Donna Lancaster

Author of the book, “Standing Tall: The Marvel of Our Existence is Incredible”

Donna Lancaster, June 1932-March 2014



Donna stepped out of her precious little body and into the pool of consciousness on the morning of March 8th at her home in Lake Whitney, TX. She was not in pain and passed as she lived, with dignity and grace. Her dear friends Wesley and Tanya Sulak were present to nurture and be nurtured by this incredible experience. This picture was taken on February 27th, a few days before she began her journey Home. Please share your memories of her in the guestbook that celebrates her life.

A memorial service was held for Donna Lancaster on Saturday, March 29, 9:30 am at the White Bluffs Chapel, 107 White Bluff Dr, Whitney TX, 254 694-4000, followed by a reception and luncheon for her friends.

Donations are being accepted now, in lieu of flowers, for the Lake Whitney Public Library, attn Denise Carter, PO Box 2050 Whitney, 76692. The funds will be used to landscape gardens around the new library.

WHAT’S GOING ON?       #73 SEPTEMBER 2000

 

ALONG THE WAY: Are we brave enough to dump all authorities?

 

THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT: We don’t know what would make us happy.

 

WILL AND PURPOSE: (Excerpts from a talk by Dr. Bob Gibson, at Newport Beach 1980)

This morning we’ll start off by talking about purpose and will. Most of our lives we’ve been taught how wonderful it would be if we had will power. We’ll talk about will power for a minute. Will power is trying to do something you don’t want to do or you wouldn’t have to use will power. You don’t think about will power when you’re going to do something you want to do. But when you’re going to do something you’re not real interested in doing, you have to use will power. So will power is another word for conflict. When we were little folks they started telling us what we should do, should not do, ought to do, ought not to do, must do, must not do, have to, can’t do that one. So our purpose was shoved way off and was replaced by the purpose of society. Your will was put to bed and replaced with the purpose of society and will power. Now all of that is another word for conflict. And we have grown up feeling the natural state of the human being was to be in a state of conflict. I’ll give you a little assignment that you listen, not only to yourself, but to everybody else and see how often you hear the words “should, ought, must, and have to.”

Very few people in the world have a purpose. Now let’s say that our purpose is to regain the non-disturbed state as much as possible. I don’t like disturbances. I don’t like fusses.   The only thing is I want to use grown-up methods to do it, rather the infantile methods of blaming, complaining, sticking up for rights, pleasing for effect, appearing different, and believing authorities. They don’t work now. So, we’re going to drop them. However, I want to be as near non-disturbed as possible, using grown-up methods to get it. So what would be a grown-up method to be as non-disturbed as possible?   Take charge of my own inner state and live by it. Now that’s what I want to do. If I see that is my purpose, “To be as near non-disturbed as possible and I’m willing to do it”. Now I have joined purpose and will. I don’t have to hunt up a new purpose and do a lot of thinking about what “should” I do. We simply have our old purpose, only we’re going to use grown-up methods to get it, which is to take charge of the inner state. I would be as considerate of everybody else as I could be. That doesn’t mean that I agree with them. I just consider they have a viewpoint. I would be as harmless as possible and I would make some contribution to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I might find myself. That’s all very simple. Now that would be the way I would do it in order to gain the purpose of being as near non-disturbed as possible. We don’t have to dream up a new purpose. We’ve got it down where we can go to work with it. We’ll eliminate all the shoulds, ought-tos, have-tos, musts. We don’t have to fit the ideals of society. Now, real I is there. Because the real I is the union of purpose and will. That is the only time we are one person. Otherwise we are three or four people in there running around in conflict. One says we have to do. One person says I don’t want to do it. One says we have to do it because it is the right thing to do according to some authority.

So, let’s say if you’re going to function well, you have one consciously chosen purpose. This is an integrated person.   Purpose and will are integrated. Purpose and will are in harmony. A purpose is always something you’re doing, not having, such as car, house, or money. Grown-ups methods to obtain this consciously chosen purpose include work for income, activity of some kind for the body, adequate nutrition, treating people with simple good manners, consideration, harmlessness, and making some contribution to a pleasant harmonious mood.

You can fully integrated today.

 

A STORY: Dr. Bob was a master (indeed, he was a Master) at reducing things to their simplest terms. He taught that the whole teaching could be summed up in one sentence: Keep the mood up and don’t make anything important.

I have a tendency to complicate things and I’ve seen this on occasion in others.

Usually when I serve dinner to guests I offer them a choice of drinks. Do you want iced tea, hot tea, coffee, decaf coffee, coke, decaf coke, chocolate milk, whole milk, or water. A while ago I invited guests to dinner.   I decided to simplify and not ask the question and just serve everyone water. Period. This sounded wonderful. Guess what? Even water gets complicated. Cold water. Ice water. No ice in the water. Tap water. Filtered water. I saw that some authority said that a gracious hostess would accommodate the guests with whatever would please them. However I wasn’t interested in doing this. So I set the table with ice water. No body complained.

So who complicates things? I do it to myself. I had to look at the desire to please or impress others and the urge to gain approval. I also had to look at what the authorities said was proper.

Nobody cares! It is all in my complicated, conditioned head.

And the teachings are not complicated. They are simple. KEEP THE MOOD UP AND DON’T MAKE ANYTHING IMPORTANT.

IDEAS TO WORK WITH: (Taken from SCIENCE OF MAN INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL)

  1. Disintegration is the result of resisting “what is”.
  2. Thinking: association based on the past.
  3. If we imply to a person that he is not responsible – whether we do this by our actions or by our suggestions, which is expressed by “helping”, then we have harmed him. For this, we will get a balance, which means that we will pay.
  4. Don’t be seeking the first decision (that the purpose of living is to re-gain the non-disturbed state). Instead seek for your own personal integration, which is an end to all conflict. Than all other things will be added to you. Don’t be impatient in getting it.
  5. It has been said that it is extremely difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Integration) and one must become as a little child. Riches are anything a person depends on or has accumulated or protects, such as ideas, opinions, view points, ego, etc. To be as a little child is to be NOT KNOWING and teachable. It is to be inquiring instead of defending or protecting the self.
  6. All resentment, anger, and aggression come from the conditioned belief that we have RIGHTS.   Our solution to resentment, anger and aggression is to realize that we have NO RIGHTS. I DO have PRIVILEGES and I am free to enhance, to maintain and to increase my privileges.
  7. Once a decision is made with feeling, it is the rule of attitude-action until recognized and unmade or re-evaluated. It is not what happened to an individual, but the decisions that were made about what happened.
  8. If we are finding fault, we are looking through a misconception.

 

Donna’s Stories

For ten years, precisely at the first of every month, with unwavering certainty, ticked a newsletter from Donna into my mailbox. As a tribute to her, this is a compilation of all the parts of the newsletters she named "A STORY." This was the part written by her, as opposed to the quotes of Dr. Bob Rhondell. It covers twenty years of work (1994 - 2014)

She had her mind made up!
Starting with the oldest first.
A few duplicates have been taken out.
There might be more.

The Compiler, anonymously offering the 163-page PDF document for this website.

Weekly Calls

Please join us in the study of the teachings of the Science of Man from Dr. Robert Rhondell. All are welcome to join in the free readings and discussion. Calls occur on most Saturdays at 10:00am Eastern. Please send email to info@donnalancaster.net

with a phone number where you can be reached in order to be given the dial-in phone number for the weekly call.