MAY 1988 — M&G: THINGS THAT HAVE TO BE TRAINED -- CHANGING SPACES
We have a change of tunction and there are certain things that have to be trained:
1. Remember : exercising in-order-to is just an illusion. The only reason to practice is to make the persona supple so that what is already here can come out,
2. What you perceive “out there” is always according to what is working in you. Realize the power of interpretation.
3. A vision (or a concept) is not it, it is only an anchoring device. There are always many things going on, awareness, feelings, sensations, but in the end (and always) what you believe to be “it” is not it.
4. Train the self-conscious part of the consciousness : Consciousness observes what is happening and it also observes something “other” which it does not control. Register both. Don’t look for the how, stay with the quality of life. Don’t bother with the items. When you stay with otherness, little by little the Other will tend to transappear (meaning the consciousness will become more transparent to the life, or, in other words, it will become more familiar with the type of action and the type of space, instead of the thingness). Attend to the quality of life and the space in which it is. Then, when you live the quality of life and the space, realize there is always a movement. Tune to the movement. Tune to the reality of life instead of the features. Dwell in the life without references.
5. Direct action : When all is one and you move, the highest, most elusive quality of life is the most important part of the practical level, because this is what is going to give life and space to what you do. This has to be here in the first place, it is not a decision of the mind.
6. If vou have a mission on earth, take it very seriously, and be fully aware of the space and quality of life that have to be manifested. This comes first. It can happen that your reason to be on earth is so important that your survival is involved, in which case vour survival will be taken care of from that base. But it is not up to your mind to decide -- your reason to be on earth follows other rules.
7. Spinning in the head: Don’t fight against it, Learn to dwell with those elusive qualities. The ability to dwell will grow with practice. The spinning will stop because you focus differently.
8. Relaxation. When you relax, the umbrella of sensitiveness is bigger. Under tension there are parts that are more opaque. When you try to sense a quality of life, for instance, you are under tension. If then at some point you break through, suddenly there is instant relaxation. When you are tense, you are reaching. When you face the actual situation, you are no longer reaching, so the tension of reaching is gone.
9. The need to do has to go. For the consciousness, to act without doing is impossible -- beyond consciousness, it is the rule. The action comes from the nowness. There is no “how”. “How” belongs to the conceptualization process. Start with moving. When you really start moving, other is present right from the start.
10. What usually shows is just the tip of the iceberg. The one-third that is visible is the ego (the tip) and all the rest is the actor. The ego is a reflection of the actor. When the actor becomes operative, there is less and less need for the ego reflection. Eventually, the spirit/nature dichotomy no longer exist.
11. You fool yourself when you try to deal with the subconscious from the conscious level. You need a lot of spirit strength to deal with subconscious patterns. Take a stand. Make a commitment to go with what is here (and is coming) -- this will eliminate the back and forth. You need to be fed up, then you will refuse to continue to play the same old game and take the step.
12. Remember, your human “situation” was already here on the earth and you entered it. In this position there is no posessiveness -- it’s a complete turning around. The personal situation is from/of the earth and you are learning to handle it. From this position, it becomes very interesting.
13. You always have the choice of living directly or processing what is happening. Processing is derived from living, living is not derived from processing. We tend to see strings of items or symbols and we forget to live the whole.
14. Exercise with Music.
Changing Space :
You could think: There is sooooo much to learn -- but when vou change space, you might find that you don’t have anything to learn at all. There is a knowledge that is not acquired, right within the situation itself. You act in the now as it is. In a greater space the smaller space is included. There is no separation, but your ability to live the nuances of life are expanded considerably (however, there is no attachment),
When you work within the larger space, you are not alone.