W e can recognize our proneness to pain by looking at the kind of
reactions we are hoping to elicit from others by our choices and behavior . This includes mannerisms, expressions, style of dress, the kind of
possessions we choose, the brand name of car we drive, the kind of home
we have, the address at which we live, the schools we have attended or
which our children attend, or the labels on the products we buy . In fact, if
we look at our current society , we see to what an absurd degree this
pridefulness has taken place. Labels are now worn on the outside of many
clothes and personal articles. It hasn’ t reached the level of rakes and shovels
yet, but it could sooner or later! Nobody has thought of it yet, but we could
all carry around rakes and shovels ostentatiously with designer names
emblazoned upon them. This points to another one of the drawbacks of pride: the exploitability
to which it exposes us. Pridefulness means that we can be manipulated with
great ease. In return for an absurdity , a great deal of money is lifted out of
our pocketbooks. The situation is currently comical in that people take great
pride in how much they have been exploited. It is a current status symbol
among certain circles to brag about how much one has paid for certain
things. When we remove the glamour from it, we might say that the personwas sort of stupid. They really got suckered in or was naïve and just didn’ t
know any better . The pride of snobbishness is probably the most supercilious of all. Does ostentation really impress? Actually , no. The response that we see is
one of fascination. People get a char ge out of the superficial glamour , but
underneath they do not truly respect it, because they know what it really is. When we settle for the pridefulness of ostentation, we impress no one. This dynamic revealed itself during a trip to Canada to visit the home
of a wealthy individual who subtly conveyed the price tag of his many
possessions. On the same trip, malnourished Canadian Indian children were
seen playing around the huge grain elevators that were filled to
overflowing, the grain being held there to manipulate a higher world price
through artificial creation of a shortage. As this wealthy person talked of his
possessions, images of the children with their thin little legs flashed to
mind. Far from being impressed with his wealth, there was sorrow for his
sense of values and compassion for the lack of self-worth that forced him to
compensate in such a pathetic superficiality . Does that mean that we cannot take pleasure in expensive possessions? No, not at all. What we are talking about is pride. The problem is not that
we have possessions, but that we have a prideful, possessive, and self-
congratulatory attitude about them. It is the attitude of pride that creates the
space for fear . The same wealthy man in Canada mentioned above also had
an expensive bur glar alarm system. Pride, like all the other negative
emotions, engenders guilt. Guilt engenders fear . Fear means potential loss. Pride, therefore, always means a loss of peace of mind. The opposite of prideful acquisitiveness is simplicity . Simplicity does
not mean poverty of possessions; rather , it is a state of mind. Another
individual is worth millions of dollars, and she holds title to vast estates and
possessions. Y et, as a person, she represents absolute simplicity . Her
possessions reflect what the world has brought to her , and she takes joy in
their beauty . Consequently , never a single criticism is made of her , nor do
others express envy . It is not what we have that matters, but how we hold it, how we frame
it in our consciousness, and its meaning to us. Incidentally , this woman’ s
entire estate is totally devoid of bur glar alarms or watchdogs. In fact, when
this was brought to her attention, she replied, “Oh, heavens! If somebody
really needed something that much, they could have it!” There was acorrespondence between the fact that nobody ever stole anything from her
and the fact that she was willing to share with others. Her invulnerability to
theft was related to her lack of pridefulness about her possessions. Possessiveness and attachment occur as a consequence of pride. Attachment is, therefore, a potential cause for suf fering, because attachment
brings about fear of loss and, with loss, we go back into apathy , depression,
and grief. If we are prideful of a car and somebody steals it, we will
experience anguish, pain, and suf fering. If, instead, we loosely hold the car
(emotionally speaking), and we enjoy its beauty and perfection and we feel
grateful for having it, its loss will bring about only minor disappointment. Gratitude is one of the antidotes of pride. If we happen to be born with
a high IQ, we can be grateful for it rather than take pride in it. It’ s not an
accomplishment; we were born with it. If we are grateful for what has been
given us and for what has been fulfilled through our God-given talents and
endeavors, then we are in a peaceful state of mind and invulnerable to pain. It is a comical curiosity of the human mind to watch how it attaches
pride to anything that is prefixed by the word “mine.” W e can have absurd
pride over the most trivial things and, once we see the comedy of that, it is
not too dif ficult to let go of the pride involved. Some people, ironically , have the vulnerability of reverse snobbery . They take pride in “bar gains” and thrift store conquests. Their personal
opinion of people who pay excessive prices for things is that they are sheep
to be sheared and they rehearse the quote, “A fool is soon parted from his
money .” In this thrift store snobbery crowd, the status symbol is the
incredible bar gain. In fact, they are often in competition with each other to
see who will find the best bar gains. It is funny to observe that an article of
clothing hanging in a thrift shop has no value at all until it becomes “mine.”
Instantly , great value is attached to it. The dif ficult side of prefixing things with the word “mine” is the pride
that goes with that sense of ownership. This makes us feel called upon to
defend everything we label as “mine.” W e can reduce our vulnerability by
letting go of the desire to possess; instead of saying “mine,” we can use the
word “a.” Not “my” shirt, but “a” shirt. Thus, we will notice that, if we
view one of our thoughts as “an opinion” instead of “my opinion,” the
feeling tone changes. Why do people get so hot under the collar about their
opinions? It is just because of that sense of “mine.” If opinions are viewedinstead as “only an opinion,” then there is no longer the vulnerability to
prideful anger . Opinions
If we look at opinions, we will see that they are a dime a dozen. Everybody
on the street has thousands of opinions on thousands of subjects, and their
opinions change from moment to moment and are vulnerable to every
passing whim of fashion, propaganda, and faddism. T oday’ s “in” opinion is
tomorrow’ s “out” opinion. This morning’ s opinion is passé by afternoon. W e can ask ourselves: “Do I want to spread out my vulnerability to attack
by so extensively identifying with all these passing thoughts and calling
them ‘mine’?” Everybody has an opinion on everything. So what? When
we look at the true quality of opinions, we will stop giving them as much
value. If we look back on our life, we will see that every mistake we ever
made was based on an opinion. W e become much less vulnerable if we put our thoughts, ideas, and
beliefs, which are all opinions, into a dif ferent context. W e can view them
as ideas that we like or dislike. Some thoughts give us pleasure, and so we
like them. Just because we like them today doesn’ t mean we have to go to
war over them. W e like a concept so long as it serves us and we are getting
enjoyment out of it. Of course, we discard it quite readily when it is no
longer a source of pleasure. When we look at our opinions, we will see that
it is primarily our emotions that are giving them any value in the first place. Instead of feeling pride about our thoughts, what is wrong with just
loving them? Why not just love a certain concept because of its beauty ,
because of its inspirational quality , or because of its serviceability? If we
view our thoughts that way , we no longer need the pride of being “right.” If
we hold the same view of our likes and dislikes, we are no longer prone to
ar gumentativeness. For instance, if we love the music of a certain
composer , we no longer need to defend it. W e might hope that our
companion would also love it but, if not, the worst that we can feel is mild
disappointment at not being able to share something that we personally
value and enjoy . If we try this, we will find that people no longer attack our likes and
dislikes and concepts. Instead of defensiveness, what they are getting from
us now is appreciation. They understand that we appreciate certain things,
and that is why we think the way we do. But they will no longer criticize orattack us. The worst we will get is perhaps a kidding or a quizzical attitude. Where pride is absent, attack is also absent. This is very valuable in those areas, such as politics and religion, which
are so historically prone to elicit ar gument that they are tactically bypassed
in polite society . W e will find that if we love our religion, whatever it might
be, no one will attack us. If we are prideful, however , we will have to avoid
the entire subject, because anger will quickly arise as a by-product of the
pride. When we truly value something, we lift it aloft out of the demeaning
tar get range of ar gument. That which we truly cherish and revere is protected by our own
reverence. If we tell somebody that we do something because we get
enjoyment out of it, there is really nothing much they can say about it, is
there? If we infer that we do it because we are right  in doing it, we will
instantly see their hackles go up because they , also, have an opinion on
what is right. Our values are preferences. W e hold them because we love them, enjoy
them, and get pleasure from them. If we hold them in that context, we will
be left in peace to enjoy them. The reason that pride arouses attack is because of the inference of
being “better than,” which is part and parcel of pride. W e see many people
with dietary regimens about which they are prideful; consequently , they are
in constant ar guments over the rightness of their dietary regimens and
nutritional opinions. They even try to impose their regimens on family
members and friends, touting the moral or health superiority of their dietary
practice. In contrast, there are people who follow the same regimens
because they enjoy doing so, because it makes them feel better , or because
it fulfills certain spiritual disciplines; consequently , they are never heard to
be in ar gument, because they have nothing to defend. If someone tells us
that they eat the way they eat because they enjoy it, there is nothing much
we can say about it, is there? If, on the other hand, they infer that theirs is
the right way of eating and, by inference, that ours is wrong, what they are
really saying is that they are better than we are. That always arouses
resentment. If we don’ t take a prideful stance about our opinions, then we are at
liberty to change them. How often have we gotten stuck in performing
something we really didn’ t want to do, because we had foolishly taken a
prideful stance on an opinion! V ery often we would like to have changedour mind or the direction in which we were going, but we got ourselves
boxed in by having taken a prideful position. That brings up one of the resistances to surrendering pride, and that is
pride itself. In the prideful position, one of the underlying problems is fear . W e fear that, if we change our position in a certain matter , the opinion of
others about us will be adversely af fected. One reason for the need for humility about our opinions is because our
opinions change as we get deeper and deeper into any given subject or
situation. What seems to be so, upon superficial examination, often turns
out to be quite dif ferent when we really get into it. This, of course, is to the
dismay of the politician who makes promises based on fantasies of what is
possible. But as he assumes power , he finds that matters are quite dif ferent
than he had thought. The problems are far more complex. The situation is
really due to the net ef fect of many powerful forces in society . All that
politicians can truly promise us is that they will use the best possible
judgment for the good of all, as they get deeper into each matter . This evolutionary aspect of life is really all that any of us can promise
ourselves, and this self-knowledge will protect us from disillusionment. This is the safety of the “open mind” position or what is called “beginner ’ s
mind” in Zen practice. When we are open-minded, we are admitting that we
are not in possession of all the facts, and we are ready to change our
opinions as the situation unfolds. In this way , we do not box ourselves into
the pain of defending lost causes. This is very true even in areas we think are based on strictly factual and
observable data, such as the field of science. Actually , science deals with
hypotheses, and scientific opinion is constantly in the process of flux and
change. Scientific opinion, much to the surprise of laypersons, is also
subject to fads, passing popularity , paradigm blindness, and political
pressure. For instance, in the field of psychiatry , the subject of the
relationship between nutrition, blood chemistry , brain function, and mental
illness was not popular in the past. The scientists and clinicians who worked
in this area found themselves in the “out” group. As time passed and it
proved that there was value in this field of investigation, popular scientific
opinion changed. Important discoveries were made, and whole industries
came into being to provide products which utilized the basic findings of the
relationship between nutrition and brain function. The subject is now
accepted as respectable, so clinicians and scientists can do research in thatarea and be accepted as part of the “in” group. Pride, therefore, is also
responsible for holding up scientific progress (e.g., global warming
theories). Pride blinds us to many things that would be profoundly beneficial; to a
prideful mind, to accept them would be inferring that we are wrong. The
more inwardly powerful we really are, the more flexible we become, so that
we are open to all that is beneficial. Pride prevents us from seeing that
which is totally obvious. People die by the thousands because of pride. They literally give up their health and life itself. Addicts and alcoholics will
go to their death because of the denial inherent in pride: “Other people have
the problem—not me!” Pride prevents us from recognizing our own
limitations and accepting the help we need to overcome them. Our
pridefulness isolates us. When we let go of pride, help comes into our life to address the
problems with which we are struggling. W e can experiment and prove the
truth of that principle by picking one area in which we are having dif ficulty
and thoroughly surrendering all the pride involved. When we do that, some
surprising things begin to happen. Letting go of pride unlocks the door to
our receiving that which is the most beneficial to us. Are we willing to let
go of pride and feeling superior to others? When we are willing to let go of
the pseudo-security of pride, we experience the real security that comes
with courage, self-acceptance, and joy . CHAPTER
10
C O U R A G E
The hallmark of courage is the knowledge and feeling, “I can.” It is a
positive state in which we feel assured, skillful, adequate, capable, alive,
loving and giving, with an overall zest for life. W e are capable of humor ,
activity , confidence, and clarity . In this state, we feel centered, balanced,
flexible, happy , independent, and self-suf ficient. W e can be inventive,
creative, and open. In courage, there is a lot of ener gy , action, letting go,
capacity to “be there,” to be spontaneous, resilient, resourceful, and
cheerful. In this state, we can be very ef fective in the world. The Courage to Let Go
The level of courage is very helpful in the mechanism of surrender . In
courage, we know: “I can look at my feelings”; “I don’ t have to be afraid of
my feelings anymore”; “I can handle them”; “I can take responsibility for
them”; “I can learn how to accept them and be free from them”; “I am
willing to take risks, to let go of old points of view and to explore new
ones”; “I am willing to be joyous and share my experience with others”; “I
experience myself as willing and able.”
It is often easy to jump from any of the lower feelings up to courage
merely by af firming our courage to look at and handle our feelings. The
mere willingness to look at and begin to handle them increases our self-
esteem. If, for instance, we have a fear and are unwilling to look at it, then
we feel diminished and our self-esteem is lowered. If we are willing to look
at that fear , examine it, acknowledge its presence, see how it has inhibitedour life, and begin to surrender it, then our self-esteem increases, whether
the fear disappears or not. W e all know that it takes courage to face fear . W e champion the people
who face their fear and attempt to do something about it. Such courage is
one of the characteristics of nobility and makes a person truly great. Despite
all of their negative programming and despite all of their fear , courageous
people go forward in life, with no guarantee and not even the knowledge
that things are going to get better . So courage increases our self-respect and
brings to us the respect of others. W e no longer need to feel ashamed. Let’ s look at the example of a man who suf fered from a lifelong terror
of heights. He had worked on being free of the fear for several years and it
had gotten much better , but there was still plenty of it left. This was evident
when he went to the Grand Canyon with a friend. At first, he stood back
about six feet from the ledge. In previous years, he wouldn’ t have gone
within a block of it. Now he stood there, hesitantly . The friend took his
hand, saying, “Come on over to the edge with me.” And so he did. He kept
surrendering on the fear as he walked forward and found that he could
actually stand right next to the edge, although admittedly , not without still
feeling considerable discomfort. When they left the edge of the canyon, the
friend looked at him approvingly and said, “W ell, at least you did it! I know
how much courage that took.” Even though he had not totally overcome the
fear , by transcending an inner barrier , he had earned his own self-respect
and the respect of others. When we have these breakthrough experiences, we begin to perceive
our fear dif ferently and we stop being ashamed of it. W e stop allowing it to
invalidate our true worth. It increases our inner strength and our self-
approval. In due time, the underlying fears which require courage to
overcome diminish to the point that we move on to acceptance. Self-Empowerment
On the level of courage, the emphasis is on doing. W e already know that we
are capable of providing for our own needs and for those of others, and we
know that, if we are willing to put forth the ef fort, we can obtain what we
want. Thus, people on the level of courage are the doers of the world. Because we can only give away what we ourselves already have, people on
the level of courage are able to be supportive and encouraging of others.This is because they are able to give as well as receive, and there is a
balance between giving and receiving that occurs naturally . The levels of consciousness up to this point are concerned primarily
with gain. Now , on the level of courage, there is greater power and ener gy . W e have the ability to give to others, because other people are no longer
being looked at primarily as a means of help, survival, or support. When we
are in the state of courage, we sense our own inner power , strength, and
self-worth. W e know that we have the capacity to make a dif ference in the
world, not just gain something from it for ourselves. Because of the inner
self-confidence, we are much less concerned with security . The emphasis is
no longer on what people have, but upon what they do, and have become. W ith courage, there is the willingness to take chances and to let go of
former securities. There is the willingness to grow and benefit from new
experiences. This involves the capacity to admit mistakes without indulging
in guilt and self-recrimination. Our sense of self-worth is not diminished by
looking at areas that need improvement. W e are able to admit the presence
of problems without being diminished. As a result, ener gy , time, and ef fort
are put into self-improvement. On this level, statements of intention and purpose are much more
powerful and envisioned results tend to manifest. W e are much more
enterprising and creative, because our ener gies are not drained by the
constant preoccupation with emotional or physical survival. Because of
greater flexibility , there is a willingness to examine issues with a view to
changing overall meaning and context. There is a willingness to risk
shifting paradigms. A paradigm is a whole worldview , and it is only limited by what we
view as possible. As old ways of looking at things are challenged, our
worldview begins to stretch and expand. That which was previously
considered to be impossible becomes possible and eventually is experienced
as a new dimension of reality . There is the capacity to look within ourselves
to examine our belief systems, ask questions, and seek new solutions. On
the level of courage, we are willing to take self-improvement courses, learn
consciousness techniques, and risk the journey within to seek our own true
Self, the inner reality . There is a willingness to experience uncertainty ,
periods of confusion, and temporary upset because, underneath the
temporary discomfort, we have a long-term transcendent goal. The mind
that is operating on the level of courage makes such statements as: “I canhandle it”; “W e’ll make it”; “The job will get done”; “W e can see this
through”; “All things shall pass.”
If we test a person’ s muscle strength with kinesiology when in the state
of courage, the level of “I can handle it,” they will test positive and remain
strong to our challenge. Although there is still vulnerability to negative
thoughts or ener gies—such as those that emanate from fluorescent lights or
artificial sweeteners—the bio-ener gy field is more radiant than that of the
lower , negative states. Because courage is a stronger , more resilient ener gy
field, physical illnesses are less likely to be a predominant aspect of life. There may be chronic residuals of illnesses that originated from the lower
levels of consciousness, but they are generally not stabilized. In courage,
there is an overall sense of strength and well-being. A war eness of Others
The lifestyle on this level shows a balance of work, enjoyment, and love. There is not the necessity for over -ambition or “workaholism,” although
people on the level of courage are capable of considerable ener gy output if
the situation requires it. Because of the letting go of so much negativity ,
there is a desire and a capacity to love and to have loving relationships. These now assume equal importance with ef forts toward survival. There is
vocational security , and in the work area there is concern for the welfare of
others. People on this level characteristically state that they want jobs which
will be of some benefit to the world. They want to feel that there is more
meaning to their job than just a salary . Personal growth is important, and
there is the awareness on this level that our life is either positively or
negatively influencing those around us. On the lower levels of consciousness, which are characterized by
egotism, there is so much concern with self-gain that there is little ener gy or
thought given to our ef fect on others. On the level of courage, we no longer
identify solely with the small self. The world is no longer seen as the
depriving or punishing bad parent. Instead, the world is seen as challenging
and presenting opportunities for growth, development, and new
experiences. Thus, this level is characterized by optimism and the feeling
that with the correct facts, education, and orientation, sooner or later most
problems can be worked out satisfactorily . The lower levels limit our consciousness to personal concern, but on
this level social issues become important, and ener gy is expended to helpovercome social problems and to be helpful to those less fortunate. Therefore, generosity becomes possible, not just financially , but also in a
generosity of attitude. Pleasure is derived from the championing of causes
and from supporting the endeavors of others. This ener gy creates new jobs,
businesses, industries, and political and scientific solutions. Education,
although not always in the academic sense, becomes important. On the level of courage, we really start becoming conscious. It dawns
on us that we have the freedom and the capacity to choose. W e no longer
have to be the victim, and freedom in the psychological, emotional, and
spiritual sense is possible. Therefore, much less rigidity is present, and
because of flexibility and the capacity of concern and genuine love for
others, people on this level make good parents, bosses, employees, and
citizens. There is a capacity to put ourselves in another ’ s place and a concern for
the feelings of others, as well as their overall welfare. Although the lower
negative feelings still tend to occur , they do not predominate or determine
one’ s lifestyle; that is, we do it even though we’re scared. People on this
level are the backbone of the country . They are the people we turn to when
it is necessary to do so for the common good. They are dependable and can
be counted on because of their willingness to accept responsibility . On this
level, there is a social conscience and humanitarianism. As the basis of
moral decisions, guilt takes a back seat to the welfare of others. It is from this level that we get such sayings as, “Success breeds
success.” Because of adequate functioning, there is positive feedback,
which reinforces confidence and allows greater self-exploration as well as
exploration of the world. Although ef fort is still required to accomplish
goals, it is much less than on the lower levels. There is greater satisfaction
and gratification because there is greater reward with less ef fort than that
which would be required to overcome fear . There is much greater capacity
not only to seek help, but to be able to utilize it and benefit from it. Money is used in a much more constructive manner , and there is
concern with how the expenditures will af fect the lives of others. Money is
not spent solely for self-gratification, self-aggrandizement, or self-
fortification; rather , it is seen as a tool for accomplishment. This level is the one at which true spiritual awareness becomes
possible. Because of the emer gence from egotism and the relinquishment of
the identification with the small self, there is an experiencing of higherener gies and the hope of increased awareness. On the lower levels, God is
viewed from the emotional coloration of that level. Thus, in apathy , the
whole relationship with God is hopeless, if it can be considered at all. On
the level of grief, one feels hopelessly separated from any help from God. When overcome with guilt, the person feels undeserving of any relationship
with God, and punishment is expected rather than love. On the level of fear ,
the fear may be so great that the problem of God cannot even be faced, so
that the subject is blotted out of consciousness, and God is viewed as
fearful, punishing, avenging, jealous, and angry . On the level of anger , God
is viewed as depriving, arbitrary , capricious, and failing. On the level of
pride, there is egotism about one’ s religious or spiritual position,
characterized by rigidity , inflexibility , intolerance, proneness to exclusivity ,
bigotry , clannishness, religious ar gumentation, and warring. On the level of courage, we are willing to take responsibility for our
religious or spiritual position. The increased awareness often results in the
emer gence of the spiritual seeker , and the pursuit of truth in its religious or
spiritual sense truly awakens. This may result in a reaf firmation of our
previous position, but now from a totally new viewpoint—that of choice. It
may bring about changes, which may be either slow and gradual, or sudden. On this level, there is the awakening of consciousness and the realization
that our beliefs and views are now a result of our choice, not just a result of
previous blind programming. There is a search for meaning, and this may
occur on the level of ethics and humanitarianism rather than in the area
specifically denoted as formal religion. W e investigate our social function
and role in the world, and we inquire as to the value of our lives, not only to
ourselves but also to others. Carl Jung said that the healthy personality is equally balanced between
work, play , love, and an aspect of personality called spirituality , which we
could also define as the search for meaning and value. These investigations
bring inner upsets but also moments of acceptance and peace. There are
moments of intuitive understanding which beckon us on to continue the
quest, to find out if there is anything beyond just the physical and material
world and its ever -changing phenomena. This level of consciousness is a good one from which to look at and let
go of more negative feelings. On this level, we have the ener gy , capacity ,
self-confidence, and willingness to acquire know-how and under go the
necessary steps of learning. On this level, there is a desire for self-improvement and the realization that better states of mind are possible. The
level of courage knows that it is not necessary to endure the pain and
suf fering of the negative emotions or their interference with the
satisfactions of life. In courage, we are no longer willing to pay the cost of negativity . W e
are concerned about the ef fects of our negative feelings on the welfare of
others with whom we are closely associated. Most people who have learned
the letting go technique will continue to use it until they have reached this
level of consciousness. On this level, their major life problems are now
under control. They are experiencing vocational satisfaction and success. Material wants are supplied. Major problems in relationships have
straightened out. They are no longer consciously experiencing pain and
suf fering, and there is satisfaction from having grown and developed in
certain areas. When we are comfortable, there is a temptation to stop using the
technique and only resume it in emer gency situations, or when negative
feelings again become painful and necessitate our attention. However , there
is more yet to be had. Because there is always a feeling going on which can
be surrendered, the continuation of the process will lead to greater and
greater benefits. Continual surrender will bring about constant, subtle changes,
especially on the levels of subtle awareness in our capacity for love. Previously , we had likened the radiation of love, which stems from our
higher aspect, to the ener gy of the sunlight. W e noted that, as the dark
clouds of negativity are removed, this ener gy and our capacity to accept it
and radiate it outward, increases progressively . On the level of courage, our capacity to love is now much stronger , and
it has the power to support and encourage others, lending strength to that
which is positive and constructive in them. Assisting their development
brings us the pleasure of watching their growth and their increasing
happiness. This capacity within us can grow ever stronger . It can become
ever more powerful and self-rewarding as well as more beneficial to others. W e can utilize courage to reinforce our desire to grow beyond our
present state, because on this level, we are already getting inklings that
there is something within us that we had hitherto unsuspected. These are
indicated by those sudden episodes of perfect stillness and peace in which
we have great clarity , understanding, and heightened sensitivity to beauty .W e discover that it was thr ough  the music—and not because of it—that
we experience our mind going suddenly still, and, in that moment of
stillness, we were allowed to experience a greater dimension. There may be
fleeting seconds in which we feel a complete identification and oneness
with others, as though there were no separation. These are the moments of breaking through into the experiencing of
our real inner Self. The memory of those moments is never for gotten. When
they first start to happen, we don’ t know what they mean. W e think they are
“accidental.” “Just due to chance.” W e attribute the feeling to external
events such as the beauty of a sunset, a symphonic passage, or a loving
gesture. But, as we investigate further , we find that these were only the
circumstances that allowed something else to happen. They were not the
cause. They allowed a certain stillness of the mind to take place, and
because of that stillness, we were allowed a moment in which we were able
to experience something other than the chatter of our own mind with its
incessant, restless play of sensations, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and
memories. In the moments when time seems to stand still, we get a glimpse of
what is possible. These moments are so rewarding that they are treasured
for a lifetime. When they occur , something is experienced that is very
impressive. Could it be that, beyond the turbulence of the world and our
own mind, there is silence? A realm of peace that is always waiting? CHAPTER
11
A C C E P T A N C E
In acceptance, we enjoy the experience of harmony . W e feel as though
events are flowing. W e feel secure. W e can be of service to others without a
feeling of self-sacrifice. There is the feeling: “I’m okay ,” “Y ou’re okay ,”
and “It’ s okay .” It is a feeling of belonging, connectedness, fullness, loving,
understanding, and the feeling of being understood. It is a feeling of caring,
warmth, and self-worth. Because of the security of this state, we can allow
ourselves to be soft, mellow , and natural. There is joy , and we feel “in tune”
and relaxed. There is the feeling that it’ s all right just to be ourselves. Everything Is Perfect As It Is
In the state of acceptance, there is the feeling that nothing needs to be
changed. Everything is perfect and beautiful the way it is. The world is to
be enjoyed. There is compassion for others and for all living things. In this
state we are automatically nurturing and supportive of others without any
feeling of sacrifice. Because of the inner security and feeling of abundance,
there is generosity and ease of giving, with no expectation of return or
record keeping, such as, “Here’ s what I am doing for you.” When we are in
a state of acceptance, we love our friends instead of being critical, and we
are willing to love them in spite of their limitations, which we willingly
overlook. The way people appear to us from this space is that everyone is
actually doing the best they can with what they have at the moment. W e seethat all of life is evolving towards its perfection, and we are in sync with the
laws of the universe and consciousness. In this state we really begin to understand love. On the level of
acceptance, love is experienced as a stable state, a permanent condition of a
relationship. The source of love is seen to be within ourselves, emanating
from our own nature and reaching out to include others. In the state of
desire, by contrast, we speak of being “in love,” as the source of happiness
and love is thought to be outside of ourselves. When we are in the lower
ener gy level of desire, we are looking to be loved. It seems to be something
we “get.” On the level of acceptance, however , our lovingness radiates out
naturally from the essence of our being, because many of the blocks to its
awareness have been surrendered. W e discover that this lovingness is our inner nature and that it appears
spontaneously and automatically when the blocks are removed. This is what
the great teachers mean by our true inner essence, our true Self. It is the aim
of our inner Self to transcend the ego, that composite of all our negative
feelings, programs, and thoughts, so that we are able to experience the inner
essential nature. There are many pathways that carry us to the state of acceptance, and
this is the gateway which leads eventually to the next highest states,
described as the consciousness levels of love and peace. T o many people
who have been surrendering for periods of time, this ultimate objective
progressively supersedes all others. T o dwell in states of unconditional love
and imperturbable peace becomes the inner aim, more important than any
other achievement. Acceptance of Self and Others
On the level of acceptance, because of the major change in the way we
perceive others, we now become aware of the inner innocence behind the
frantic, fear -driven struggles that have obscured it in ourselves and in our
neighbors, friends, and family . The great teachers have said that the
negativity which we see in a person or in society is really due to blindness,
ignorance, and unconsciousness. This inner innocence, once it is perceived
in others, is also perceived in ourselves. All that we did was done because
we just didn’ t know any better at the time. If we had known a better way at
the time, we would have done it that way . “It seemed like a good idea at thetime,” we say . W e see that same blindness operating in others, and we can
look past their character defects and see the innocent child within. Once we see our innocence, there is an identification with others and a
loss of feeling alone and stressed. W e are able to see innocence even behind
the most rash and apparently horrible behaviors. W e look inside a person
and see the frightened animal that just doesn’ t know any better . W e are
aware that, if cornered, it will surely attack us and bite. It just doesn’ t
realize that our intentions are peaceful, and so it flails out wildly . In the state of acceptance, it is possible to for give our own past, as well
as that of others, and to heal past resentments. It is also possible to see the
hidden gift in past events about which we have been resentful—including
their possible karmic significance. From this level, it is possible to create a
dif ferent context from which to view the past and thereby heal it. W ith the
final completion of the level of acceptance, we feel secure about the future
and can move on to the levels of love and peace. Reason and logic become
tools for the fulfillment of that potential. Another characteristic of the level of acceptance is that we are no
longer concerned with moralistic judgment, with “good” and “bad.” It just
becomes obvious what works and what doesn’ t work. It is easy to see what
is destructive and what is optimal, without judging anything as “evil.”
There is the elimination of guilt, which accompanies all judgments against
others and ourselves. W e then see the meaning of the statement, “Judge not,
lest ye be judged.”
In acceptance, we have let go of the inner guilt-monger that found fault
with even our most basic human drives. W e can enjoy our physicality
without moralistic aversion or compulsive self-gratification. W e accept that
others have come to their understanding of life and their ethical views in a
way that makes sense to them, even if their beliefs and behaviors are quite
dif ferent from ours. When we see the innocence in everyone, we can truly
fulfill “loving our neighbor as ourselves,” and, thus, letting go has allowed
us to reach a lofty goal without even the conscious attempt to do so. The level of acceptance is characterized by the attitude of selflessness
and service. This results from the surrendering of the negative feelings that
create the small self, which removes our identification with it. Instead, inner
harmony and peace are experienced as the nature of our greater Self. Because the negative programs have been relinquished, there is the
emer gence of greater creativity , inspiration, and intuition.There is certainty that our own personal needs will be met; therefore,
there is a shift in relationship so that the focus is on the welfare and
happiness of others. This is facilitated by the fact that, at this level, there is
no longer neediness in the form of dependency on other people, because
there is nothing we feel we need to “get” from them. In a relationship of
loving acceptance, minor imperfections are no longer given serious
importance and are overlooked. In acceptance, there is a decreased preoccupation with “doingness,” a
growing focus on the quality of beingness itself, and the perfection of our
own inner capacity for caring and lovingness. Although negative feelings
may still arise, they are less and less frequent and are handled with greater
ease. In general, functioning is now easy , and the daily activities become
hardly noticeable because of their ef fortlessness. Personal Responsibility
The hallmark of this state is the taking of responsibility for our own
consciousness. Interest in meditation and the various methods of inner
contemplation is common. Spiritual and ethical matters become important. W e may , for instance, attend religious retreats if we are religious, or we may
engage in spiritual or humanitarian endeavors if we are oriented toward
those spheres. The world is seen to be harmonious, and any alteration of that
appearance is realized to be a projection onto it of our own inner conflicts. On this level, there is the awareness that all negative feelings are our own
problem, and there is no longer looking outside of ourselves for their
resolution. There is a seriousness regarding the growth of our own consciousness
and self-awareness, and a focus on honing the quality of that consciousness
itself. On this level, we may begin to develop an interest in the philosophy ,
scientific research, and spiritual classics that explore the highest potential of
human mind and spirit. What becomes increasingly important is what we
are becoming , not what we have or do. On this level, we take on the
challenge of fulfilling our greatest inner potential and nurturing the
potential and dreams of others. If muscle-tested in this state, we test strong; we are relatively immune
to negative influences, such as the weakening vibrations of fluorescent
lights, synthetic fabrics, or artificial sweeteners. There is a strongcommitment to health and wellness, and bettering ourselves on all levels. Health issues are often considered to be problems at the psychological,
emotional, or mental levels, and resources are sought and found which help
to resolve the issues at all of those levels. The power of self-healing is now
available. In acceptance, we are free to be in the present. Once we have accepted
our own true nature and the ways of the universe as they are reflected in our
world, there is no longer regret about the past, nor is there fear of the future. Fear of the future no longer exists when the past has been healed. This is
because in the usual ego-oriented state of consciousness, the ego tends to
project the past upon the future, and a past that is viewed negatively
becomes fearful when projected upon the imaginary future. Our letting go
of the lower ener gies of guilt, fear , anger , and pride has alleviated the
weight of the past and cleared the clouds of the future. W e face today with
optimism and are grateful to be alive. W e see that yesterday is gone,
tomorrow has not yet come, and we have only today . In summary , then, the consciousness level of acceptance is one that we
all long to achieve, for it enables us to find freedom from most of life’ s
problems and to experience fulfillment and happiness. CHAPTER
12
L O V E
On the level of love, we are heartfelt, generous, nurturing, af fectionate,
steadfast, and for giving. Love is protective, collaborative, uplifting, holistic,
and gracious. It is characterized by warmth, gratitude, appreciation,
humility , completion, vision, purity of motive, and sweetness. Love is a way of being. It is the ener gy that radiates when the blocks to
it have been surrendered. It is more than an emotion or a thought—it is a
state of being. Love is what we have become through the pathway of
surrender . It is a way of being in the world that says: “How can I be of help
to you? How can I comfort you? How can I loan you money when you’re
broke? How can I help you find a job? How can I console you when you’ve
suf fered a major loss in your family?” Lovingness is a way through which
we light up the world. Love in Everyday Life
Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the beauty and harmony of
the world by showing kindness to all living things and, thereby , supporting
the human spirit. That which we freely give to life flows back to us because
we are equally part of that life. Like ripples on the water , every gift returns
to the giver . What we af firm in others, we actually af firm in ourselves. Once we become willing to give love, the discovery quickly follows
that we are surrounded by love and merely didn’ t know how to access it. Love is actually present everywhere; its presence only needs to be realized.Love expresses itself in many ways. The little boy memorizes a ditty
taught to him by his father , and he is still able to say it eighty years later . The Navy sailor steers the ship through a terrible typhoon for three days,
nonstop, without food and drink, when all of his shipmates are seasick. The
doctor loves and prays for every patient without their knowing about it. The
mother cleans up the messy pants of a young child with diarrhea, saying,
“Honey , it’ s not your fault; you couldn’ t help it.” The wife gets up early to
make cof fee every morning just the way her husband likes it. The doggie
waits by the door for the owner to return and wags her tail when he comes
through the door . The kitty purrs. The songbird sings. T ypically , people think of love as “romantic” love, as in “Honey” and
“Sweetheart.” But romantic love is only a minor part of a human lifetime. There are many types of love other than personal, romantic love, and they
infuse our everyday experience: love of pets, love of family and friends,
love of freedom, love of purpose, love of country , love of attributes, love of
creation, love as virtue, love as enthusiasm, love as for giveness, love as
acceptance, love as motivator , love as appreciation, love as kindness, love
as essence of relationship, love as group ener gy (for example: Alcoholics
Anonymous), love as admiration, love as respect, love as valor , love as
fraternal bonds of unity (buddies, classmates, shipmates, teammates), love
as friendship, love as loyalty , love as af fection, love as cherishing, love as
self-sacrificing maternal love, love as devotion. “Love is a many splendored thing,” as the popular song goes. Experientially , this statement is true. When we have surrendered all of the
resistances to love and let go of the negative feelings that block love, then
the world is radiant with the splendor of love. On the level of love, this
radiance is no longer hidden from us. Love Heals
Love facilitates healing. It transforms life. W e see this in the true story
about a duck hunter who was suddenly changed by witnessing an act of
love. One day , he was out duck hunting, which he often did for recreation. As per his usual experience, he saw a duck flying, shot it, and watched it
fall to the ground, badly injured. T o his sudden amazement, he watched as
the female mate of the injured duck immediately flew down on top of her
companion and spread her wings over him, to shelter him. Seeing her love,
the heart of a hunter was changed; he never hunted again.Once you become loving, there are certain things you can never do
again. And there are certain things you can do in the ener gy field of love
that are impossible otherwise. Moreover , people do things for you that they
would not do for others. Love makes possible the miraculous without
labeling it “miraculous.” Love has a transfiguring ef fect. Sometimes, it is best not to tell people that you love them because
they’ll get scared and think that you have designs on them or you want
something from them. Frankly , some people are afraid and suspicious of
love; therefore, you love such people without telling them. Lovingness is a
way of being that transforms everything around you because of the
radiation of that ener gy . It happens of its own. W e don’ t have to “do”
anything, and we don’ t have to call it anything. Love is the ener gy that
silently transfigures every situation. This means that people who are hateful will, in our presence, suddenly
become willing to for give others. W e can see the person transform right in
front of us. Letting go of anger , they might say , “W ell, there’ s no reason to
be so mad at him … he’ s too young to know better .” They will find an
excuse to defend the person, instead of attacking him. Love empowers us,
and the people around us, to do things that we would not be capable of
otherwise. For giveness is an aspect of love that allows us to see life events from
the viewpoint of grace. W e for give ourselves for the errors we made when
we were less evolved. It is helpful to see the ego or small part of ourselves
as a cute little teddy bear . The teddy bear is not “bad”; we don’ t hate or
scold the little bear . W e love it and accept it for what it is: a cute little
animal who doesn’ t know any better . W e transcend the smaller aspects of
ourselves by accepting and loving them. W e see the ego as “limited,” not
“bad.”
In the ener gy field of love, we are surrounded with love, and that brings
gratitude. W e are thankful for our life and for all the miracles of life. W e are
thankful for the doggies and the kitties, because they represent love. W e are
grateful for every act of kindness from others, their af fection, caringness,
and thoughtfulness. Eventually , we just become love. Everything we do and say , every
movement we make, is ener gized by the lovingness that we have owned
within ourselves. Whether speaking to a lar ge audience or petting the dog,
the ener gy of love is felt to be pouring out. W e want to share what we holdin the heart as an experiential knowingness, and we hold it in the heart for
everyone and everything, that they would be feeling it, too. W e pray for that
inner experience of infinite love for everyone around us, including the
animals. Our life is a blessing to everything around us. W e acknowledge to
others and to our animals the gift that they are to us. Love emanates from the heart. When we are in the presence of people
who love each other , we pick up that ener gy . The love of our loved ones,
pets, and friends is the love of Divinity for us. When we go to bed at night,
we give thanks that we were surrounded with love all day . Each moment is
possible only because of love. The writing of this book is possible only
because of love. In the state of love, we wake up every morning and give thanks for
another day of life, and we seek to make life better for everyone around us. Because of the presence of love, things go better; the eggs get fried better;
the ducky gets saved; the kitty gets fed; and the doggie is adopted from the
pound and brought home. W e share our love with everything around us, all
forms of life: kitties, doggies, other people, all living things . Y es, even the
villains. If it is our job to watch over the captured villain, we seek to make
his life tolerable. W e say , “I’m sorry that I have to hold a gun to your head,
but that’ s my job.” W e try to be as gracious and generous as we can be,
without exception. The more we love, the more we can  love. Love is limitless. Love
begats love. This is why psychiatrists recommend having a pet. A dog, for
example, brings love and expands love in the heart of the owner . Love
prolongs life. In fact, research documents that having a dog extends the
owner ’ s life by ten years! Just think of all the bizarre exercises, diets, and
other regimens that people go through to add relatively small amounts of
time on to their life, when they can simply get a dog and add ten years! Love has a powerful anabolic ef fect. Love increases endorphins, which are
life-enhancing hormones. Y ou live ten years longer with a dog in your life
because a pet dog catalyzes the ener gy of love, and that ener gy of love heals
and prolongs life. The ener gy of love has the capacity to heal our bodies when conditions
are appropriate. On the physical level, because of the prevailing positive
mental state, physical illnesses often resolve themselves. Some diseases
automatically heal without any particular attention being paid to them, and
those that still remain usually respond to consciousness techniques.Persistent illnesses that are unresponsive to treatment are viewed as
karmically , symbolically , or spiritually significant. Overall, there is a
decreasing awareness of the body , which now goes about its business and
seems to take care of itself on its own. W e are no longer identified as  a
body . There is a loss of interest in dealing with health matters on a purely
physical level, and there are times when awareness of the body disappears
altogether , unless we focus on it for some particular reason. Intuitive understanding progressively replaces “thinkingness,” which
begins to disappear . Over time, “thinkingness” and its mental processes are
replaced by spontaneous, intuitive “knowingness.” Logic is bypassed. This
occurs because, at the highest level of vibration, everything in the universe
is connected with everything else. Our understanding unfolds as
“revelation” from this inter -connected field. The knowing is holistic rather
than limited. Because of the inner quiet, we have the ability to perceive the thoughts
and feelings of others on a nonverbal level. Nonverbal communication with
others becomes possible and commonplace. Negative emotions are no
longer experienced because the small self has been transcended, absorbed
into the greater Self. Emotional phenomena are thereby transformed. Loss,
for example, is experienced as transitory disappointment or regret, rather
than as grief. Unconditional Love
By continual surrender , we experience the state of unconditional love
(calibrates at 540), which is rare and occurs in only .04% of the population. This ener gy is miraculous, inclusive, nonselective, transformative,
unlimited, ef fortless, radiant, devotional, saintly , dif fuse, merciful, and
selfless. It is characterized by inner joy , faith, ecstasy , patience, compassion,
persistence, essence, beauty , synchronicity , perfection, surrender , rapture,
vision, and openness. W e relinquish seeing the personal self as a causal
agent. Everything happens ef fortlessly by synchronicity . Joy emanates from the inner subjective experience of our own
existence. The power of the joy is subjective, not stemming from any
source outside of oneself. Thus, the ener gy of motor performance is
inexhaustible. W e may dance with ecstasy all night in a candlelit chapel, as
if being danced by the Source of Life Itself. In that state, the innate
perfection and stunning beauty of all that exists shine forth like a luminousradiance, as the infusion of spiritual ener gy facilitates the transfiguration
from perception to vision, from the linear to the nonlinear , and from the
limited to the unlimited. While functioning in the world is still possible at
the higher vibrations of love (high 500s), we may end up leaving the
ordinary arena of commerce and abandoning our prior social milieu and
occupation. In such states, the “miraculous” is common. What is termed
“supernatural” is seen to occur all of the time, inexplicable by reason, logic,
or cause and ef fect. It is clear that no “person” performs miracles. They
occur spontaneously on their own when conditions are appropriate. The
development of a spiritual ego is avoided by the realization that the
phenomena are a gift from beyond our personal self; we are only the
channels of Love, not its origin. Spiritual progress is known to be the result
of Grace, not the result of our personal endeavors. Gratitude for the state
replaces pride of accomplishment. The process of surrender continues ever
more deeply , as we let go of all doubt, all belief systems, all perceptions, all
positions, all opinions, and all attachments. W e become willing to surrender
all attachments, even attachment to the exquisite state of Ecstasy , which is
beyond description. Out of humility , all opinions about others are surrendered. In a certain
way , nobody can help being other than what they are. Love knows this truth
and takes no position. Love augments the positive about others rather than
their defects. It focuses on life’ s goodness in all of its expressions. Unconditional love is a love that doesn’ t expect anything from others. When we have become loving, we have no limitations or demands on others
that they should be a certain way in order to be loved. W e love them no
matter how they are. Even if they are obnoxious! W e feel sorry for the
criminals that they saw a life of crime as their best option. When love is unconditional, there’ s no attachment, expectation, hidden
agenda, or bookkeeping of who gives what to whom. Our love is
unconditional for whatever we are and whatever they are. It is given
without requirements. No strings are attached. W e don’ t expect anything
back when giving. W e have surrendered all conscious and unconscious
expectations of the other person. Love illuminates the essence of and, therefore, the lovability of others. This is because love opens the heart. Instead of perception, which
perceives, the heart knows . The mind thinks and ar gues, but the heartknows and continues. So even when people make mistakes, we love them. Thoughts tell us one thing, but the heart tells us something else. The mind
can be critical and disagree, but the heart is loving no matter what. The
heart does not put any conditions on what’ s out there. Only the mind does
that. Love makes no demands. A key to making Love unconditional is the willingness to for give. W ith
for giveness, events and people are re-contextualized as simply “limited”—
not “bad” or “unlovable.” W ith humility , we are willing to relinquish our
perception of a past event. W e pray for a miracle to see the truth about the
situation or person, and we surrender all of our opinions about the matter . W e look at the payof fs we’re getting from keeping our perception of what
occurred, and we let go of each little payof f: the pleasure of self-pity , of
“being right,” of being “wronged,” and of our resentments. Eventually , we surrender the very idea of for giveness. T o for give
someone implies that we’re still seeing the person or situation as “wrong”
and, therefore, in need of being for given. T rue surrender means letting go
completely of seeing it in such a way . When we surrender our perception
completely , letting go of all judgment, then the whole situation is
transfigured and we see the person as lovable. Since all judgment is really
self-judgment, we have liberated ourselves in the process. On the level of unconditional love, we love everybody and everything
—even Adolf Hitler . W e look at him as a person who was taken over by
negative ener gies, and we’re willing to for give Hitler , who couldn’ t help
what happened to him. He was overcome by evil. Instead of hating evil, we
feel sorrow and compassion that people have become overwhelmed by such
negativity . Hitler did what he thought he was required to do by honor . That
was his contextualization at the time. He was captured by certain ideals and
beliefs current in his time. Even with Hitler , then, we can see that he was
dedicated, and he thought he was being of service in what he did. In WWII,
the kamikaze pilots were doing what they thought they should be doing for
their country . And even though they were trying to bomb and kill us, it isn’ t
necessary to hate them. W e can respect their willingness to give up their life
for their country . W e can see that everybody who violates the law of Love is
really a victim of some societal belief system or the pressures of the time. OnenessAs the state progresses, all of existence takes on a dif ferent meaning, and
we become aware of the inner beingness and essence of everything, rather
than just its form. Because of this change of perception, the perfection of all
things stands revealed. This experience is outside of time; there is no past or
future. In its highest vibration, love sees no separation between the
individual and the rest of the universe. W e experience total at-oneness with
all things. In this state, the total oneness of all things has a greater sense of
Reality than the ordinary perceptions of the self in the world, and it can
only be described as profound. As the inner shifts occur , our lifestyle may or may not show a change
to the external observer . However , habits and behavior , although they may
appear to be the same, are no longer compulsive or driven. They can often
be dropped, altered, or changed without undue discomfort. On the other
hand, there may indeed be sudden changes in lifestyle, including major
shifts in vocation, because of the change of inner values and expansion of
interests and vision. Now that we are connected to a greater dimension,
there may be an immersion in it through contemplation, meditation, art,
music, movement, reading, writing, teaching, and participation in spiritual
groups with similar objectives. Letting go now becomes more automatic and continuous. Periods of
inner stillness and beauty begin to occur with greater frequency and
duration. These may occur at a very profound level. Oddly , they may follow
episodes of great inner turmoil and struggle. These periods of intense inner
work occur because we can no longer tolerate negativity . Now that we have
greater power of consciousness, we are able to reach down and handle
problems at the deepest levels of consciousness. These may be such
problems as those concerning the source of our identity or concept of self. Breakthroughs of great serenity and peace may also occur after
prolonged periods of continual surrender , as seen in the following example. At one point, being in a state of constant joy , an event occurred which
brought to awareness a conflict that stemmed from the deepest way in
which we can relate to others. It was dif ficult to look at and experience out,
but because the prevailing state had so much high ener gy to it, it was
possible to let the inner conflict come up and let it run its course, to be
resolved once and for all. It ran for ten solid days, unceasingly , and for that
period of time, the approach was to surrender constantly the conflict and let
it go without trying to alter it in any way . For a while, the inner conflictseemed as if it would be unending; however , previous experience with the
surrender process had confirmed that every feeling sooner or later runs out,
if we just keep letting it go. Moving temporarily to a small cabin in the middle of the woods
intensified the process because there were no other distractions. Then the
source of the conflict deepened and even more painful feelings came up in
full force. There was a great deal of inner turmoil, at times almost agony
and despair . Determined not to give up or allow a block in the flow of the
process, finally , the bottom of the pit was reached and up came black
despair of overwhelming intensity . In spite of this, there was the knowing
that everything would be okay , because the primary identification was not
with the despair but with the surrendering itself. Finally , all of the resistance to the despair was totally and completely
let go. Instantly it vanished. The despair , which had been overwhelming and
nearly unbearable, vanished in an instant! In its place, there was profound
peace beyond description. It was infinite in its dimension, curiously
powerful and totally unassailable. There was a profound inner stillness, and
all perception of time stopped. Instead of “time,” there was only the motion
of the phenomena of the world occurring. The next day the experience
continued and, in fact, was even stronger . Then, out of curiosity , there was a re-entry into the world to see what it
would be like to experience ordinary life from this state of consciousness. Even while walking down Fifth A venue in New Y ork City , the same
profound stillness, harmony , and peace prevailed. This pervasive peace and
stillness seemed to underlie all of the superficial chaos, noise, and
confusion of the city . It was as though the power and strength of that
dimension of stillness was the power that enabled it all to happen and held
it all together in one continuous unity .
_OceanofPDF.com_Letting_Go_-_David_R_Hawkins.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        W e can recognize our proneness to pain by looking at the kind of
reactions we are hoping to elicit from others by our choices and behavior. This includes mannerisms, expressions, style of dress, the kind of
possessions we choose, the brand name of car we drive, the kind of home
we have, the address at which we live, the schools we have attended or
which our children attend, or the labels on the products we buy. In fact, if
we look at our current society, we see to what an absurd degree this
pridefulness has taken place. Labels are now worn on the outside of many
clothes and personal articles. It hasn’ t reached the level of rakes and shovels
yet, but it could sooner or later. Nobody has thought of it yet, but we could
all carry around rakes and shovels ostentatiously with designer names
emblazoned upon them. This points to another one of the drawbacks of pride: the exploitability
to which it exposes us. Pridefulness means that we can be manipulated with
great ease. In return for an absurdity, a great deal of money is lifted out of
our pocketbooks. The situation is currently comical in that people take great
pride in how much they have been exploited. It is a current status symbol
among certain circles to brag about how much one has paid for certain
things. When we remove the glamour from it, we might say that the personwas sort of stupid. They really got suckered in or was naïve and just didn’ t
know any better. The pride of snobbishness is probably the most supercilious of all. Does ostentation really impress. Actually, no. The response that we see is
one of fascination. People get a char ge out of the superficial glamour, but
underneath they do not truly respect it, because they know what it really is. When we settle for the pridefulness of ostentation, we impress no one. This dynamic revealed itself during a trip to Canada to visit the home
of a wealthy individual who subtly conveyed the price tag of his many
possessions. On the same trip, malnourished Canadian Indian children were
seen playing around the huge grain elevators that were filled to
overflowing, the grain being held there to manipulate a higher world price
through artificial creation of a shortage. As this wealthy person talked of his
possessions, images of the children with their thin little legs flashed to
mind. Far from being impressed with his wealth, there was sorrow for his
sense of values and compassion for the lack of self-worth that forced him to
compensate in such a pathetic superficiality. Does that mean that we cannot take pleasure in expensive possessions. No, not at all. What we are talking about is pride. The problem is not that
we have possessions, but that we have a prideful, possessive, and self-
congratulatory attitude about them. It is the attitude of pride that creates the
space for fear. The same wealthy man in Canada mentioned above also had
an expensive bur glar alarm system. Pride, like all the other negative
emotions, engenders guilt. Guilt engenders fear. Fear means potential loss. Pride, therefore, always means a loss of peace of mind. The opposite of prideful acquisitiveness is simplicity. Simplicity does
not mean poverty of possessions; rather, it is a state of mind. Another
individual is worth millions of dollars, and she holds title to vast estates and
possessions. Y et, as a person, she represents absolute simplicity. Her
possessions reflect what the world has brought to her, and she takes joy in
their beauty. Consequently, never a single criticism is made of her, nor do
others express envy. It is not what we have that matters, but how we hold it, how we frame
it in our consciousness, and its meaning to us. Incidentally, this woman’ s
entire estate is totally devoid of bur glar alarms or watchdogs. In fact, when
this was brought to her attention, she replied, “Oh, heavens. If somebody
really needed something that much, they could have it. ” There was acorrespondence between the fact that nobody ever stole anything from her
and the fact that she was willing to share with others. Her invulnerability to
theft was related to her lack of pridefulness about her possessions. Possessiveness and attachment occur as a consequence of pride. Attachment is, therefore, a potential cause for suf fering, because attachment
brings about fear of loss and, with loss, we go back into apathy, depression,
and grief. If we are prideful of a car and somebody steals it, we will
experience anguish, pain, and suf fering. If, instead, we loosely hold the car
(emotionally speaking), and we enjoy its beauty and perfection and we feel
grateful for having it, its loss will bring about only minor disappointment. Gratitude is one of the antidotes of pride. If we happen to be born with
a high IQ, we can be grateful for it rather than take pride in it. It’ s not an
accomplishment; we were born with it. If we are grateful for what has been
given us and for what has been fulfilled through our God-given talents and
endeavors, then we are in a peaceful state of mind and invulnerable to pain. It is a comical curiosity of the human mind to watch how it attaches
pride to anything that is prefixed by the word “mine. ” W e can have absurd
pride over the most trivial things and, once we see the comedy of that, it is
not too dif ficult to let go of the pride involved. Some people, ironically, have the vulnerability of reverse snobbery. They take pride in “bar gains” and thrift store conquests. Their personal
opinion of people who pay excessive prices for things is that they are sheep
to be sheared and they rehearse the quote, “A fool is soon parted from his
money. ” In this thrift store snobbery crowd, the status symbol is the
incredible bar gain. In fact, they are often in competition with each other to
see who will find the best bar gains. It is funny to observe that an article of
clothing hanging in a thrift shop has no value at all until it becomes “mine. ”
Instantly, great value is attached to it. The dif ficult side of prefixing things with the word “mine” is the pride
that goes with that sense of ownership. This makes us feel called upon to
defend everything we label as “mine. ” W e can reduce our vulnerability by
letting go of the desire to possess; instead of saying “mine,” we can use the
word “a. ” Not “my” shirt, but “a” shirt. Thus, we will notice that, if we
view one of our thoughts as “an opinion” instead of “my opinion,” the
feeling tone changes. Why do people get so hot under the collar about their
opinions. It is just because of that sense of “mine. ” If opinions are viewedinstead as “only an opinion,” then there is no longer the vulnerability to
prideful anger. Opinions
If we look at opinions, we will see that they are a dime a dozen. Everybody
on the street has thousands of opinions on thousands of subjects, and their
opinions change from moment to moment and are vulnerable to every
passing whim of fashion, propaganda, and faddism. T oday’ s “in” opinion is
tomorrow’ s “out” opinion. This morning’ s opinion is passé by afternoon. W e can ask ourselves: “Do I want to spread out my vulnerability to attack
by so extensively identifying with all these passing thoughts and calling
them ‘mine’. ” Everybody has an opinion on everything. So what. When
we look at the true quality of opinions, we will stop giving them as much
value. If we look back on our life, we will see that every mistake we ever
made was based on an opinion. W e become much less vulnerable if we put our thoughts, ideas, and
beliefs, which are all opinions, into a dif ferent context. W e can view them
as ideas that we like or dislike. Some thoughts give us pleasure, and so we
like them. Just because we like them today doesn’ t mean we have to go to
war over them. W e like a concept so long as it serves us and we are getting
enjoyment out of it. Of course, we discard it quite readily when it is no
longer a source of pleasure. When we look at our opinions, we will see that
it is primarily our emotions that are giving them any value in the first place. Instead of feeling pride about our thoughts, what is wrong with just
loving them. Why not just love a certain concept because of its beauty,
because of its inspirational quality, or because of its serviceability. If we
view our thoughts that way, we no longer need the pride of being “right. ” If
we hold the same view of our likes and dislikes, we are no longer prone to
ar gumentativeness. For instance, if we love the music of a certain
composer, we no longer need to defend it. W e might hope that our
companion would also love it but, if not, the worst that we can feel is mild
disappointment at not being able to share something that we personally
value and enjoy. If we try this, we will find that people no longer attack our likes and
dislikes and concepts. Instead of defensiveness, what they are getting from
us now is appreciation. They understand that we appreciate certain things,
and that is why we think the way we do. But they will no longer criticize orattack us. The worst we will get is perhaps a kidding or a quizzical attitude. Where pride is absent, attack is also absent. This is very valuable in those areas, such as politics and religion, which
are so historically prone to elicit ar gument that they are tactically bypassed
in polite society. W e will find that if we love our religion, whatever it might
be, no one will attack us. If we are prideful, however, we will have to avoid
the entire subject, because anger will quickly arise as a by-product of the
pride. When we truly value something, we lift it aloft out of the demeaning
tar get range of ar gument. That which we truly cherish and revere is protected by our own
reverence. If we tell somebody that we do something because we get
enjoyment out of it, there is really nothing much they can say about it, is
there. If we infer that we do it because we are right  in doing it, we will
instantly see their hackles go up because they, also, have an opinion on
what is right. Our values are preferences. W e hold them because we love them, enjoy
them, and get pleasure from them. If we hold them in that context, we will
be left in peace to enjoy them. The reason that pride arouses attack is because of the inference of
being “better than,” which is part and parcel of pride. W e see many people
with dietary regimens about which they are prideful; consequently, they are
in constant ar guments over the rightness of their dietary regimens and
nutritional opinions. They even try to impose their regimens on family
members and friends, touting the moral or health superiority of their dietary
practice. In contrast, there are people who follow the same regimens
because they enjoy doing so, because it makes them feel better, or because
it fulfills certain spiritual disciplines; consequently, they are never heard to
be in ar gument, because they have nothing to defend. If someone tells us
that they eat the way they eat because they enjoy it, there is nothing much
we can say about it, is there. If, on the other hand, they infer that theirs is
the right way of eating and, by inference, that ours is wrong, what they are
really saying is that they are better than we are. That always arouses
resentment. If we don’ t take a prideful stance about our opinions, then we are at
liberty to change them. How often have we gotten stuck in performing
something we really didn’ t want to do, because we had foolishly taken a
prideful stance on an opinion. V ery often we would like to have changedour mind or the direction in which we were going, but we got ourselves
boxed in by having taken a prideful position. That brings up one of the resistances to surrendering pride, and that is
pride itself. In the prideful position, one of the underlying problems is fear. W e fear that, if we change our position in a certain matter, the opinion of
others about us will be adversely af fected. One reason for the need for humility about our opinions is because our
opinions change as we get deeper and deeper into any given subject or
situation. What seems to be so, upon superficial examination, often turns
out to be quite dif ferent when we really get into it. This, of course, is to the
dismay of the politician who makes promises based on fantasies of what is
possible. But as he assumes power, he finds that matters are quite dif ferent
than he had thought. The problems are far more complex. The situation is
really due to the net ef fect of many powerful forces in society. All that
politicians can truly promise us is that they will use the best possible
judgment for the good of all, as they get deeper into each matter. This evolutionary aspect of life is really all that any of us can promise
ourselves, and this self-knowledge will protect us from disillusionment. This is the safety of the “open mind” position or what is called “beginner ’ s
mind” in Zen practice. When we are open-minded, we are admitting that we
are not in possession of all the facts, and we are ready to change our
opinions as the situation unfolds. In this way, we do not box ourselves into
the pain of defending lost causes. This is very true even in areas we think are based on strictly factual and
observable data, such as the field of science. Actually, science deals with
hypotheses, and scientific opinion is constantly in the process of flux and
change. Scientific opinion, much to the surprise of laypersons, is also
subject to fads, passing popularity, paradigm blindness, and political
pressure. For instance, in the field of psychiatry, the subject of the
relationship between nutrition, blood chemistry, brain function, and mental
illness was not popular in the past. The scientists and clinicians who worked
in this area found themselves in the “out” group. As time passed and it
proved that there was value in this field of investigation, popular scientific
opinion changed. Important discoveries were made, and whole industries
came into being to provide products which utilized the basic findings of the
relationship between nutrition and brain function. The subject is now
accepted as respectable, so clinicians and scientists can do research in thatarea and be accepted as part of the “in” group. Pride, therefore, is also
responsible for holding up scientific progress (e. g. , global warming
theories). Pride blinds us to many things that would be profoundly beneficial; to a
prideful mind, to accept them would be inferring that we are wrong. The
more inwardly powerful we really are, the more flexible we become, so that
we are open to all that is beneficial. Pride prevents us from seeing that
which is totally obvious. People die by the thousands because of pride. They literally give up their health and life itself. Addicts and alcoholics will
go to their death because of the denial inherent in pride: “Other people have
the problem—not me. ” Pride prevents us from recognizing our own
limitations and accepting the help we need to overcome them. Our
pridefulness isolates us. When we let go of pride, help comes into our life to address the
problems with which we are struggling. W e can experiment and prove the
truth of that principle by picking one area in which we are having dif ficulty
and thoroughly surrendering all the pride involved. When we do that, some
surprising things begin to happen. Letting go of pride unlocks the door to
our receiving that which is the most beneficial to us. Are we willing to let
go of pride and feeling superior to others. When we are willing to let go of
the pseudo-security of pride, we experience the real security that comes
with courage, self-acceptance, and joy. CHAPTER
10
C O U R A G E
The hallmark of courage is the knowledge and feeling, “I can. ” It is a
positive state in which we feel assured, skillful, adequate, capable, alive,
loving and giving, with an overall zest for life. W e are capable of humor,
activity, confidence, and clarity. In this state, we feel centered, balanced,
flexible, happy, independent, and self-suf ficient. W e can be inventive,
creative, and open. In courage, there is a lot of ener gy, action, letting go,
capacity to “be there,” to be spontaneous, resilient, resourceful, and
cheerful. In this state, we can be very ef fective in the world. The Courage to Let Go
The level of courage is very helpful in the mechanism of surrender. In
courage, we know: “I can look at my feelings”; “I don’ t have to be afraid of
my feelings anymore”; “I can handle them”; “I can take responsibility for
them”; “I can learn how to accept them and be free from them”; “I am
willing to take risks, to let go of old points of view and to explore new
ones”; “I am willing to be joyous and share my experience with others”; “I
experience myself as willing and able. ”
It is often easy to jump from any of the lower feelings up to courage
merely by af firming our courage to look at and handle our feelings. The
mere willingness to look at and begin to handle them increases our self-
esteem. If, for instance, we have a fear and are unwilling to look at it, then
we feel diminished and our self-esteem is lowered. If we are willing to look
at that fear, examine it, acknowledge its presence, see how it has inhibitedour life, and begin to surrender it, then our self-esteem increases, whether
the fear disappears or not. W e all know that it takes courage to face fear. W e champion the people
who face their fear and attempt to do something about it. Such courage is
one of the characteristics of nobility and makes a person truly great. Despite
all of their negative programming and despite all of their fear, courageous
people go forward in life, with no guarantee and not even the knowledge
that things are going to get better. So courage increases our self-respect and
brings to us the respect of others. W e no longer need to feel ashamed. Let’ s look at the example of a man who suf fered from a lifelong terror
of heights. He had worked on being free of the fear for several years and it
had gotten much better, but there was still plenty of it left. This was evident
when he went to the Grand Canyon with a friend. At first, he stood back
about six feet from the ledge. In previous years, he wouldn’ t have gone
within a block of it. Now he stood there, hesitantly. The friend took his
hand, saying, “Come on over to the edge with me. ” And so he did. He kept
surrendering on the fear as he walked forward and found that he could
actually stand right next to the edge, although admittedly, not without still
feeling considerable discomfort. When they left the edge of the canyon, the
friend looked at him approvingly and said, “W ell, at least you did it. I know
how much courage that took. ” Even though he had not totally overcome the
fear, by transcending an inner barrier, he had earned his own self-respect
and the respect of others. When we have these breakthrough experiences, we begin to perceive
our fear dif ferently and we stop being ashamed of it. W e stop allowing it to
invalidate our true worth. It increases our inner strength and our self-
approval. In due time, the underlying fears which require courage to
overcome diminish to the point that we move on to acceptance. Self-Empowerment
On the level of courage, the emphasis is on doing. W e already know that we
are capable of providing for our own needs and for those of others, and we
know that, if we are willing to put forth the ef fort, we can obtain what we
want. Thus, people on the level of courage are the doers of the world. Because we can only give away what we ourselves already have, people on
the level of courage are able to be supportive and encouraging of others. This is because they are able to give as well as receive, and there is a
balance between giving and receiving that occurs naturally. The levels of consciousness up to this point are concerned primarily
with gain. Now, on the level of courage, there is greater power and ener gy. W e have the ability to give to others, because other people are no longer
being looked at primarily as a means of help, survival, or support. When we
are in the state of courage, we sense our own inner power, strength, and
self-worth. W e know that we have the capacity to make a dif ference in the
world, not just gain something from it for ourselves. Because of the inner
self-confidence, we are much less concerned with security. The emphasis is
no longer on what people have, but upon what they do, and have become. W ith courage, there is the willingness to take chances and to let go of
former securities. There is the willingness to grow and benefit from new
experiences. This involves the capacity to admit mistakes without indulging
in guilt and self-recrimination. Our sense of self-worth is not diminished by
looking at areas that need improvement. W e are able to admit the presence
of problems without being diminished. As a result, ener gy, time, and ef fort
are put into self-improvement. On this level, statements of intention and purpose are much more
powerful and envisioned results tend to manifest. W e are much more
enterprising and creative, because our ener gies are not drained by the
constant preoccupation with emotional or physical survival. Because of
greater flexibility, there is a willingness to examine issues with a view to
changing overall meaning and context. There is a willingness to risk
shifting paradigms. A paradigm is a whole worldview, and it is only limited by what we
view as possible. As old ways of looking at things are challenged, our
worldview begins to stretch and expand. That which was previously
considered to be impossible becomes possible and eventually is experienced
as a new dimension of reality. There is the capacity to look within ourselves
to examine our belief systems, ask questions, and seek new solutions. On
the level of courage, we are willing to take self-improvement courses, learn
consciousness techniques, and risk the journey within to seek our own true
Self, the inner reality. There is a willingness to experience uncertainty,
periods of confusion, and temporary upset because, underneath the
temporary discomfort, we have a long-term transcendent goal. The mind
that is operating on the level of courage makes such statements as: “I canhandle it”; “W e’ll make it”; “The job will get done”; “W e can see this
through”; “All things shall pass. ”
If we test a person’ s muscle strength with kinesiology when in the state
of courage, the level of “I can handle it,” they will test positive and remain
strong to our challenge. Although there is still vulnerability to negative
thoughts or ener gies—such as those that emanate from fluorescent lights or
artificial sweeteners—the bio-ener gy field is more radiant than that of the
lower, negative states. Because courage is a stronger, more resilient ener gy
field, physical illnesses are less likely to be a predominant aspect of life. There may be chronic residuals of illnesses that originated from the lower
levels of consciousness, but they are generally not stabilized. In courage,
there is an overall sense of strength and well-being. A war eness of Others
The lifestyle on this level shows a balance of work, enjoyment, and love. There is not the necessity for over -ambition or “workaholism,” although
people on the level of courage are capable of considerable ener gy output if
the situation requires it. Because of the letting go of so much negativity,
there is a desire and a capacity to love and to have loving relationships. These now assume equal importance with ef forts toward survival. There is
vocational security, and in the work area there is concern for the welfare of
others. People on this level characteristically state that they want jobs which
will be of some benefit to the world. They want to feel that there is more
meaning to their job than just a salary. Personal growth is important, and
there is the awareness on this level that our life is either positively or
negatively influencing those around us. On the lower levels of consciousness, which are characterized by
egotism, there is so much concern with self-gain that there is little ener gy or
thought given to our ef fect on others. On the level of courage, we no longer
identify solely with the small self. The world is no longer seen as the
depriving or punishing bad parent. Instead, the world is seen as challenging
and presenting opportunities for growth, development, and new
experiences. Thus, this level is characterized by optimism and the feeling
that with the correct facts, education, and orientation, sooner or later most
problems can be worked out satisfactorily. The lower levels limit our consciousness to personal concern, but on
this level social issues become important, and ener gy is expended to helpovercome social problems and to be helpful to those less fortunate. Therefore, generosity becomes possible, not just financially, but also in a
generosity of attitude. Pleasure is derived from the championing of causes
and from supporting the endeavors of others. This ener gy creates new jobs,
businesses, industries, and political and scientific solutions. Education,
although not always in the academic sense, becomes important. On the level of courage, we really start becoming conscious. It dawns
on us that we have the freedom and the capacity to choose. W e no longer
have to be the victim, and freedom in the psychological, emotional, and
spiritual sense is possible. Therefore, much less rigidity is present, and
because of flexibility and the capacity of concern and genuine love for
others, people on this level make good parents, bosses, employees, and
citizens. There is a capacity to put ourselves in another ’ s place and a concern for
the feelings of others, as well as their overall welfare. Although the lower
negative feelings still tend to occur, they do not predominate or determine
one’ s lifestyle; that is, we do it even though we’re scared. People on this
level are the backbone of the country. They are the people we turn to when
it is necessary to do so for the common good. They are dependable and can
be counted on because of their willingness to accept responsibility. On this
level, there is a social conscience and humanitarianism. As the basis of
moral decisions, guilt takes a back seat to the welfare of others. It is from this level that we get such sayings as, “Success breeds
success. ” Because of adequate functioning, there is positive feedback,
which reinforces confidence and allows greater self-exploration as well as
exploration of the world. Although ef fort is still required to accomplish
goals, it is much less than on the lower levels. There is greater satisfaction
and gratification because there is greater reward with less ef fort than that
which would be required to overcome fear. There is much greater capacity
not only to seek help, but to be able to utilize it and benefit from it. Money is used in a much more constructive manner, and there is
concern with how the expenditures will af fect the lives of others. Money is
not spent solely for self-gratification, self-aggrandizement, or self-
fortification; rather, it is seen as a tool for accomplishment. This level is the one at which true spiritual awareness becomes
possible. Because of the emer gence from egotism and the relinquishment of
the identification with the small self, there is an experiencing of higherener gies and the hope of increased awareness. On the lower levels, God is
viewed from the emotional coloration of that level. Thus, in apathy, the
whole relationship with God is hopeless, if it can be considered at all. On
the level of grief, one feels hopelessly separated from any help from God. When overcome with guilt, the person feels undeserving of any relationship
with God, and punishment is expected rather than love. On the level of fear,
the fear may be so great that the problem of God cannot even be faced, so
that the subject is blotted out of consciousness, and God is viewed as
fearful, punishing, avenging, jealous, and angry. On the level of anger, God
is viewed as depriving, arbitrary, capricious, and failing. On the level of
pride, there is egotism about one’ s religious or spiritual position,
characterized by rigidity, inflexibility, intolerance, proneness to exclusivity,
bigotry, clannishness, religious ar gumentation, and warring. On the level of courage, we are willing to take responsibility for our
religious or spiritual position. The increased awareness often results in the
emer gence of the spiritual seeker, and the pursuit of truth in its religious or
spiritual sense truly awakens. This may result in a reaf firmation of our
previous position, but now from a totally new viewpoint—that of choice. It
may bring about changes, which may be either slow and gradual, or sudden. On this level, there is the awakening of consciousness and the realization
that our beliefs and views are now a result of our choice, not just a result of
previous blind programming. There is a search for meaning, and this may
occur on the level of ethics and humanitarianism rather than in the area
specifically denoted as formal religion. W e investigate our social function
and role in the world, and we inquire as to the value of our lives, not only to
ourselves but also to others. Carl Jung said that the healthy personality is equally balanced between
work, play, love, and an aspect of personality called spirituality, which we
could also define as the search for meaning and value. These investigations
bring inner upsets but also moments of acceptance and peace. There are
moments of intuitive understanding which beckon us on to continue the
quest, to find out if there is anything beyond just the physical and material
world and its ever -changing phenomena. This level of consciousness is a good one from which to look at and let
go of more negative feelings. On this level, we have the ener gy, capacity,
self-confidence, and willingness to acquire know-how and under go the
necessary steps of learning. On this level, there is a desire for self-improvement and the realization that better states of mind are possible. The
level of courage knows that it is not necessary to endure the pain and
suf fering of the negative emotions or their interference with the
satisfactions of life. In courage, we are no longer willing to pay the cost of negativity. W e
are concerned about the ef fects of our negative feelings on the welfare of
others with whom we are closely associated. Most people who have learned
the letting go technique will continue to use it until they have reached this
level of consciousness. On this level, their major life problems are now
under control. They are experiencing vocational satisfaction and success. Material wants are supplied. Major problems in relationships have
straightened out. They are no longer consciously experiencing pain and
suf fering, and there is satisfaction from having grown and developed in
certain areas. When we are comfortable, there is a temptation to stop using the
technique and only resume it in emer gency situations, or when negative
feelings again become painful and necessitate our attention. However, there
is more yet to be had. Because there is always a feeling going on which can
be surrendered, the continuation of the process will lead to greater and
greater benefits. Continual surrender will bring about constant, subtle changes,
especially on the levels of subtle awareness in our capacity for love. Previously, we had likened the radiation of love, which stems from our
higher aspect, to the ener gy of the sunlight. W e noted that, as the dark
clouds of negativity are removed, this ener gy and our capacity to accept it
and radiate it outward, increases progressively. On the level of courage, our capacity to love is now much stronger, and
it has the power to support and encourage others, lending strength to that
which is positive and constructive in them. Assisting their development
brings us the pleasure of watching their growth and their increasing
happiness. This capacity within us can grow ever stronger. It can become
ever more powerful and self-rewarding as well as more beneficial to others. W e can utilize courage to reinforce our desire to grow beyond our
present state, because on this level, we are already getting inklings that
there is something within us that we had hitherto unsuspected. These are
indicated by those sudden episodes of perfect stillness and peace in which
we have great clarity, understanding, and heightened sensitivity to beauty. W e discover that it was thr ough  the music—and not because of it—that
we experience our mind going suddenly still, and, in that moment of
stillness, we were allowed to experience a greater dimension. There may be
fleeting seconds in which we feel a complete identification and oneness
with others, as though there were no separation. These are the moments of breaking through into the experiencing of
our real inner Self. The memory of those moments is never for gotten. When
they first start to happen, we don’ t know what they mean. W e think they are
“accidental. ” “Just due to chance. ” W e attribute the feeling to external
events such as the beauty of a sunset, a symphonic passage, or a loving
gesture. But, as we investigate further, we find that these were only the
circumstances that allowed something else to happen. They were not the
cause. They allowed a certain stillness of the mind to take place, and
because of that stillness, we were allowed a moment in which we were able
to experience something other than the chatter of our own mind with its
incessant, restless play of sensations, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and
memories. In the moments when time seems to stand still, we get a glimpse of
what is possible. These moments are so rewarding that they are treasured
for a lifetime. When they occur, something is experienced that is very
impressive. Could it be that, beyond the turbulence of the world and our
own mind, there is silence. A realm of peace that is always waiting. CHAPTER
11
A C C E P T A N C E
In acceptance, we enjoy the experience of harmony. W e feel as though
events are flowing. W e feel secure. W e can be of service to others without a
feeling of self-sacrifice. There is the feeling: “I’m okay,” “Y ou’re okay,”
and “It’ s okay. ” It is a feeling of belonging, connectedness, fullness, loving,
understanding, and the feeling of being understood. It is a feeling of caring,
warmth, and self-worth. Because of the security of this state, we can allow
ourselves to be soft, mellow, and natural. There is joy, and we feel “in tune”
and relaxed. There is the feeling that it’ s all right just to be ourselves. Everything Is Perfect As It Is
In the state of acceptance, there is the feeling that nothing needs to be
changed. Everything is perfect and beautiful the way it is. The world is to
be enjoyed. There is compassion for others and for all living things. In this
state we are automatically nurturing and supportive of others without any
feeling of sacrifice. Because of the inner security and feeling of abundance,
there is generosity and ease of giving, with no expectation of return or
record keeping, such as, “Here’ s what I am doing for you. ” When we are in
a state of acceptance, we love our friends instead of being critical, and we
are willing to love them in spite of their limitations, which we willingly
overlook. The way people appear to us from this space is that everyone is
actually doing the best they can with what they have at the moment. W e seethat all of life is evolving towards its perfection, and we are in sync with the
laws of the universe and consciousness. In this state we really begin to understand love. On the level of
acceptance, love is experienced as a stable state, a permanent condition of a
relationship. The source of love is seen to be within ourselves, emanating
from our own nature and reaching out to include others. In the state of
desire, by contrast, we speak of being “in love,” as the source of happiness
and love is thought to be outside of ourselves. When we are in the lower
ener gy level of desire, we are looking to be loved. It seems to be something
we “get. ” On the level of acceptance, however, our lovingness radiates out
naturally from the essence of our being, because many of the blocks to its
awareness have been surrendered. W e discover that this lovingness is our inner nature and that it appears
spontaneously and automatically when the blocks are removed. This is what
the great teachers mean by our true inner essence, our true Self. It is the aim
of our inner Self to transcend the ego, that composite of all our negative
feelings, programs, and thoughts, so that we are able to experience the inner
essential nature. There are many pathways that carry us to the state of acceptance, and
this is the gateway which leads eventually to the next highest states,
described as the consciousness levels of love and peace. T o many people
who have been surrendering for periods of time, this ultimate objective
progressively supersedes all others. T o dwell in states of unconditional love
and imperturbable peace becomes the inner aim, more important than any
other achievement. Acceptance of Self and Others
On the level of acceptance, because of the major change in the way we
perceive others, we now become aware of the inner innocence behind the
frantic, fear -driven struggles that have obscured it in ourselves and in our
neighbors, friends, and family. The great teachers have said that the
negativity which we see in a person or in society is really due to blindness,
ignorance, and unconsciousness. This inner innocence, once it is perceived
in others, is also perceived in ourselves. All that we did was done because
we just didn’ t know any better at the time. If we had known a better way at
the time, we would have done it that way. “It seemed like a good idea at thetime,” we say. W e see that same blindness operating in others, and we can
look past their character defects and see the innocent child within. Once we see our innocence, there is an identification with others and a
loss of feeling alone and stressed. W e are able to see innocence even behind
the most rash and apparently horrible behaviors. W e look inside a person
and see the frightened animal that just doesn’ t know any better. W e are
aware that, if cornered, it will surely attack us and bite. It just doesn’ t
realize that our intentions are peaceful, and so it flails out wildly. In the state of acceptance, it is possible to for give our own past, as well
as that of others, and to heal past resentments. It is also possible to see the
hidden gift in past events about which we have been resentful—including
their possible karmic significance. From this level, it is possible to create a
dif ferent context from which to view the past and thereby heal it. W ith the
final completion of the level of acceptance, we feel secure about the future
and can move on to the levels of love and peace. Reason and logic become
tools for the fulfillment of that potential. Another characteristic of the level of acceptance is that we are no
longer concerned with moralistic judgment, with “good” and “bad. ” It just
becomes obvious what works and what doesn’ t work. It is easy to see what
is destructive and what is optimal, without judging anything as “evil. ”
There is the elimination of guilt, which accompanies all judgments against
others and ourselves. W e then see the meaning of the statement, “Judge not,
lest ye be judged. ”
In acceptance, we have let go of the inner guilt-monger that found fault
with even our most basic human drives. W e can enjoy our physicality
without moralistic aversion or compulsive self-gratification. W e accept that
others have come to their understanding of life and their ethical views in a
way that makes sense to them, even if their beliefs and behaviors are quite
dif ferent from ours. When we see the innocence in everyone, we can truly
fulfill “loving our neighbor as ourselves,” and, thus, letting go has allowed
us to reach a lofty goal without even the conscious attempt to do so. The level of acceptance is characterized by the attitude of selflessness
and service. This results from the surrendering of the negative feelings that
create the small self, which removes our identification with it. Instead, inner
harmony and peace are experienced as the nature of our greater Self. Because the negative programs have been relinquished, there is the
emer gence of greater creativity, inspiration, and intuition. There is certainty that our own personal needs will be met; therefore,
there is a shift in relationship so that the focus is on the welfare and
happiness of others. This is facilitated by the fact that, at this level, there is
no longer neediness in the form of dependency on other people, because
there is nothing we feel we need to “get” from them. In a relationship of
loving acceptance, minor imperfections are no longer given serious
importance and are overlooked. In acceptance, there is a decreased preoccupation with “doingness,” a
growing focus on the quality of beingness itself, and the perfection of our
own inner capacity for caring and lovingness. Although negative feelings
may still arise, they are less and less frequent and are handled with greater
ease. In general, functioning is now easy, and the daily activities become
hardly noticeable because of their ef fortlessness. Personal Responsibility
The hallmark of this state is the taking of responsibility for our own
consciousness. Interest in meditation and the various methods of inner
contemplation is common. Spiritual and ethical matters become important. W e may, for instance, attend religious retreats if we are religious, or we may
engage in spiritual or humanitarian endeavors if we are oriented toward
those spheres. The world is seen to be harmonious, and any alteration of that
appearance is realized to be a projection onto it of our own inner conflicts. On this level, there is the awareness that all negative feelings are our own
problem, and there is no longer looking outside of ourselves for their
resolution. There is a seriousness regarding the growth of our own consciousness
and self-awareness, and a focus on honing the quality of that consciousness
itself. On this level, we may begin to develop an interest in the philosophy,
scientific research, and spiritual classics that explore the highest potential of
human mind and spirit. What becomes increasingly important is what we
are becoming, not what we have or do. On this level, we take on the
challenge of fulfilling our greatest inner potential and nurturing the
potential and dreams of others. If muscle-tested in this state, we test strong; we are relatively immune
to negative influences, such as the weakening vibrations of fluorescent
lights, synthetic fabrics, or artificial sweeteners. There is a strongcommitment to health and wellness, and bettering ourselves on all levels. Health issues are often considered to be problems at the psychological,
emotional, or mental levels, and resources are sought and found which help
to resolve the issues at all of those levels. The power of self-healing is now
available. In acceptance, we are free to be in the present. Once we have accepted
our own true nature and the ways of the universe as they are reflected in our
world, there is no longer regret about the past, nor is there fear of the future. Fear of the future no longer exists when the past has been healed. This is
because in the usual ego-oriented state of consciousness, the ego tends to
project the past upon the future, and a past that is viewed negatively
becomes fearful when projected upon the imaginary future. Our letting go
of the lower ener gies of guilt, fear, anger, and pride has alleviated the
weight of the past and cleared the clouds of the future. W e face today with
optimism and are grateful to be alive. W e see that yesterday is gone,
tomorrow has not yet come, and we have only today. In summary, then, the consciousness level of acceptance is one that we
all long to achieve, for it enables us to find freedom from most of life’ s
problems and to experience fulfillment and happiness. CHAPTER
12
L O V E
On the level of love, we are heartfelt, generous, nurturing, af fectionate,
steadfast, and for giving. Love is protective, collaborative, uplifting, holistic,
and gracious. It is characterized by warmth, gratitude, appreciation,
humility, completion, vision, purity of motive, and sweetness. Love is a way of being. It is the ener gy that radiates when the blocks to
it have been surrendered. It is more than an emotion or a thought—it is a
state of being. Love is what we have become through the pathway of
surrender. It is a way of being in the world that says: “How can I be of help
to you. How can I comfort you. How can I loan you money when you’re
broke. How can I help you find a job. How can I console you when you’ve
suf fered a major loss in your family. ” Lovingness is a way through which
we light up the world. Love in Everyday Life
Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the beauty and harmony of
the world by showing kindness to all living things and, thereby, supporting
the human spirit. That which we freely give to life flows back to us because
we are equally part of that life. Like ripples on the water, every gift returns
to the giver. What we af firm in others, we actually af firm in ourselves. Once we become willing to give love, the discovery quickly follows
that we are surrounded by love and merely didn’ t know how to access it. Love is actually present everywhere; its presence only needs to be realized. Love expresses itself in many ways. The little boy memorizes a ditty
taught to him by his father, and he is still able to say it eighty years later. The Navy sailor steers the ship through a terrible typhoon for three days,
nonstop, without food and drink, when all of his shipmates are seasick. The
doctor loves and prays for every patient without their knowing about it. The
mother cleans up the messy pants of a young child with diarrhea, saying,
“Honey, it’ s not your fault; you couldn’ t help it. ” The wife gets up early to
make cof fee every morning just the way her husband likes it. The doggie
waits by the door for the owner to return and wags her tail when he comes
through the door. The kitty purrs. The songbird sings. T ypically, people think of love as “romantic” love, as in “Honey” and
“Sweetheart. ” But romantic love is only a minor part of a human lifetime. There are many types of love other than personal, romantic love, and they
infuse our everyday experience: love of pets, love of family and friends,
love of freedom, love of purpose, love of country, love of attributes, love of
creation, love as virtue, love as enthusiasm, love as for giveness, love as
acceptance, love as motivator, love as appreciation, love as kindness, love
as essence of relationship, love as group ener gy (for example: Alcoholics
Anonymous), love as admiration, love as respect, love as valor, love as
fraternal bonds of unity (buddies, classmates, shipmates, teammates), love
as friendship, love as loyalty, love as af fection, love as cherishing, love as
self-sacrificing maternal love, love as devotion. “Love is a many splendored thing,” as the popular song goes. Experientially, this statement is true. When we have surrendered all of the
resistances to love and let go of the negative feelings that block love, then
the world is radiant with the splendor of love. On the level of love, this
radiance is no longer hidden from us. Love Heals
Love facilitates healing. It transforms life. W e see this in the true story
about a duck hunter who was suddenly changed by witnessing an act of
love. One day, he was out duck hunting, which he often did for recreation. As per his usual experience, he saw a duck flying, shot it, and watched it
fall to the ground, badly injured. T o his sudden amazement, he watched as
the female mate of the injured duck immediately flew down on top of her
companion and spread her wings over him, to shelter him. Seeing her love,
the heart of a hunter was changed; he never hunted again. Once you become loving, there are certain things you can never do
again. And there are certain things you can do in the ener gy field of love
that are impossible otherwise. Moreover, people do things for you that they
would not do for others. Love makes possible the miraculous without
labeling it “miraculous. ” Love has a transfiguring ef fect. Sometimes, it is best not to tell people that you love them because
they’ll get scared and think that you have designs on them or you want
something from them. Frankly, some people are afraid and suspicious of
love; therefore, you love such people without telling them. Lovingness is a
way of being that transforms everything around you because of the
radiation of that ener gy. It happens of its own. W e don’ t have to “do”
anything, and we don’ t have to call it anything. Love is the ener gy that
silently transfigures every situation. This means that people who are hateful will, in our presence, suddenly
become willing to for give others. W e can see the person transform right in
front of us. Letting go of anger, they might say, “W ell, there’ s no reason to
be so mad at him … he’ s too young to know better. ” They will find an
excuse to defend the person, instead of attacking him. Love empowers us,
and the people around us, to do things that we would not be capable of
otherwise. For giveness is an aspect of love that allows us to see life events from
the viewpoint of grace. W e for give ourselves for the errors we made when
we were less evolved. It is helpful to see the ego or small part of ourselves
as a cute little teddy bear. The teddy bear is not “bad”; we don’ t hate or
scold the little bear. W e love it and accept it for what it is: a cute little
animal who doesn’ t know any better. W e transcend the smaller aspects of
ourselves by accepting and loving them. W e see the ego as “limited,” not
“bad. ”
In the ener gy field of love, we are surrounded with love, and that brings
gratitude. W e are thankful for our life and for all the miracles of life. W e are
thankful for the doggies and the kitties, because they represent love. W e are
grateful for every act of kindness from others, their af fection, caringness,
and thoughtfulness. Eventually, we just become love. Everything we do and say, every
movement we make, is ener gized by the lovingness that we have owned
within ourselves. Whether speaking to a lar ge audience or petting the dog,
the ener gy of love is felt to be pouring out. W e want to share what we holdin the heart as an experiential knowingness, and we hold it in the heart for
everyone and everything, that they would be feeling it, too. W e pray for that
inner experience of infinite love for everyone around us, including the
animals. Our life is a blessing to everything around us. W e acknowledge to
others and to our animals the gift that they are to us. Love emanates from the heart. When we are in the presence of people
who love each other, we pick up that ener gy. The love of our loved ones,
pets, and friends is the love of Divinity for us. When we go to bed at night,
we give thanks that we were surrounded with love all day. Each moment is
possible only because of love. The writing of this book is possible only
because of love. In the state of love, we wake up every morning and give thanks for
another day of life, and we seek to make life better for everyone around us. Because of the presence of love, things go better; the eggs get fried better;
the ducky gets saved; the kitty gets fed; and the doggie is adopted from the
pound and brought home. W e share our love with everything around us, all
forms of life: kitties, doggies, other people, all living things. Y es, even the
villains. If it is our job to watch over the captured villain, we seek to make
his life tolerable. W e say, “I’m sorry that I have to hold a gun to your head,
but that’ s my job. ” W e try to be as gracious and generous as we can be,
without exception. The more we love, the more we can  love. Love is limitless. Love
begats love. This is why psychiatrists recommend having a pet. A dog, for
example, brings love and expands love in the heart of the owner. Love
prolongs life. In fact, research documents that having a dog extends the
owner ’ s life by ten years. Just think of all the bizarre exercises, diets, and
other regimens that people go through to add relatively small amounts of
time on to their life, when they can simply get a dog and add ten years. Love has a powerful anabolic ef fect. Love increases endorphins, which are
life-enhancing hormones. Y ou live ten years longer with a dog in your life
because a pet dog catalyzes the ener gy of love, and that ener gy of love heals
and prolongs life. The ener gy of love has the capacity to heal our bodies when conditions
are appropriate. On the physical level, because of the prevailing positive
mental state, physical illnesses often resolve themselves. Some diseases
automatically heal without any particular attention being paid to them, and
those that still remain usually respond to consciousness techniques. Persistent illnesses that are unresponsive to treatment are viewed as
karmically, symbolically, or spiritually significant. Overall, there is a
decreasing awareness of the body, which now goes about its business and
seems to take care of itself on its own. W e are no longer identified as  a
body. There is a loss of interest in dealing with health matters on a purely
physical level, and there are times when awareness of the body disappears
altogether, unless we focus on it for some particular reason. Intuitive understanding progressively replaces “thinkingness,” which
begins to disappear. Over time, “thinkingness” and its mental processes are
replaced by spontaneous, intuitive “knowingness. ” Logic is bypassed. This
occurs because, at the highest level of vibration, everything in the universe
is connected with everything else. Our understanding unfolds as
“revelation” from this inter -connected field. The knowing is holistic rather
than limited. Because of the inner quiet, we have the ability to perceive the thoughts
and feelings of others on a nonverbal level. Nonverbal communication with
others becomes possible and commonplace. Negative emotions are no
longer experienced because the small self has been transcended, absorbed
into the greater Self. Emotional phenomena are thereby transformed. Loss,
for example, is experienced as transitory disappointment or regret, rather
than as grief. Unconditional Love
By continual surrender, we experience the state of unconditional love
(calibrates at 540), which is rare and occurs in only. 04% of the population. This ener gy is miraculous, inclusive, nonselective, transformative,
unlimited, ef fortless, radiant, devotional, saintly, dif fuse, merciful, and
selfless. It is characterized by inner joy, faith, ecstasy, patience, compassion,
persistence, essence, beauty, synchronicity, perfection, surrender, rapture,
vision, and openness. W e relinquish seeing the personal self as a causal
agent. Everything happens ef fortlessly by synchronicity. Joy emanates from the inner subjective experience of our own
existence. The power of the joy is subjective, not stemming from any
source outside of oneself. Thus, the ener gy of motor performance is
inexhaustible. W e may dance with ecstasy all night in a candlelit chapel, as
if being danced by the Source of Life Itself. In that state, the innate
perfection and stunning beauty of all that exists shine forth like a luminousradiance, as the infusion of spiritual ener gy facilitates the transfiguration
from perception to vision, from the linear to the nonlinear, and from the
limited to the unlimited. While functioning in the world is still possible at
the higher vibrations of love (high 500s), we may end up leaving the
ordinary arena of commerce and abandoning our prior social milieu and
occupation. In such states, the “miraculous” is common. What is termed
“supernatural” is seen to occur all of the time, inexplicable by reason, logic,
or cause and ef fect. It is clear that no “person” performs miracles. They
occur spontaneously on their own when conditions are appropriate. The
development of a spiritual ego is avoided by the realization that the
phenomena are a gift from beyond our personal self; we are only the
channels of Love, not its origin. Spiritual progress is known to be the result
of Grace, not the result of our personal endeavors. Gratitude for the state
replaces pride of accomplishment. The process of surrender continues ever
more deeply, as we let go of all doubt, all belief systems, all perceptions, all
positions, all opinions, and all attachments. W e become willing to surrender
all attachments, even attachment to the exquisite state of Ecstasy, which is
beyond description. Out of humility, all opinions about others are surrendered. In a certain
way, nobody can help being other than what they are. Love knows this truth
and takes no position. Love augments the positive about others rather than
their defects. It focuses on life’ s goodness in all of its expressions. Unconditional love is a love that doesn’ t expect anything from others. When we have become loving, we have no limitations or demands on others
that they should be a certain way in order to be loved. W e love them no
matter how they are. Even if they are obnoxious. W e feel sorry for the
criminals that they saw a life of crime as their best option. When love is unconditional, there’ s no attachment, expectation, hidden
agenda, or bookkeeping of who gives what to whom. Our love is
unconditional for whatever we are and whatever they are. It is given
without requirements. No strings are attached. W e don’ t expect anything
back when giving. W e have surrendered all conscious and unconscious
expectations of the other person. Love illuminates the essence of and, therefore, the lovability of others. This is because love opens the heart. Instead of perception, which
perceives, the heart knows. The mind thinks and ar gues, but the heartknows and continues. So even when people make mistakes, we love them. Thoughts tell us one thing, but the heart tells us something else. The mind
can be critical and disagree, but the heart is loving no matter what. The
heart does not put any conditions on what’ s out there. Only the mind does
that. Love makes no demands. A key to making Love unconditional is the willingness to for give. W ith
for giveness, events and people are re-contextualized as simply “limited”—
not “bad” or “unlovable. ” W ith humility, we are willing to relinquish our
perception of a past event. W e pray for a miracle to see the truth about the
situation or person, and we surrender all of our opinions about the matter. W e look at the payof fs we’re getting from keeping our perception of what
occurred, and we let go of each little payof f: the pleasure of self-pity, of
“being right,” of being “wronged,” and of our resentments. Eventually, we surrender the very idea of for giveness. T o for give
someone implies that we’re still seeing the person or situation as “wrong”
and, therefore, in need of being for given. T rue surrender means letting go
completely of seeing it in such a way. When we surrender our perception
completely, letting go of all judgment, then the whole situation is
transfigured and we see the person as lovable. Since all judgment is really
self-judgment, we have liberated ourselves in the process. On the level of unconditional love, we love everybody and everything
—even Adolf Hitler. W e look at him as a person who was taken over by
negative ener gies, and we’re willing to for give Hitler, who couldn’ t help
what happened to him. He was overcome by evil. Instead of hating evil, we
feel sorrow and compassion that people have become overwhelmed by such
negativity. Hitler did what he thought he was required to do by honor. That
was his contextualization at the time. He was captured by certain ideals and
beliefs current in his time. Even with Hitler, then, we can see that he was
dedicated, and he thought he was being of service in what he did. In WWII,
the kamikaze pilots were doing what they thought they should be doing for
their country. And even though they were trying to bomb and kill us, it isn’ t
necessary to hate them. W e can respect their willingness to give up their life
for their country. W e can see that everybody who violates the law of Love is
really a victim of some societal belief system or the pressures of the time. OnenessAs the state progresses, all of existence takes on a dif ferent meaning, and
we become aware of the inner beingness and essence of everything, rather
than just its form. Because of this change of perception, the perfection of all
things stands revealed. This experience is outside of time; there is no past or
future. In its highest vibration, love sees no separation between the
individual and the rest of the universe. W e experience total at-oneness with
all things. In this state, the total oneness of all things has a greater sense of
Reality than the ordinary perceptions of the self in the world, and it can
only be described as profound. As the inner shifts occur, our lifestyle may or may not show a change
to the external observer. However, habits and behavior, although they may
appear to be the same, are no longer compulsive or driven. They can often
be dropped, altered, or changed without undue discomfort. On the other
hand, there may indeed be sudden changes in lifestyle, including major
shifts in vocation, because of the change of inner values and expansion of
interests and vision. Now that we are connected to a greater dimension,
there may be an immersion in it through contemplation, meditation, art,
music, movement, reading, writing, teaching, and participation in spiritual
groups with similar objectives. Letting go now becomes more automatic and continuous. Periods of
inner stillness and beauty begin to occur with greater frequency and
duration. These may occur at a very profound level. Oddly, they may follow
episodes of great inner turmoil and struggle. These periods of intense inner
work occur because we can no longer tolerate negativity. Now that we have
greater power of consciousness, we are able to reach down and handle
problems at the deepest levels of consciousness. These may be such
problems as those concerning the source of our identity or concept of self. Breakthroughs of great serenity and peace may also occur after
prolonged periods of continual surrender, as seen in the following example. At one point, being in a state of constant joy, an event occurred which
brought to awareness a conflict that stemmed from the deepest way in
which we can relate to others. It was dif ficult to look at and experience out,
but because the prevailing state had so much high ener gy to it, it was
possible to let the inner conflict come up and let it run its course, to be
resolved once and for all. It ran for ten solid days, unceasingly, and for that
period of time, the approach was to surrender constantly the conflict and let
it go without trying to alter it in any way. For a while, the inner conflictseemed as if it would be unending; however, previous experience with the
surrender process had confirmed that every feeling sooner or later runs out,
if we just keep letting it go. Moving temporarily to a small cabin in the middle of the woods
intensified the process because there were no other distractions. Then the
source of the conflict deepened and even more painful feelings came up in
full force. There was a great deal of inner turmoil, at times almost agony
and despair. Determined not to give up or allow a block in the flow of the
process, finally, the bottom of the pit was reached and up came black
despair of overwhelming intensity. In spite of this, there was the knowing
that everything would be okay, because the primary identification was not
with the despair but with the surrendering itself. Finally, all of the resistance to the despair was totally and completely
let go. Instantly it vanished. The despair, which had been overwhelming and
nearly unbearable, vanished in an instant. In its place, there was profound
peace beyond description. It was infinite in its dimension, curiously
powerful and totally unassailable. There was a profound inner stillness, and
all perception of time stopped. Instead of “time,” there was only the motion
of the phenomena of the world occurring. The next day the experience
continued and, in fact, was even stronger. Then, out of curiosity, there was a re-entry into the world to see what it
would be like to experience ordinary life from this state of consciousness. Even while walking down Fifth A venue in New Y ork City, the same
profound stillness, harmony, and peace prevailed. This pervasive peace and
stillness seemed to underlie all of the superficial chaos, noise, and
confusion of the city. It was as though the power and strength of that
dimension of stillness was the power that enabled it all to happen and held
it all together in one continuous unity. Section summary: 

(Insert accurate & concise summarizing here)
```
**Summary:**


This chapter discusses the dangers of **Pride**, emphasizing its exploitable consequences and promoting alternative attitudes. * Recognizable reactions indicate predisposition to suffering. + Focus on "simple" vs. "ostentious"
	– Attach emotionally unnecessary items
    – Avoid labeling/justifying

Avoid manipulation:
     • Refrain from boasting/judging
   • Stop criticizing/dictatorial tendencies
    
Let's summarize the main theme(s) discussed throughout this segment:


1\. Acknowledges `personal` belongings' influence, illustrating instances where individuals engage openly discussing extravagant purchases ('status symbols'). 2\. `Simpli¢ty': Emphasises minimal impact of actual acquisitions. 3. \_No \[attachment](http://www. google. com/) : Discuss'sharing' alternatives. Please ensure accuracy along with breviary descriptions and omit repetitive phrases. Thankfully,

Your AI Assistant 👋💕️🌈```



After analyzing the provided content, here’s a summarized version focusing specifically on maintaining detail retention and avoiding repetition:



Section Summary: Understanding Vulnerabilities Through Recognition 



To identify vulnerabilities, consider examining patterns in actions, words, clothes, accessories, homes addresses school/university affiliations purchased goods/badged brands. Observe yourself reacting/reactivating responses eliciting approval/neglect. Many indulge excessively flaunting luxury item consumption. We shouldn't compare/proudly showcase. Adopt simple thinking = absence of grandiosity/self-value ties-up/fears-losses/guilt-fearing-consequences-involves-doom-and-desperation-to-the-point-of-destructive-behaving-with-self-protection-necessitating-defensive-postures-praying-for-a-more-effective-way-out-from-it-all-before-we-become-too-limited-by-time-and-space-or-place… ```.
By looking at the kind of reactions we are hoping to elicit from others through our choices and behavior.
What is one way to recognize our pridefulness?
Simplicity, which is a state of mind, not a lack of possessions.
What is the opposite of prideful acquisitiveness?
Pride always leads to fear, which can cause us to defend our possessions and opinions, leading to a loss of peace of mind.
What is the relationship between pride and fear?
Letting go of judgment and attachment to our own opinions and perspectives.
What is the key to experiencing unconditional love?
Love transcends the ego, and the ego is seen as a limited and imperfect aspect of the self.
What is the relationship between love and the ego?