ALONG THE WAY:
Spirit does it all.
THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT:
Patience is the willingness to be uncomfortable.
THE GIFT:
(Excepts from a lecture by Dr. Bob Gibson)
The gift is nothing that one needs to achieve, nothing that ones to gain. It is usually something one gives up, lets go of, that is the obstruction to what has been referred to as integration, wholeness, peace of mind, a state of non-division within one’s self. We will talk about the obstructions that prevent this situation from ever being realized.
In talking with many people and listening to conversations and listening to questions it appears that the major obstruction to allowing ourselves to use the gift that we have of peace of mind or oneness or completeness within ourselves is the total incomprehensible idea of the idea of a gift. We simply cannot conceive of a gift. We can conceive of unfair trading, exploitation, etc, but we cannot conceive of a gift. You receive a gift and immediately you begin to think what you’re going to pay for it, what you’ve got to do for it. So when we say that peace of mind, integration, completeness, is a gift, immediately everyone begins to wonder what all they have to do to get the gift.
On being born you were given the most valuable gift the human being could ever have. It was given to you at that moment. And it would produce everything you could ever be if you could take it. But first you are a little kid. So you can’t take the gift then. Before long you have to get an education before you can take the gift. So as soon as you get an education you’ll take the gift, you think. But when you get an education you want a job. When you get the job, you don’t have the proper place to put it. You wouldn’t want to open it up in a little ole apartment. So you wait until you get you a mansion. By that time you’re going to wait until you get the kids through college. By that time you’re going to wait until you feel good. So you’re going to wait to open this gift until you feel good. Soon as you feel good, get the kids through college, get the mortgage paid off, get out of debt, and all the bills paid, we’re going to open this great gift we’ve carried around all these years. So far all I’ve done is tote it around with me. It’s in a lovely box, beautiful chest. They told me it was very valuable, so valuable that I refuse to take it until I have lots of conditions taken care of first. So we have to get ourselves prepared to accept this great gift. And finally we die, and we never opened the gift. But we’ve longed for it all the days of our lives. If I could just have peace of mind. If everything was just like I thought it ought to be. If everything was done. If all the kids were raised up and weren’t disrespectful and embarrass me. We set these things out in front of us, all of which would come into being without any struggle of any kind if we would but open the gift because the gift has everything in it. It has the ability to get along with the kids. But we are in so much conflict in our effort to open the gift that we never get around to using it. We have so many conditions set up and we cannot conceive of a gift.
Let’s see what a gift is. A gift is something is given by the giver because the giver loves the one he is going to give it to. Not because the receiver is worthy. Not because they’re educated. Not because they’re good. Not because they’re smart. Not because we have pleased the giver. Not because they have done all they things they should do. Life loves everyone of us and gives us a gift when we are born. The gift of peace of mind. The gift of peace of oneness. The gift of wholeness. And we have never opened it because we cannot conceive of a gift. Life loves every one of these expressions, no matter what we are. We have no way to earn the gift, because a true gift cannot be earned. There are no strings attached.
Let’s see if we can generate a new spot in this brain that conceives that love gave us a gift. It expects nothing. Wants nothing. Demands nothing. We have that which is the greatest value in all the world that we can do everything with and everything works with no sweat, no bother, no struggle, except we won’t take it until I get this little condition taken care of. When one condition gets out of the way, we put two more up there. Sometimes four or six of them. So we carry around a big load on our shoulders, this box weighs a lot unless we’re using it. So we carry integration wherever we go but we refuse to use it. We carry peace of mind with us but we’re not going to use it because the time isn’t right. I’ll use it when I get the mess cleaned out. But the gift is available now and it makes all the messes dissolve like nothing. Because with peace of mind there is no problem. The problem is because I want to change something. The gift has the answer to all things in it. And we refuse to accept it because we cannot conceive that there is such a thing as a gift– that there is such a thing as love, and love gives us a gift that we’re carried around with us since the day we were born. No strings or conditions attached. Life loves you like you are.
What do you have to do? Quit setting up conditions. Then all of your problems cease to exist instantaneously. It is the end of all problems. It is the source of all riches. It is that which will turn base metal into gold and all the other good things. It’s yours. It is not a reward that you are offered. It is a box that we carry around, a burden and it has taken great effort to keep the lid shut. It ceases to be a burden when we open it.
Quit trying to change anything and it pops open. It is a gift given from love for no reason. There have been many parables written about the nature of peace of mind when it is allowed to open the gift, which is sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven or it can be integration. It starts as a seed and ever expands. Once we accept the gift of peace of mind it starts expanding. It is endless. It grows if you keep your fingers out of it. We quit trying to change anything. As it grows all things come with it, without any effort or struggle on our part. When we cease to change things, the seed is open and starts to grow into something boundless. But it grows on its own, not by our effort. Our struggle to change what is, to change the nature of peace of mind, of integration, of the Kingdom of Heaven, is all based on our pride that we know what to do, just like we knew the conditions to set so it could come into being.
The gift is always adequate to the challenge. It is not a way of getting rid of challenge, but there is always something here that knows exactly what to do with it. It is there when required.
When I see the fallacy of the desire to change things, the desire comes to an end naturally. I wouldn’t know what I was doing anyway.
A CONSCIOUS PERSON:
- Lives without conflict.
- Makes no judgments
- Is happy with what is.
- Has no need to change anything or anybody.
- Is not controlled by suggestion. He remembers he is 100% subject to suggestion, 100% of the time. He checks it out.
- Knows: What he is, where he is, what is going on, and what he can do.
- Sees the Not-I’s are not to his advantage and does not identify with them.
- Lives in the present moment.
- Has no ideals to struggle for.
- Is free to experience whatever may arise in his way today.
- Has reverence for all life.
- Is in charge of his inner state.
- Is at ease and peace wherever he is.
- Has no problems, only challenges.
- It self-determined, not other determined.
- Can play any role consciously.
- Is free of all conditioned ideas.
- Does not turn his life over to any institution or anything or anyone else.
- Is in charge of what he does, how he feels and how he acts.
- Has nothing to be upset about.
- Is in no hurry.
- Sees clearly ‘what is’ and the value of what is.
- Does not listen to propaganda and does not get caught up in causes.
- Does things for the joy of doing, not because he has to, although he may not like it
- Uses simple good manners.
- Is not sentimental
- Does not give advice.
- Pays attention.
- Has no choices to make.
- Does not know what ought to be for anything or anybody, including self.
- Is free from all doubt, fear, anger, grief, insecurity and perplexity.
- Realizes a state of being in which there are no obstructions.
A STORY:
The past few years I’ve noticed when I walk a block or two the legs start aching. I’ve always been thankful I could walk at all. I was born without any knees, hip joints and lower leg bones. The ankles and feet are joined to the femur. The femur functions without any connection to the pelvis. Orthopedic doctors in 1932 told my parents I didn’t have enough bone structure to walk at all. The whole family was overwhelmed and ecstatic when I started walking.
I thought walking to the bathroom, the mailbox, and the grocery store would be enough exercise to maintain muscle tone. Wrong! I finally realized more movement would be needed to keep the muscles, tendons and ligaments functioning smoothly.
The Teachings tell me I am responsible for my inner state, environment, activity, and nutrition. So, armed with a Walk-Man, pebbles to count the rounds, I march around the parking lot. When I have 18 pebbles placed on the wooden ledge near the back door I have walked a mile. I’ve been amazed how my little legs have responded to this bit of attention.
The pull to be comfortable and non-disturbed is powerful. However, when I push though inertia, the walk is quite pleasant and enjoyable.
The awareness sees the “what”. X does the “how”. What an incredible arrangement. How easy it is to forget that I cannot walk. Claiming to do anything is pride and vanity. The doctors were right 69 years ago. I cannot walk. Only X knows how to accomplish that miraculous feat.
X does it all.
LETTER FROM RHONDELL:
(Vol. 1. No. 7 of a newsletter put out in the 1980’s)
Most calls for the past several days have been about “Not-I” talk, that internal talking that goes on all the time. We tell people who call that all Not-I’s are liars. However, most Not-I’s are very cunning and seem to manage to convince the subject that the subject is having intuitive knowledge.
Intuitive knowledge is about the nature of mankind, life, relationships of body, awareness and X.
Not-I’s tell the subject that so-and-so is going to happen in the future; that a certain person is planning to do something to the subject’s disliking or disadvantage. Not I’s claim to be knowers of the future and the thoughts of others persons. In other words, they claim to be fortune tellers
If one allows self to be influenced by Not-I’s, one’s inner feeling is in serious turmoil. However, it is also fairly SIMPLE, if not EASY, to send the Not-I’s packing.
One starts by seeing that Not-I’s are concerned with setting an ideal of being totally non-disturbed or non-challenged. Then they suggest the justification of complaining, sticking up for rights, feeling put upon by others, quoting authorities to prove self and/or others wrong, demanding, self-improving and blaming.
To send all Not-I’s on their way from you, start by looking for challenges. Here are some examples:
- I want the challenge of being the one to set a pleasant mood wherever I am.
- I want the challenge to make some contribution in every contact I have.
- I want the challenge of experiencing some discomfort in order to build by endurance.
I am thankful to have the challenge of determining my own inner state. The practice of looking for and welcoming challenge proves to be a situation the Not-I’s do not have the capability to exploit. We said the method was simple. We did not say it was easy—but that is a challenge also!
