FIRST VALUE
Dr. Bob Gibson
You are not going to experiment or practice anything until you see it as being of first value to you. One sees as a first value to be aware that one is conditioned; that one is aware that one is not going to let it run the show anymore; and one is watching as to how it pulls it’s many tricks and how one goes to sleep. When one does this, one will find in short order one is doing this by second nature.
Having worked at making something of first value a few times in my life, I know that it is not an easy thing to do… They make a lot of noise trying to convince you to never truly commit yourself because they lose control of you then. But if you ever truly make a solid down to earth commitment that this is going to be number ONE from now to any foreseeable future to you, they don’t have control over you any more. They’re going to do everything to keep you from doing that. Before you can come to a solid commitment, I guarantee you will have a hassle inside. We listen to this, we read this over here, we try some little formula for a day or two, and we wander on our way because we want to avoid that hassle that goes on inside to come to any firm commitment to making anything truly of first value.
First value is a state of being: Being conscious. The one we’re talking about is putting the first value on the state of being we want. Do I want to go on in turmoil the rest of my life, full of conditioning, bounced here, bounced there? Or do I want to have a state of being that is stable? Serene? Fully conscious of what is going on each moment? Somewheres it has been called other words. Seek you first a place, a state of being and all this other junk will be added unto you. Find your state of being first. That’s the first value—is our state of being. We have to determine what kind of state of being we’re going to exist in. Or we just going to be floating around, as we have been, tossed to and fro by every wind that comes by? The first value is determined with a state of being. As long as we don’t see that we are only fiddling with things. And this is why we seldom really ever made a firm commitment for a certain type of state of being. We have made something material into a first value, circumstance, job, education. Not our inner state of being. If you have that one you won’t find yourself in a state of conflict. You can freely choose your response. That’s utter freedom. There’s no conflict there.
PEACE OF MIND
DR. BOB GIBSON – Newport beach
I’ve heard by various writers and speakers that said, “Peace of mind was the greatest thing any human could have.” We’re going to talk about that kind of mind wherein there is no hassle going on inside of it. I think those are rather rare. We will see if we could find a means where everybody could leave tonight with peace of mind. Now there’s a requirement or two possibly before that could happen. But we’ll see if that could be accomplished.
The first requirement would be that the person didn’t make anything important. Now that isn’t a great thing because there really isn’t anything important in this world. Now you can make almost anything important… they really aren’t unless we make them, then we’re anxious. Now anxious is not peace of mind. Another way of saying it is when I say, “I’m free to experience whatever is going on here today and I’m free to choose how I will act upon it. I don’t have to make it fit any ideal. But the situation is here, whatever it may be. Whether I like it or don’t like it I’m going to experience it. I might as well do it gracefully, therefore freely. I’m going to experience it anyway. No use getting all upset about it. So if we’re free to experience it, we could also be free to see what I want to do about it. Can anybody here dream up how things ought to be real easy? You can dream up how it ought to be, but that doesn’t make it factual. The fact is that everything we deal with is ‘what is’. That is what is already here. We can choose how we are going to respond or whether we are just going to ignore it. A lot of things I find you might as well ignore. They’ll be gone tomorrow, anyway. What is there that we really need to resist? It’s going to be here, anyway. So if I’m free—free to experience or sense what is. If we’re free to do it, there is no anxiety. Now that we can discover about ourselves. I discover that I am free to experience whatever is at this moment and then I am free to choose any response I want to—any or no response, knowing full well the response won’t make the ideal that I could dream up about.
Now if we had those two things you would find that you have peace of mind: You’re free to experience whatever may arise in your way today and you’re free to choose your response. We can totally have peace of mind, which supposedly the greatest thing the human can ever have. When you have that you can accomplish almost anything, do almost anything that comes along. You’re free to really function.
Now, as long you have anxieties and you’re worried and you’re fretful and you’re sad you have a great limitation on what you can do. There are all kinds of things you can’t quite make work. But if you’re perfectly free to handle it and you have peace of mind, there isn’t anything comes along you can’t do something about. The sense of accomplishment then comes very real when there is peace of mind. When there is not, there is a sense of frustration most often. One is frustrated in about everything one tries to do because one is anxious, one is wishing things were different than they were, one is making it absolutely necessary that situations be different than they really are. The fact is that the only thing we can actually deal with is the actual fact of the moment. So whatever this moment is, you can do it. So when we have peace of mind, then comes what people sometimes tell me they want to be creative or they want to have a sense of accomplishment. You’re free to experience whatever is. You’re already experiencing what is, no matter how we resist it, how much we cry about it, how much we object to it, you’re still experiencing it. Why put all the big effort to fight about it in it? You might as well do it totally freely.
Could you have peace of mind right now? I maintain that you can. I have been experimenting with it and I have found that it can always be there. That you can be totally peaceful regardless of what circumstances may be going on. Peace of mind can be permanent. You can have it every day of the week, year in and year out. It is a much more reasonable way.
VALID QUESTIONS
SCIENCE OF MAN LESSON 12
What am I? Where am I? and What’s going on here? The Teaching says that what am I is answered by: I am the awareness function of X. Where am I? I am at a beautiful estate called the Earth. And the Earth is also considered in the Teaching to be the physical body as well as the Planet Earth, because the physical body is made of earth and energy. But that’s where we are and that the body is a function of X for expression also. And that it always expresses through that instrument based on the information received from the awareness function as to what is and what is valuable. And the third thing, “What is going on here?” The Teaching says there is a great many games going on here that allows one to exercise what one is and to further discover where one is and to be more conscious. That without the games, which are a form of Teaching, the Teaching of Life, the Teaching that is never away from us, the One that is constantly in contact, that is teaching the awareness function of X everything that is needs to know. Now X wants the awareness function, obviously, if such be its case that it is the awareness function of X, it wants it to be accurate, it wants it to be well-informed and to be clean. In other words, not be contaminated with false ideas. So X is teaching the awareness function and one is a privileged invited guest to this beautiful Teaching that one always has available to it. But we have never seen it as a Teaching. We saw it as something bad when the self was deciding what was going on.
A STORY
I am thankful to have television because it brings the world into my living room. Granted, there is a lot of conflict, violence and disharmony out there. That is what is! So, what do I do to protect myself from being pulled into the negativity? VOILA! The Teachings have the tools I need to do just that. I first have to recognize that I have a choice: I can play the “ain’t it awful game”, or I can choose a higher state of consciousness called ‘objective consciousness”.
Since everything is based on ‘how I perceive it’, I found some true and accurate Teaching ideas that changed how I see the world and the events taking place in it.
- Nothing happens by chance.
- I don’t know what ought to be.
- Everything has value when I am conscious enough to see it.
- Nothing needs to be changed….all is well just like it is.
- Resistance/Second force is part of the creative process.
- Agape: Everyone is doing whatever he feels is right, proper or justifiable with what light he has.
This re-evaluation removes all fear and judgment of events. One of my aims is to contribute to a harmonious mood wherever I go. Would this make a difference? I don’t know. I do know that it contributes my well-being.
During the tsunami several years ago one group of natives were watching the signs. They observed that a tsunami was on the way and took actions to avoid being destroyed. We are in uncertain times. I have seen signs that are out there of some movement toward higher consciousness that could move us to the next paradigm—that of ONENESS. (By the way, Dr. Bob speaks of ONENESS in nearly every lesson of the Science of Man.)
I asked Dr. Bob once, “Could a person sitting at home in their comfortable chair influence the course of events?” He said, “Absolutely.” I can’t prove that this true. Nor can I prove that it won’t work. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by giving it a go.
MIND TICS
My picture of the world keeps changing before I can get it into focus.
By doing a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me.
