CALISTHENICS MARCH 1983
JOY –SOUL, SPIRIT –MANAS – ATMAN – SENSE OF IDENTITY –TEN HIERARCHIES – SERVICE OF THE CHRIST – MAKE A CHOICE –SPEAK WHAT IS LIVED --- HELP IN THE GROUP –THE FINER CONDITION
…Now I want to come to the topic of today: joy.
…So I have a proposition: We are going to apply some psychodynamics, which is a nice scientific name for simple practice.
Each morning, in your bed, as soon as you are sufficiently conscious, as you are in the process of awakening, Ê live /feel the coming of spring.
Now I've put several things together: joy and the surge of spring. The image of spring in countries that have snow is a lot clearer than here in California, but still you have the roses blooming again, flowers coming up that weren't there before, and so on. You might see in the desert, for instance, you have things popping out little by little and soon you have flowers -- this I call the surging from beneath (beneath is what you are not conscious of).
Okay, so you awaken and then: joy. You feel that surging of joy in every cell of your body. Now, don't make the usual mistake of thinking of joy and feeling joy in the room all around. No the surge of joy is within the cells of your body. It's very important. Joy is not limited to a concept in your head, your whole body participates, or, if you want, all the bodies.
So you do this systematically.
Then, I propose that you face each day as a new day of creation -- symbolically m a blank page in a book. You have to feel it, it is not the extension of yesterday.
Now be careful with your minds. The mind will say: "Well, today is obviously not yesterday". But the same mind will assess today as an extension of yesterday.Be concrete with yourself, this is what the mind does. I propose that you actually face the day as a new creation. Bury the old one. You sleep, you are out of the circuit for a while, and then you come back -- it's a new incarnation. Live it as closely as possible to that.
So you awaken to that new day, you feel that surge of joy, and you live it throughout the entire day.
Now, as you know, joy is not a thing, it is a quality of life in which you can do whatever you do during a day: something, in the groups, your professional life, whatever you do at home.
If you leave here and get stuck in the water, well, you don't have the opportunity to get stuck in water every day in this country , it's a very unique occasion, so enjoy it.
I hope you follow what I am trying to say: Create the day in an atmosphere of joy, so that the whole day, the whole creation is bathed in joy, whatever happens.
When you let the surge of joy come, it's not an exercise. You do not create joy, it exists anyway. You simply allow it to surge because it's spring time and a new day of creation.
The last thing before you go to sleep, rejoice for the joy that will come into the next new day. It's a new joy too -- it's not the one of today.
This has to be practiced steadily, not just for 21 days, all the time.
There is also another point: Joy is one of the greatest healers available. Really. In any situation. It is only your mind that says if you have had a great loss you cannot be in joy. It's not true You are surrounded by joy anyway. Go a little higher than your personality and you will be in that joy instantly -- whatever happens to the person. The proposal is to let it come into the personal life and not surrounding it at a distance, let us say, in the field. If you are in some kind of hardship, this is the time to apply it.
Symbolically speaking, when we have had bad weather people wait for the sunshine. But if you are in a difficult condition and there is that proposition to live joy but you resist, this would equate to refusing the sunshine because it's not proper to weather like this. You see, as soon as we transpose to something outside of ,yourself , the image is perfectly clear.
And remember, the surging comes from below, you do not draw it up. You do not tell yourself: "Now, surge with joy". This won't work. But you can put yourself in relation with joy and enjoy the surge. It's actually quite easy. The main problem is conceptual interference.
…. I'm saying that joy is the greatest healer. This means that in whatever happens to you as a person ,, if joy is available, you will go through it a lot more easily than without joy. It applies to sickness, it applies to events. It applies to the whole training we have here.
There is another rule you have to observe. When you live that joy in the day, be sure it's the highest quality you can live with -- just any joy is not fit for the whole day. You can have joy in eating breakfast, taking a shower, whatever you do, but what we are looking for is a more encompassing quality, rather than a joy that is specific only to one aspect of the day.
A higher quality of joy implies a different identity. You want joy that is alive, that implies an identity that is alive. Some people call it soul, spirit, manas, Atman.
For practical purposes, live joy for an instant. Feel joy surging in you, and at the same time feel your sense of identity that is linked with what you live. we are going to play a piece of flute music. Live joy together, just joy. Don't try to assess anything, we'll do it when it's over.
( music )
So, look around. You realize that your sense of identity is different from what it was. It has another quality, it is definitely not limited. The kind of joy is different as well. It's a lot more transparent from what you know with your mind. Always live with the purest joy you can. And when you practice, put some beauty into the day also -- every time you have the opportunity.
Now, I want to come back to some basics that have to do with your sense of identity, among other things.
You have to make a choice and a big-one. The choice involves whether you go along with Darwin and decide that man is a rather improved ape, or, if you are a bit more serious you realize that man was created in the image and and likeness of God. And I'm not saying that one is better than the other, I am saying that it is your decision and your action whether you are the man created by God or the man created by nature.
What is happening on earth today is the beginning of this kind of split. And the choice has to be made. This is the beginning of the choice. There will come a time when the choice is over, but definitely not in this century. But as far as our work is concerned, and as far as you are concerned in this work, the time is now.
In occult history, the man created by God is the tenth hierarchy. This is the same hierarchy that you hear about in the church -- from the angels to the seraphim -- and all nine have worked on man. The very substance of these hierarchies composes man. The very life of these hierarchies is in the life of man. Nine are here. The tenth and last is the one in-.which man has learned to use a different instrument, what you know in a very primitive way to be your person. The gap or amnesia thatprevents you from ]joining the nine-tenths already existing is bridged by what is called the Christ Impulse, or the action of the Christ, if you prefer.
When this happens, the nine-tenths begin to integrate the personality into the play. Then we have ten tenths, as one. You cannot realize this by staying in the ten tenth and aspiring to the nine others -- interpreting the nine others in terms of the tenth. It doesn't make sense.
Your ego-image belongs to the tenth aspect, only to that and no more. So obviously if you awaken to the reality of the ten tenths, it means that your ego is gone, completely. Also, obviously, if you stay with the last tenth and really believe that you are that, you cannot integrate with the other nine tenths. You have to let go of something. The first aspect you have to let go of is your sense of identity.
We are in the--service of the Christ. We live Christ as completely as we breathe air. For us Christ is a reality. The other day I had a visit from Becky. She told me two things: First, that everything depends on the basic relationship with the Christ, with God. We have said this many times, but it is the first time that someone comes to us and speaks this way, usually when someone comes to us it is because of a personal problem. So, we have a first -- Christ in the first place instead of the last.
Then she spoke about a concern: seeing people work, and work hard, but with the wrong instrument -- meaning that the instrumentality that is used is not fit and thus does not . produce the results that you expect. When I hear this I assume that there are changes on the way.
I told you in January that I predicted some serious problems, crisis of identity -- and here we are. The image you have of yourself is no longer convenient. If you hold onto it you will run into trouble. As you live right now, for instance, there is more to you than the usual self. It is time to make a choice and decide whether you are that whole being with ten-tenths or just one-tenth, the nature aspect.
Do you realize that when you activate that person and suddenly feel that soul joy coming on because you have succeeded, that the you is no longer the same. It's not the possessive you, it's the one that finally managed to handle the person. Your brain is an instrument, use it. The mental awareness in mankind of today is awfully poor ' but even in its current condition it can be very useful, provided you use it, instead of being used by it. And the use of it has to be practiced, starting with very simple practice.
If you observe groups working together you will see an impulse to finally work, really, as seriously as possible. So you try one thing and then another thing, then you have feedback and opinions coming up and suddenly everything turns sour. Wrong instrument.
I wonder if you realize what it means to assume one's self. We do it for you all the time. When something is sounded it shows all over the place, and not only in the people, but in the whole room. We tell you we see you differently. Do you act on it. Do you show the fullness of yourself instead of just a person aspiring toward something. I've told you many times that the mind is reflexive. Aspiring toward the higher self means the higher self is coming down, trying to bridge the gap to heal the amnesia. Why not go along with the real movement. No, you persist in the old movement and you believe that the mind is bright. It's not even logical with itself. Your instrumentality is still in its infancy. It has gone half of the way, but the other half is still to be done on this earth. You have to learn to use it --you the spirit using the person. The person does not aspire to become the spirit.
I've told you the history of mankind, that in order to develop that personality a bit more quickly, a bit more thoroughly, the personality had to be separated from its base. This is why you don't know what you really are in the incarnated condition. But now is the time when we have to bridge that gap. And you have to be aware that there is a pattern established over thousands of years that has a vague memory of the other side, a longing for the other side. Now if you want to bridge the gap, do it from the other side.
You are whole, ten-tenths, not nine. Very obviously, if you join the pieces together, what is called identity governs the whole, so it does not appear as it does from the separated part. You don't need to be intelligent to realize this, but you do need to do something about it. It's amazing to see how people can tune mentally to a situation, understand it and then not apply it.
There is one aspect that the mind is not familiar with and that is that when you have a separation , as you have now with your personality, that separation is artificial and not real. This means that you have two aspects working simultaneously -- the separation and the whole--so you were given what is called the ego to deal with the separation. In the meantime the real you is still managing the whole, the ten-tenths. The mind has a hard time realizing this. Study, read, do whatever your mind can do, and you will always come to the point that the ego is artificial and someday has to go. I have seen people who have studied a lot and who realize that the ego is artificial and will have to go, and they still use that same ego as a base. It's not even logical. The ego base is good for those who have no awareness of something else, but if you want to really work, try to be consistent with yourself. Make a choice once and for all and be serious about it.
We just lived together with the music and you changed; you cannot change if that change is not already working in you . You cannot perceive if what is perceived is not working in you.
I'll give you an example of something that happens pretty often. You work in a group and have an impression that something is missing -- this means that there is an awareness in you that covers the field of what is missing, otherwise you could not see that it was missing. You can see things not working because it's a projection of yourself. You can see it not working when it actually is working. But you can also see something in advance, something missing in the action, like when Becky said: wrong instrument. It was true, but please be a little sophisticated --by instrument I do not mean one item, but rather a combination. But then there is responsibility, and this is where you step in. If in an action you see that an element is missing, it is your duty to bring it out because it's working in you. The others haven't seen it but you have. You may not be able to bring it out instantly but it definitely does mean that you have concern in the situation. It's your concern, so you must work until it comes out even if it takes years to do it.
In the same direction we often see dedicated people working hard with very little result. Again here we have a situation that is simple common sense. If you work one year steadily in a certain way, and, if at the end of that year you have no result, then something is definitely wrong. To simplify: wrong instrument .. The combination of factors you have put together is no good.
I'll give you an oversimplified example: You want soul to be active, so you think about soul every day. You never give soul a chance to bloom, or to surge and fill the person in every cell with the life of the soul. What comes from soul, comes from soul -- soul is not mind. All the teachings tell you to be quiet -- no wavelets on the pond. It's an oriental image, but it still applies.
…No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that joy is the greatest healer. This means that in whatever happens to you as a person ,, if joy is available, you will go through it a lot more easily than without joy. It applies to sickness, it applies to events. It applies to the whole training we have here.
There is another rule you have to observe. When you live that joy in the day, be sure it's the highest quality you can live with -- just any joy is not fit for the whole day. You can have joy in eating breakfast, taking a shower, whatever you do, but what we are looking for is a more encompassing quality, rather than a joy that is specific only to one aspect of the day.
…..A moment ago, I spoke of the Christ, and the tangibility of the Christ. Now I would like to show you something. First ,of all, if you choose to be the man created in the image and likeness of God, then whatever you do you must tune into the Christ in the first place, not the last. Now I'd like to ask you to tune into Christ right now please --in your own way -- until you feel presence in you, and possibly in the others.
(Everyone tunes to the Christ)
Now assess in your feeling the degree of presence within and around, in the room, whatever. Now look for Christ presence with Georgette. Do you realize how much more evident it is. Again we see the difference between the symbolic figuring in you and reality. I'd like you to notice the difference between what you can bring out and what you see there, so that you can make it more concrete for yourself. Incidentally, I've already told you tonight, and I'm going to tell you again, we show you everything.
Now we have a chronic problem. As you know language is symbolic -- a symbol for what you want to convey. Basically when you are going to speak you live it in you, and then you convey it through words that are symbolic of what you live. The trouble is that you listen to the words and you forget what is lived. You hear with your processing machine and you process them. Now the purpose of the word is to make a symbolic connection between two aspects of livance (you and me, you and you, whatever combination you make). But when you speak you convey a livance not a word. A word is only a symbolic carrier. And you have to get used to living what you say and living what you hear -- and not be stuck with the words. We live what we speak of all the time, as we speak. If you stick with the words you don't get it.
When you speak on the phone, the conveyer is electricity, but you don't bother about the fact that the conveyer is electricity when you listen to someone speak to you. Symbolically speaking the words are that electricity, but in this case you bother about the words instead of what is lived. Educate yourself to live what you say and to live what you hear -- as it is said.
There is one other thing that I want to mention to help you go faster along the way. When you are in the groups working together, as I already said, you might be tempted to make comments or even to leave because you are so fed up with what is going on.
I remind you, you are here to build something, and when you work together, you work so that you can have skills in order to do it,-- so mutual help is absolutely needed. And what we see all the time is disagreement or people hearing the words spoken in the wrong way -- someone says something with one kind of meaning, but it is heard with another kind of meaning. This you see all the time. When this happens, try to help. Ask what the person actually means, or ask them to repeat it, but don't reject it immediately.
Very often I observe comments being made that are apparently beside the point, but that have a base of truth, something really useful, but the person speaking was not able to bring it through its personality. When this happens, dig deeper, until the person finds a way to convey it, or someone else senses what is trying to be said and can say it in better words. Don't ever underestimate what is being said, even when it seems completely wrong. What is involved is not the words. Have some respect for each other and try to help. Most of you try to do this anyway, but once in a while you get caught in a verbal exchange which leads nowhere because you still believe in words.
And, as I said, if you sense something missing it is because you are equipped to sense it that means the missing part is working in you -- so work to bring it forth.
I have another comment to make about something that happened to some of you in the groups, i.e., being, for instance, at a Service and suddenly registering nothing -- nothing going on, just people sitting there and that's all. This is a very useful experience because it shows you that if you suppress the finer part in yourself, you suddenly realize that we work here on a level for which the usual consciousness is not fit.
If this happens,you might (or might not) lose the sense of values. I say this because some of the participants in the groups have taken drugs in the past. it's long ago, but some might still be in the system and if it gets loose for any reason, one of the effects of the drug is to diminish or suppress the sense of values. So you have that experience, which is a clear one in itself, with the uneasy feeling that nothing goes -- that means that the whole thing is completely useless, you cannot, at will, reinstate the finer condition.
Incidentally, I have to also say that in initiation that condition is described in a different way. The one who trains the initiate cuts the person completely from the so-called divine side, and you have only the nature instrumentality, the nature side. When this happens all the higher aspects are gone, completely. This is done to show what that instrumentality is in itself and how limited it is.
So, if you undergo that kind of experience, the experience in itself is very rich in so far as it shows that the tools alone do not help you in any way in what is done.
You have a gross approximation of this same situation if you go out in society and speak of what you live here -- they will laugh at you. It's the same situation. For them it does not exist. Of course, this is less and less true, but you still find many people for whom what we do does not exist. So if it happens to you, register the lesson, but be careful not to lose the sense of values. As soon as it is clear, reinstate the finer aspect, otherwise you would be just an object in life nothing more -- and life would not be worth living.
The real action is not what the person does. Jesus expressed it when he said: "It's not me but the Father in me". In symbolic language the Father is many aspects. With Jesus we understand it is God. At a lesser level it's your real self as opposed to the ego-image. This means that when the real self is at work something happens, when it's not at work, the person alone cannot do anything. This is especially true in healing.
Jesus said also: "The Father and me are one". It's a bit early for you for this, but please realize that the aspect "Father in me" is perfectly real. And I have to make one point in this respect: When we do serious work, and we want to show that the person alone cannot do what is done, we cut off the Father aspect. it might sound weird to you, but Dee can tell you about that because I did it to her -- just to show that the doing of the person is not sufficient.
The aspect "Father in me" is, as I said, perfectly real -- provided you understand the symbol. This would help you to look for something deeper than your self awareness. And it has one advantage psychologically: it's something you do not possess. You cannot possess the Father. He has the authority, you don't.
I come back to the choice to be made. Will you persist in being the person alone or will you begin to realize that when we say we see you differently it's really true and live accordingly. You know this, now it's time to bring it out.