quotes
To know the difference between a Work Aim and a life aim is a big thing. But how can you know the difference until you have ‘worked them’ both? You know, you’ve worked life, we work life, we know what it does and doesn’t do. So, in order to know the alternative, you have to ‘work the Work’. Work Ideas are totally new, you have to think about them, ponder what they mean, make intelligent effort, even to make some mistakes, in order to see whether or how the Work works! Then you will know the difference and be in a position to make the decision - are you, or are you not, going to work?
for instance, the symbol of the Cross. The Horizontal line of Time, and the Vertical line of Eternity. That symbol brings up the vital issue of 'scale'. To have a real sense of scale, you have to have had a large variety of experiences while noting the differences in thinking, feeling, motivations and activities, at different levels. Experiences of lows and highs and the various in-betweens. More than just a vague sense of 'I feel good', 'I feel bad'. Between feeling 'fantastically good' and 'terribly bad' there's a whole range. Generally speaking, when you say 'I feel good', it hardly means more than 'I don't feel quite as bad as I felt a few minutes ago.' That's not good enough. Every variation in level has a specific vibration to it. Every level is as a 'musical note' on a scale. Take emotional and physical readings, and check what kinds of thoughts or sensations are going on at that moment. Take another reading later from a lower or higher place, and check what is circulating then. Note the differences!
That’s really the issue - energy! If you are going to observe yourself, study yourself, you need energy! You ’manufacture’ energy when you’re asleep at night but it mostly gets dissipated in useless things.
Expectations from others is a big part of it. If you really see the ridiculousness in that then you at least stop leaking there.
There is a shock when someone doesn’t conform to your expectation. But you need not react to it. It can hurt, but you don’t have to leak! There you have a ’gift of energy’ - that you can use to remember, and observe your functions.
”Where did mankind go wrong?” I’ll tell you where he went wrong. He went wrong when he started wanting what he didn’t have and as a result never used his attention to learn what he did have! Man wants but has no conception of what he already has. The Work: ’You have everything you need!’ It doesn’t say ’almost everything’, it says, ’everything’! And in serious circles, people use words with precision. That’s where ’second education’ comes in. ’Work’ is referred to as ’second education’. First education is within the society you found yourself. It’s necessary, you have to survive within it. Eventually the personality formed within it can become food for the essence. Not only is it necessary to form but the more elaborated the better.
Attention is the issue. Man lost his attention. His attention got stolen by a little apple on the tree of knowledge, so called. Tempted by the devil. What’s the devil? Tempted by a piece of the Whole.
Revived and repossessed energy allows controlled and directed ATTENTION. From 'heaven' (peace) you, as 'god' (transcendent), are able to study/understand all the manifestations of the lower worlds.
'WITNESSING', this has sometimes been called.
Without a clear WHY there is NO Power, no enthusiasm, no 'get up and go', no optimism possible. NO CLARITY !
Now, what about the Whole? How do we come to terms with IT? The Whole is an integrated Whole and mankind is an integral part of it. There is a natural place and function for man within the Whole, as there is for every other piece.
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The gap between people and their rightful place in the Whole Universe/God is maintained by distortions caused by lies. How to uncover the essential truths, and thus regain a connection with one’s rightful place, is without a doubt the magnificent challenge for the serious and intelligent person. Schools exist dedicated to this ultimate aim.
It’s not so much that people have the tendency to do what is either foolish or useless, but that they miss the chance to do what would have REAL VALUE to themselves, the world, even the Creator/Creation ITSELF.
Now, what might that be?
True connections ! CONNECTIONS within the UNITY. Man, with the capacity to ’know himself’, and his PLACE.
Until understanding has reached a certain level, we're like frightened little children, in a dark forest, with all kinds of things jumping out at us, or tempting us, poisonous berries even. The more you understand the more you can know what to do on the basis of who you are and what's going on around you.
Within the When, Where and with Whom, learning takes place, where understanding can grow. That's as far from the abstract as you can get! People tend to talk much about the 'now'. NOW has time, place and company. It’s a Dynamic Now.
Real 'Doing' and 'Knowing' are inseparable and as such form a single function. KNOWLEDGE, meeting with a corresponding LEVEL OF BEING, constitutes a UNITARY PROCESS - the real meaning of the word UNDERSTANDING.
What else is there other than this manipulated world of man-made-time? The Hope lies in the Truth that is uncovered when the lies and distortions are seen/dissolved/dis-integrated.
Truthfulness in word, thought and deed would clear up the whole personal mess that keeps us in hell rather than heaven. The way is strengthening though painful. The payment is sacrificing false pride and vanity. There's a lot more to it and a lot more fun. As the Chinese proverb goes: 'The longest journey starts under your own feet.'
Don’t resent the ’not knowing’, the ’eeh’ in it, the pain! If you are going to move from where you are, you will have to be able to live truthfully in the ’I don’t know’, and with the changing feelings and thoughts.
Trying to understanding the truth of matters. What ’Is’! Whatever it means to ’understand’, there’s nothing higher, nothing more human, nothing more intelligent. To know the ’Is’. That requires a certain sense of trust, of love, of remembering one’s deepest wish. The bottom line is integrity. Integrity - something integrated! Something aiming to be singularly clear!
If you have affection for the Truth, even when it’s not ’complementary’, then you can have real relationships with others who share that passion.
Who is there to help who? At the level that we’re aiming for, there is a Unity - so, in fact, the only one you can help, is yourself. YourSelf is a lot larger than you imagine - it’s everything! What a preposterous statement, eh?
Talk the truth, within the limits of your own truthful experience. Forget about the words 'religion' and 'god'.
“Truth says - love me or leave me!”
It’s not enough to want the truth! If you just want the truth and you come across a truth that is not complementary, you ‘don’t want it anymore’! It’s not enough to want the truth - you’ve got to love the truth. That indicates a person who has a taste for the ‘is’ of things.
If you don’t love the Truth then you’re in the wrong business!
The Work is not just a lot more words thrown at this ’generalized issue’ called the ’spiritual’. It has very specific intentions and is very ’tight’ in covering the dangers and known pit-falls. It’s deceptively simple - because it’s talking Truth. One of the signs of hearing the Truth, is that when you hear it you have the feeling that you always knew it! That’s a good thing to recognize - but it’s also a good thing to watch that you don’t go to sleep in! The Truth is very simple - but staying with it is not simple! We’ve been conditioned in a totally other direction.
All wants are for after, next, in the future. Tomorrow, two minutes from now, ten years hence, it's all the same. Only with what is present NOW is it possible to be in touch with and to understand. 'After' is little more than a guess, at best.
People LIVE in their picture of the future and what it might bring.
They WANT the 'best' - and this keeps the whole stupid thing going 'till the end of time'.
Time, it has been said, is 'The Unique Subjective'. Unique, in that it exists only and exclusively in the mind of the one who conceives it and Subjective, as it is wholly made-up of pictures and notions selected from a vast range of possible impressions.
Time - that vague and cloudy sense of reality as it moves through past, present and projected future is, in fact, partial and selective and shifting memory projecting fearful or hopeful imagined possibilities.