CALISTHENICS April 28-29 1981
NO TEACHING -- PARTICIPATION IN A WORK --BEYOND THE MIND –EXPERIENCING –EMOTIONS ---RADIATING HEART –ACTION ---SYMBOLIC RELATION –ART OF SWITCHING –THE ROSE AS SYMBOL OF HEART – SOUNDING --
Last time, someone asked whether the different elements that we come out with are available elsewhere in the world. The reason this question is useful is because if you are stuck in such a position and are able to come out with it we can change it. If you are alone with yourself and never vent what is going on in you, you might dwell a long time with a frame of mind that is already outdated.
If you study Theosophy, Steiner, the Arcane School and so on, you will come across some of the elements that we use here as well. We do not pretend to be the only ones "teaching" these things. The big problem here is that we are still heard as presenting a teaching rather than as participating in a work. It is a frame of mind. Maybe some people hear me speaking as if I were the only one in the world saying these things. This is not the point, there is work to be done. Most of the time, what brings along the feeling that I might be saying that I am. the only one is because I stress the necessity of working here and now. Now if you choose to work with us, fine, but it's a work here and now, not elsewhere. If you are looking for a teaching you might look elsewhere. If you are looking for work, you have to settle down and work -- here or elsewhere --you have to stop wandering all over the place and start working. It's simple logic.
Very often people don't understand that they are caught in between these two situations. They try to understand the working situation through the optic of a teaching situation.
If you want to know what we really do, I mean what we are really here for (not along the line of group activity but the basic principle), then you have to have assimilated the book and come to the babbling stage; then we --eight be able to tell you, not before. Before this point we are obliged to express according to you, not according to us.
Everything you know about spiritual masters, everything that is written in books, is always presented according to the human mind, and preferably according to the human mind of the particular slice of time. This is forgotten most of time. So, because of what you have read, the human mind says it is a certain way, when it's actually very different. Of course some elements can be recognized, but only a little is actually as it appears.
So, what I am actually stressing is that I do welcome practically any type of question, as long as it helps you to finally land in a position in which you can work.
Okay now, come out with your questions or comments.
Participant: You said that we have to first assimilate the book and reach the babbling stage. Do you mean that literally?
Martin: Oh yes, quite; something totally different is totally different.
Participant: No, I mean about the book itself. I have a hard time being bound by assimilating the book. I can accept that in a living circumstance that there is a general progression that might be characteristic of my character type, various realizations might occur, but it seems to me that I don't have to be bound by assimilating the book to still make the same progression.
Martin: Instead of saying "the book" we could instead say what is involved in the book. Otherwise some people are going to learn it by heart and this is not useful. But as far as your experiencing goes ,when all that is implied has become active, you have then gone through the stages outlined in the book -- how you do it is your own matter. I don't expect everyone to go according to the letter, but there is a substance in it and this has to come out. This is the way in which you are "the only one". You do it your own way. Some principles have to be observed, but how you do it is up to you.
…Live the new condition. It's more effective. More basically, you have to remember the experience gives you an awareness of yourself that is very different -- much more complete, more real, more evident. The center of gravity of your life has to be there. Now, if, because you have read books or heard me say that you must master your desires, or train this or that, and you attempt to do this from your personal consciousness, you oblige the center of gravity to remain in the narrow band of the person rather than the wide band that is now available. If you have desires standing in the way or simply thoughts running on that interfere, the point is not to go chasing after them, the point is to be centered on your basic position. The more you center, the quieter the thoughts and desires will be. So mastery comes, not from fighting something you don't like, but from living what you have to live. It's quite obvious and quite logical, but unless you do it, you might not believe it. People always work with small things not realizing that they are keeping the center of gravity in the same place -- then they complain that nothing happens.
Another participant: About a year ago you were saying that when we're in this room working there is no point in trying to use the mind to understand what is going on here or to work from a mind position. In response to that I have taken, at least on the mind level, a more passive position in this work here. Before that time I sensed a change in the center of gravity of my being, a very subtle one, nothing dramatic, but in the last year, it seems to me that my center of gravity has been more in the personality. I associate this with my change to a more passive mind position. Have I been working from a less effective position than I was before?
Martin: Referring to what I said about the mind, I'm afraid that what you quote is not correct, or at least not fully understood. Many people have understood it this way and this is usually the way it is understood first.
What we structure that you feel as a subtle change happening little by little is beyond the range of what is called the concrete mind. Being beyond the range of the mind, you cannot work it with the mind. But when you drop the mind, hoping it will work better, you go down into the desire level and this is what you did.
For me it's quite simple: if the mind is not fit for a certain task I don't use it. But for the usual awareness the mind is kind of at the top, directing everything. So, if we say it is not fit, then you have nothing available to work with so you take an emotion for being the thing. No. It's really a simple matter of economy or of logic. If the instrumentality you have (sensory awareness, emotional awareness, mental awareness) is not fit for the task at hand, look for another one. Your feelings are not that subtle, neither is your mind, but through your feelings and your mind you can realize that there is a subtle change that penetrates or permeates the mind, the feelings, possibly even through the sensations -- but it is not triggered by these.
When I say the mind is not useful or that you cannot "reach it" through the mind, it is understood that the mind has no value. I've never said that. The mind has to be as sharp and limber as possible. It has to be completely retrained because there are functions in the mind that are readily available but as yet little understood.
To give you an example: You see the people in the room because light is reflected by every object. As soon as light is no longer reflected you don't see -- as on a very dark night for instance. Now there are senses that go beyond the concrete sight. If we modify the overall vibration in the room, for instance, you could sense it whether you saw it or not. There are faculties in the mind that can work directly that are not dependent on reflected light, they are simply not trained. But the training is not originated from the mind. The training is originated from a state of consciousness that is beyond the mind. Now, in this example, suppose that when the mind sensed a subtle change, you lived at the level of that change instead of identifying with what is not subtle in the body -- from that level, or higher, you could train the mind, adjust it, provide it with everything it needed to realize and face evidences.
When you look at people from the ordinary mind the field does not exist. But, little by little the mind gets used to the idea or the feeling that the field exists and then you see it. It's very simple, you simply get used to it.
There is another point I would like to make: The personality as a whole is a tool. A tool is meant to be used: to express, to bring out, to shape. The mind is part of this tool and it is meant to bring out, to shape. As long as you use the mind in the reverse way you create an awful lot of illusions.
Other questions?
Participant: What is the role of the emotions?
Martin: The way to approach this, I mean if you want to work with it, is to drop the informative stage that requires an answer according to a system and work directly with the sensory, emotional and mental -- without preconceived ideas or systems.
Emotions tell you something, senses tell you something, the mind tells you something. obviously each mode has a use. Why don't you experiment? Then you will have a practical answer that is not burdened by a preconceived system. This is what we need.
When you have something happening with you, it happens, there is no system. Learn to approach any happening simply as such, with no need to adopt a point of view. of course when you speak of it you have to adopt a point of view and then if that one doesn't work you adopt another one, but for the level of experiencing itself you don't need a point of view. The awareness involved is different -- it comes down into the mind later--- because you experience you start thinking.
There is something else: all labels are finite, reality is not. Emotions belong to the U function. The U function is everywhere. It has no limit, none whatever. If you are a bit refined, you will one day realize that the finer emotions, which are no longer emotions, are present within the coarser emotions. They are not above. It happens quite often that people in their attempt to suppress the coarser feelings, suppress the finer ones as well.
If you study occultism (East or West), you must become master of your desires. Now desires equate to your emotional world. It is said that you transform your desires with your mental activity. What is not spoken is that the desire world has no limit whatsoever. What people speak of is only a certain category or classification of desires and they think that their feelings belong to that category and after that the feelings are gone. They are not. There is no limit to feelings.
Another Participant: During the last music session, I experienced very intense emotion -- to the point that I was crying. When that was happening, I thought: "I shouldn't be feeling this way". So I was trying to somehow adjust that, and then it changed anyway. Then, over the last week, I was looking at what I was feeling and what I was trying to do with that ... Now what I am hearing you say tonight is: that was my reality for that point in time and space, whatever else was going on, and that then shows me where I am. Is that what you were saying?
Martin: Yes. I want to even add something. If you get emotionally shaken, why try to hide it? It's a natural condition. You happen to be emotionally shaken -- that's a fact.
There is another point: You are emotionally shaken, the plexus is involved , actually, and then there is the theory that "it shouldn't be" -- this is mighty wrong. When you are emotionally shaken, I mean deeply, not superficially, most of the time it is a soul action -- there is a soul presence that is much bigger than usual. Possibly within that shaking you felt somewhat taller, less contained, or to use another symbol, you felt more depth.
Participant: I don't remember.
Martin: Anyway, to answer your question: accept the fact that you are shaken -- no matter what it is. This is what has happened, and ,moreover , let it happen. An inner event can shake your properly, even if your mind doesn't follow.
Participant: When my mind first said: "I shouldn't be experiencing this", I thought that this would be a good chance to practice the death exercise. I tried it and it didn't work; nothing changed the experience. I just wanted to ask if I should try to practice something like that in this kind of situation or whether ...
Martin: When you spoke of your shaking, it was pretty deep, and then you attempted to impose a superficial movement on it. How do you expect a superficial movement to equate or neutralize a deep movement? it doesn't work. If you were trained in dying and the dying were as deep as the shaking, then something might have happened. The shaking would have been clarified and you would have experienced the shaking on the level from which it is generated -- generally speaking, soul level.
Another Participant: During the last music session, I had and experience of physical pain in which I felt the need to continue to adjust so that pain wouldn't continue to play in me. I found a way of adjusting so that it would be relieved, but, if I forgot to be attentive to that, the pain immediately came back, so I had to go back and forth. I didn't really resolve anything out of it other than to try to hold a position that would facilitate whatever was going on, and then somehow lapsing into a position that somehow felt as if it was resisting. But if I go according to what you said to the last participant, then I wonder if I should perhaps not have been trying to adjust. I would like to clarify that.
Martin: I would like you to go back to the experience itself. The question is not what you "should" do, the question is what you can do -- what are your abilities? In that instance, for instance, there is something that works around you, wanting to come down and for some reason you are not limber enough. Soul-wise, deep heart, you can join that action, and act from there.
The simplest way would be to utterly relax that part of your head, but you might not be able to stop the pain because some adjustments are painful. Most pain comes from a type of tension -- something wanting to flow and there is resistance. The more you consciously interfere, rather than living deep heart, the more you allow the pain to be. When you interfere, there is usually a kind of mental or emotional will to kill the pain, meaning you disregard the function going on in order to suppress the pain.
You are aware of an action of, let us say, a higher order going on -- why don't you act from that level. If there is any awareness of it, it means that it is working. If it is working, it is here. Why don't you join? Not your mind, you. If you don't know, then go deep, deep, deep into heart and from there join.
Again, this is your experience, don't try to classify it in any way. For instance: According to what was going on with the music at that moment, suddenly it triggered a pain in you. This kind of statement needs to be double checked before being accepted. Was the pain actually triggered by a higher action, or was it incidentally accompanying it? Meaning there was another physiological reason for the pain and since it happened at that time you associated it. You don't know which one of the two positions is correct.
Participant: I did check it and it very much felt as though there was a quality of resistance in me that I registered as pain. So it was my intent to somehow to find a way to adjust to what was going on so that there was not the resistance.
Martin: I missed the point of your being conscious of the resistance, which actually can trigger a pain, yes.
If you are mature enough, when there is an obstacle , the rule is that you go through, not around. And I'm going to tell you something that works beautifully if you do it.
In this case: You suddenly realize the resistance and then there is what is going on. You focus on the resistance until the feeling of the resistance is very clear, very evident. The position is nearly as if you would look at it under a magnifying glass. Now you hold it, and you hold it strongly, you don't want that resistance to escape, and as you hold it, you hold it within the field of what is going on, letting the field act -- but you have to hold it, nearly freeze it. It is very effective
Participant: I have a question about the radiating part of the exercise: Each time I work with it I experience that as I begin to radiate heart I feel a tension in the area of the center --it's a tightness. And I remember you said to go ahead and radiate heart regardless of the reaction, so I am wondering if this tension is something that I should take some action in regard to, or if it can be expected to simply take care of itself naturally as I continue to work.
Martin: What about breathing?
Participant: I have worked with that and it works to some extent, but it seems like I have forgotten about breathing in the last few days.
Martin: You spoke about what action to take. Playing with words I would say what "de-action" could you take. Meaning, when you (the mind) decides to radiate heart it's not a true heart radiation; you put a mental restriction on the heart instead of letting it flow. This is why I spoke of breathing. The image of breathing is not an idle image. When you really breathe the radiation is absolutely natural. You don't think about radiating, you happen to radiate.
When you decide to radiate heart (rather than another center), what happens technically is that you simply focus your attention on a range, wavelength, or whatever image of heart that you have, and then you observe what is going on -- there is not the restriction of an order given. It might ease your working to say "simply put your attention on it". You have a heart that is naturally active anyway; if you put your attention on it, you allow
it to be much more free because you don't bother about the other aspects around and it can therefore come out freely. But the usual trap is that the head tells the heart to radiate -- this is a restriction, so you feel a constriction. if there is any constriction it means that something is not in order.
You also have to remember that if you address the heart radiation, you are not addressing psychological problems. It's an entirely other position. If aspects from other positions creep in, simply narrow your attention. Meaning, if you or someone else happens to have a problem and you look at the heart radiation, you don't look at the problem, so, at least for a second, the problem is gone. This is what I mean when I say that when you continue with the radiating aspect of pure heart you forget about the other aspects. This does not mean that they don't exist; it simply means that you put your attention on a given field and not another one. Now, in this field you can be enormously free. And the more you can keep the other aspects out, which actually means the more you can really center in that field, the freer you are and the clearer the characteristics of the radiation and what it can do.
So, as long as you have side-effects, at least as far as concentration is involved, it simply means that you are not yet concentrated enough.
As far as constriction is concerned, one of the easiest ways of overcoming it is just to breathe field-heart, and after the constitution is permeated or completely immersed in the field, then you have the opportunity to have a heart that is clear-- but the whole structure has to be permeated. You might not realize how important this point is. When you breathe in you permeate the whole structure (your whole personality), as well as whatever else there is that you don't have consciousness of. This is very important; this is how the structure is changed. The workings change and the whole handling can then change too; it becomes much richer and you have many more possibilities.
Another thing I want to point out is that "heart" refers to one of the nine centers, and these centers are not physical, meaning, you can work center-wise without your body. This has a practical implication: it means that when you work heart you do not impose a limitation on the action of the heart (for instance your personal awareness). When the heart radiates freely it radiates on lots of levels, not just the personal; this is why I spoke of a heart radiation in the field, which gives a field-heart rather than a point-heart and there is no limit to the field. So when you experience a radiation, always allow the radiation to go beyond any limit you know. We have a tendency to limit heart to physical activity when actually it goes much further than that.
Participant : Does that mean that no matter how sick or tired we are it doesn't effect our ability to work effectively?
Martin: This is a related point that is very important because most of the time if you are too tired or too sick you decide you are in no shape to work. You might be surprised how clear it can be if you work anyway. If you are too tired to interfere in the work then you are freer.
Participant: Lately I've noticed that I feel really a lot of exposure and vulnerability. Is it connected to the exercise we are doing with the heart.
Martin: It's not directly connected, but it might be connected in that if you let the heart radiate, you create an openness and this is an exposure. Any exposure is a kind of vulnerability, they go together. In our society the stress is on being secure, but if you look around you know that this does not exist. So, if you can manage to be exposed and vulnerable and handle the situation with a certain balance, you are much better off, but it takes some courage. To seek refuge in security is a vast illusion.
Participant: Since the Service I have repeatedly had a sense that something changed so that the exercise of radiating and then dying has to be changed, but I haven't been able to adjust it.
Martin: There are several points: For those who can handle their minds: when you experience the need for a readjustment that the mind does not know, you readjust in spite of the mind. This is not a joke it can be done. If you experience that a readjustment is needed, the part that is aware of it can work. It can handle it, it's only up to you to adjust to the situation of being able to do it.
…Action is action. It's a different mode. In this case, for instance, you feel something, and the mind is obliged to acknowledge an experience of a need, but it doesn't know how to handle it, so you act from what is behind the experience. of course you won't succeed in the beginning, because you direct your mind's attention to it instead of doing it. This is a fine point on which you have to work again and again until you come through. You cannot say "today I tried the whole day and it didn't work". You might need a lifetime or two seconds -- it depends. if the mind does not understand, don't use the mind. But you might need to reeducate your mind from the working part.
I have tried to convey in many ways that to lean on the three modes of consciousness (sensory, emotional and mental), and these only, is a very poor policy. You experience all the time that there is actually a lot more than what is acknowledged with these three means. Why not act from the "lot more" directly.
……. Suppose you want to do something and your personality stands in the way; you often get frustrated and so on and you start looking at these things and forget about doing. Actually, your occupation needs to be solely in the doing. The result comes because you do it, not because you learn to handle your personality. It's a oneness of purpose that does not allow itself to be sidetracked. And you continue until it works -- whatever happens. of course you can be frustrated with your personality; you will be frustrated for many lives to come don't worry.
Suppose you decide something doesn't work. What you actually mean is that, for instance, you spent so many weeks working on something (you concentrated in a moving, active way), and then you decide after all those weeks that nothing happened. What do you know? maybe your ability to see what is going on is poor. You cannot have no result after that amount of time, but you can easily have a result that is very different from what your consciousness expects. You have to always be prepared for this. It will always be at least somewhat different or even completely different (and you simply recognize a direction). Be prepared for the completely different, because if it is completely different you change quicker.
You have to learn to accept your imagery as pointing in a certain direction but not as an exact picture. For instance, for the usual/concrete mind you imagine a very concrete result, even if that concreteness is abstract like a heart radiation, but the mind has an image of it so you work for that image to come out. Now let us say that after a while it doesn't come, if you are objective, you will see that something does come out, but it is much more refined than the image you projected. However, there will be a symbolic relation between the image and the result. So we cannot say that the image has no use, but you have to learn to use the image as being only a symbol. And this is true for everything that you do.
If you have an experience of a need in a certain direction, for you or someone else, take what you figure out as only a symbol (a direction in which the action has to go), but let the shape of the action (here called result) be free to take it's own course without the interference of your mind. The mind only makes a proposition of a direction, but the degree of subtlety of the answer must not be fixed. The concrete mind is not equipped to do it.
Actually, you cannot work without a result. It's not possible. But the result will be different from what you expect. If you are free to live with that situation, then little by little you will notice what you do.
For those who have been with us for a long time, you will notice that first there is nothing and then little by little you sense this nothing (which means it already has a little shape) and then little by little it becomes more concrete. As it becomes more concrete, it shapes in a way you never expected.
Once you learn to handle the symbolic relation with the projections of your mind or needs, you will notice there is a relation -- what happens is very different -- but there is a relation.
The same situation exists when you study in books about spirituality: there is a symbolic relation between what is written and what you are going to live -- only symbolic.
When we see that participant getting furious about her own soul., for instance, revolting etc., this is simply a mind image of soul that is not soul. But then, later on, you discover that there is a symbolic relation between that image of soul and actual soul -- so it's not entirely valueless. It is valueless as long as you think that it is actually soul. Instead, accept it as a symbol and you will be much better off -- then you might realize that your tantrum is a symbol too.
Also, to get back to that same participant's other point of feeling a need for a change since the last music session. In this case you were sensitive to something that was working in the session. If you want this to continue, the way you were doing the exercise has to be modified. But what kind of modification? You think you expect a different procedure, but this is not it; actually, what you expect is a different quality.
Let us say, as an example of what can happen in this kind of exercise, that first you live it as a high fantasy: you die happily and everything is fine; then you change, and as you change, suddenly you can put into it much more, let us say you can put some emotional content in it -- really -- from your present-day emotions; then you can put more into it until you can put everything in it and you change -- as long as you are dead you are different, really. When the exercise is real the result is real, meaning the results are linked to the way you do the exercise. This means not how you do it but the amount of your own life you put into it. So, for instance, it's not a difference in procedure that is involved , it is what you can put into it. You sense that you have to put something different into it. In this case, when your mind doesn't know what to do, you put whatever you can put in it that is new. If you change every day, at one point you will notice that a specific quality is involved and then it clicks, then you know.
This is an example of a change coming because of a session or because of any event. You have to be ready to change every time you do it -- not necessarily as far as shape goes. But as far as the content goes, it ought to be different every time. This is where the word exercise is terrible because the word exercise implies always the same content. But life changes every second. Actually the change is constant. So you cannot perform something that is alive twice in the same way.
Participant: I was cautious about changing the procedure because I didn't know what effect that would have.
Martin: You don't need to change the procedure, your understanding of the procedure has to change. If you do the procedure properly, it's so very close to a natural occurrence that it's really usable, but the content has to change, yes. It's also true, speaking of procedure, once you are used to dying, you might not need the transition part of the procedure you simply switch from one condition to the other condition. Meaning, one day you outgrow the need for procedure. Procedure is only a way of making a transition. if you know the other side, you don't need a. procedure, you just switch.
The art of switching is another important training you can undertake. The mind has a tendency to be linear, so you think you have to go through transitions. Now, if you master this linearity you just switch -- no transition . You might need a certain time to adjust your personality, but the switch can be instantaneous. However in the dying exercise we have a transition, not a switch.
Participant: I have a question about the dying exercise. As I move away from the earth condition, I move through a veil-like area, then through an area that's dark ,with stars. I then enter a space where there aren't stars -- it's empty but it feels active. I don't feel a drive to move from there. I could not tell you exactly where I am; I don't recognize it; it doesn't fit as being between galaxies, or way, way out. I don't know if it fits in a kind of no-reference area, in terms of the universe, for me. The question is: Is simply residing in that place or condition for a period of time sufficient. At one time you suggested looking around to see if there is something that attracts the attention, and yet I don't experience anything there ...
Martin : Symbolically speaking, when you come into the space after the stars, you are no longer in that kind of image, meaning the distances don't work any longer. So, you just allow yourself to bloom into that condition. When this happens you have to avoid trying to situate, with the mind or according to any knowledge you have -- physical or occult.
Participant: One of the qualities of that place is a kind of imperative for real quiet -- just to be still.
Martin: Yes, that's fine -- you are dead anyway, meaning the usual functions are calmed. Just live there. If you don't know what to do with it, I would say to just breathe it, because it has to work throughout. And you will notice that you will pretty quickly live yourself in relation to that surrounding -- a yourself that is different, much more free.
Just allow yourself to live it. If any action is taken it will be taken from there, and you have to give a chance to that. So., seen from the outside, allow yourself to be fully within that new climate. And be there according to that. It's not exactly a new personality, but it's a state of being that is related to that.
You do it again and again and again. When you live that you will notice that little by little it will come out -- something will come out from there -- when you are active with your patients or whatever. Then you will notice that it will trigger new understandings, new whatever. Again, this is provided that you don't situate it with your mind, which is a reductionist movement. You have to accept what you live in its fullness -- as is.
When you live at that level, your mind might not understand, this is true, but the "you" of that level is perfectly at ease. The way you live is not the same as with the usual personality -- all awareness is much more encompassing. You have a simultaneity of function that is tremendous and is evident at one glance. You don't have the sequential factor in it.
This might give a hint to some of you of the use of the exercise. If you do the exercise and nothing like this happens, then please do it really.
You have to realize that in the work that we do another aspect of yourself is called forth, and the example the last participant just gave is a pretty good one. It's natural, it's spontaneous, and little by little you will adjust to the new situation. We deal with that situation all the time. What you see as field radiation that clarifies with the music is linked to things like that.
The main trouble is the habit of always dealing with the same insufficient tools. We speak of field-heart, for instance, and the mind sees the physical body and the center limited to that place in the physical body and an effect of only that. The symbol heart is much, much bigger than that it's bigger than mankind.
Martin: (to a participant) Will you take that rose and place it there in front of Georgette so that everyone can see it.
I placed the rose there because it was kind of convenient, but you will notice that Georgette doesn't do a thing -- the rose does.
Now, if you look around the room, you will notice that the heart activity is evident within everyone. And if you feel your heart center radiating, you will notice that it is within the field that you see around the rose --your own heart expression is an expression of that rose. You may also notice that the heart radiation of the rose does not contain anything that is related to the human personality -- but still we can speak of a heart.
Also you will notice that when your heart blooms like the rose, you don't need any dictate from the mind or any other part of your consciousness -- you just bloom.
As far as field is concerned, you can see that the field of the rose is of another dimension, another order.
You might tune into the being aspect, and then you will notice that you as a being respond very differently from how you usually do. Look around in the group you can see this.
Now you, as a being (the fullness of you), might want to face the rose in its fullness. The rose stands for something very definite. Most of you are aware that when you face that rose as a being you come out in a way that is different than usual -- more encompassing. And you might wonder why you see yourself so small at other times.
Dorothy will you bring it back please.
(Dorothy returns the rose to its original position.)
Did you notice something? Did you see her change? (Many hands are raised.)
Do you see how insufficient/inadequate the usual consciousness is, and how easily you can outgrow that and live differently. You simply face something else and then you are something else. It's real and it's available now.
The rose (as symbols go) stands for something very specific which is at the base of what we do. I won't tell what, you have to babble first, but you can notice that it has an effect, meaning it is real. The only reason why you are usually not aware of it is the habit of using the limited consciousness instead of the fullness of you.
We faced that rose and you noticed that it is alive and different from all others, because in that instance it became the real symbol. So there is a direct link, the symbol is true. When the symbol is true there is an effect. The effect is that you cannot feel being that small personality you usually are. Except for the one or two who didn't actually connect, you just experienced it, it is available now.
When people say these elements are available elsewhere on earth also, this is not the point; the point is that you live this now. What does it matter how you classify it?
Suddenly you face a greater reality. Now if I come back to that participant who described the situation with death. When you face a greater reality, death is real. The word "death" is a symbol, the exercise is a symbol of something very real. Now you might realize that there is a dimension to that exercise you never thought of.
Did you notice that the rose was standing by itself and didn't need the help of Georgette or myself. Who could notice that? In case you wonder, this is a small example of what I call "we". When I say "well it's not a figure of speech.
Questions or comments?
Participant: Why wouldn't it have worked with one of the other roses? Why hadn't it worked previous to bringing it out?
Martin: What you sense is that we are involved in some way, even though the rose is kind of independent. I agree with that, we are involved -- this belongs to the "we", we cannot separate. But there was an opportunity to show something, so "we told the rose" to do it and then you had the movement. One of our duties is to provide the field in which experiences are possible. We are very directly involved in this way. But it's not just providing the field, it also has to be sensed by you.
Participant: Did anything happen in the field before you spoke about the rose? I had quite a strong feeling, I don't know what, but it impressed me, and then you started to speak of the rose...
Martin: This is what Daniel chronically used to sense: something going on before we do something -- It's because I check first to see if it will work or not.
In this instance, if you follow what you sensed, I had the idea a half hour before doing it. It was when we spoke of heart. At that moment, I realized that I had to show you that there is more to heart than the usual understanding. We spoke further and then we had the demonstration.
Participant: Is that like a sounding?
Martin: Yes, this is what I call a sounding. And the sounding implies everything that is involved: the average capacity of response and also whether the symbol can be alive. Depending on the frame of mind, we will be able to do it or not. This is where I speak of the dynamics of the moment. Another day it might not be possible -- even with the same people -- unless we put something in motion progressively.
I Will take this opportunity to speak, also, of the type of discipline you have to adjust yourself to. As you notice, this happened and it worked. It's very different from speaking about spirituality or speaking of possibilities that exist on earth, here or elsewhere. It's very different. We are involved in evidences in the here and now -- not theoretical possibilities. In your endeavor to reach a higher condition you deal with theoretical possibilities, and what I try to convey is the other position. It's much more pragmatic.
When you see that rose really active by itself, you face an evidence -- not a theory or a dream. This is what we want you to realize when you work with yourself. We deal with evidences in the here and now -- not projections of something that may be. When you work, you work right on the spot now. You do what has to be done, you don't look for results contrary to the usual mind. Of course we would like results and so on, but that's not the point. The point is to work.
When you face a rose like this one, you change, because obviously you are in the presence of a higher order. When you face a higher order you have to be present in that higher order, as such. Obviously. There is no room for thinking-about-what-you-can-do-in-order-to-be-present-in-that-higher-order.
Direct life is simply direct and does not have the convolutions of the usual fantasies. We put the rose there and it is alive. We don't make a ceremony of bringing it to life, nor do we call some spirit to come down into the rose (as people used to do in the past). It's direct life, evidenced immediately.
Is it clear by now that when we speak of heart there is much more than the usual image of heart? You experienced heart of another order and changed drastically. I say this so that you realize and discipline your mind to accept that any understanding you have of a proposition must be outgrown constantly. Every time you come up with a definition, you have to challenge it. It may look like this or that at the moment, but it's never the final "it". There is no final "it". There isn't even an "it".