(Reprinted from WHAT’S GOING ON? #113 January 2004)

ALONG THE WAY: 

We live in this moment.

THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT:

If you want to know how spiritually evolved you are, spend a week of this holiday season with your family or relatives.

THE FOURTH WAY:

(Excerpts from a lecture by Dr. Bob Gibson)

We have an awareness function and there is something we refer to as X or Life or Spirit, or you can use any word you’re comfortable with.  As long as a living being is around, it’s there.  And when they are no longer living, it’s not there, whatever It is.  And the awareness goes along with it.  And there is a body, which is the mechanism that carries it out.  To make it somewhat easier to look at, let’s say the awareness is what says I.  X is Life.  And let’s say you have a perfect partnership going.  You’ve got a partner.  Now, if you were in business of some sort or other and you brought in an order, it doesn’t matter what the order was for, and your partner could always deliver without bothering you at all about it, would you take on that kind of partnership?  You bring in the ‘what’. That’s what I does.  I says ‘what’.  And your partner takes care of all the ‘how’. You don’t tell him how to get the car out of the ditch.  You merely say, “This is what the deal is”.   And the deal gets taken care of.  Would you join in that kind of partnership?  Most often we don’t believe we have this partner.  We don’t really see that It works with us every day.  Say you go eat a ham sandwich.  You merely see what you want to do.  You don’t know how to do any of it.  The partner takes care of converting, transmuting the ham sandwich into you.  You don’t know how to pick up a glass of water and drink it.  You don’t know how to stand up.  So you have this every day of the week that you decided,  “I’m going to stand up” and immediately your partner takes care of all the effort.  So when you say, “I’m going to do___  whatever it is, X takes care of the whole show.  It will do it all.  Now it will keep putting little pieces in front of you and you keep saying ‘what’ all the time, but it goes, if you will go along with it.  Doubt rises up almost constantly.  Some man said that anything you say and didn’t have a doubt, it would happen.  So, if you could see the ‘what’, the how gets taken care of.  Except, that we don’t want to be responsible. You have a partner who can carry out anything you say you want to do (without a doubt).  But if you feel like you have to know how to do something before you do it, you will be very limited and function far below our potential or capabilities.

Now your partner will not change places with you.  It will not take care of the ‘what’ and you take care of the ’how’. You see mankind for ages has been trying to turn the world upside down.  They have always been hollering that the Power that they recognize as being superior, “You tell me what to do and I will do it.”  And of course they’re ignored because that is your responsibility.  So you can’t upset the partnership by trying to turn it around. Man is always wanting something to tell him what to do so he won’t have to be responsible. But we are responsible.  It is a contract solid and it’s not going to break.  And if you don’t want to play with it, that’s fine.  But that is the way the contract is.  You can us it as little or as much as you like, but you can’t break the contract.

Over the ages there has been many different ideas or concepts by which man has lived and how his society is put together. There are paths or ways by which people live.  Frequently the things we talk about are called the Fourth Way.

So the first thing that started on this planet or at least as far as we have any history of it, was the idea of a jungle.  I am stronger than you are therefore I will eat you or I will control you—survival of the fittest.  To the strong belong the spoils.

Now, when a new one comes along, there is only a little fragment of it that gets started.  It isn’t that the whole thing changes. So we still have the law of the jungle.  It is still going on.  We call it crime these days or crime against persons or crimes against property.  Somebody is a lot bigger than you are.  I’m going to take it.  We also have mental abilities.  Certain people learn how to use covert hypnosis and control people that way.

Some 4000 years ago man came along and said that he would give them another path. So he set before them that day two paths to choose.  They could continue on with the jungle or they could use justice. And he set up a bunch of laws that would indicate justice—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  This developed into an idea of justice.  To this day we still basically have this in all our courts.  If somebody is playing in the jungle you have to pay a penalty of some sort or other for living by the law of the jungle or living by the way of the jungle.  So sometimes they are put in prison for a few weeks, give him a fine, whatever.

Some 2000 years ago a man came along and he gave them two more paths.  They could still continue along the line of justice.  I guess he thought none of these people in the jungle would listen to him anyway.  He set out the way of love, understanding, which means I can see that whatever you’re doing, ever have done or ever will do, and whatever I have done, ever will do and am doing now, at the moment of doing, I feel it to be right or proper or justifiable or I couldn’t do it.  So that was called the way of love.

Some 2000 years after that came along another route.  You could continue on this way of love or you can go on the way of justice, or on the way of jungle, or you can go on still another way.  This way you might call the Fourth Way or you could call it the way of being thankful.  Now what one is thankful for is that one has been invited to this tremendous party that is going on. And you have the freedom to do whatever you want to do.  You can even go back and live by the jungle if you want to.  There is a tremendous price to pay for it.  You can live by justice and get a little acceptance from society.  If you live by the way of love you will probably be ignored.  And if you live by the Fourth Way everyone wonders what you’re thankful about.  What you’re thankful for is that you’re a privileged invited guest here at this beautiful estate called earth where life is the Host and you can figure out what you want to do.  So you have everything.  You’re not working for anything.  You’re being thankful for what you already have.  We have had food, clothing, shelter, interesting people to be around, interesting things to do ever since we have been at this planet.  Now it is also considered in the Fourth Way that man is an alien on this Planet.  He wasn’t ever originated here. He is the only creature here that can’t live without making some artificial environment for himself.  He has to have some clothes.  He builds shelters for himself.  One thing he must use above all else is his intellect.  And his understanding is based on his intellect to understand what he is, where he is, what’s going on here and what he can do.  It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past.  It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen.  If you can see what’s going on here now you can handle things.  So in seeing that we are aliens here then it would behoove us to keep our wits about us.  We are not natural habitats of this planet.  You’re an alien who got here some way, or some of your ancestors.  We have to make arrangements so we can survive.

So recognizing that gives you a comprehension of what you’re about.  You’re here to make this a fit habitat for a colony of human beings.  Now what kind of colony do you want?  Now I have a story that came out very recently about the person who sent us to run the colony was coming every once in a while and checking up and that he was decidedly discouraged, upset, miserable, drank a lot of martinis and burned a lot of cigarettes up because of the mess we’re making out of the thing, generally speaking.  Now, if you know what your job is, you know, most of us have a job of some sort or others, some kind of work, and we understand our job definition and we do it.  Now, if you know what your job is you can carry it out pretty well.  If you forgot what your job was or you never did know what your job was, what kind of a mess would you make.  Over time we have wandered away from what is our job?  What are we doing here?  What’s going on?  Now if you looked that you are a part of a crew that lives on the Planet Earth to make it a colony for humans who don’t fit here exactly like the other creatures do, not like a lion or a fox or a skunk, you’re an altogether different creature and you can’t survive like they do.  So if we can see that we’re in the business of building a colony, an environment for a colony of humans and we are responsible for setting up some sort of social arrangements for us to live together, I wonder if we would behave the same way as we do now?  If you knew what you were about, you’d be about it.  So mankind first arrived on this Planet it was a jungle and that was the appropriate way to do it.  Some two thousand years later certain trainers were sent out from headquarters to establish a little further they could go. Now this wouldn’t have been possible when they first arrived.  Now then this still has its use (justice), this may still have its use (jungle) but only consciously, not as a mechanical reaction because we’re out of time and places.

It would appear that we could ask ourselves, “What’s going on here?”   Now without stretching our imagination to hard we can see that we were privileged to come to this new outpost of conscious beings.  And it is a real new one for conscious beings, intelligent conscious beings on the planet earth.  So we have the privilege of being here and the privilege of building something if we want to build it.  The point is we really have something to do.  I think this is why most people have a vague feeling that there is something to do and they don’t know what it is.  So they moan that they don’t know what they want to do.  Because it is something that is kind of built into us in our chromosomes and genes and we want to be about it, about the business of this colony that is set up here.  We have that vague feeling.  And then we look around and no one lets us in on what’s going on.  So we don’t know what to do. But when we look, it’s fairly simple:  I want to aid in building this colony so that it would be a real worthwhile place for us aliens to exist.

So what are we?  We are very privileged, invited to be in this big project.  Where are we?  On this planet Earth which is beautiful, but nevertheless it is not equipped naturally for the human, conscious being to live on.  We have to make arrangements to sterilize the environment to a certain extent or we can’t get along on it.  So we would begin to see that I’m at this beautiful estate called Earth, which has been chosen as a colony for conscious beings.  Now what’s going on? There are a jillion people that’s working around on this colony and most of them are totally unaware of what they are, where they are, what’s going on here or what they can do.  Totally unconscious.  A lot of them are living by the way of the jungle.  A few living by the way of justice.  An infinitesimal small number by the way of love, which has been pounded at us for 2000 years, and almost a non-existent number are living by the way of gratitude or thankfulness at all.

Now, if I should begin today to begin to build a little bit.  I know what I’m doing here.  I know what’s going on.  And I know what I can do.  I would begin to build a little bit.  And having noticed that anything you build is highly contagious, it spreads a little bit, I don’t have to go out and be a preacher or a missionary and pound on people, but I can demonstrate that the Fourth Way does exist, that the Third way exists, the second way exists, and the First Way exists.  They’re all here.  We could begin to advance this colony.  I could be what to me is a good guest.  Because that’s what I am. And I have the privilege of doing whatever I want to.  What would I do as a member of the colony?  I would be considerate of the estate.  We could build a little higher type of conscious residency here.  It would cease to be so much of a colony and begin to be almost a home site for us.  First, I could be considerate of the estate that we’re on, of the Host who sent us out, and of the other guests that’s here with me.  I can be harmless in that I don’t tear down more than I build.  I don’t have to make a mess.  I don’t have to find fault with the other colonists.  I’m conscious and have been given a gift beyond all comprehension to know what’s going on here.  I think that’s a gift beyond all capability of putting a value on—just to be able to see what’s going on here and to see what I am, where I am, and the whole purpose of the big show.  Did you ever wonder what it’s all about?  What are we doing here?  I think about everybody has struggled with that a little bit.  What’s this life all about?  It’s got a very definite purpose.  I don’t know if it’s practical, but it’s very interesting.  Setting up an outpost.  I don’t know if it’s even needed or not.  But it’s here, so let’s have fun with it while we’re at it. Now we can begin to build a place where everybody is conscious of what they are, where they are, what’s going on here and what they can do.  What can we do?  Be a part of the colony.  I can be considerate.  I can be harmless.  And I can make some little contribution to it being a home for conscious individuals.  Now we don’t want to be taken over by the powers who were running this world which was a jungle when we arrived.  They’ve issued out a lot of suggestions to us over time that you’ve got to complain, stick up for your rights, blame, please everybody, quote authorities of old.  In the scheme of things this is a relatively new colony, a pretty new one.  So that’s to be involved in an adventure beyond all comprehension.  Now don’t take my word for this.  Go out and check up and see if this is what’s going on.  You look and see if mankind is a natural occurrence for this planet.  Look it over.  A horse can go out and stop anywhere tonight and get along just fine.  His food is all around him.  You can’t eat what the cats and rats eat.  You’ve got it process it.  We have clothes.  We have houses.  We have transportation.  We have refrigeration.  We’ve all these gadgets which is the only way we can make it a home for conscious individuals from some other realm.  We don’t belong here.  But it is close enough that we can survive on the planet with the aid of intelligence.  And we can have a home.  But what kind of a home do you want? Do you want the jungle?  Do you want the justice of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?  Do you want the one of understanding but he still broke my neck?  Or do you want the Fourth Way?  We have come to that stage in existence where it is really the only intelligent one for the ones who are conscious of what they are, where they are and what’s going on.  It’s to live by the way route of gratitude.  I’m thankful I’m here.  I’m thankful I’m involved in this big game and party.  I’m considerate of the estate because it’s easily damaged.  Now do you have to wonder, “What do I want to do?”  Would that answer the question to anyone who wonders.  It’s sitting there staring at us in the face.  We want to continually to build this outpost to where it is a home for intelligent, spiritual beings and not just the jungle creatures.  Are there people who would consciously take on the Fourth Way, the way of thanksgiving. And the way of consciously being what to us is a good colonizer or a good guest, which means the same, to be harmless, to be considerate, and to make some little contribution to the whole new estate and all the things that make a decent home for aliens.

So you want to live on the Fourth Way?  That’s kind of worthwhile.  You would never have to wonder, “What should I do?”  You always know what you can do right now and it’s always very worthwhile, at the moment, to aid building shall we say, a community for conscious, living beings.  I think that’s kind of worthwhile.

Information from headquarters is received by what means?  It is taught by somebody talking to you.  It is not anything unusual, mystical, or anything else.  There has always been a visible human being or a group of human beings who came and talked in as plain and simple language for that particular age as they could talk.  Moses was the messenger that talked about justice.  He was obviously a human being.  A man called Jesus the Christ came and was very much a human being and walked around and the people who are given the information on the Fourth way are human beings.  Now, always they want you to remember that it is the information that is of value which you can check up on and not the person who gave it to you.  We all have pretty much the history of the man named Jesus that taught the Third Way.  They tried to make a God out of him and all sorts, that his mother was a virgin and he never did die and if he did he got up and walked off and all this which is for you to worship him and not pay any attention to the message.  And that’s what screwed it all up.  So everybody that I have met involved in the Fourth Way has been a reprobate of the first water.  You wouldn’t want to identify them in any way.  The ones that can and don’t fall down with it, drink a lot of booze and they smoke cigarettes and they do all sorts of things that you wouldn’t go along and deify them and that is by design.  Because they don’t want you to get confused with the message and the contents with the container.  If the people would ignore the teacher of the Third Way and the various teachers of the Third Way and had paid attention to the content, the Fourth Way would have probably arrived a thousand years ago.  But everybody got carried away with the container and you’re still, until this day, told that your salvation depends upon believing something unusual about the container and nothing is really mentioned about the contents. I went to church once and that’s all I heard.  I assure you the containers of the Fourth way all put on a role of being a reprobate.  Nobody has to accept anything holy about them because they don’t do it that way.  And that was done by design and on purpose that there is nothing holy and righteous put on about it.   The people who are giving information on the Fourth way are human beings.  You don’t get it by intuition or any other thing else.  It is somebody talking to you, giving you information, which you can check out, use, and operate on.  Always they want you to remember that it is the information that has the value and not the person who gave it to you.

****************

Peace, love and joy to all of you beyond measure.  Make every moment a holy instant.

Donna Lancaster