WHAT’S GOING ON
#149 December 2006
ALONG THE WAY
Only X knows how to do anything.
THIS MONTHS THOUGHT
“But” cancels everything that comes before it.
SCIENCE OF MAN
Lesson five (continued from last month)
When this state is in existence, of the I being identified with “Not-I’s”, X provides energy to conditioning as though it were I. All human energy comes from X. It is all spiritual energy. The “Not-I’s”, the bits of conditioning, would, of course, wither away and not have any power, any energy to express, except I identifies with them and treats them the same as and they receive energy from X. As a parallel, suppose you had a son or a daughter, and that son or daughter fell in with a hypnotist. The hypnotist would have your son and daughter call up and tell you what the hypnotist wanted while he kept the son or the daughter in the state of hypnosis, sleeping, but he only told them by suggestion. Tell your parents thus and so, send us money. Send you money, but it would come and the hypnotist would use it. This is much the case of the “Not-I’s”.
Now this conditioning of “Not-I’s” receiving energy from X accounts for the misery and disintegration of man. The struggle towards the illusion of the ideal, the struggle towards the illusion of self-improvement, of blaming which results in wars and fights and all the other things, results and accounts for the misery and the disintegration of man. We have been studying it to become acquainted with it.
The way out is for I, the real awareness, to dis-identify from all that one possesses, from all that which one calls ‘my.’ Like my opinions. My thoughts. My feelings. My attitudes. My house. My everything. Everything that one possesses. Because that which we possess we depend on. And we depend on it to give us the ideal. And we are very disappointed when it doesn’t. And when we are disappointed we feel hurt. We look for blame. Then we have anger, guilt, fear, and a host of the subdivisions of those very unpleasant, damaging emotions.
So the way out is for I, the awareness, to dis-identify from all that one claims to possess. Everything that one says ‘my’ to. Now this results in a state of affairs wherein I observes the self as though you were a traveler on a spaceship from Mars and you had come in and were observing an earthling named whatever your name is. This observing is without condemning or justifying. But it is totally dis-identifying from this conditioned self.
Now you may see why we have been studying the self. It is not really something one wants to identify with. It is in a state of conflict. It is somewhat missing the mark as to the whole purpose of living. It is using very infantile methods to attempt to gain those. And it is disappointed when this ideal of the purpose of living of being non-disturbed is not achieved. So, maybe it makes it a little easier for us to dis-identify from the self.
The self is that picture of man that we drew, with the basic decision at the bottom and three on one side going one way and three on the other side going the other way. Now, I is going to wake up and observe these “Not-I’s” in their work as to how they report to X. But one intercepts here. One says, we’ll use the name John for all men and Mary for all women. So if you’re a woman, Mary is doing so and so. But I then is reporting to X and X doesn’t operate on, nor give the energy to the “Not-I”.
I observe that Mary is mad. I observe that Mary is jealous. I am observing that Mary is trying to have her way by complaining. She’s putting on the tears. I observe that Mary is trying to have her way by sticking up for her rights. She is rather belligerent. I see that Mary is blaming John because she feels rough. I see that Mary is blaming John for not having gotten home at 4:05 and, therefore, she is disappointed and feels hurt.
One begins to observe from a separate position all the things that this conditioning is doing. We have been observing it and making some notes, somewhat. Now we will dis-identify. No longer as I am doing this. But, I am observing John or Mary doing this. And as we observe this, we begin to sense and entirely different sense of I. It is the beginning, and only the beginning, of a permanent state called I. I has been jumping from the one that wants to complain to the one that wants to please, to the improver, to the blamer, back to the believer in authorities and there has been no permanent I. It jumped all over.
Now this little thing of dis-identifying and beginning to observe the self will not be possible to do it 100% of the time. But it can be done considerable. And every moment that is spent on it is accumulated and it weakens all the “Not-I’s”. So, we will start, now, on the first of the way out of the state of being conditioned and controlled, being mechanical, having burdens, being loaded down with all the things from the past by starting to dis-identify from the self. And, therefore, the self owns things.
But I does not own anything. The self has a dress or suit. The self has a house. The self has opinions. John has the opinion and he is defending that opinion. Mary has feelings and her feelings are hurt. And I am reporting to X. I have taken up my rightful position. The prodigal son has arisen from the hog pen in Egypt, which all the conditioning represents, and has started home. He is still a long way off. But he has started back to be a servant in the Father’s house. So, this is the beginning of I being real and observing the “Not-I’s” in all their little carrying on. And we will call it self or a name. I observe self as doing so and so. Or I observe John as doing so and so.
Now, this results in I being simply an observer and a reporter without any condemnation or justification. This I is just taking up its chore of observing and seeing what is going on. Seeing what is. And it is not ready yet to start applying values. That will come a little later.
Further, what I observes is self, or John or Mary or the conditioning or the “Not-I’s”, there’s a legion of them. And they’re in two parties and they fight with each other also. So, I is observing all the “Not-I’s”, or I is observing John, or I is observing self. These are interchangeable terms and they may be used in various discussions as we go along, interchangeably.
As I observes the legion of “Not-I’s”, without condemnation or justification, X renders the “Not-I’s inoperative, one by one, as observed. In other words you may have wondered what can be done about it. What can I do about it? Many have been asking.
When they observe these various conflicts and various bits of conditioning, all one can do is observe it and report it. X does the work of rendering them inoperative. How does it do it? I don’t know. What does it do with them after it has rendered them inoperative? I don’t know. We just know they cease to be conditioning and they cease to take on and operate the body and the being. (To be continued nest month)
A STORY
For many years I have been invited to speak at various functions. In the early years this invitation came from Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon groups. After my book came off the press four years ago, I now speak to many other groups.
I suppose ego drew me into saying “yes” to whomever called. Before long I started to dread each engagement. I couldn’t wait to get home and counted the days, hours or minutes until the ordeal was over.
A few months ago I decided that this mind set was self-defeating and unproductive. With intense focus I decided to experiment with changing that perception. I could clearly see that I had the skill, the experience, and the opportunity to tell my story. All I was missing was the willingness. I made a decision to make a difference, not to anyone else, but a difference in my outlook.
Whenever the voices in my head started singing their destructive and negative tune, I immediately put my attention on something else. I continue to practice with this. But the amazing thing is that the resistance to “going out there” is gradually diminishing. This has enabled me to be more enthusiastic, happy and peaceful.
“What is” is determined by how I see and for that I am responsible. It is exciting and rewarding to know that I don’t have to be stuck in self-limiting and self-destructive patterns of thinking.
X renders the “Not-I’s” inoperative! Yea, yea for the Teachings!
BOB GIBSON WRITES
When one person or nation attacks another it is because the attacker is afraid of the person, idea or nation, etc. he attacked. If he does not see danger to his agreements, ego, ideas and so one, he, of course, does not attack. FEAR precedes any attack. If the attacked person doesn’t understand, he is fearful and returns the attack. Enmity results.
If one understands self, he or she only has pity and compassion for anyone that attacks them because they realize that the person that attacks is fearful, therefore sick. That’s why a great Teacher of Natural Law and its application to man said, “Do good for those that use you despitefully.” The person that mistreats anyone is in great need; therefore needs someone to work with them to find their misconceptions. If we have understanding enough of the ways of the self, we see the need.
If a person outwardly treated a person that he hated kindly, he would disintegrate from the conflict. But if he first understood Natural Law and self he would have only compassion for the person that was afraid. He would then treat the person kindly spontaneously.
Understanding must exist or we are struggling toward an ideal. An ideal is always an illusion. The struggle toward an illusion is the disintegrating factor.
Doing good to those that attack you requires more than merely following the rule. It requires understanding if you are not to disintegrate from the effort.
ACTUAL AIRLINE CABIN ANNOUNCEMENTS
- In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descent from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite.
- Your seat cushions can be used for flotation. In the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments.
- After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the attendant came on with, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Capt. Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. Once the fire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we’ll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.
