PERSONAL POWER

SCHOOL TALK # 41

Dr. Bob Gibson

If one can see that what I really want is to be truly an integrated person, one in charge of self, not one in a state of conflict; not one in a constant struggle with anger and guilt and fear and subject to going into the pits and all these emotions….Those are old conditioned states that are carried over since infancy and we’ve practiced all of them until we’re extremely proficient at them.  So the only way that we will replace that with power living or personal power is that we practice and persevere over and over until it becomes second nature—and it will.  It will become second nature and undo all this stuff of conflict, struggle and resistance that everybody indulges in—that brings about illness; that brings about deterioration or old age.  It seems that we could see that a little bit.  But first there has to be a true determination that “I’m going to take charge and that I’m going to do it all the time!”

EXPECTATIONS

Dr. Bob Gibson

            Expectation Based On Misconceptions Leads to Disappointment.  Anticipation based on Illusion leads to Anxiety.  Any unanswerable question leads to anxiety, any “what if?”

Here are some misconceptions:

1. That people will do what is right if they know what is right.
2. That other people know how they make me feel and they will help me.
3. That if I complain, I will get my way.
4. That if I can get my own way, I will be non-disturbed.
5. That if I please people, I will be non-disturbed.
6. That if I please people, they will do what I want.
7. That I can change myself if I make up my mind.
8. That I have rights that other people should respect.
9. That I would be happy if other people or something were different.
10. That others will accept my conclusions and reasons.

AGAPE

Dr. Bob Gibson

1. We have been taught that people know what is right and go ahead and do wrong anyway.
2. Agape means to understand that before a person can do anything, he must think that to him, it is right or proper or justified.
3. 3.     Since this is the basis of our own behavior, we cannot be angry or blame them for their behavior because at the moment of action, their behavior was either right, or proper, or justified to them.
4. 4.     When Agape is completed, we have a person who need never react, a self-originated being,; a complete man – perfect.

THE SEARCH

Dr. Bob Gibson

                        People are searching for health and happiness, but have misconceptions about what health is and what happiness is.  Therefore they never find either.  Most people still have the infantile decision that pleasure equals happiness; pleasure is NOT  happiness.

A person who does not have a reasonable amount of peace of mind is not healthy.  He or she has mental or emotional pain and if not already, will soon have physical pain.  In the last analysis, are not health and peace of mind the same thing?  Is peace of mind something one gains or it is what remains after all feelings of emergency are gone?  Can all feelings of emergency be gone while the person still holds misconceptions?  Can a person have peace of mind while he is searching for it?  Does the searcher always have a feeling of urgency?  Can there be peace of mind and a feeling or urgency at the same time?

This work is only concerned in getting rid of something so that that which is already there can be expressed in all its wonder.

All unhappiness or conflict starts with a misconception.  Misconceptions spring from the infantile decisions and erroneous concepts handed down from the past by suggestion and result in feelings of emergency.  This starts the vicious cycle which eventually produce pathology and if not reversed, death.

What can people do that they and others may have health and peace of mind?

Those interested in serving life, instead of trying to see what they can get out of life, can prepare themselves by ridding themselves of their misconceptions and thus developing the integrated type of thinking.  They will then be able to work with others to achieve health, happiness, peace of mind, integration.  Personal integration is not something that is to be worked for or to be gained.  It will take place when all misconceptions are cleared away and not before.  All effort is to be spent in the task of dis-identifying from misconceptions; in freeing one’s self from the factors of disintegration.

PERSONAL INTEGRATION

Dr. Bob Gibson

                  What are some of the advantages of total personal integration?

1. There is freedom from all doubt, fear, anger and grief.
2. There is the experiencing of extreme physical pleasure.
3. There is intense, ever-present, ever-fresh happiness, deep impartial calmness.
4. There is freedom from the feeling of insecurity and perplexity
5. There is improvement of conduct.
6. The integrated personality is directly aware of things without needing to sense them or think about them and realizes a state of being in which there are no obstructions.
7. The integrated personal does not allow himself

or herself to be exploited and has no desire to exploit.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

From THE FOURTH WAY

Dr. Bob Gibson

QUESTION:  Do you think there’s a time and place for will power?

ANSWER:  Yes, if you’re loaded with “Not’I’s” you definitely have a time and place to have conflict, which is will power.

QUESTION:  IS there a time and place for “Not-I’s”?

ANSWER:  NO!  I don’t want any.  I don’t see any reason to have them.  There is nothing constructive about them.

QUESTION:  Do they (Not-I’s) play a part in life that is necessary?

ANSWER:  No.  Not unless you think sicknesses and illnesses and misery and all that stuff is necessary.

QUESTION:  Not even if they (Not-I’s) come up with a good idea you think you’d like to try?

ANSWER:  Nope.  They never come up with a good one.  They come up and tell you that the one you are going to do probably wouldn’t work or they’ll get you to fall in love with an idea and tell you how wonderful it is.  No, they have no useful purpose to life.

QUESTION:  What if someone keeps complaining to you that they’re not feeling well?

ANSWSER:  Quit asking them how they’re feeling.

A STORY:  Now and then I stand crying in the middle of my good.  All around me is evidence of the wonder and mystery of life, yet I don’t seem to feel grateful for anything.  “What is wrong with me that I feel unhappy while the Universe is singing its love song to me?”

The Teachings tell me that my only problem is resistance to “what is.”  So, the unwillingness to accept Life, just as it is, with joy and thanksgiving keeps me in bondage.  As long as there is a gap between what I think life “ought to be” and “how it really is,” I’m destined to feel conflict and anger, with my lip tuned down, pouting?  I focus all my attention on how life isn’t rather than on how it is, leaving me lifeless and tired.

And, how is it….really?

I HAVE IT ALL!!  A lovely home in which to live; a dependable car; decent clothes to wear; food to eat; interesting things to do and interesting people to be around.  My heart has beat over 2 trillion times since my birth.  A miraculous process continues to change everything I swallow into heat, energy and water. The list is endless.

Yes, the mind set can shift.  I can wake up and observe what is going on.  The focus can change to the gifts given me, remembering that life is how I perceive it.

MIND TICS

I need some of my problems to help take my mind off some of the others.

My best consolation is the hope that the things I failed to get weren’t really worth having.

If you don’t let me make you happy, I’ll make you suffer.

How much do I love you?  Less than you’ll ever know.

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