WHO’S IN CHARGE?
(School Talk #49 – Health and Healing)
Now we can certainly take charge of our inner state of being once we decide to. Now, we have given it away to everybody else and let them control how I’m going to feel:
I let everybody in the family determine how I feel.
I let everybody on the street and I everybody in traffic determine how I feel.
I, also, let the news paper and the TV news determine how I’m going to feel.
I even go to movies which will make me cry, feel fearful, angry and other emotions.
Certainly we can take almost 100% charge of our inner state of being and our inner feeling. And, I might add that that is the one that possibly has the most to do with health in this area, the U.S. where we live.
So we can look and see that we are in charge or can be in charge. I’d rather not say that we are, but we CAN BE IN CHARGE! Then we can be in charge of our state of inner health because health is a normal adaptation to these factors: environment, inner feeling activity and nutrition. And if I choose to do so, I can take charge of those to a sufficient degree—all of them—so that I really have no reason to be ill.
HOW DO I BECOME A STUDENT?
(The Bible and the Inner Man #12– Headlines)
Most of us are quite concerned with possessions. Let us take a little look at what we mean by possessions. A possession is something I call “my” or “mine.” –such as my job, my car, my house, my clothes, my opinion, my body, my mind, my political party, my church, my vacation, my soul, my conscience, my idea, my conviction, my ability, my skill, my country, etc, and etc. It is interesting to see if one can ascertain what IT is that possesses all these things.
To be a student one must do considerable work to first discover all that
is possessed. To discover what one possesses may take considerable time. So if you are interested in being a disciple or a student of Christ, do not plan to be given all things suddenly and without labor. Some possessions are so highly valued that we may not be aware of them until we have observed “self” for a long time. Nevertheless, we can start on our journey.
Let’s start now. Here is a little sketchy map:
Do I have a way, MY way that I have to struggle to have? What is it? To always be comfortable? To have everybody do exactly what I want them to when I want them to? To have everything that I feel I’m entitled to right now?
That people who do things that they know they shouldn’t do be made to pay for having mistreated me?
Do I have certain pleasures that I feel entitled to?
Do I have MY rights that I must defend?
Do I have my ideas which I know are correct?
Do I have my organization which I must defend against all comers?
Do I have my opinion on many subjects which I know is the only valued opinion to have?
Do I have my conclusions which are the end of the matter?
Do I have my sexual drive which must be gratified?
Do I have my children which are obligated to do as I say?
Do have my wife or my husband who has a duty to me?
Do I have my mind that thinks thoughts that worry me?
Do I have my job or business that makes too many demands on me?
Do I have my body that hurts me and gets fat and old?
Do I have my health that I’m in danger of losing?
Do I have a lot of debts that worry me?
Do I have my imagination that runs wild every now and then?
Do I have my reputation to protect?
Most of us are very rich. We have many possessions. However, from this small sample, we can see that we couldn’t be a student of new ideas because we are burdened down with these possessions. We couldn’t even hear new ideas or concepts, much less experiment and practice them.
IN TIME – OUT OF TIME
(Washington DC March 1978)
Will you talk about being “in-time” and “out-of-time?”
Well, “in time” means I am here. This is where I can do something. I cannot do anything anywhere else except “right here’, and “right now.” And it’s always that way. It’s always “here” and it’s always “now.”
I will experience this whenever I am the remotest bit conscious.
So, if you put your attention on tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. you can’t do anything either here or tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. That means nobody’s home. We would call that being “out of time.” Here and Now is where I can do something.
DISTURBANCE
(Science of Man #18)
Disturbance is that which continually occurs that increases mans necessity to check and to question mammon, the four dual basic urges. These are checked, and one only checks them when one is not comfortable. Because as long as everything is comfortable, it seems that this is very desirable, why should we check it? It’s only when Life increases ones necessity because of the disturbance that is going on, that one begins to question. So, if we’re trying to prevent everyone from having any disturbance one might say that one was being very harmful and was being very condescending. And it all sounds very good, very wonderful, unless one is aware and then one sees mammon in his tempting business of trying to identify with I, the observing function of X.
. Now I want to be as comfortable as I can possibly be and you can come up with that. I want to be comfortable, I don’t like pain any better than anybody else does, I don’t like being ignored, I don’t like being rejected, I don’t like disapproval and I don’t like not being appreciated whether I earn it or not. But the point is how much are you willing to pay for it. How much are you willing to pay for non-disturbance? I’m willing to provide anybody and everybody I know with simple good manners and being kind and considerate and that’s enough–after that let’s quit.
A STORY:
Last week I had an “Aha” moment. I had just gone to bed and I turned on my cassette player to listen to Lesson 17. Dr. Bob was talking about how we are children and we are not given a rifle when the child wants one. He is given a little pop-gun. When the child can handle that, he may later be given a larger gun. But he first has to demonstrate that he is responsible for that which is given him.
Likewise, as I travel from the hog-pen to the Father’s house, I am given certain gifts—such as agape, grace and faith, faith being the most powerful force known to man. However, I know that I have not experienced the fullness of agape, or the fullness of grace, or the fullness of faith because I am still a little child. I must have the maturity, or the ability to be responsible, before they’re given to me.
Then…this is what I heard on the tape:
“One would be thankful for all things that seemingly interfered in one’s initiated aims, because it gives one the ability to see if one is maturing or is one still has the tendency to get a little annoyed of feel hurt…whether one is somewhat mature in the spiritual world. It points out very clearly: “WHERE AM I?” For a person to know where he is in the scale of being in the spiritual world is of great value.”
In other words, do I act like a child when things don’t go my way? Do I stand there like the child that I am, with tears running down my cheeks, my lips turned down and my toes dug in the sand, whining?
Well, the very next day I went to the Clinic to get my allergy shot. After the nurse gave me the injection, she said I would have to stay in the room for 30 minutes before I could leave. Immediately the back of my neck arched up. I resisted doing something I thought was unnecessary. Now, I didn’t tell her how I felt, but my insides were acting like a child who didn’t get its way.
WOW! What a gift! I see clearly my childish behavior. Hell, I really AM a little child! But the wonderful thing that happened is that I am now observing the childishness and reporting it, knowing that X will (little by little) remove it. In fact, it has been fun to watch the kid in action!
One more thing: LIFE really IS my Teacher. Life is doing everything It can do so I can develop into a spiritually mature adult. All I can say is: BRING IT ON!
MIND TICS
Some of the things that will live longest in my memory never really happened.
I resent being treated like the sort of person I really am.
I desperately need some wise advice which will recommend that I do what I want to do.
I definitely intend to start living sometime soon.
