WHAT’S GOING ON?
2022 MAY Newsletter
#166 MAY 2008
ALONG THE WAY
We don’t know what would make us happy.
THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT
Anger: Continual disapproval of most everything around. (Dr. Bob – Whitney 1993)
SCIENCE OF MAN: Lesson Forty Two
Andrew, a student of living, spent much time pondering heavy, unusual and ancient books. Andrew spent much time in his library, which was made up of many shelves of books. He usually had three or more on his large table open for studying at all time.
Early one morning, after studying his books all night in search of the truth that would free him from his sense of frustration at not understanding how so much confusion, pain, misery and misunderstanding could plague the human race, Andrew left the books and walked out into the morning sun. As Andrew walked along the dirty streets of the village where he lived, he comes upon a man and women screaming vile words at each other, gesturing wildly with their hands towards each other. This is the sort of thing Andrew hopes to find the truth to prevent.
Soon the man bodily struck the woman, pushed her to the ground, and left the scene, running away. Andrew helped the women to her feet and was rudely pushed away by the women who ran into her house without so much as a ‘thank you’ or a backward look to Andrew. Andrew walks on his way.
And as he came into the business section of the city, he came upon a storeowner berating an employee for some past event, some minor failure. The big employer towered over the little employee in the most threatening way. Again, Andrew was filled with pity and inner agony at the lack of truth that made such behavior possible. Just then, one of the employee’s allies arrived and he runs up to the employer and plunged a knife into his back. The employee and his ally drug the employer into the shop and locked the door from the inside. And all is quiet.
Andrew drags himself on, weighed down with the deep sense of guilt, that he has been unable to find the truth from all his years of study of his books, to prevent such crises in human relationships. And he has seen in his short walk, already this lovely morning, so much misery.
As Andrew ambles on his way towards the edge of town he sees that a circus tent surrounded by circus wagons has been set up during the night. In hopes of escaping the feeling of depression for his lack of discovery and many crises that he knows there is to be in the world and all the agony that’s going on, Andrew decides to go to the circus. He’s never been to such waste of time ever in his life as all his possible free time has been spent in the search of the truth to remake the world into a safe and secure and happy place.
Andrew walked about the circus grounds with all the hurry, noise and short tempers of the circus show people until show time. When Andrew is seated near the center ring in the big top, along with lots of other people, shoving each other and arguing over who has what seat, suddenly there is a blare of band music and the center ring is filled with clowns.
Just in front of Andrew a man and a woman clown, acting the part of man and wife, loudly berate each other, threaten to strike each other, and miss, almost falling down. Finally the husband clown connects with one of his wild swings and knocks the wife clown to the ground. All the people, including Andrew, are convulsing with laughter.
Then a very sad looking clown comes to the wife and gets her upon her feet. She clobbers him and goes to the door off-stage. Still more laughter.
Quickly to the other side of the ring, another word-battle breaks out between a large employer clown and a little employee clown. Another clown comes up behind the little clown and jerks a four-foot long sword out of his baggy pants and proceeds to run the big employer clown through and through. Then after excited running about, while the audience, including Andrew, howled with laughter, the two clowns dragged the big employer clown away by the feet.
The entire big top is a dim of laughter. Suddenly, Andrew had a flashback in his mind of the morning. And realizes he has just seen a duplicate of the morning events in the village, at which he was so disturbed, except that when the events were acted with in clown suits and masks, he found them very comical. Andrew, his face shinning with enlightenment, arose and left the big top while the band played on.
Andrew had found the truth he had so long searched for. He had seen the joke and nothing in all the world needs to be changed. Just see it like it is. They all have clown suits on, but they don’t know it. Andrew, for the first time in his life, is seen walking through the village streets, smiling and swinging his whole being, seeing all the people in the village with their clown suits and masks.
A quotation from one of the books comes to his mind: Know the truth and the truth will make you free. Andrew really feels free. He has seen the Truth, which is another way of saying he has seen the joke.
A STORY
How would I act if I really believed that I am at a Party? What would my inner state of being be if I really knew this Truth… that I am a privileged invited guest on this beautiful estate called Earth at an incredible Party, put on by the Host, Life?
This is probably the reality of it. I have been checking it out for several years and I find nothing to disprove the evidence that I am at a Party. And even if somewhere down the road I find out that this is NOT a Party, what have I got to lose? Nothing. I will have had a wonderful and delightful experience. This seems like a lot more fun than some of the other ways I’ve considered living this span of years on Planet Earth. (i.e. whining, blaming, complaining, angry, etc.)
So, how would I act at a Party? I go to parties now and them. The atmosphere is always great. Everyone is smiling or laughing. I don’t see anyone crying, complaining, sticking up for their rights or feeling sorry for himself. Everyone is totally present. The dead past is just that… dead. There is no fear for the unlived future. Each person, including myself, intends to have a good time, enjoy the other guests and relish the refreshments. I would be a considerate guest. I wouldn’t start any fights or arguments or be ugly to any of the other guest. I would contribute to a pleasant mood and be vitally interested in what was going on. And when the evening is over, thank the host for inviting me.
If I really knew I was at a Party, I would wake up each morning anticipating having a good time all day long. I would lighten up instantly and drop all the worries, the grimness, the hurts, the fears, the resentments, because, after all, IT’S PARTY TIME!
And sometime during the day or before I fall asleep at night, I would have had such a good time all day that my heart would overflow with gratitude that I had been invited to this grand and glorious Party.
I will remember what I am, where I am, what is going on and what I can do!
SCIENCE OF MAN (Excerpts from lesson 31)
There are bits of conditioning that lurk around in dark corners. And while it doesn’t show up in the ordinary circumstances, it shows up in very unusual circumstance.
Now such an event will be portion of a parable that we will discuss for a moment. This is found in Luke, in the 6th chapter and starting at the 17th verse. Some rules of behavior are given.
It is told about how a person in a state of agape would behave… It says: “But I say to you who are listening. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who slander you.”
You think you can do all those things? We can easily think we can until it happens. This is why we do everything in relationships. Somebody, somewheres, in the next few days will hate you, hiss about what you’re doing. And they may even curse you in one form or another and say very naughty things about you. They may slander you in one form or another.
And then we will find out, will we not, as to whether we have experienced this degree of agape that the Master Teacher was speaking of?
TEACHING IDEAS TO WORK WITH
- The purpose of studying the Teaching material is to provide us a road map so we can go from lower states of consciousness to higher states of consciousness. This is the beginning of being alive. This is going from death to life.
- The greatest obstruction to achieving a higher level of consciousness is to believe we already have it.
- As long as our purpose is to be non-disturbed, we are going to complain, stick up for our rights, blame, believe our authorities, please people and try to improve ourselves. This is living in constant conflict and misery. We simply cannot afford to stay in lower states of consciousness… unless we put value on being miserable and in conflict. How much value do we put on feeling good?
- IDEAL: A nonexistent illusion in the mind that we struggle toward. I won’t have a problem if I don’t have an ideal. The struggle towards an illusion (ideal) is the ONLY disintegrating factor.
- We are highly suggestible as long as we have an ideal. I will not be subject to suggestion if I realize that I already have everything. Suggestion has to appeal to that which I think I have not yet received.
- Always agree when somebody blames you.
- SURRENDER: I cease to think that I know what ought to be (should have been)
***
Help us to remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry, and spend a few moments with her children.
Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can’t make change correctly is a worried 19-year old college student, balancing his fear over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester. Remind us that the scary looking bum, begging for money every day is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress is savoring this moment based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year they will go shopping together.
Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive.
****
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. They are more screwed up than you think.
WHAT’S GOING ON?
2022 MAY Newsletter
#166 MAY 2008
ALONG THE WAY
We don’t know what would make us happy.
THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT
Anger: Continual disapproval of most everything around. (Dr. Bob – Whitney 1993)
SCIENCE OF MAN: Lesson Forty Two
Andrew, a student of living, spent much time pondering heavy, unusual and ancient books. Andrew spent much time in his library, which was made up of many shelves of books. He usually had three or more on his large table open for studying at all time.
Early one morning, after studying his books all night in search of the truth that would free him from his sense of frustration at not understanding how so much confusion, pain, misery and misunderstanding could plague the human race, Andrew left the books and walked out into the morning sun. As Andrew walked along the dirty streets of the village where he lived, he comes upon a man and women screaming vile words at each other, gesturing wildly with their hands towards each other. This is the sort of thing Andrew hopes to find the truth to prevent.
Soon the man bodily struck the woman, pushed her to the ground, and left the scene, running away. Andrew helped the women to her feet and was rudely pushed away by the women who ran into her house without so much as a ‘thank you’ or a backward look to Andrew. Andrew walks on his way.
And as he came into the business section of the city, he came upon a storeowner berating an employee for some past event, some minor failure. The big employer towered over the little employee in the most threatening way. Again, Andrew was filled with pity and inner agony at the lack of truth that made such behavior possible. Just then, one of the employee’s allies arrived and he runs up to the employer and plunged a knife into his back. The employee and his ally drug the employer into the shop and locked the door from the inside. And all is quiet.
Andrew drags himself on, weighed down with the deep sense of guilt, that he has been unable to find the truth from all his years of study of his books, to prevent such crises in human relationships. And he has seen in his short walk, already this lovely morning, so much misery.
As Andrew ambles on his way towards the edge of town he sees that a circus tent surrounded by circus wagons has been set up during the night. In hopes of escaping the feeling of depression for his lack of discovery and many crises that he knows there is to be in the world and all the agony that’s going on, Andrew decides to go to the circus. He’s never been to such waste of time ever in his life as all his possible free time has been spent in the search of the truth to remake the world into a safe and secure and happy place.
Andrew walked about the circus grounds with all the hurry, noise and short tempers of the circus show people until show time. When Andrew is seated near the center ring in the big top, along with lots of other people, shoving each other and arguing over who has what seat, suddenly there is a blare of band music and the center ring is filled with clowns.
Just in front of Andrew a man and a woman clown, acting the part of man and wife, loudly berate each other, threaten to strike each other, and miss, almost falling down. Finally the husband clown connects with one of his wild swings and knocks the wife clown to the ground. All the people, including Andrew, are convulsing with laughter.
Then a very sad looking clown comes to the wife and gets her upon her feet. She clobbers him and goes to the door off-stage. Still more laughter.
Quickly to the other side of the ring, another word-battle breaks out between a large employer clown and a little employee clown. Another clown comes up behind the little clown and jerks a four-foot long sword out of his baggy pants and proceeds to run the big employer clown through and through. Then after excited running about, while the audience, including Andrew, howled with laughter, the two clowns dragged the big employer clown away by the feet.
The entire big top is a dim of laughter. Suddenly, Andrew had a flashback in his mind of the morning. And realizes he has just seen a duplicate of the morning events in the village, at which he was so disturbed, except that when the events were acted with in clown suits and masks, he found them very comical. Andrew, his face shinning with enlightenment, arose and left the big top while the band played on.
Andrew had found the truth he had so long searched for. He had seen the joke and nothing in all the world needs to be changed. Just see it like it is. They all have clown suits on, but they don’t know it. Andrew, for the first time in his life, is seen walking through the village streets, smiling and swinging his whole being, seeing all the people in the village with their clown suits and masks.
A quotation from one of the books comes to his mind: Know the truth and the truth will make you free. Andrew really feels free. He has seen the Truth, which is another way of saying he has seen the joke.
A STORY
How would I act if I really believed that I am at a Party? What would my inner state of being be if I really knew this Truth… that I am a privileged invited guest on this beautiful estate called Earth at an incredible Party, put on by the Host, Life?
This is probably the reality of it. I have been checking it out for several years and I find nothing to disprove the evidence that I am at a Party. And even if somewhere down the road I find out that this is NOT a Party, what have I got to lose? Nothing. I will have had a wonderful and delightful experience. This seems like a lot more fun than some of the other ways I’ve considered living this span of years on Planet Earth. (i.e. whining, blaming, complaining, angry, etc.)
So, how would I act at a Party? I go to parties now and them. The atmosphere is always great. Everyone is smiling or laughing. I don’t see anyone crying, complaining, sticking up for their rights or feeling sorry for himself. Everyone is totally present. The dead past is just that… dead. There is no fear for the unlived future. Each person, including myself, intends to have a good time, enjoy the other guests and relish the refreshments. I would be a considerate guest. I wouldn’t start any fights or arguments or be ugly to any of the other guest. I would contribute to a pleasant mood and be vitally interested in what was going on. And when the evening is over, thank the host for inviting me.
If I really knew I was at a Party, I would wake up each morning anticipating having a good time all day long. I would lighten up instantly and drop all the worries, the grimness, the hurts, the fears, the resentments, because, after all, IT’S PARTY TIME!
And sometime during the day or before I fall asleep at night, I would have had such a good time all day that my heart would overflow with gratitude that I had been invited to this grand and glorious Party.
I will remember what I am, where I am, what is going on and what I can do!
SCIENCE OF MAN (Excerpts from lesson 31)
There are bits of conditioning that lurk around in dark corners. And while it doesn’t show up in the ordinary circumstances, it shows up in very unusual circumstance.
Now such an event will be portion of a parable that we will discuss for a moment. This is found in Luke, in the 6th chapter and starting at the 17th verse. Some rules of behavior are given.
It is told about how a person in a state of agape would behave… It says: “But I say to you who are listening. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who slander you.”
You think you can do all those things? We can easily think we can until it happens. This is why we do everything in relationships. Somebody, somewheres, in the next few days will hate you, hiss about what you’re doing. And they may even curse you in one form or another and say very naughty things about you. They may slander you in one form or another.
And then we will find out, will we not, as to whether we have experienced this degree of agape that the Master Teacher was speaking of?
TEACHING IDEAS TO WORK WITH
- The purpose of studying the Teaching material is to provide us a road map so we can go from lower states of consciousness to higher states of consciousness. This is the beginning of being alive. This is going from death to life.
- The greatest obstruction to achieving a higher level of consciousness is to believe we already have it.
- As long as our purpose is to be non-disturbed, we are going to complain, stick up for our rights, blame, believe our authorities, please people and try to improve ourselves. This is living in constant conflict and misery. We simply cannot afford to stay in lower states of consciousness… unless we put value on being miserable and in conflict. How much value do we put on feeling good?
- IDEAL: A nonexistent illusion in the mind that we struggle toward. I won’t have a problem if I don’t have an ideal. The struggle towards an illusion (ideal) is the ONLY disintegrating factor.
- We are highly suggestible as long as we have an ideal. I will not be subject to suggestion if I realize that I already have everything. Suggestion has to appeal to that which I think I have not yet received.
- Always agree when somebody blames you.
- SURRENDER: I cease to think that I know what ought to be (should have been)
***
Help us to remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry, and spend a few moments with her children.
Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can’t make change correctly is a worried 19-year old college student, balancing his fear over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester. Remind us that the scary looking bum, begging for money every day is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress is savoring this moment based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year they will go shopping together.
Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive.
****
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. They are more screwed up than you think.
