Extremes Harbor Topological Resemblances, and
the Placebo Effect
Video = None
Audio
AKS/News Items = none
Summary = See Below
Excursion / Task = See Below
Diagrams = None
Transcript = See Below
Summary
Jan Cox Talk 137, Dec 13, 1984, run time 2:28
Notes by TK
Mechanical behavior is behavior. Extraordinary behavior requires no question of: “was that mechanical or not?”
Good news. How might This Thing be presented today? Religious prophet vehicle is no longer valid, or workable. UFO parallel: the majority of ordinarily educated believe in extraterrestrial life, but discount stories of individual men’s claims to have actually met ETs. In same way, religious prophet from external god would be discounted. There must be a kind of mystery involved. Would it be possible for This Thing to expand publicly in a way that could possibly disrupt Life’s scheme of expansion?
Extremes harbor topological resemblances which are in conflict with the working of the Yellow Circuit. Belies all sense of reason. Everything is packaged in extremes: the ready availability of opposites, of alternatives.
Seeming emphasis of This Thing on intelligence–need to be more intellectual. This reflects the necessity for all energy to be fully processed and monitored by all 3 circuits; i.e., Yellow Circuit processing must be included. Relates to example of underdeveloped areas of the world suffering natural calamities. Neuralize that Yellow Circuit people suffer fewer Blue Circuit and RED Circuit accidents and diseases.
There should be an unending monitoring of your own speech. Guard against mechanical speech. Example of the laconic hero: strong, silent type, given to few words. At line level, all talk is mechanical talk. What purpose does this serve for Life? ][More on the “placebo effect”. An apparent medicine given to “satisfy the patient”. Life entertains the phenomena but also induces a negative connotation to it as “not a real process”. But how can something ‘unreal’ have a real effect? Can see in the classification into “imaginary” of anything which does not fit the ordinary grid transfers, or conflicts with the straight line theory of cause-effect. At line-level everything is the placebo effect: given to satisfy. No real problems exist, and no real cures in Life. Example of men’s skin care products as “more hope than help”. But this is straight line theory. Hope is help.
Ordinary consciousness does not really believe in a singular, all powerful omnipresent god: individual salvation from death-dealing circumstances and consequent praise/thanks to god is a tacit admission of this. Saved from uncontrollable other forces. The overt manifestation-belief is God vs. Satan.
Fanatics possess a kind of attractive assurance. A very limited but deeply coded circuitry. Life allows them, but disapproves of them in the main because of their essential limitation. Life has a need for freedom verging on chaos for the cutting edge of growth. Neuralize the necessity for This Thing to skate the thin line bordering chaos.
Example from Group history to demo that sometimes indirection is the most direct means. Given task of developing a catholic mass–snuffed out in seeming irrational outburst by J. on the night for presentation. All work for nothing. No explanation.
You must see to abandon all grid level fears. There is no fear above line-level. The reality of fear is an electrochemical phenomenon. As long as you feel fear you are at the mechanical. level (psych. localized, personal fears). “Fear” of J. is appropriate–a kind of protection of your own potential.
The seeming loss of motivation for some previously driving Life ambition = gradual loosening of dream energy. This should be replaced by effort to help Life grow, personal expansion, This Thing. Can’t wallow in feeling of apathy.
Loneliness. Can’t be a hermit; must have a personal energy transfer in the Group (everybody needs somebody). Loneliness exists at line-level for the ordinary as a feeling of vital connections to outside world severed or weakened, and is compensated for by resorting to communal, family feeling; the siege mentality–us vs. them. Should not rule out relationships with people outside the Group.
Hostility in Group. No overt expression can be tolerated. If necessary, absolutely avoid any with whom so engaged.
Heroes have traditionally been men of deeds rather than words–does not mean that today the converse holds.
TASK: 55 min in shopping mall for new Group members. Play blind, wear dark glasses, recruit an older member to assist as guide.
Excursion
55 min in shopping mall for new Group members. Play blind, wear dark glasses, recruit an older member to assist as guide.]
EXTREMES HARBOR TOPOLOGICAL RESEMBLANCES
and THE PLACEBO EFFECT
Document: 137, December 13, 1984
Copyright (c) Jan M. Cox, 1984
Tonight I will be using a somewhat shot gun approach, covering a variety of topics — you might also notice that from a 3-D viewpoint, all of Life’s explanations are like firing a shotgun point blank into the face of a hurricane. Occasionally I speak of topics which coincidentally encompass areas you’re exploring on your own. This Thing is based on those kinds of coincidences (the term “coincidences” is as good a verbal description as any). It seems to miraculously work; which is not miraculous at all. I don’t speak from a gigantic outline that the gods gave me. But I don’t simply base my talks on questions that people ask me. A handful of the things I’ve mentioned may appear to be somewhat isolated form the rest of the material. But if it appears to be isolated in you, it’s just your opinion. All of This is connected.
Some of you have posed the question, “What is mechanical behavior and concern for others, as opposed to non-mechanical behavior and concern?” At Line level all behavior is mechanical behavior. The very question itself comes from that level and thus is mechanical. For your behavior to be otherwise, you would have to be operating from an absolutely non-ordinary position. You ask: “I behaved in a certain way and now question if that was absolutely mechanical? Was that just automatic behavior on my part?” There is your answer. If you have the question, you have the answer. At the Line level, all behavior is mechanical behavior.
Life has noted through religions and the would-be mystical theories and ideas, that it’s possible to behave in a non-mechanical manner. If a person followed the religion precisely they wouldn’t automatically operate at a mechanical level. The reality of this idea has permeated mankind since the activation of the Yellow Circuit — since people began to talk. But note that no one has yet been able to follow the religious creeds precisely. If they did, it would be the end of that religion.
Put this in your Neuralizer: How could This activity be presented entirely as good news? Can you glimpse that what I’m presenting is almost too much good news? It’s almost too direct. Up until now, This has always been presented under the guise of a religion or a spiritual endeavor connected to spirits, gods and to forces, which exist outside the ordinary territorial bounds of human existence sending messages periodically through prophets.
What I’m doing is right at the point of the maximum growth of This throughout the world. Life talks through a wide spectrum of other people, but This activity is right at the apex. This is the real avant-garde; and it can no longer be presented in a religious context. We’re surrounded by other religious teachers: but anything contemporaneous to This can no longer be presented as a message from the gods or from some cosmic force outside of the system. That religious context is no longer a profitable or equitable means of transmitting the greater message of This Thing.
What other alternatives could be used to present This? I could use the flying saucer phenomenon incorporating visitations of beings from another part of the universe. Opinion polls suggest that 87% of this country’s population believes that intelligent beings exist on other planets and more than half believe they’ve visited this planet. But only 8% of those people believe the stories that others told of actually seeing these beings. The saucers don’t seem to fly into major universities or prestigious institutions. But note, the flying saucer approach would be a right angle turn while still being an extension of the theory of gods. What would be the possible outcome of using such an approach for This activity? Why has it not been used for such?
I guarantee that somewhere right now there is a little cult run by people who claim they’re in direct contact with somebody from another planet who gave them a secret message. I assure you that that’s going on right now, in this country. Somebody’s saying, “What I have to tell you came from superior creatures in Galaxy X. They’re sending me telepathic messages.” But note it has no great effect on Life’s growth. People are basically ignored or blasphemed by the general population if they say, “I’m from another planet, or am in contact with someone from another planet who’s giving me information about humanity. This information from another planet brings everything in Life into focus. Everything that we’ve heard before almost looks like a two-dimensional cartoon drawing of what’s really going on.”
A type of dramatic mystery is necessary for the transmission of This Thing. In the past the continuity of religion was effective. At the time, the stories of the gods talking to people were just this side of being too drastic, and yet they were an immediate selling point. They established the rules around which the religion revolved. And these stories provided a kind of established mystery and fascination which attracted followers.
In my presentation of This I’ve immediately established that This is no mystery; the gods didn’t send me. That has a very, very limited appeal. You may feel that my approach is more high class, intellectual, reasonable than the other vociferous, rambunctious and emotional presentations. I’m not in flowering robes, nobody’s trying to recruit anybody else, and you don’t swear allegiance to me. This form seems to take on a new high ground. But I’m telling you, this approach has a most limited appeal. While the level of humanity today is far different than it was in the Middle East in biblical times, the mechanical circuitry in mankind has not yet developed to the point where it can comprehend the message of This thing directly. Instead the use of another form of mystery is necessary for the transmission of This.
Let me ask you, would it be possible for someone doing This contemporaneously to go so far as to possibly upset Life’s established plan of expansion? What I’m asking you to ponder is: could Life feed information directly through one person? And would it be possible for that person to present that information publicly and apparently upset things? How could that be possible? Can a person upset their own established patterns and limitations of growth? If direct transmission is possible, can a person do it to himself?
Let’s assume that there are areas in Life that are extreme in their efforts to grow. This growth information would have to spread or it wouldn’t have originated in the first place. Is it possible for the message to be spread too much? If so how is that possible? And if it’s not so, what’s the purpose of This?
Can you see that extremes harbor topological resemblances? Ordinarily the Yellow Circuit cannot perceive resemblances in aspects of Life which appear contrary or extreme. But can you See a kind of topological resemblance between extremes? Take for instance, the methods of the left and right wing political bodies. Their expressed ideologies can apparently be at direct loggerheads; but beyond the appearances of the three dimensions, the parties harbor a kind of topological resemblance that belies all sense of reason. Politically, the right-wing fascist governments support ideas about the purpose of the state and the obligation of its peoples that are in direct conflict with the left wing ideologies. But resemblances exist; and once you see them, the whole spectrum of differences goes to pieces. Simultaneously, you See something. But if the realization of the resemblance of extremes was forced upon an ordinary person, his brain would explode: because then there would truly be no right or wrong, no up or down for them; and the ordinary, mechanical circuitry isn’t prepared to deal with that.
You can look at any area of Life, and no matter how wide-spread or ephemeral, it will house extremes: music, philosophy, the passing fads of taste in literature, the sexual mores of groups of people all have extremes. A resurgence of a philosophy can occur in Life, and whether it’s a debate on sex or the economic distribution of wealth, it will immediately begin to attract extreme attitudes. It will be a hot new item appearing on the cover of the well-known news magazine — in the major newspapers every other day. But after only two weeks of being a hot topic, it will develop extremes. A television talk show will sponsor two well known and socially respected spokesmen: Dr. So and so and Professor So and so. They each have extreme, reasonable, educated views on the subject: one may profess the positive aspects, the other the negative. But once you begin to See it, the two extremes resemble each other; and the more extreme they are to one another, the greater their resemblance.
Someone listening to my talks may think that This activity has a purely intellectual thrust: that to fulfill his destiny man should be more intelligent. At the Line level of consciousness, that view would appear to have real validity. This information is intellectual in nature, until you begin to See that I’m talking about the circuitry of tomorrow.
Throughout the history of man as the Yellow Circuit continued to develop, philosophers and thinkers urged, “We have to put man’s brain in the forefront. If men were more intelligent and better educated, we wouldn’t have people fighting over who’s gods were better, or who’s hair color was more appropriate. All of those arguments are ridiculous and come from less then fully educated intellects.” But actually it is not a matter of feeding only the Yellow Circuit; all energy must be totally processed and monitored by all circuits, no matter what the time or place. Anything less than this, will not even get you to the starting line with This Activity. The Yellow Circuit, as well as the other circuits must have a say in everything that’s occurring. Even if you are out digging ditches, trying to lay brick for the first time, hanging a door or learning how to juggle, you must maintain Yellow Circuit involvement. You’re throwing away food, not cleaning your plate, if all of the circuitry including the Yellow, does not participate in every activity.
Consider all of humanity as a nervous system. Groups of people in different parts of this planet are located at different places within the circuitry of Life’s nervous system. Some of the poorer, underdeveloped countries could be considered to live primarily in Life’s Red Circuit while countries like the United States would be located in the Yellow Circuit. Notice how the widespread calamities strike the underdeveloped countries. Now it is not that the U.S. is freed form such catastrophes because “the gods smile down on America” — but such events do not strike this country in the same way that they strike other parts of the world. To put it more simply: people with very active Yellow Circuits have less Red and Blue Circuit accidents than other people, but such Yellow Circuit involvement is still not the mechanical norm for all of humanity.
The next phase in the growth of Life is the development of another circuit in humanity. The center of gravity of those attracted to This now is more intellectual; though not necessarily more educated. Historically this was not always the case. The great prophets weren’t intellectually oriented — they didn’t have Ph.D.’s: there’s no record of them even going to school. The religious teachers didn’t sit down and talk to people about mathematics: “The way to find the kingdom of heaven and be enlightened is… and here’s the mathematical reason why it works.” No, that thinking was for people with pointed heads and beards, up in ivory towers. Supposedly these prophets were touched by superhuman elements not connected with the intellect and its purpose.
Try to See this information I’m about to present from the 4-D spherical world of consciousness. We all have a bricklayer down in our nervous system — behavior centered in the Red Circuit — and so you should be able to understand this. The 3-D voices say, “Red Circuit people are in better physical condition than Yellow Circuited eggheads. You know the type — a 90 pound guy with big old thick glasses lecturing on physics. He stands up and drops papers; goes to draw something on the board and hits his knee on the desk, and then he trips. He seems to live in a world of the mind, and his body’s like an unnecessary appendage.” That makes sense, doesn’t it? But again let me point out the truth: Yellow Circuit oriented people have less Red and Blue Circuit accidents than Red and Blue Circuit people do.
Yellow Circuit people have less colds than Red Circuit people. You could explain that away with, “Red Circuit people are out working year round in the freezing cold, where as this other guy is a stockbroker. The Red Circuit person works around physical objects. It’s not surprising that three or four times a year a bricklayer is hit on the head by a brick falling from a scaffold. Or a carpenter takes off the end of his thumb while putting up studs. What opportunities does a stockbroker have for accidents? What could he do? Get falling arches or hemorrhoids from sitting around?” That makes sense, right? Don’t be too sure. It may make sense but only if you’re in the wrong dimension.
Who has the most Blue Circuit problems? Why is it common to find Blue Circuit oriented people accusing Yellow Circuit people of being heartless. “Yellow Circuit people have no soul. Can you imagine a Yellow Circuit person writing the kinds of songs that touch people’s hearts? No! You have to have somebody that feels the intensity of emotions to write like that. You can’t take some physicist in a 3-piece suit with thick glasses and ask him to write us a song. He’s out of touch with ordinary human emotions. He’s probably the kind of guy who would turn on a TV soap opera and laugh at it, or else go to sleep. Just watch a Yellow Circuit person at a party. Other people stand around and talk about their lives, how many divorces they’re had, the troubles they’re having with their children. These Yellow Circuit people kind of listen and then just wander off, like they have no interest. They act as though the kinds of things we suffer over are just gibberish. They have no feelings. Something’s wrong with these people.” So goes the accusation from one part of Life’s body to another. And perhaps from Line level it reflects an accurate accounting of the actions of such types. It appears that the Blue Circuit oriented person experiences more emotional suffering.
Let’s move from these apparent manifestations into the functioning of the circuits themselves. Within each individual’s circuitry lies the continuing possibility for Red Circuit accidents and Blue Circuit problems. However, this possibility cannot exist even mechanically if all three circuits are operating in equilibrium; i.e., if the Yellow Circuit was participating as much in the processing of the energy as the lower circuits. If I could suddenly snap my fingers and make this occur within one person, this person would appear to have lost their “soul”. They would lose some of their propensity to get sick and their tendency to have accidents. From an ordinary viewpoint, this person would be less attractive. Their friends would say, “You’re not near as much fun as you used to be. You’re still married to your fourth wife, aren’t you? You’re no longer going through drug rehab programs every six months. What’s happened to you? You’re just no fun anymore.”
Humanity is mechanically evolving towards a Yellow Circuit orientation. Everyone involved with This needs to become a little more intellectual though not in the same manner as someone operating at Line level. You’re not doing This correctly if the Yellow Circuit doesn’t function in everything you do, no matter how physical or emotionally charged it may seem.
A related matter: a person involved with This should continually monitor his speech. Someone asked, “When am I operating and speaking mechanically?” A golden thumb rule is: your speech is mechanical any time you wonder, “Why did I say that?” You may not have offended or upset anybody; nobody seemed to notice or laugh at you. But you feel, “I wish I hadn’t said that.” What you are tasting after the swallow and after the fact is mechanical speech. Just as mechanical behavior is Line level behavior, mechanical speech is Line level speech and is necessary for the transfer of certain energies. But you can transfer, transmit, and transform energy without engaging in mechanical speech. Throughout history there persists within various eras and cultures tales of a hero who is a person of few words. Literature and movies even today portray the hero as being the strong, silent type. He comes into town and you know by his dress (and the fact that he’s the star) that he’s the good guy. People talk to him, threaten him, warn him not to fool around in other people’s business and he just stands and looks at them. He doesn’t respond with, “You can’t talk to me that way.” During 75 minutes of the movie he’s pushed around, and then finally he says something to the effect of “Alright, I’ve had enough,” and he either kills everybody or beats everybody up, and throws them in jail. And that’s it.
Look back in your own nervous system and relate what you see to your knowledge of horizontal history. Now picture past prophets or legendary heroes. Can you imagine those people sitting around or hanging out in the neighborhood, constantly running their mouths off? You don’t expect somebody who knows something, a hero or prestigious figure, to engage in ordinary rambling and mechanical talk. It doesn’t fit into anyone’s notion of a hero. Do you not find that interesting? While a general awareness of the unprofitable nature of excessive talk has permeated humanity, different degrees of mechanical talk are apparent to Life. To ordinary consciousness certain mechanical talk appears glaringly unprofitable whereas other examples of verbal intercourse seem beyond reproach. In reality at Line level, all talk is mechanical talk.
You should question the purpose of ordinary mechanical talk in Life, and develop a distinct distaste for your own participation in mechanical talk. In a nonmechanical way, you should be very disturbed any time you find yourself feeling “Why did I say that? I wish I hadn’t said that.” Disturbed enough that not doing it becomes a part of your continuing awareness. You may find yourself standing at the water cooler, or the line at the grocery store and someone will say, “Boy, the holidays are a really hectic time.” Don’t mechanically respond with, “Yeah, don’t I know it. I have three relatives coming down from Indianapolis to live with me for a week.” You have no business talking that way — unless you do it on purpose and it has nothing to do with your relatives, Indianapolis or the holidays (and no one would have the nerve to tell me they’d done such as that on purpose). Mechanical talk is a bleeding process, a process wherein you are transferring necessary energy for Life, but at your own expense. You’re going to transfer mechanical energy as long as you’re alive. But there are other ways of doing it. Ofttimes the way to respond to mechanical energy is by silence, a nod, a wink, a shrug. But if you have the feeling, “I shouldn’t have said that”, you’re right.
Consider the placebo effect. In Latin “placebo” means “I please thee” or “I shall please thee.” The definition of placebo is basically a nonmedicinal substance given to a person, merely to satisfy their need to be cured by a pill. The patient may come in with complaints which seem to have no physical basis and the physician might say, “It’s just their nerves; their imagination. But the person drives me crazy wanting medicine.” So he goes through the act of writing a prescription, but orders sugar pills. The patient drives all way to the pharmacy, the pharmacist fills the prescription. The patient takes them and feels better.
Though Life provided the placebo effect, it simultaneously gave it a negative connotation: it’s viewed as a nonfunctional activity. Physicians feel, “These patients are a waste of my time and so I give them placebos. I know it appears to work at times, but scientifically it isn’t really doing anything. I actually disapprove of it even though it supposedly cures the patient. I didn’t go to school twelve years to learn how to do that. That’s no kind of treatment.” Life’s consciousness is saying, “Placebos work and yet somehow they don’t exist. They aren’t true medication. They aren’t real. But how can something work and not exist? How can something function and yet be nonfunctional? How does it produce results if there’s no basis for it?
Try this in the hopper of Neuralization: Beyond the field of medicine, what seems to be the placebo effect in Life is ordinary consciousness labeling as “imaginary” any phenomenon that doesn’t fit into the current grid of greater reality. Using the example of medicine (just to put flesh and bones on it), the illness and cure are seen as imaginary; they don’t fit into the collective acceptance of what the real treatment of illness is.
Here’s another way of attempting to peek up under the dress of such things: the placebo phenomenon conflicts with the Life-produced notion that events move in a straight line, and that a cause produces an effect. There seems to be no physical basis for placebos causing a cure; and yet the person is cured. Can you See in a certain way that everything is the placebo effect at Line level? Everything is simply medicine given to satisfy the patients, i.e., everyone. From a higher perspective, everything can be seen as the placebo effect — no real treatment, no real illness. The whole running history of humanity is nothing but the placebo effect.
You can see the placebo effect in specific areas of Life. An article recently stated that 43 million dollars will be spent this year on men’s skin care and facial products. The article pointed out that many “real men” use expensive facial products. And in the article a dermatologist was quoted as saying, “These new products offer more hope than help.” Of course, then I must ask, is hope not help?
I’m not saying that the dermatologist’s view is foolish — that I’m right and everything else is wrong. Life’s level of development varies from time to time and locale to locale. From one of Life’s viewpoints, what the dermatologist is saying, is true about the skin care products.
To give another example, one area of Life feels that religion is foolish: “Those idiots who go to church believe that they’re going to die and live in some nice little place where nobody gets sick. That’s idiocy. Nobody can prove it. These people are fools; they’re behind the times. While another area of Life’s consciousness is still saying, “I would die for my faith. I have no doubt that when I die, I’ll go and live with the gods. I’ll go to paradise, and you other people won’t.” Neither view is right; neither one is wrong. Life doesn’t grow in a straight line. It just appears that one mode of thinking has precedence over another at any given time.
If you free yourself from Line-level consciousness you can See Life progressing. There is no shred of evidence saying that Life is going downhill, that skin care products are useless, that religion is foolish hope, or that the use of placebos is a non-functional activity. Those are merely opinions expressed by various aspects of Life. You See that something either works in a specific place and time, or it doesn’t.
A person involved with This has no views, but The View (with a capital “V”) — because incorrect views don’t exist.
Ordinary consciousness doesn’t truly omnipresently believe in a single, all-powerful force. People of all religious persuasions within the body of Life express praise towards the gods when delivered form a dangerous situation: “There I was in the field, and the other army attacked. They killed everyone and thought they’d killed me, but I tripped and fell below a chariot. I lay there half-unconscious and they assumed I was dead. I was the only living person out of 10,000. The gods saved me.” Or, “I was driving on the highway. I didn’t know I was going that fast, but I knew as I hit that curve that I’d lost it, and I was going to fall thousands of feet into a ravine. I knew I was gone. I had no control, but suddenly… it’s almost as if the car straightened itself out. The gods saved me specifically.” Those stories are tacit, unrealized admissions that a single, all-powerful force doesn’t exist: that other forces are involved. To say, “I’m expressing the belief that an all-powerful force could do no such a thing as specifically single me out and save me from this dangerous situation”, is to admit the presence and power of other forces who got you into the situation. The person recounting the story doesn’t question being put in that situation in the first place: “If something else put me in that situation, the one force isn’t really completely in control.” More than one force is involved in Life, but the closest that consciousness has come to dealing with multiple forces is through the binary ideology of gods and devils. Only Yellow Circuit oriented people can ask, “If the force is so powerful, why does it put up with the devil? Why doesn’t it just send him elsewhere?” The understanding of it never occurs at the ordinary level of consciousness.
The need for an awareness of the multitude of forces hasn’t yet arisen in Life’s general consciousness. Line-level consciousness can’t deal with the concept that many forces exist, even as a theory; this concept won’t compute in the hard-wired consciousness of man. You can’t pray or give thanks to the gods and simultaneously have a real awareness of the fact that they aren’t all-powerful.
I’ll now take this discussion down a small side street. Historically and presently, there’s a continual appearance and healthy survival rate of fanatics who attract certain people. Fanatics exist in politics, religion and many other fields. They’ll say, “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with the world, what’s wrong with humanity. I’ll tell you the truth about religion (or politics).” A good fanatic has a very deeply encoded, but highly limited circuitry which can attract some people. To varying degrees the circuitry within you is attracted to that. You don’t necessarily pursue it much further, but a type of assurance in them is attractive, even though they may appear insane on the surface. But note fanatics don’t attract most people.
Why would Life simultaneously have people saying, “I know the absolute truth. Here’s the way things are; and then disapprove of this talk in its mainstream? Can you See that on a grander scale Life disapproves of any limitations of possibilities.
This Thing can only exist and flourish in the progressive countries or areas of the world. A kind of freedom, almost verging on potential chaos is necessary for This to bloom within the short period of one person’s life, and still expand into the next generation. You almost have to live in a major city, and not the country. The optimal environment of This would be a large metropolis: one that’s the epitome of the civilized world, and is simultaneously about as close to coming apart as any other place on this planet. A latitude is needed that almost verges upon anarchy.
The optimal environment is also needed at the individual level. At Line level, everything in you says that extraordinary effort must occur within the very strict confines of some kind of ritualistic, established, noteworthy, identifiable system such as religion, with its holy books, prayers, chants, and other things which you can depend on. But to actually be properly involved with This, you have to skate a thin line between almost unbridled possibilities and almost certain chaos.
Take into account some of the other hints I’ve given concerning efforts in This: such as, the progress can’t be too drastic or you may explode. Or my asking if a person could possibly upset the scheme of Life. I’ve also said This can no longer be presented as another extension of religious revelation. With all of those ideas being true, how can you present This to people? How can you tell a person that an unimaginable Aim exists that’s almost beyond words: an Aim which isn’t a personal one, but is Life’s own. How can you speak to a person of This and then say that almost no restraints can be put on the person pursuing the Aim: they must have the optimum amount of freedom?
Wouldn’t you like a little assurance? Wouldn’t a first rate fanatic make you feel good by saying, “I’ve tried to see all different kinds of viewpoints, but let me tell you where religion went wrong, or how humanity is about to destroy itself. I’ll tell you the truth. Here’s how it is and what you have to do…” Wouldn’t it make you feel good to have such a fanatic around even just once a year? Or, I could privately visit you at times when I knew you needed it and say, “There, there, don’t worry. It’s not your fault. It’s some religion’s fault. It’s history’s fault, or your mother’s fault. Don’t tell anybody else. I know I told them that such things don’t occur; but I’ve talked to you enough and can tell through my mystical abilities that your stepfather and mother ruined your life. So there’s a real basis for your being as upset, neurotic and fearful as you are.” Wouldn’t that feel good sometimes? Then you could say, “At least I know where I stand.”
Quite simply and directly, you must abandon all grid-fed fear. “Fear” only exists at one place: the Line level of consciousness. Fear is the process of transferring particular energies in a specific manner; it isn’t a psychological phenomenon. It’s an electrochemical phenomenon occurring at and below the Line. You feel your fear is a personalized thing, some kind of invisible force that’s passed from mother to daughter, or from father to son. Like hatred, jealousy, and anger, fear seems to be something special, specific, localized and personalized. But this type of energy transfer is an ordinary, impersonal, Line level activity. Outside of the Line level of consciousness, there’s nothing to fear. If you’re fearful, you’re engaged in mechanical behavior. You aren’t doing anything; you’re not a part of This Thing. It’s that simple.
Some people have expressed a feeling of being afraid of me. I know what you mean, but “fear” isn’t the right word. A kind of distance exists between me and a person who has reached a certain level of understanding of This. It’s not a game, or some kind of ritualistic behavior. Instead, the distance is a kind of protection of their own potential and possibilities that might arise.
I’ve told people, “Whatever you do, try your best not to think of me personally. Don’t wonder about who I am, what a nice guy I may be in private, or what a real tyrant I may be in my spare time.” Forget the word fear, but the feeling you have towards me isn’t improper. Keep your distance, not because you have anything to hide, but because you’re protecting possibilities. If you don’t, you’re playing with your own potential, and you could forfeit your connection here. This isn’t a trick, and I’m not trying to keep you at a particular distance for a personal reason. The word “fear” doesn’t describe the feeling. It’s a kind of self benefiting respect and protection of your own possibilities in connection with This. (I’ve always kept my distance from me. And as things have worked out, I’m glad I took that approach. It’s paid off all down the line.)
Some people have mentioned that they feel a temporary lack of motivation. Everyone involved in This passes through a stage where they seem to have lost some of their motivation in Life. You may feel, “I don’t care as much about my personal appearance as I used to. And I used to have dreams of succeeding in business, but nowadays, they could fire me and it’d probably be a relief.” There’s a reality to those feelings, but it’s temporary, so don’t get yourself engaged with it. If you get to the point of really being negative about the lack of motivation, count yourself back among the foolish. You have to play the game if you’re living in Life, or you’re being an idiot.
In truth, a loosening occurs from the dream energy you were tied to in the past. You may have thought, “I had dreams of being a famous piano player. I have nothing against the career. I like it, I enjoy playing… but, if someone told me that I would be famous if I just walked across the street, I don’t know whether I’d do it. I’ve lost the motivation to succeed.” Don’t let it go past that point, and don’t let the voices tell you, “I’ve lost the motivation to live.” Anything that can be lost like that should be highly suspect. You’re just losing your dream energy. It’s a temporary, gradual loosening of the kind of dream energy which motivates everybody at Line level, and which until recently has motivated you. You can’t recover that previously established direct connection to that dream energy. It then becomes your responsibility to expand yourself in the proper manner by continuing your efforts to expand yourself and assist in Life’s growth.
You may experience a feeling of loneliness that comes and goes. To some degree everybody needs a kind of personal transfer relationship. You can’t be a hermit. Even those in the ordinary world can’t successfully be hermits. But when involved with This, you can’t even abide and entertain those voices and urges which say, “If I had enough money, I’d go home, lock myself in my room, send out for pizza, read, meditate, jog a little, and play the guitar. Then I’d be satisfied.” To varying degrees, that’s not true. Some of you involved with This live as close to the hermit level as anybody in Life. And others may find it disagreeable to be alone for any length of time. That is, your feeling of being alive and progressing at a tolerable level seems dependent upon having friendly people around you. But within that living spectrum of responses, you can’t fall off the deep end of either extreme. To a varying degree, everyone needs someone.
You may have a feeling of being cut off from those acting at the mechanical level: “We’re the chosen; we’re the enlightened ones, and then there’s everyone else.” I’ve never encouraged those feelings. People within ordinary groups seem to separate themselves from Life, under whatever name or for whatever assumed purpose. That is the normal behavior of people who have had their connections to the outside world weakened. But those properly involved with This Understand their connectedness with all of Life.
Let me give you an immediate band-aid rule that you must take seriously. If any of you find yourself involved in a hostile dance, don’t analyze it. Absolutely abandon the dance as much as possible. Don’t dance; don’t play the game. You can’t be hostile while involved with This. As long as you are alive and breathing Life is still operating mechanically through you. But you can, by full use of the circuitry, overtly stop hostility. You can quit playing that game.
Someone asked how they could tell if they were being conscious or mechanical in their concern for someone else. You can develop a very close sexual or friendship relationship with a person who isn’t blood related, but in Real concern the caring feels undebatable and inescapable. It would almost be nonverbal. The connection between blood relations also appears to be beyond any discussion: “I can’t debate it or explain it. It’s not that I want to care or don’t want to care. I just can’t escape the caring and I don’t even want to.”