along?
Q: Whenever I identify my source of income with the
effort I exert in my business. I say to myself. "You're a stupid idiot.
This isn't the source of my infinite supply." However, I'm not strong
enough to just say. "Well, this isn't it; I'll do it the other way,"
because I think, "What if it doesn't work?"
Lester: You would have exactly what you had before you
tried it. However, you expect it not to work if you say that.
Q: Yes, but that's where the hang-up is. Maybe it's a
lack of faith, not that it hasn't worked for you, but whether it'll work for
me, I am not convinced. If you could only help me, just one little infinite bit
of strength that you could give me…
Lester: Oh, now wait a minute; you have the support and
I've given you many directions, anyone of which would take you all the way. I
could give them to you again.
Q: That's like the sign "San Francisco." I'll
bet there are probably a hundred signs that point the way to San Francisco; but
if I get to the sign and sit down underneath it, it would take more than just
knowing where San Francisco is, and that's where I bog down.
Lester: Right, you don't take the direction; you look at
it and sit down. Now, the direction: “Get to the place where no one and no
thing can disturb you,” would have taken you all the way.
Q: Yes, but that's like going to the moon.
Lester: It is easy, -if you would do it. It is your decision
to be disturbed or not to be disturbed.
Q: That's quite a challenge!
Lester: Do you want more? I'll give you new ones.
Q: Yes.
Lester: Be totally selfless. Be interested only in others;
have no interest in you, yourself. That would take you all the way. If we would
be totally selfless in our behavior, act not for ourselves but for the other
ones. -this would do it rapidly.
Q: I don't mean to be argumentative but this is really a
nitty- gritty.
Lester: I'll give you another one: Get to the place
where you have no more desire keep letting go of desires until there are no
more and that's it! You don't like that one either, do you?
Q: Well, part of it. I've got a lot of things I'd like
to let go of.
Lester: If anyone would carry that through until there
are no more desires, and it's just letting go of them as they come up, you'd go
all the way.
Q: Lester:,
what about the one that you and I discussed, about the mind? You see everything
out there in your mind, right? So that's where everything is. So, that thing
out there is just your mind. When you discover this, you change your mind and
it changes out there.
Lester: Yes, that would take you there.
Q: What about no attachments and no aversions?
Lester: That'll do it too. That will take you all the
way. But why haven't we used these things? They are not new to us.
Q: That's what I'm earnestly trying to decide for myself.
This is ridiculous; all this intellectual knowledge that I've acquired and what
little I've actually done with it. It's alarming. I said, "How many people
have their own private Master in their family." You've given us all this
stuff and I 'say, "It's my responsibility what I do with it; why haven't I
used it?"
Lester: Yes, and your private Master is you! This is
important: Your private Master is you!
Q: Isn't there only One any way?
Lester: When you see what you really are, you'll see the
Oneness and no more otherness.
Q: I try to squint and no matter how I do it, I still
see separation.
Lester: That's the way you are approaching it, with
squinty eyes; you won't look at it full view, wide open, because you are afraid
you're going to disappear. So what you have to do is dig down within, pull it
out and see it. Once you see it, you'll naturally let go of that fear. You're
also afraid you're going to lose your individuality. Your individuality is
something you'll never ever lose. It’s with you through eternity. The
"I" that I am, is never, ever lost. What happens is that we just
expand it to include more and more until it includes the entire infinity.
I say you're
afraid of losing yourself, your body, your mind, your family, your business,
and all your little things; you're subconsciously afraid you're going to lose
them. If it were conscious, you'd look at it, drop it, and be free.
Q: Well, you reached me when you added those other
things. The physical body attachment I don't see, but when you included my
family and my business and these other things.
Lester: Do you want me to show you how attached you are
to that physical body? Just imagine, don't do it, but just image throwing your
body over a cliff. Can you now see your attachment to the body?
Q: Yes. But do you have to have that desire to get rid
of it?
Lester: You don't get rid of it; you see what you are
and then you'll see that you are not the body, that the body is one
infinitesimal part of you.
Q: Why can't I go all the way?
Lester: Because you're afraid that if you do, you're
going to disappear. Does anyone feel that? That you'll disappear if you go all
the way?
Q: I'm afraid I'd lose my mind. (Laughter.)
Lester: You actually do lose your mind, and then you
reestablish it so that you can communicate. It's far more difficult to
reestablish the mind than it was originally to let go of it because the mind
itself was such a clamping down of you, you don't want to come back to it. But
you will; you’ll start thinking again. The only difference in the before and
after picture is that now your thinking is unfree, determined by subconscious,
compulsive thoughts; in the after picture there are no more subconscious,
compulsive thoughts. Every thought is totally free and without any conditioning
by your tendencies and predispositions.
That leads me
to another great one: Rid yourself of all your tendencies and predispositions
and you will go all the way.
I have never
talked much about miracles, have I? I don’t feel as though I’m imposing on you
now, as I used to feel, were I to talk about miracles because, having moved up,
you are more able to accept them. When I first moved to Sedona and lived by
myself, most things were done by thought and I was unaware of it. However,
others began to come in, and it was because of them that I became aware of
these unusual things. To me they were natural, but not to the others.
I might have
told one or two of you about the teleportation incident. This one is
interesting because it involved two others, one who is following this path,
and another one who is not.
The first one
is
Then I asked,
"Do you want a drink
We then
started the downward trek for home. I was so tired that I felt as though the
body would not walk any more. I just let go and I said, "Oh, Lord, there
must be a better way!" And the thought again came to me, "Everything
is perfect." As I thought, "perfect, " we, the three of us, had
one step up there and the next step was down near my home, where the
surroundings were similar to the place we had left so as not to make it
obvious to D-.
Now, to do
these things, it takes a mere effortless thought; you surrender, let go, and
have a thought with no effort, no drive. It's the easiest thought you could
have. And then it happens.
During the
early days in Sedona I was living this way, unaware of it. To me it was
natural. Whatever I thought, I expected. It seemed natural, just the way
everyone thinks he lives naturally. It is really the natural way and it is
meant for us to live that way. Although, if we did, we wouldn't fit very well
into our present society, would we? So, if you want to stay in communication,
you go the way of people.
Miracles are
just this dream world effected immediately. And miracles don't necessarily
mean spiritual development because the majority of people in the universe use
these things; they use them on other planets where they're not necessarily more
spiritually advanced than we. It is their natural way of life.
But the
easier way to live is purely mentally; mentally do everything. You people
should be able to do all this. Why not go all the way and have nature serve
you? Why do you do things the harder way? I think it's because you're afraid
you're going to disappear. I'm saying to you. "Look, I have been through
these things. And I still have a body here. I didn't disappear. "
Q: Can you demonstrate your infinity for me too?
Lester: You must demonstrate your own. You have had
ample witnessing of these unusual things. If I do it for you that would mean
you can't do it. I just finished saying: You can do it! It's surrendering, then
mere effortless thinking! You have the feeling that it is not I but the Father
who worketh through me.
I can go on
and on. I'm trying to entice you. When I moved into the mobile home on my
grounds, a girl, now living here in
When I was
trying to show
Q: "Had not let go of it," what do you mean?
Lester: Let go of it by letting it be
"normal."
Q: You thought again of it as being a limited thing?
Lester: No. I let it be as usual, or as is normal to
people. I want to remain in communication with people and I choose to live like
people live, because if I live in an unusual way, I'm out of communication. It
"even scares people.
Q: This wouldn't scare anybody.
Lester: I know by experience that it scares people. When
if first came to me while I was living in
What's wrong
with this way of life? Why won't you take it? It is yours for the taking. I
hope to allure you by making it so tempting that you will go all the way. Look
at the difficulties you go through to make a living.
Ask yourself,
"Why don't I go all the way?" "Why don't I take things directly,
just for the thought of them?" "Why don’t I express my total freedom?"
And maybe the answer will come up and you'll see what you're doing to hold
yourself down.
Q: One reason is that we are so used to being hamstrung
that we don't realize that we can get out of it. I was just thinking of the
motel, of getting it sold, and then I thought. "Do I really want to leave
it?" and I know I upset it every time.
Lester: That's true and that is why I'm telling you of
the easy way. Your habit of thought runs you the hard way. One way to undo all
habits of thought, which are in the subconscious mind, is to see that you are
not the mind, and you will scorch it.
Q: Tell us a little more about scorching this mind,
which I have found out is most important.
Lester: I see you've gotten a realization just recently.
Q: That's right.
Lester: And yet, you didn't carry through on it. With
that realization, you should have continued and said, "I can do it; I am
infinite!" With that infinite power, you just pass your figurative hand
over the mind and it's finished. It's just a mental wipe-out that you do. And
that's it. You know how long it takes? –Less than that (finger snap)! Less than
a second.
When you get
your full Realization, it's instantaneous. Before that, you play around,
dropping a little bit at a time. This goes on and on, year in and year out,
until you decide to let go of the whole thing; then you've got Full
Realization. It really comes instantaneously, when it comes. You will it. Will
is your power. You turn on your will so strongly that you just undo the whole
mind, and you are totally Free.
Q: It just doesn't make any sense at all. It's just as
though you're handing me all the money in the world and saying,
"Here!" and I'm sitting and saying, "Why don't I take it?
|
9. |
|
.d.3 |
Lester: Yes, why don't you?
Q: What's wrong with me?
Lester: What is? That's the big question. What is wrong?
I know you think that this is possible, otherwise you would not have listened
all this time.
Q: It's the intellect that's in the way.
Lester: That is it. Why not wipe it out? The intellect
is the mind. We have to see we're not the mind and that it is external to us,
and then just make it ineffective. Just like that; that's the way you'll do it.
Q: You said something the other night, Lester:, which was a help to me and
that was "I am going to put Lester:
to bed."
Lester: I always think that way. I'll send Lester: and this body around and make
it appear to be doing things.
After I got
the realization that I am not the body, it was years before I could use the
word "I." People would laugh at me because I'd talk about Lester:; I would talk about
"him" and sometimes I would say, "it, Lester:," or "Lester:,
he." I couldn't say "I" even though I was being corrected. Why?
I was not this body. I could talk about this body, but it was so obvious and
glaring that I was not this body that I couldn't say I was this thing, any more
than you could say you were your car. Because you are carrying yourself around
in a car, would you call yourself the car? In the same way you'll look at this
body. (This body is a car-case, a carcass.)
I say you're
silly to not take the All.
Q: I think there's a stronger word than silly.
Lester: Yes, it's really stupid. He led me to say it.
(Laughter) It's so stupid not to go through life with everything you want; with
nothing but extreme joy, peace and loveliness every moment; when that is your
inherent state. It takes no effort to be what you are. It does take extreme
effort to be what you are not: a body with trouble, sicknesses and needing this
and needing that. It takes effort to be what you're not, but to be what you are
takes as much effort as you women would need to be a female and as much effort
as you men would need to be a male. It takes no effort to be what you are. And
yet you persist in using effort to be what you are not. It's really stupid!
Q: Well, I persist in using effort to try to be what you
say I am. I keep working at this thing of being effortless. Does that make
sense?
Lester: No, does it?
Q: Not to me.
Lester: Right. There's something wrong there.
Q: What did I say?
Lester: You're using effort in trying to make yourself
effortless, -that's impossible! It's a contradiction. You've got to stop using
effort. You've got to let go and let be. That's what is meant by "Let go
and let God." You are it, you're the god; let go and let your Self be.
However, it seems to take much effort because you are using tremendous effort
to hold onto and maintain your non-self, your ego, and there is where your
effort is. It takes no effort to be what you are, -the Self.
Q: If I could arrive at the dreamer instead of the
dream, then I'd have it made. And that's why I've been thinking. "This is
a dream? Who's dream is this?"
Lester: Right! Discover the dreamer. To make it more
intimate: I, the Infinite Being, am dreaming that I am a limited body.
While you are
in a night dream and you think you are a limited body in that night dream, it
persists so long as you don't wake up. It's the same thing with this waking
state. We're dreaming we're limited bodies. We have to wake up to the fact
that we are infinite. We have to stop thinking that we're limited bodies,
that's all. Stop thinking. Let go. Let be. Surrender is the word. If we would
surrender this moment, that would be it. Not I, but Thou. Not my will, but Thy
will. This is surrender. We could do that right now and that would be it. But
no, we've got to be a busy ego-body, doing something. We must be a doer.
Q: Several of the people at the motel were discussing
robots. Actually, I guess we could consider the body a robot. We're using this
physical body and when we're through with it, we drop the physical body, but
what we have is still there.
Lester: That's an excellent way to look upon the body.
All right,
now I'll tell you something more. If you were really convinced of what I've
said so far, you'd go home, you'd forget everything else and you'd sit down
until you saw this; because this would give you everything, -just for the
thought. If you were really convinced, you'd go home determined to sit until
you see this; and if you did that, -you'd see it! Just like Buddha did when he
left his throne and sat under a tree, determined not to leave until he saw the
answer; and he saw the answer.
Q: Well. I think one thing that may be bogging some of
us down, and I know to a certain extent it has to me, is that I have felt for a
long time that I had to take something piecemeal and get each thing out of my
system. Now, I'm finally beginning to realize that if I get above it then none
of it makes any difference.
Lester: Yes. We all start that way by undoing single things
at first. It begins to show us our mastership. Then we master our tendencies or
predispositions. This undoes all the numerous multitudes of thoughts that made
up that tendency or predisposition. You should not keep undoing these single
things piecemeal. That was all right for the beginning; you don't need it any
more. Drop a tendency or predisposition and you drop the millions of
subconscious thoughts underlying it.
Q: When you first started to tell us that there is
nobody out there but you, some of us just couldn't understand that, me included.
I have discovered why there's nobody out there but me; because it is I who
creates that out there and it is in me.
Lester: Yes, that's true!
Q: So I really know. I had a realization that was as
clear as crystal.
Lester: O.K., why not clean up that "out
there" until you do not waiver from seeing it all as in you?
Q: That's what I'm doing now.
Lester: You don't take enough time at it.
Q: That's true.
Lester: It should be all the time, regardless of what
you're doing. While you’re driving, talking to people, you can remain with it,
and you would if you wanted it that much. If you really get with it, the joy
of doing it is so great that you won't let go until you go all the way. It
becomes the only thing you want. You begin to see the light and then, nothing
in this world can interest you more than it. You just stay with it and you ride
it all the way. Misery starts you in the direction, gets you to reverse your
wrong direction. Then the desire for the wonderfulness of it takes you all the
way to the top.
Q: Then you know you can play any game you want, because
that mind is under your control.
Lester: Yes. However, the game played after reaching
the top is usually the same game for everyone, although it will express
differently; it's the game of helping others, which is really a great game.
Q: It becomes an interesting game.
Lester: It's the nicest game there is; it's the most rewarding
game there is.
Q: What you are teaching me is really helping me.
Lester: That which I’m offering you is more than a
million dollars. What I'm offering is the whole universe. If you wanted gold,
you could pile it up by the tons. Of course, when you can create unlimited tons
of gold, do you want to pile it up? No, you take only that which you can use.
Q: Of all the different ways that you've offered, it
seems like there ought to be one that I could be successful with.
Lester: Take anyone of many of those sayings in The
Eternal Verities and if you carry it out until the end, that would be it.
Take the good one mentioned before: Get to the place where no one and no thing
can disturb you. Every time you are disturbed, look for the ego motivation
wherein you wanted it to be other than it was. On recognizing it say, "Oh,
I see. " and let go of your ego motivation of wanting it to be the way you
want it to be. Every reaction or tendency is based on a selfish thing. We
wanted it to be the way we wanted it to be. Keep dropping these reactive tendencies.
Every time a reaction comes, look at it; see the selfish ego motivation and
drop it. You'll soon reach a place where there is no more and you're there,
-all the way.
Q: Every time you feel offended or jealous or angry or
hurt or anything like that, that's your ego and that's your mind.
Lester: Right. Rid yourself of all your feelings and you
will go all the way. So, have we gained anything new?
Q: You have presented us with more of a challenge to
understand what you’re saying; you make it sound so darn easy and it affronts
me to think that anything that easy could elude me.
Lester: When you do it, it is easy. When you don't do
it, it's impossible. That's the way it really is. When you do it, it's easy.
When you don't do it, it's impossible.
Q: Oh lord, wait a minute. When you do it, it's easy.
When you don't do it, it's impossible.
Lester: It takes no effort to be what you really are:
Infinite. It takes tremendous effort to be extremely limited as you now choose
to be.
I feel' as
though I've given what I could on going all the way. If there's any further
question, I'll be happy to do what I can to answer it. If not, this is it.
Q: I keep looking at you and I see that there's hope. If
you've made it, somebody has. It isn't impossible and I can do it.
Lester: Yes, do it. Go all the way. Everyone was moving
rapidly upward and then leveled off; some came down just a little bit and
leveled off there.
If you don’t
use what you've seen, you'll lose it. You have got to keep using it, otherwise
the remaining subconscious habits will overwhelm you and you will lose your
direction.
Q: When we go all the way, we still go on doing the same
things; we still go on laughing. we still go to the ballet; do all these
things. There's nothing denied.
Lester: Yes. The only difference is that, you’re free to
do or not to do whatever you want; you're no more compelled in any direction
whatsoever.
I strongly
recommend taking time out for thinking on these things every day, twice a day.
In the morning before going to work and at night before going to bed. Never
should a day go by without doing this. Get with it totally in a quiet spot
until it sucks you in more and more until you let go of the world pull. Getting
quiet enough, the infinite part of you just takes over and you go all the way.
You reach a place where you feel helpless because it's effortless. Keep that up
and you'll effortlessly be sucked right into your Infinity.
Q: Well. I know.-sometimes it seems that I'm getting so
tall.
Lester: There's a sense of surrender in that.
Q:. There's that famous statement of yours: Let go and
let God. It finally struck me that that means let go of your mind and let God.
Lester: Yes, another way to say that is,
"Surrender." Even if you surrender to a mountain, you will get it,
because surrender is "Not my will."
Q: Ego, mind and will are all the same thing. So if you
let, that means let go of your mind, ego and all the other things.
Lester: Yes.
Q: Sometimes when something happens I can be very
irritated but then I catch myself giggling to myself while I'm doing it. It
really isn't affecting me.
Lester: Yes, get free and then you may act irritated.
Q: So you can act any part? And you're aware of the fact
that you I re an actor?
Lester: Right. Go all the way and there is only fun.
Q: You can even keep your humor too?
Lester: Right. But the motivation for the humor is to
make others happy, not for ego approval. That's the difference.
When I say
you people leveled off and are on a plateau, it's not exactly correct. You
leveled off into a slow, gradual, upward direction. It could be much faster,
even immediate, rather than a slow, gradual, upward trend. Go all the way and
then life from that point on is just a ball. You don't have to work. If you
want to you can. You can always be successful; or you can even choose to be
unsuccessful, just to make a game out of it. If you can succeed in failing, you
can also succeed in succeeding.
Q: Would helping others really be a fast way?
Lester: Not so if your purpose is ego motivated. However,
when you live only for others, it's a very fast way. Paradoxically, the most
selfish thing you can do is to be totally selfless. When we are totally
selfless, we have the All, the Infinity. It's a seeming paradox.
Q: That's it. You offer me the All!
Lester: Yes. We've all had glimpses of it. The thing to
do is to establish that permanently, for all time.
So, again I
say # take time out every day and effect it. Go all the way. You've got
infinite power behind you; there's nothing to stop you but you. Make it part
of your every day life and stay with it until it's established for all time.
You can do it!
* *
This Session
was recorded in
The Self, which is only your real Self, is the
real "I" of you1 knowing which, you know all there is to know.
* *
Knowing your Self is being your Self.
* *
The ultimate goal of every being in the universe
is total freedom; and that is when you are only your Self. .
* *
The only reason why you are not aware of your
Self is simply because you want to be only a single body in the world.
* *
Everyone will someday wake up to the fact that
he is the Self.
* *
To see your Self, you have to quiet the mind
enough. When the mind is being stimulated by the thousands of thoughts in the
subconscious, there’s little chance of seeing your Self. The thousands of
thoughts culminate in tendencies. Drop a tendency and you eliminate the
thousands of thoughts under it.
* *
The only things preventing you from being your
Self are your mental habits called tendencies or predispositions. Will them
out!
* *
If you discover that the source of the
tendencies or predispositions is the Self, your Self, you drop them then and
there.
* *
When the mind gets free enough, then the Self of
you takes over and you are from then on Self-propelled.
* *
To be, the non-Self requires much effort, and is
the effort we feel in life.
* *
It requires no effort to be your Self!
* *
The effort that you think you use to try to be
your Self is the effort you use in trying to resist being the non-Self ego.
* *
Your wishes to be the ego and, at the same time,
to not be it, doubles the effort.
* *
All the effort you're involved in is effort to
be an ego, or to resist being an ego. Do you see what the problem is? It is
your constant effort. You must become effortless.
* *
There is only one real killing and that’s the
killing of the Self. Kill the Self and you've got ego and troubles. So everyone
is a murderer of the Self who thinks he is an ego.
* *
The only reason why anyone isn't a ware of the
Self is because he wants other than that.
* *
If one wanted the Self as much as he wanted the
world, he would soon have it.
* *
When you find more joy within yourself than in
anything else, then you’re really moving in the right direction. If you find
any joy in life you're in the wrong direction. Enjoying anything is wrong. Seek
joy within. Be joy. There’s nothing needed to enjoy if you are all-joyous.
If we are enjoying anything we are in duality.
If I enjoy this, there’s "I" and "this." If there's God
(Self) alone, there can't be any "I" and "this."
The basic Truth is that you are all joy.
Enjoying something will impose an extreme limitation upon your natural state
of all-joy. To enjoy something, you're recognizing something other than you.
So, I repeat, we should never enjoy anything. Seek joy only within and then the
natural state of infinite joy is discovered.
* *
There is really only one happiness; it is being
our very own Self. The happier we are, the more we are dwelling in our Self.
* *
Everytime you're high you're only being your
Self and it feels terrific.
* *
Living in your Self is living in ecstasies,
worldly desires is living in miseries.
* *
Everyone every moment is experiencing his Self
and every moment saying otherwise.
* *
It's only without thought that you can be the
Self.
* *
Discovering and being your Self is either easy,
-or impossible.
* *
Finding the Self is the easiest thing in the
universe when you do it. When you don't do it, when you continuously keep
looking away from It, you can never see It. And then it is the most difficult
thing in the universe.
* *
Being your Self is easy. Being an ego is
difficult.
* *
When you realize what you are, it's the dropping
of what you are not that is the growth. Each time you see what you are, you
should drop that which you are not.
* *
Everyone is seeking the Self, calling It by
different names.
* *
Anyone who is seeking happiness is seeking the
Self. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who are consciously
seeking God, happiness, the Self, and those who are unconsciously seeking
them.
* *
In the consciousness of materiality (mammon)
there is no God (Self).
* *
You cannot see God in the world until you see
God in yourself.
* *
God is All and God is Perfect.. Therefore,
anything that we see as imperfect is in us.
* *
If you see separation you see not the Self.
* *
When the world is real it is heavy. When the
Self is real the world is light.
* *
When our false identity as a body-mind
disappears, our real identity as Self appears.
* *
We are the Self now. All that we have to do is
to let go of the concept that we are not.
* *
The Self is God. The ego is the devil.
* *
God (your Self) is infinitely individual and
individually infinite.
* *
The most beautiful is God.
* *
There is something far more beautiful than
nature, it is the Source of nature, the ultimate beauty, God.
* *
No matter how much trouble man can get himself
into, God is more resourceful in getting him out of it.
* *
When we behave like God we have God-like powers.
* *
God (Self) can materialize anything instantly.
* *
The All that is God is not every little thing;
it is the singular same Essence behind all the little things.
* *
God and good are sometimes used synonymously. Because
everyone wants good, they make God good. God is above good and bad. However,
good leads us to God.
* *
If God is All, that leaves no room for the
devil.
* *
In Reality there is only God (your Self).
* *
It is better to think of Self rather than God
because you generally think of God as other than you and you generally think of
Self as you.
* *
There's no such thing as an external called God.
There is a God but It is the internal beingness of each one.
* *
Everything that is, is the Self, has its isness,
its beingness, in your Self, God.
* *
God is this world, the way this world is, and
not the apparency that we see.
* *
God, Truth, the Self is changeless. If God knew
change, He wouldn't be changeless. There is no action in God. God knows nothing
of this world as we see it. God is only the changeless beingness behind the
world.
* *
Everyone experiences his Self every moment of
his life.
* *
My Self is the nearest of the near and the
dearest of the dear.
* *
Look to the Self for everything!
* *
If you want to get more comforts, know thy Self.
* *
The only answer to, all problems is knowing your
.self.
* *
We will never be completely satisfied until we
are completely being the Self.
* *
To discover your Self is the reason why you came
into this world.
* *
Everyone is seeking his Self in his every act.
* *
The ultimate happiness is the Self. All other
happiness is only a bit of the Self.
* *
When you know that the only joy there is, is of
the Self, you take it directly and in its fullness rather than meagerly, as you
formerly took it.
* *
The only one needed to know your Self is
yourself.
* *
This feeling of needing someone else to be your
Self is ridiculous. It limits your being your Self.
* *
Everyone is actually the Self expressing the
Self as extreme limitation, identifying as a limited body-mind. When you say
"I" and add nothing to it, that's It.
* *
When you are not identifying with the ego, you
are the Self .
* *
The only direct knowledge is of the Self. All
other knowledge, needing something external to ourselves, is indirect.
* *
If, at this moment, you identify with your Self,
you are infinite.
* *
That part of you that really is, your beingness,
is eternal. It's the I that you really are.
* *
The little self, the ego, is nothing but the
innate infinite Self assuming that It is limited. There are no two selves, one
higher, the other lower, no two "I's." There is only one Self. It is
perfect and always will be perfect, even though you make the false assumption
that It is imperfect and limited. You are now, always were, and always will be
your Self.
* *
Although one always experiences his Self, he
usually needs to be directed to It before he becomes aware of It.
* *
It is the Self that is the source of the ego,
the source of everything.
* *
You are every moment the unlimited Self, every
moment saying “I am limited.” When you drop into the Self you stop saying
"I am a limited body-mind."
* *
Look only at the Self; then the ego is
eliminated.
* *
When you dwell in your Self you have no desire
to be liberated. It is only when you are in the ego that you desire
liberation.
* *
The Self is not aware of the ego and the ego is
not aware of the Self.
* *
When
* *
When the Self is real, the body is not real, and
vice versa.
* *
Identify with your body and the extreme
limitations of a body are yours. Identify with your Self and you are all
things, all knowledge and power, with no limits.
* *
There isn't anyone who couldn’t materialize
anything right now if he or she would just let go of identifying as the limited
body.
* *
If you will discover your Self you'll see that
the body and mind are servant to you.
* *
Obtain and maintain direct experience of the
Self. It is easier to obtain than to maintain direct experience.
* *
Everytime you say "I" it's everything,
all the power in the universe. Everytime you add something to It, you pull It
down into limitation.
* *
When you see the Perfection, you see the other
one as the other one really is, which is the real thing, - the perfect Self.
* *
There's not a higher Self and a lower Self.
There's only you identifying with your limitless Being or identifying with your
limited being.
* *
You're never satisfied until you go all the way.
* *
There's only one thing that satisfies fully and
eternally and that's total awareness of your Self.
* *
Everyone is aware of a selfhood. It is the Self,
being wrongly identified as only a body.
* *
If you would just be aware only, you would be
your Self. If you would be only, you would be your Self.
* *
This infinite glorious Being that we are, being
absolutely perfect, can never change. It's always there.
* *
The greatest of all teachers is your Self.
* *
Look to your Self until you see It completely.
* *
All Beingness is God, your Self.
* *
In the Self there is no haver, having or thing
had. There is no doer, doing or thing done. There's no knower, knowing or thing
known. There, there's only Being, being all Beingness.
* *
When man seeks and discovers the seeker, he
discovers that:
In the Self:
God is not being something, God is beingness.
God is not conscious of anything. God is
consciousness.
God does not enjoy anything, God is joy.
God does not love anything or anyone. God is
love.
In man:
His beingness is God.
His consciousness is God.
His joy is God.
His love is God.
* *
Act as though you are the Self. This will lead
you to seeing It.
* *
The Reality of you (Self) is perfect, all
joyous, all glorious, all happy.
* *
The higher you go, the more you realize your
Self and the more you treat others as your own Self.
* *
Being the Self is being selfless. In that state
you are interested only in serving others, serving them as your Self.
* *
The Self is absolute, profound, indescribable
peace.
* *
The only requisite for the realization of the
Self, your Self, is stillness.
* *
When one realizes his Self, all his actions and
possessions are not perceived as his. He has given up "me" and
"mine." Everything is the Self.
* *
When you experience the Self, you can't tell
about It. Anything you can tell something about isn't It. It's the state of
only being. There's no action there; there's no form there. It's Isness, and
that's all that It is. You can't use It, you can't know It, you can only be
It. When you're there, there's only One, You, and that's all there is.
* *
Anything but the Self is wholly imagination. The
ego is only an apparent actor in the imaginary story script you wrote. Thou art
That, here and now. Do not delude yourself. Drop your illusory limitation.
* *
The Self is Quiescence, perfect Awareness with
perfect Stillness.
He who seeks God will not find God in duality.
There is no human, God being All.
There is no time, no becoming.
There is no creating in total perfection.
Only God beholds God, there being nothing else.
Only God loves God, God being All.
Be still and know that you are God!
* *
There is only God, nothing else. If there is
only God, then I am That. At the end of the road we discover that there is only
"I," all alone.
* *
You are the Self saying otherwise, but that
doesn't make it so. No matter how much you say otherwise, you are that infinite
Being right now.
* *
You can't become your Self, you It!
* *
Everytime you say "I" that's the Self,
if you would only stop there!
* *
The word "I," with nothing added to
it, is your Self. When you just say "I," that feeling of
"I" is the Self. But when you say "I am something," that
isn't It. But just pure "I," and only “I,” is It. When that is all
you see and all you know, -that's God, your Self. That's why God is closer than
flesh! Just hold on to the word "I" only. "I,I,I,I," Try it
when you are alone. Just "I,I" and not "I am a body," but
"I,I,I,I" -that feeling of being. Hold That; experience It; be It!
It is your Godhead, - your Self!
* *
Q:
There's that famous statement of yours: Let go and let God. It finally struck
me that that means let go of your mind and let God.
Lester:
Yes, another way to say that is,
"Surrender." Even if you surrender to a mountain, you will get it,
because surrender is "Not my will. "
Q:
Ego, mind and will are all the same thing. So if you let, that means let go of
your mind, ego and all the other things.
Lester:
Yes.
Q:
Sometimes when something happens I can be very irritated but then I catch
myself giggling to myself while I'm doing it. It really isn't affecting me.
Lester:
Yes, get free and then you may act irritated.
Q:
So you can act .any part? And you're aware of the fact that you're an actor?
Lester:
Right. But the motivation for the humor is to make
others happy, not for ego approval. That's the difference.
When I say you people leveled off and are on a
plateau, it's not exactly correct. You leveled off into a slow, gradual upward
direction. It could be much faster, even immediate, rather than a slow gradual
upward trend. Go all the way and then life from that point on is just a ball.
You don't have to work. If you want to you can. You can always be successful;
or you can even choose to be unsuccessful, just to make a game out of it. If
you can succeed in failing, you can also succeed in succeeding.
Q:
Would helping others really be a fast way?
Lester:
Not so if your purpose is ego motivated. However,
when you live only for others, it's a very fast way. Paradoxically, the most
selfish thing you can do is to be totally selfless. When we are totally
selfless, we have the All, the Infinity. It's a seeming paradox.
Q:
That's it. You offer me the All!
Lester:
Yes. We've all had glimpses of it. The thing to do is
to establish that permanently, for all time.
So, again I say, take time out every day and
effect it. Go all the way. You've got infinite power behind you; there's nothing
to stop you but you. Make it part of your every day life and stay with it until
it's established for all time. You can do it!
* *
This Session was recorded in
At some
level, everyone is aware of the infinite being that he is. Are you aware of the
"I" that you are? The word "I, "-that's it, -the beingness
part of you, but it's only the beingness part. If you experience "I am,
"-that's it. That part of you is infinite. And you are experiencing it all
the time. There's no time when you are not experiencing it, -otherwise you'd go
out of existence.
However, you
override it and hide it from yourself by saying "I am a body." And
what you're doing is that you are saying "I, the infinite being, am this
body." So, if you use the word "I" you're talking of the
infinite being that you are. Every time you say "I am something,"
you're saying "I, the infinite being, am a limited something." And
being Infinite, It allows you to assume limitation, as much as you want. That's
why you can do such a good job of limiting yourself. Does that make sense?
Q: Yes.
Lester: We can drive ourselves into such extreme
limitation that we think were a victim of our environment and subject to it.
And it is an infinite being doing that!
Q: Why do we not realize our unlimited being?
Lester: We have the conviction that we can't do it. If
we were not convinced that we couldn't do it, we could do it quickly, even in a
moment. How long should it take one with all knowledge, all power to recognize
that he is all knowledge, all power? No time! And each one of us is that all
powerful, all knowing individual. It seems so hard, almost impossible, only
because we won't do it. That's why it I s so difficult, - we won't do it!
You hold the
concept that you are a body, rather than that you are an infinite, unlimited
being. As long as you hold to that concept, you're stuck with it. You don't
look at the other, the opposite side of you, which is unlimited.
Q: Well then, could you say that the only thing between
us and realization is a thought, really?
Lester: Yes, that's it. It is a thought that is the culmination
of much thought.
If you would
just examine how your thoughts flow after I tell you that you are unlimited,
you would discover that immediately you dive right into the thoughts of being
a limited body. When I say that each one of you is infinite, unlimited, right
now, - at that moment you get a feel of it. Are you aware of the feel that you
get as I say it? Right now, everyone here is infinite, unlimited, omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnipresent. When I say that to you, for that instant you feel
it, but the next moment you think you are the body, and immediately take your
full attention off what you really are and put it on the concept of being only
the body with all its affiliations.
All right,
now that you have heard this why don’t you stop doing this to yourselves.
(Interruption:
Two people arrive and enter the room, causing much conversation.)
You have an
example right now of what I've been talking about. Can you see what just
happened? If what I said had been held on to, you would not have been
distracted by the newcomers; the people would have come in and quietly sat down
and nothing would have been said. But we're so interested in bodies that we
immediately gravitate toward them. This is the problem, - our persistence in
being bodies. Every moment we hold that we are limited bodies. What you need to
do is stop doing just that. Will you do it? If you do, you will see the
infinite being that you are.
It's really
simple, but seems extremely difficult. Not only difficult but impossible,
doesn't it? It is, only because we just don't do it, and that makes it
impossible. We’ve heard these things again and again and again. But what use is
it listening to this, - if we don't do it? And, as I said, being infinite,
there isn't anyone here who couldn't be the infinite being he is right here and
now, -if only he would do it. So, what you need to do is to get with yourself,
look at yourself, and do it. And it's that simple.
How many of
you women go about every day trying to discover that you're a female? None. Who
of you men go about every day trying to discover that you are a male? Why don't
you? Why don’t you people want to be told that? Because you accept it without
any doubt whatsoever. But you do not accept that you are infinite. Why not? Why
play the game of limitation and be miserable? Why? I'm asking you' the
questions now instead of you asking me.
You believe
you're infinite. Why don’t you be what you are, instead of this constant trying
to be the limited body? The body is a very cramped thing to be and it hurts.
Lifetime in and lifetime out. Why do you insist on being so cramped and incapacitated,
as everyone is, if one is a physical body? Compared to what one really is, -
infinite, unlimited and totally free, it is ridiculous, isn't it?
Maybe someone
might want to answer the question, "Why don’t you be what you are, -
infinite?"
Q: What does it feel like to be infinite?
Lester: Absolutely no limitation in any direction whatsoever.
No limitations, total freedom from everything, - needing no food, no oxygen, no
job. Instantly materializing anything you want. Being anywhere in the universe.
Being as tall as you want, or the size of an atom. Being at perfect peace and
contentment, Being in the most delightful state possible.
Q: What happens to this body when that happens?
Lester: To really know that you should experience what
you are. Otherwise the reality on the body can It be understood.
When you see
what you are, only then do you know what the body is. It turns out to be a
thought. A thought just like in a night dream, when you dreamed about being a
body in a situation. And when you awoke you said. "Oh my gosh, that was
all in my mind." The same thing happens to this body when you wake up from
this dream, called the waking state. You see the body, but you know it to be
the dream, nature that it is.
Do you see
how much you're concerned about the body? And this point I make: Be as
concerned about your infinite being as you are about your body and, if you are,
you will discover that you are infinite.
Q: What I really meant was, when you are away doing
these things, how does this body function?
Lester: Automatically. However, you can't be away from
the "I" that you are. You're right where your "I" is. When
you say "I," that's where you are. You can't get away from it, ever.
The individuality never leaves you, you never leave it. The "I" that
you are always is, -it's eternal. That's the real Being that you are.
All right
now, if you will be that "I," and only that "I,” then everything
will turn out to be like a dream. And when you see it full, a dream that never
really was. It's the same as when you wake up from a nightmare. A good allusion
to what we are going through now is the nightmare. As long as you remain in it,
it's a horrible thing and it's very real. It only becomes unreal to you after
you awaken, Right? The exact same thing happens to this waking state dream when
we wake up from it. We first say, "Oh my gosh, it was all a dream,"
and then we add, that never really was." And that's what happens to your
body. You then see it as a dream body.
Your body
will change but you never will change. You don't disappear; you don't lose
anything; you just take on more and more until you see yourself first, as every
being, as every body, then as every atom in the universe. There's no reason to
fear losing your body, or losing anything. You gain more and more until you
become infinite. Yet, most of us are fearful lest we're going to lose our body
and be nothing. That's a serious error. You could be a hundred bodies!
Q: If you think of the body in terms of beingness
Lester: If 'you do, you're committing a gross crime
against the word "beingness." Beingness is the infinity that you are.
Your beingness is infinite. Your being a body is an extreme limitation in your
beingness.
Q: We think of body in terms of limitation; that's the
ordinary concept of body.
Lester: Right, which means we have to let go of the
concept: The body is I. As long as we hold that, we are holding the concept: I
am an extreme limitation, -a physical body.
Any slight
maladjustment in it and it dies. And every one knows that it does, sooner or
later. What's this great thing called a body? It's a very disposable thing and
everyone knows that sooner or later he will dispose of it, right? But gosh, how
we hold on to this limitation! And keep ourselves in extreme confinement!
We are like a
bird in a cage, with the door open, refusing to fly out, - free!
Q: Well, this sense of beingness, infinite beingness, is
far more concrete than our present sense of body, is it not?
Lester: It should be. This is what, in effect, I'm
saying. If you just hold on to your sense of beingness, and just hold that, and
not add "this body is I,"- just hold on to your beingness only, and
hold it, and hold it, -you'll be letting go of the feeling that the body is I.
And you'll get an insight into this beingness, as to what it is, and then you
will remain in it. Then your beingness is very concrete to you and your body
is like a dream body.
When you are
only beingness you recognize that your beingness is all beingness. I say that
everyone here is, right now, that infinite beingness. And the infinite part of
you is the "I," the beingness of the "I," the "I
am." And that if you would hold that, that would become real and concrete
to you, and all the limitation, misery, and trouble of the body would
automatically be gone.
Q: I've had a few glimpses of that but holding it is a
different thing.
Lester: The reason why you don't hold it is because you
are holding on to the body being you.
Q: The thing is that this beingness cannot be conceived
of with the mind, can it?
Lester: Right. However, you don't have to conceive of it
if you are it. Do you have to conceive of being a male? Just only be it.
Q: But this metamorphosis, this change that must take
place within the individual, requires some intellectualization at first?
Lester: The intellect directs you toward looking away
from what you are not and looking at what you are. In that sense, you're right.
We ask "What am I?" and that's intellectual. However, the answer is
an experience.
Q: Now this is what I was getting at. When does this
intellectualization of the infinite stop and you realize it as it is?
Lester: When your thinking quiets enough, you then see
what you are and it becomes real to you.
Q: But you're not conscious of that transition?
Lester: You're conscious of letting go of the concepts
of limitation. Discovering the infinite Being that you are is no transition,
because you are that now; you always have been and always will be That. So
there can't be any transition there. It's the letting go of the thoughts of
limitation that is a transition.
Q: Isn't it difficult for one to think of his inner
being as infinite?
Lester: In your thinking, it's impossible, only
experience it. You can.
Q: And yet it's real; you do come into it; there's no
doubt about it.
Lester: Yes, sooner or later. When you get so fed up
with torturing yourself, you then let go of all the nonsense, and you'll be
what you really are,- infinite. Now, most people on earth will take millions of
years to do this, and you can see why. When we take into account all people,
you're very advanced; and look how much you are holding on to being only that
body! Your questions and talk relate mostly to the body, its transition, and
what happens to the body.
I'm hoping to
provoke you into letting go of identifying with the body, by telling you it's
impossible to be infinite because you insist upon being the body. And so long
as you persist in being the body, it is impossible. You're stuck. And you could
remain this way for millions of years.
Have you ever
accepted the concept that you have no limitations?
Q: I've accepted the idea intellectually, but obviously
not in practice.
Lester: Yes, and because you believe you are a body, it
is impossible to be infinite. These bodies are very frail things, and they
don't last very long, either. And we insist and persist in being the body. Now
any time anyone decides, really decides, not to be it, -then he will allow
himself to see his infinite beingness.
What do we do
twenty-four hours a day? We cater to the body; we think we are it! We wake it
up in the morning, we wash it, we dress it, we beautify it; we send it off to
work so it can earn some money, so that we can put some other life (food) into
it so it can rot (digest) that life inside so that it can persist. And then we
go home and we park it for the evening. It is such a wonderful life that we
have to escape from it; every night we have to go unconscious, that is, sleep.
And this we repeat day in and day out, life in and life out, - until we decide
that we are not the body, that we are more than the body, that we are infinite
beingness.
It is really
simple. The difficulty of it is the holding on to wanting to be the body. We
are constantly saying. "I am the body; I am not infinite." And, of
course, we can't feel the unlimited joy or happiness that we're seeking by
cramping ourselves into a little body that's frail and perishable.
Q: What do you mean when you say we have such a
wonderful life that we have to go unconscious?
Lester: This life, that we think is so great, we cannot
take twenty-four hours a day; for about eight hours every day we have to escape
it through the unconscious state of being asleep.
Q: While asleep, where am I? Why can't I remember?
Lester: Because you believe you can't. The reason is
that you don’t want to, because, unless you relate to the physical body and
world, you believe you are a void. However, notice the fact that, although you
drop the physical body and world in sleep, you still exist, don’t you?
Sleep is an
escape from this wonderful world of ours. As we go up into higher states of
beingness, we all reach a place where we don't sleep any more. When we do not
dislike the world, there is no need to go to sleep.
I want to
point out how wonderful this world is. How wonderful is it, if we have to
escape from it every night? So let go of it and be what you are. Be infinite.
Stop looking at the world and look at the "I that I am," and keep
your attention on the "I that I am" until you see it fully, and you
'n drop being only a physical body with all the limitation associated with it.
Q: We keep imagining that this little limited life
brings us happiness, and that helps keep us bound, doesn't it?
Lester: Yes, so why do it? Everyone is seeking the
infinite being that he is. You call it happiness, happiness with no sorrow. It
is your Self, your beingness. Why not just be it? Why don't you do it?
Q: Well. I guess we don't want it badly enough; we’re
afraid to go all out.
Lester: That's it,-you don't want it enough. You want to
be the limited body with all its adjuncts of limitation, sickness, trouble and
finally death. Ridiculous, isn't it?
If it was the
most important thing in your life, it wouldn't take long to become That. But we
all have our side tracks that keep us going in all directions.
That's it. We
really don't want this knowledge of our unlimited state, right? Therefore our
attention is in the other directions.
Q: It's unlimited, we know this intellectually, but do
you think we have a resistance, not knowing exactly what is there for us?
Lester: Yes, and no. You know you're infinite and you're
seeking it. In your every act every day you're seeking this infinite being that
you are. You call it happiness. If you would trace happiness down to its
source, you would discover that there is no happiness in external things or
people. Happiness is something you experience within. And it's there all the
time if you just don't cut it off by making it dependent on someone liking you,
or on your getting gold. Once I say, "In order for my inner happiness to
be, I must have gold.” I cut off that happiness unless I get gold. So we're
cutting off that unlimited happiness and saying it's in the world, in tiny
bits, while all the time it's unlimited right within us, not out there in the
world. But, as you said, we're so convinced that it's in the world that our
attention is in directions other than on the infinite Being that we are. If we
really wanted to see this infinite Being that we are, our attention would be
there all the time.
Q: And we could be That right at that moment!
Lester: Right. At that moment, or soon, or in a month or
two. But I say you are condemned to millions of years of misery if you persist
in being the body.
Q: If one experiences very intense misery where everything
seems to be cut off. -an awakening can come out of this sometimes, can't it?
Lester: Oh yes. That's the way we usually do it. When we
are in the direction of limitation we keep making ourselves more and more
limited, until we go to extremes and think we are in danger of becoming
incapacitated with something severe; with sickness or death. Then, with our
determination, which everyone has, we say, "To hell with this!" and
we go in the right direction. However, we could and should go in the right
direction because of the wonderfulness of it.
Q: I think the tendency often is to try to contact the
infinite and then use it to make this finite life comfortable, pleasant,
prosperous and things like that.
Lester: Right. We try to contact our unlimited power and
then use it to make a better body and world. We can make the body and world
better, but we cannot achieve sustained happiness, because being subject to
this body and world is being subject to limitation and non-freedom.
Q: But getting rid of your body isn't going to help much
though, is it?
Lester: I'm not suggesting you do. Until you can consciously
leave your body, if you forcibly got rid of your body, you would just come back
again through the womb and wait twenty years while growing up, before starting
again to learn that you Ire not the body. So forcibly dropping the body would
be a very wrong thing to do. But to show you how much you think you are the
body, just ask yourself how close could you come to throwing your body out on
the highway and letting cars run over it. This will show you how convinced you
are that your body is you.
Q: Is it our unconscious mind that prevents us from
being our infinity?
Lester: It's you, making your thoughts unconscious. I
say it's you; it's not your mind. Or, if you want to argue it, show me this
mind you are talking about. Where is it? And how is it holding you back? Does
it have a life other than you? Is it other than you? What is this thing?
You're
preventing yourself, whether via the mind, via the body, or via anything. You
are doing it. It's important that you take full responsibility because, if you
don't, you will never get out of this trap.
Q: I understand that it is something that we have created
ourselves, but it has reached such a proportion!
Lester: Not it, it is you who have reached such a proportion.
So long as you blame something else, you'll never get out of it, You're doing it. Can't you see
that you cannot undo your limitation as long as you'll not take responsibility
for it? No matter what you call it, whether you call it mind, or body, you are
doing it.
Q: I am taking responsibility for it, because I'm trying
to do something about it.
Lester: O.K. As long as you say, "I'm taking responsibility,"
that's all right. But when you say, "It is the mind," you are not
taking responsibility for it; then the mind is responsible, not you. Do you see
that?
Q: Well, I'm responsible for it; it's my creation.
Lester: Right. Whose mind is it? It's yours.
Q: But still, it has become a sort of Frankenstein's
monster that's gotten out of hand. And isn't that what stands in the way?
Lester: No, you do. As long as you think it's something
other than you, you have no chance. As you speak now, you are convinced that
the mind is doing it, and not you.
Q: So we make the mistake that the mind is going to see,
and the mind will never see It.
Lester: Right!
Q: And we're so conditioned to function as mind, that
that seems to be the only tool that we know we have, and so we're using the
wrong tool.
Lester: Right.
Q: So, what we need to do is just throw the tool
out.
Lester: Right. Then what's left over is the infinite
you. Throw the tool out. It takes no tools to be what you are!
Q: That's the mistake; we keep trying to do it with the
mind, because that's the only thing we're familiar with.
Lester: It's not the only thing you're familiar with;
you are so familiar with the "I" that you are. Just the word
"I," and that's you, that's not your mind. You have the mind. You are
always experiencing this infinite being that you are, and it's the
"I." You lose sight of this infinite "I" by identifying the
mind and body, as you. Let go of identifying with your body and mind and what
is right there in the pure "I," is an infinite being, -you. Simple
enough?
Q: You say the "I" has been for billions of
years. Is the "I" always the same?
Lester: The "I" that you really are is always
the same,-changeless, eternal and perfect.
Q: It has always been the way it is and the way it will
be?
Lester: It has always been that way: perfect; changeless;
immortal. And that's why we have the tendency to think of the body that way. We
try to make it perfect and immortal, even though we know we can't.
Q: Does the body serve a purpose?
Lester: Yes, it hurts; it confines. This serves to redirect
you back to seeing that you are infinite. The purpose of having the body is to
help you learn that you have no limitation. So you conjured up the extreme
limitation called the physical body, in order to learn that you have no
limitation. That body is going to hurt more and more as you more and more think
that you are it, until someday you say, “The heck with it!” Then with full
determination to see what you really are, you suddenly awaken to what has
always been, that you are infinite.
Q: Has the "I" always used the body?
Lester: No, the "I" never used the body. The
"I" is changeless and perfect. The "I" imagined, dreamed,
it used the body. It's an illusion; it's a dream, but while you're in the dream
it seems real. Wake up out of this dream. See what you are. That is the thing
to do.
Notice how
much you ask me questions about the body? Are you aware of that?
Q: In order, I guess, to define it.
Lester: No, you are trying to express your infinity in
terms of this extreme limitation. And this is why you're stuck. Reverse it. Let
go of the body. Put all your attention on the infinite "I" that you
are, and only then do you have a possibility of seeing the infinite
"I" that you are. You must let go of the concept of that body being
you.
Q: Pain is a great awakener then, isn't it?
Lester: Yes. However, we're not aware of how much pain
there is because we have accustomed ourselves to it and made ourselves immune
to the real amount. Because we're infinite beings and we're trying to be this
limited body, -it's very painful.
And when you
awaken from this dream, you'll see how much pain there was. It's almost
infinite pain compared to what you really are, - infinite joy.
I'm
emphasizing that you should be not the body; be not the mind, -just be.
Q: In meditation, doesn't one use the mind to a certain
extent?
Lester: Yes, however meditation is used for quieting the
mind. You use the mind to quiet the mind. When the mind is quiet enough this
infinite being that you are becomes obvious. That is the whole purpose of
meditation. If anyone gets his mind quiet enough, he cannot help but see this
infinite being that he is because it's only the thoughts that cover It. And the
mind is nothing but thoughts. So, meditation is used to get the mind quieter,
until you get it so quiet that you see your Self, you’re real Self.
Q: Would directing the thought toward the infinite be a
step to getting there?
Lester: Yes. However, it is another thought.
Q: It's another thought, but some thoughts are more
God-revealing than others, are they not?
Lester: No thought can reveal God. Every thought hides
or covers God, your Self. Every thought is a chain; nice thoughts are golden
chains. A golden chain will keep you imprisoned just as much as an iron chain.
You must undo all thinking. Get the mind quiet. And then quiet enough so the
infinite being that you are is self-obvious. It's there all the time; the
thoughts are the noise that's covering it. However, if you must have thoughts,
a thought in the direction of God is much better than a thought in other
directions, as it points you toward God.
Q: But if the infinite is non-mind, how can you speak of
it as infinite, because infinite is a mental concept.
Lester: No. No mental thought can be infinite. Every
thought is a limitation.
Q: Then how can you know that you are infinite? How can
you vocalize it?
Lester: You cannot mentally conceive of infinity nor can
you vocalize it. That is impossible. Try it when you're home. It's impossible
to conceive of unlimitedness.
Q: Well, it's an experience.
Lester: Right, it's not a thought; it's an experience,
an experience of being infinite. The mind can allude to it but cannot describe
it. Any description is necessarily a limitation.
Q: Where does the mind begin and where does the mind
end, and where does God begin and where does God end, and where does the
infinite begin and where does the infinite end?
Lester: God, the Infinite, the Self, has no beginning
and has no end. The mind has a beginning when you create it. It has an end when
you let it go.
Q: It seems to be a painful struggle to let it go.
Lester: You're holding on to it while trying to let go
of it. The holding on to it is the pain. Why don't you just be what you are?
Why question me on the opposite side, -on the struggle? Why do you talk about
it? Because you're interested in it and you would like me to relate the
infinite to it.
Q: Well then, if, when you think, you just know who is
thinking, that takes care of it?
Lester: Right! Discover who the thinker is and you'll
have the answer. When you discover who the one is that has the mind and has the
body and does the thinking, you discover the real you, -an infinite being. So
look away from the body! look away from the mind! and look toward the beingness
that you are and never stop until you fully discover that Thou Art That!
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