WHAT’S GOING ON?
#141 April 2006
ALONG THE WAY
One is a privileged, invited guest to this beautiful Teaching.
THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT
When we want future peace or safety, this is turned into a goal. Most of our energy is used chasing illusions to be safe.
SCIENCE OF MAN Lesson 9
(Continued from last month)
“I” believe that “I’m” entitled to have all my rights and that whatever “I” think are my rights, are my rights. And that if you were decent and fair you would see to it that “I” have my rights. Somebody has stood in the way of what “I” considered my right and “I” have accounts against them. Now, this probably includes many, many people. So, there will be several different pages in the ledger have different peoples name because they didn’t do my rights. What do they owe me now? And how could it be paid? Or could it ever be paid?
“I” believe that you are deserving of blame and that it is my duty to point it out to you and demand that you cease being to blame, admit your past behavior, and pay damages. Now, I think we’ll find that there is many different people’s names has this same accounts receivable against them. As we make up our ledger and we see how much they owe me, what’s the damages that they owe. What could they do to cancel that debt “I” have charged against them? That’s mother, father, brother, sisters, children, mates, business associates, people on the street, sometimes a sales clerk in a store, sometimes a manager of a store, sometimes a doctor, sometimes a lawyer, sometimes just a relative of some kind, someone “I’ve” had any relationship with.
“I” believe that “I” am victimized by you and others into being made to feel anger, guilty, fearful, insecure, envious, jealousy, and etc. And “I” believe it is all your fault that “I’m” in this miserable state. Now how much will that person have to pay before “I” would cancel the debt and say, ”I feel wonderful. All is forgotten”?
You see we have the idea of the word ‘forgiving’ and we use it quite freely. But, if one will observe the self when a given incident is brought up, one will find that the self wants to kick and scream and make a turmoil because the account has not been cancelled. We use the word forgiveness and we say, “I forgive”, but actually, only X can cancel that. And so I can observe the self, report it to X, and we can experience forgiveness. But, I don’t believe a one of us can truly forgive. You see, the nature of I is to report accurately as to what is to X. Not what it seems to be when seen through the ideal of the world, which is what makes the debt. When one reports that this was an illusion, that nobody really owes the self down there anything, then X forgives. And one may experience that forgiveness, that lightness, that entire new state of being. But one cannot forgive. One only can use the words.
“I” believe that “I” have all the virtues in just about the proper degree, including humility by insisting that “I” am inadequate. However, “I” believe that if anyone agrees that “I” am inadequate that they’re being unkind and that they owe me a tremendous amount. To illustrate this point:
Very recently a person came and told the speaker all the ways that they were inadequate. This was only listened to, was not either agreed to, or disagreed. However, three days later, the speaker met the person and in the proper time, place, and circumstance, told the person in their exact words, without referring to the former incident, as how inadequate they were. The person was so upset at being told they were inadequate, that they went home and were sick in bed for three days. And later from this, began to be reminded that you told this. And I replayed it back to you and then you were very upset by it. But you weren’t upset when you were rattling it off as to how very inadequate you were. This was quite an awakening event to the person. The person has continued to observe the self. Heretofore they had not observed. They had only talked about it. So, sometimes, maybe the methods were a little drastic. And in the case where we’re doing it this way, through recorded tapes, one does the going back and writing it down. And one begins to see that one has tremendous accounts against people. That when one puts on a show of being very humble, or very greatly humiliated, and is telling the story themselves, it is only another way to try to gain attention to the self and to get everybody to tell you that it is not true. So, how many times has one told a sad story to other people and they didn’t agree, and they didn’t try to get you to not agree, and convince you that you were not all the things you were saying you were. There’s an account against them. They should all tell me, “Well no, of course, you are not this. You are not inadequate. You’re very adequate. You’re one of the more adequate persons I have ever seen.” And as this continues one sees all these many accounts. Now, this is not a one-day job. It is not a one-week job. It is a job to start today. It is a job to work at very diligently this week. And to continue to add to it as I observes some cunning not-I that seldom allows the not-I to be caught in the act. But to write it down and one then will to begin to experience what it is to be without a burden. Begin to experience a lightening of the burden. Begin to experience the lightness and the joy of forgiving. Not because one has forgiven, but because one has seen and reported and X forgives and is beginning to cleanse the heart. Is beginning to make it pure. Because one of the greatest impurities it has is to carry around this burden of accounts receivable against almost everyone one has been in relationship with through the years. (To be continued next month)
A STORY
Each month I go to Cleburne to the Johnson County Creative Writers Group. One of our assignments has been to write “drabbles”. We are given a word or two and we write exactly 100 words (not 101, not 99) about the word or words.
In fact, in the Science of Man Dr. Bob suggests that we learn how to write parables. This is an effective teaching tool that Jesus used over and over.
So, here are the words we were given and the “drabbles” that I turned in to the class.
TREES IN WINTER
The trees in winter are a great comfort to me. Even though the branches are barren, the life force deep within is well and happy, waiting only for the impetus of spring to activate its aliveness.
There are barren times in life when my energy is low. I accomplish very little and life seems to be passing me by. My inclination is to whine and resist this slower pace. I tend to bash myself for being lazy and indolent.
The barren trees and remind me that cycles are a part of life necessary for healing, growth and rejuvenation.
CHOCOLATE AND STARS
Whoever created chocolate has my endless gratitude. Just the “word” chocolate has a comforting quality that enriches my life beyond measure. There are no words to describe the experience of eating chocolate.
Likewise, the stars contribute to my joy. Even though millions (perhaps trillions) of miles separate us, their light is constant. In their silent, magnificent way they expand my thoughts to Infinity. In these days of uncertainty and violence, their predictable course through the empty sky reminds me that there is order and purpose in all that is.
Do you suppose both chocolate and stars have the same origin?
MOONLIGHT
The full moon always rises at 6:00 pm CST. The new moon always rises at 6:00 am CST. Does the moon have a computer chip in it that holds it to this predictable schedule? Probably not. There must be laws that keep everything on schedule.
Life and the Universe are harmonious and orderly. If my life does not reflect these qualities, where am I missing it?
The greatest block to experiencing harmony and order is my insistence on having my way. Why do I want my way? Because I think I know what ought to be.
What an ego trip!
GUILT
At a given moment I am doing the best I can do. Hard to believe? Yes. But with the information, the experience, the willingness and the wisdom I have AT THAT MOMENT, I am doing my very best. A day, a week, a year or even five minutes later, I might have acted differently. So I have no basis for bashing myself. Guilt over past behavior is pointless and destructive.
The past is gone. It is only a memory in my mind. Regretting the past is an ego trip and blocks my joy of the ever present now.
Screw guilt.
GENIUS
Genius is in all of us. It shines through when the limited and conditioned mind is still. But that is a steep order. The noisy mind clamors to figure it out, plan the future and control the present.
Religious systems have been screaming at us for millenniums to be still and listen. Our paranoid mind has blocked this information from our awareness.
So how do we quiet the mind? One way is to focus the attention on the hand (or any aspect of the body) and feel its aliveness. Instantly the mind stops. At that point we tap into genius.
********
I whined a bit when we received the assignment. However, I was amazed to where the ‘word’ led me. I challenge you to experiment with writing drabbles! (d)
