then, put it on the 
back burner and let it simmer. Only if you’re ready to go on, drop do wn to . . . WHAT DO WE HAVE TO GO ON? Are you able to see yet how any of this could apply to you? Are you starting to put 
together how your experience of what is happening right now in your life could be changed 
dramatically by understanding —and then using —the mechanism I’ve been describing 
here? All you have to do is change your innermost truth about what is happening. Begin your 
thinking in a new place. Yet here is a new challenge. . . . There is no clean starting point. No fresh perspective. Someone once  said, “Within human life no fresh perspective is possible after Day One.” 
That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is clear. We are almost always coming 
from Prior Data when considering any given moment. How else could it be? We have 
nothing to  go on  except what’s been going on. Or do we . . . ? What creates your thought is the “truth” you buy into. And what determines the truth 
you buy into —Apparent Truth or Imagined Truth —is which past data you look at. Here we go, deeper and deeper down the r abbit hole. Soon the Mad Hatter will appear, 
swearing to us that what is so is not so, and that what is not so is so. Here we go, deeper 
and deeper into the Matrix. Soon the Man in the White Suit will take us to the White Room 
with all the television scree ns and explain it all to us. . . . What we will learn is not only that it is from your Past Data that your innermost truth 
emerges, but from the choice you make  of the Past Data you select to look at. During the truth -creation process (yes, your mind creat es the truth, it does not observe 
it) the mind travels backward in time to retrieve every piece of data from all previous 
moments that look, feel, taste, sound, or smell like this moment. If the mind finds a match, it 
compares the two data to see just how close the match is, then adds to the present moment  
all information from the past that it considers relevant , thereby creating a whole new set of 
data not at all resembling the data that was originally observed. This revised and supplemented data is enormo usly influential in producing what you 
call your “experience.” Your “reality” is not what you are seeing, but what you think  you are 
seeing after you have added past data. It is based on the “truth” that your mind has 
extracted from your Past Data and expo rted to the Present Moment. It is “reality” as you 
have experienced it. Ten other people may have experienced it in ten other ways. This is 
important to always keep in mind. To always  keep in mind. Now comes the tricky part. The fact is that you hold in yo ur mind two kinds  of Past Data. I’m going to call this Judged Past Data  and Factual Past Data. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if things just came in ones? But no, we have to have the Triune 
Reality and the Three Brands of Truth, and now we get down to the two ki nds of Past Data. But at least this is the bottom of it. This is the real culprit. If there were only one kind of Past Data we would have only one brand of Truth and only 
one version of Reality. So at least now we know what the problem is! Now . . . Judged  Past Data can contain what you call Good Memories or Bad Memories, 
the labels depending upon how you judged the events that originally produced those 
memories . . . which, of course, was a judgment based on prior  events viewed within the 
context of prior  Judged Past Data . . . which, in turn, was based on even more prior events . . . and so on, right back to your birth —and beyond. (Yes, you began taking in data about 
what was going on around you in the womb .) An example of Judged Past Data: the breakup of a romantic relationship is painful. An example of Factual Past Data: the breakup of a relationship is the end of the time that 
two people will spend together in intimate living arrangements. This can be either “bad” or 
“good” . . . or neither, but just wha t’s so. All of this stuff is rolling around in your mind all of the time. It resides there, and it 
cannot be deleted. There is no delete button on this computer. Your mind will “bring to 
front” this Past Data the moment any Present Data looks even a little like it . You will then 
make an assessment of the Present Data based on prior data that you, and only you, 
possess. Nobody else is walking around with your past. Nobody else has your history. This means that no one else in the universe can encounter, understand, or experience 
anything at all in precisely the way you do. Not so long as you stay in your mind . In strictly 
literal terms, it is impossible to have a “meeting of minds.” You can, howev er, have a 
blending of souls . This is the blessed relationship for which every human yearns. This is 
where the truth is known. Humans yearn for this blessed relationship because they have a 
cellular awareness that not only is it possible, not only has it h appened, but it is happening 
right now . The only thing standing in the way of our experiencing  this relationship is the 
Emotion that is based on the Thought that is based on the Truth that is based on Judged 
Past Data. How is it possible for the soul to si destep this Line of Causality when the mind 
apparently cannot? Simple. In Ultimate Reality (where the soul resides) there is no such 
thing as Past Data . It is always Right Here, Right Now. Ah, but that is a whole different discussion, saved for part 2 . Returning to the human experience of what is happening in most people’s lives, we see 
that our minds are constantly rolling around in Judged Past Data or Factual Past Data, 
producing, at the end of the Line of Causality, what psyc hiatrists and psychologists label 
Objective Reality and Subjective Reality. Subjective Reality emerges from Judged  Past Data. (Not all of this is negative, by the way, 
and that should not be inferred. Often we judge prior events as having been quite 
wonder ful.) Objective Reality emerges from Factual  Past Data. (What you might call “raw 
data” as opposed to “analyzed data.”)  In my own model I call Objective Reality “Observed Reality,” and I label Subjective 
Reality “Distorted Reality.” Why don’t I use the sam e terms that the therapeutic community 
uses? Why have I created my own model? Because my terminology is more descriptive and, more important, because the 
traditional therapeutic model does not recognize the existence of a third reality . Everything came tog ether for me when I started looking at life using a model that 
showed something above  Distorted Reality and Observed Reality —something that I labeled 
Ultimate Reality. The existence of this third reality is what makes it possible for all people to dramatic ally 
change their lives. Not merely alter their lives, but transform  them. Paying attention to the second reality —what you objectively observe, as opposed to 
what you subjectively experience —can certainly alter one’s experience for the better, and 
good psy chologists have helped people do that. But paying attention to the third reality —
what is ultimately  happening as opposed to what we observe  to be happening —can so 
affect your life that you may never have to endure emotional turmoil again. Ever. This is whe re Buddha lived. This is where Christ resided. This is where all true Masters 
live. It was the home of Paramahansa Yogananda. It is the home of the Dalai Lama. It is 
where you will find Thich Nhat Hanh. And Western masters too, such as Stephen Levine, 
Eckh art Tolle, Byron Katie, and Mary O’Malley. These are people who understand , and who 
some say have mastered life. I have put this understanding in my own words. To me it seems clear that to really 
utilize the mind at optimal levels (and, hence, experience life itself  at those levels) we must 
move beyond the standard therapeutic model. Modern psychological constructs hold very little space (if any) for spirituality. That is to 
say, for God and for the soul. This is a supreme irony  since the original idea was exactly the 
opposite! The very word “psychology” gives us our clue. “Psyche” comes from the Greek word 
meaning “soul.” “Logy” is also Greek, and means “knowledge.” We see that “psycho+logy”= 
“soul knowledge” —which is what the ancient Greeks knew that all h ealthy behavior was 
anchored in! The constructs that I employ (including those in this book) know the same thing. The 
model I use to study and affect behaviors is based  in spirituality; it has its foundation  in 
theo+logy —that is, knowledge of God. Does thi s make it therapeutically more effective? What do you think? In my observation the third reality, Ultimate Reality, emerging as it does from Actual 
Truth, finally offers an explanation (that neither of the first two realities does) for not only 
what  is goi ng on, but why . And once we know why  something is happening (sudden change, 
for instance), we can employ the immense power of the mind, combined with the eternal 
clarity of the soul, to not only alter our experience of what has happened , but to create our 
experience of what will happen. This is the next evolutionary step for humankind. And humans do not have to wait years 
to take it. You, yourself, can take this step in minutes . Indeed, in the time required to finish 
this book. And here’s the best thing. Yo u don’t have to share my point of view about God in order to 
do it. You don’t have to believe in God at all. You’re free. This book does not seek your 
religious conversion. I’m not going to try to convince you of anything here. I’ve simply been 
sharing som e tools with you. You’ll see if they work for you or not, but you don’t have to 
believe in anything in order to use them. But know that what will change here, should you use these tools, is not just your 
experience of the life change that you are moving th rough right now. These tools will also 
impact all the changes that you will experience from now until the day you die —when you 
will undergo the Biggest Change of All. When you die, what will happen to you, what you will become aware of, will change 
everyth ing about the way you view the life you have lived. Every event will be viewed from 
a larger perspective, every moment will be viewed with love and acceptance, every misstep 
will be viewed with understanding and compassion, every achievement will be viewed  with 
sweet pride and soft joy and a willingness, at last, to accept and embrace one’s own 
magnificence. The conversation we are now having is about bringing that same view forward . It is 
about moving it from Then to Now. I can remember my father saying, “If I knew then  what I know now. . . . ” This is about 
knowing “now” what you will know “then.” Exciting, yes? All of This:  
it is preparation for walking in the world  
as Light. You have been found now,  
and the running of man y lifetimes  
is over. So as each layer of dust  
is wiped clean  
from the surface,  
the You  
you have known  
must  disperse. Let this Light become  
Your speech & Your silence. Let the grief  
that has lived you,  
pass away. Let the people  
who love You,  
love Themselves . Let the earth shake,  
the stars burn  
the skies break  
when You do. As painful as this part is,  
You were meant to know your Light. —‘You Were Meant’  © 2007 Em Claire  13. OF SNAKES AND LIONS AND HUMANS, TOO  
WE ARE VERY NEAR  the end of part 1  of this book. This first half of this wonderful 
conversation brought us into deep focus on the Mechanics of the Mind in order that you 
might change the way you experience change. In the second half of our time together we 
will look at changing the way you create  change, by exploring the System of the Soul. It would have been impossible to explain how the second —and more exciting —tool 
works without us deeply understanding the mechanics of the first. And it will be impossible  
to fully utilize the first, no matter how thoroughly we explain it, without the fuel (that is to 
say, the power ) that the second gives  to the first. All of which is to notice that life in both  its parts has a purpose and a function just the 
way it is. We are truly served by using life in all the ways that it presents itself, physical and 
spiritual, as a means and a pathway to the Ultimate Reality. So now we shall go just one more, final, layer deep in exploring life in the physical —for 
this final exploration will lead to a life -altering question  that will make everything you have 
read in the past several chapters usable and workable in a way that you might never have 
imagined. As we do this I wi ll come right back to you and your experience of life on this day. All along I have been presuming that on this day you are standing in what I call “the 
middle of a moment” of significant change in your life. I hope you now see that, 
fascinatingly, your experience  of this change may have nothing to do with what you actually 
saw, felt, tasted, heard, or smelled. It’s your Past Data that formed your innermost truth 
about it, and it is from your innermost truth that your thought, emotion, and experience 
emerge s producing your present reality. Is it a Distorted Reality, the Observed Reality, or is it the Ultimate Reality in which you 
stand? Well, you can tell by how you feel. If you feel terrible, you are standing in a Distorted Reality. If you feel just fine, y ou are 
standing in the Observed Reality. If you feel blissful, you are standing in the Ultimate 
Reality. All of this depends on what kind of match your mind is finding for the data that exists in 
this present moment. But now let’s ask an intriguing questio n. What if you encounter in 
your life a piece of here -and-now data for which your mind cannot find a match ? I ask the question because, as a person who is thinking this all through with me, you may 
have already asked it in your own mind. The answer is that  this situation is highly unlikely. As I’ve noted before, it is virtually impossible to not find some kind of match in Past Data 
for what is going on now. Almost everything that you are experiencing is a version of 
something you have experienced before. Gr anted, it may have been as far back as the crib 
(and therefore perhaps out of your conscious memory), but it is there in your data bank, I 
assure you. In my own case, to give you an example, I happen to vividly remember a time when I was 
under two years ol d and standing in my crib. I was just being potty trained and I needed to 
go to the bathroom. I called for my mom, who was in another room, to lift me out of the 
crib. She heard me and said, “I’ll be right there, sweetheart.” But she never came. I called a nd called, and then began to cry. She kept calling back to me that she was 
coming, but she was taking a terribly long time. I don’t know what she was doing in that 
other room, but it was something that she clearly did not want to be interrupted. The 
troubl e was, that exact moment was when I needed her. I knew that she heard me because 
she called back to me. But she was not coming. I felt abandoned. Why wasn’t she coming? I tried and tried to get out of the crib . . . I can still see myself trying to hoist m yself up, 
then working to lift my leg up over the railing . . . but it was no use, it was too high. I 
couldn’t get out. MAH -MEE I cried one last time, but it was no use. Finally, through a lake of tears, I had 
no choice but to soil my diaper. Now look, I k now that this was not a Big Deal. Now  I know that. But then  I did not know 
that. And then  is when the data was stored. You see? You understand? I had been told that Big Boys use the potty. I was devastated at having failed to be a Big 
Boy. To this day I ha ve had to deal with abandonment issues. You think I am making this up? This is how it works! This is how the mind works . It does not know the difference between 
Then and Now. I can’t erase this memory. In fact, the harder I tried through the years, the mor e indelible 
the memory became. Of course. I was burning it in there . And it is as I said before. There is 
no delete button on this machine. So . . . it is highly unlikely —not impossible, but very unlikely —that your mind will not be 
able to find a match in Past Data for a Present Moment encounter. Your mind will do its 
best to find something  to match it up with because your mind understands that your 
survival depends  on it finding something to compare Now with. Otherwise, how will you 
know how to proceed? But let us say that it just cannot. Let us say that something that’s occurring right now is 
so unique, so unusual, so first -of-its-kind, that you truly have nothing at all from any yester -
moment with which to compare it. Not to worry. Your mind will search a  “sub -directory” in your memory comprised of data 
that is held beneath the first level of consciousness, in your molecular encoding —or your 
“subconscious.” This is called your cellular memory —or what some people refer to as 
instinct . (This is where “fight -or-flight” comes from, among other reactions.) Actually, your mind went to this sub -directory first. It does that as the first means of self -
preservation, just in case you don’t have time to think. In the moment that any outward 
event occurs, your initial impulse will be to react instinctively. Then, i f you do have time to 
think (Remember when we talked about this before? We said this only takes seconds. Nanoseconds, really) you can decide how you wish to respond , rather than how you would 
react  if you hadn’t thought about it. Response Time is a luxury. Reaction Time is instant. Yet when you respond, always 
know that you are never responding to what is happening now. You are responding to your 
past. Again, so that you are clear . . . if your Past Data really and truly can produce no match 
whatsoever to y our Present Data, you will revert back to instinct —which is also  Past Data. It is simply Past Data of a different sort. Your instinct  is what pushes you into your future. It says, if you want a future, listen to 
your past —even if it is a past that you cann ot consciously remember. Your cellular 
memory, this “sub -directory,” holds the history of your entire species . So if anyone  in your 
biological line has encountered data about what you are now witnessing, that data will 
immediately be made available to you. This is the Reptilian Brain at work. The what? Yes, I said the Reptilian Brain. And all of this —all of it — relates directly to the 
experience that you are having right now, on this very day. This short course in the 
Mechanics of the Mind is something that should be taught in every school, in age -
appropriate ways, so that when we all become adults we know what we are dealing with 
here —and can create the lives we always imagined we would lead. So . . . our last lesson in part 1  of this book, together with a dialogue to illustrate it, is 
next. If you’d like to take a little rest first,  this would be a great time to  
Put the book down and rest your mind for a bit  
If you’re ready to go on, drop down to . . . THE FINAL LESSON:  
YOUR MAGNIFICENT BRAIN  
The tool of the mind is the brain. This magnificent instrument has developed in stages, 
thro ugh the process of evolution. First we had a Reptilian Brain. Then the evolution of the 
species produced a Mammalian Brain, stacked on top of that. Finally, we evolved the 
Human Brain. (I want to acknowledge here that I owe much of what I am now sharing wi th you to the 
genius and insight of Dr. Ilchi Lee, a Korean master whose several books on the human 
brain are highly recommended.) A reptile does not make value judgments. It does not take in data from the present 
moment, match it with data from similar mo ments, analyze the data to see how it 
compares, and make a decision on how to respond based on its assessment of relative 
values. A reptile responds to everything instinctively. Its information is cellular . It is 
inherited . Its response will therefore be i dentical from one encounter to the next, given 
similar exterior stimuli, changing only over centuries as evolution demands. This 
instinctive reaction is instantaneous, and all snakes of identical species react identically to 
identical stimuli. The human mi nd works instantaneously, too, but it performs many more functions in 
the same infinitesimal amount of time, because our brains have evolved to a much higher 
level of functionality. Our brains also hold specific data that is exclusive to us. No one else 
on earth  has a mind like yours. So it is that all humans, while also members of the same 
species, do not react identically to the same stimuli. A snake does not experience anger. Did you know that? You can’t make a snake “mad.” 
You can’t make a snake “happy, ” either. A snake is simply in an eternal state of being what 
it is. A snake. It has, in this sense, completed its evolutionary journey and is now 
experiencing Being in Fullness. Humans are on the same Journey to Fullness, yet we have not completed our tre k. We 
have not come to the end of our evolutionary process. I should acknowledge that this is a subject of some controversy. There are those 
anthropologists who believe that we have  completed our evolutionary journey. They argue 
that humans have evolved as  far as they are going to. In fact, this is the prevailing  idea among the world’s preeminent biologists. Discover  
magazine tells us so in a cover story in March 2009 by contributing editor Kathleen 
McAuliffe, winner of a 2009 Alicia Patterson Journalism Fe llowship to continue her 
research into human evolution from the Stone Age to the present. “This view has become so 
entrenched that it is practically doctrine,” McAuliffe reports. Yet she also says that now there is some significant disagreement from some s ignificant 
sources. She informs us that a team of researchers is now suggesting that “over the past 
10,000 years, human evolution has occurred a hundred times more quickly than in any 
period in our species’ history.”  
This lines up perfectly with my own obs ervation that change is increasing exponentially 
on our planet. There are a lot of reasons for this, including the increase in the speed with 
which we communicate that I have mentioned here, and McAuliffe’s deeply insightful 
article offers some additional fascinating hypotheses ( Are We Still Evolving? , March 2009, 
Discover). So it is my hypothesis that humans are still seeking to fully be who they are. I observe 
myself and I observe humanity and it feels as if we are not even halfway to that goal. Or to 
put it another way, we don’t know the half of it . This idea can be depressing or exhilarating, 
depending on how you look at it. (The same is true, by the way, of all of life.) I, for one, am exhilarated. As magnificent as we humans are, we have halfway more t o 
go! The potential of tomorrow stretches as far as our vision can carry us . . . and way, way 
beyond. But . . . enough of my waxing philosophic. Let’s get back to our explanation of the 
brain. . . . A lion, as opposed to a snake, has a Mammalian Brain. It  can, and does, experience anger. (Don’t test this theory. I promise you, it’s accurate.) But a lion does not make a judgment 
about these things. “Was my anger justified? Was it righteous or misplaced? Was it perfect 
or overblown? Should I get angry at tha t level in the future? What will the other lions 
think?” Lions don’t ask themselves such questions. A human has a brain developed to the third level. A human takes in data, compares it to 
other data, organizes ways of responding to that data, weighs all th e options, analyzes the possible and probable outcomes attached to each option, makes a judgment about the best 
of those outcomes, and tells the body how to respond. All in one /one -millionth of a second. Pretty incredible, eh? Yet even with all this magni ficent computing equipment housed in 
your skull, the response your mind selects may have nothing to do with the moment at hand . Now isn’t that  cute. . . . The problem is that many humans have not learned yet to use all the faculties of the 
mind —including t he ability to consider information not contained in any prior data —to 
produce their response to any given situation. Much less have they considered using the 
exact same mechanism , the human brain, to create  conditions that they prefer, rather than 
endure c onditions they encounter. All that most of our poor minds do is bring up memories and sub -memories from our 
recent (this lifetime) and distant (evolutionary lifeline) past. It dumps these data into our 
Now and simultaneously projects them onto our Future. This lightning -quick process creates energy in a form that we call “thought” and sends it 
into motion. I formulate this phenomenon as: E+motion. For the purposes of this discussion 
I call it, simply, emotion. This is the creative force of the universe. I think I need to say that again. This is the creative force of the universe . That it why it is so sad that so many people think 
that emotions are things over which they have no control. In fact, it is as I said earlier: 
emotions are chosen. The mind decides  to feel a certain way. Emotions are an Act of Will. Only when we understand this can we do as I have described . . . use emotion to create 
conditions we prefer, rather than simply react to conditions we endure. (More on this —
much  more —in part 2  of this discussion.) We’ve already explored at length how to change your emotion. A simple recap: change 
the thought that sponsors it. To do that , change the truth that sponsors the thought. To do 
that , use your mind to it s fullest potential in the moments immediately after any given 
event. Search beyond your Data Bank to create a basis for your truth . (Again, that is what 
part 2  of this book is all about.) I have gone deeply into the Mechanics of the Mind here in order to give you a real basis 
for understanding how to use them to go beyond them. Can you see now more clearly that this is all that the lady in the workshop did? She did it 
rather quickly, too, with just the tiniest facilitation. Fur thermore, she agreed that she could 
probably do this in the future on her own, without prompting or help of any kind —because 
she suddenly saw what she had been doing. She consciously watched herself pouring what 
she judged to be a bad past into the present , projecting a memory of her father all over it. In seeing this, she was doing what spiritual teacher Mary O’Malley and others call 
“bearing witness.” Workshop Lady witnessed what she was creating in her mind and 
simply made a new choice about that. Now sh e doesn’t have to do that anymore. The process I’ve been describing is about moving to a new thought. And so it’s perfect 
that the work that I and others like Eckhart Tolle and Mary O’Malley do in the world is 
sometimes described as being part of the New T hought Movement. It is about raising consciousness , or elevating awareness , from Imagined Truth to Apparent Truth, producing 
an experience that jumps from Distorted Reality to Observed Reality. It was quite apparent to my workshop participant, as soon as s he stopped to think about 
it, that I would never harm her in any way, and that I was not her father. All she had to do to 
notice this was look at things more closely, and not simply accept her mind’s first message 
about all that. This is what is meant by t he oft -heard injunction: Think Twice. So all you really have to do to change your thought about something is to Think Twice. When you are facing enormous change, and the fear that quite normally can be attached to 
it, many people will say to you, “Don’t gi ve it a second thought.”  
I’m telling you exactly the opposite. I am a precious occurrence , 
and I don’t have long. We, are a precious occurrence . And as long as we think we have — 
we don’t have long. Too much time is being wasted  
running  
from face to face  
asking, “What is my name?”  
If you don’t yet know it  
or if you’ve forgotten,  
then become still, go within  
and answer it. _______  
You, are a Precious Occurrence:  
tell us your name. —‘Precious Occurrence’  © 2008 Em Claire  14. AND NOW, A LIFE -ALTERING QUESTION  
OKAY, SO WE’RE CLEAR  now that changing your thought is simply a matter of thinking twice, 
of having a second thought about it, of noticing the moment. Why don’t we take a real -world example of something that could be happening to you 
right now and see how t his process could work, okay? First, I’d like to create a visual to go along with the Notice the Moment  process, so that 
you can see exactly what we’ll be doing. By now we all understand that there are three 
kinds of “reality.” There is Distorted Reality ( what you think is going on), Observed Reality 
(what you see right in front of you), and Ultimate Reality (what is “so” about what is going 
on, what is “so” about why  it is going on —and what is “so” about you.) We also know that these realities emerge from three brands of truth: the Imagined 
Truth, the Apparent Truth, and the Actual Truth. Here is what that looks like charted out . . . The small print within each of these levels denotes Points of Origin for your thought 
about what is happening in your  life right now. The larger, bold print tells you where those 
starting points will lead you. If you wish to change the experience of life that you are having right now, it is simply a 
matter of moving this starting point upward on the pyramid. It is a proc ess of lifting your 
awareness as high as possible. Now, because I don’t know exactly what’s going on in your life right now, we’ll have to 
pretend. Let’s say that you’ve just lost a relationship. Let’s use that situation just for the 
sake of this illustrat ion. You can take your own actual situation and apply to it the same 
formula we’re going to use here. Okay, now let’s say that it was the other person in your relationship who ended it. The 
moment that person walked out the door for the last time, your min d started working. First, your Human Brain searched all past data. It analyzed every other time in your life 
when you felt left, deserted, abandoned. It brought up all the data —Judged Data and 
Factual Data —from those prior experiences (including the time y our mother left you in the 
crib and walked out of the room and you didn’t know when she was coming back) and 
compared the information. Now here is something you should know. It is the negatively Judged Past Data to which 
your mind will pay the most attention —because it is this data that your ego, which is the 
Here and Now operative of the mind, does not want to experience again. So your b rain looked at this negatively Judged Past Data, added it to the Present Data, 
and, mixing these data together, birthed a thought that created an emotion that it thinks 
serves  you. Namely: deep sadness. This dropped you lower on the Pyramid of Being, movin g 
you from Observed Reality to Distorted Reality. In short, you feel terrible. As I’ve described, even if you’ve never, ever been rejected or abandoned before, others 
have , and so you will still have a basis in negatively Judged Past Data for creating thou ght 
and emotion. It will simply be someone else’s  negatively Judged Past Data —the cellular 
memories of your species, brought forward by your Reptilian Brain. From this you could, if 
you are not careful, produce an instinctive reaction. And now, yet one mor e possibility, yet one more question: What if you have  had a 
previous experience closely resembling your present experience, and your previous 
experience was good? What if the Judged Past Data that resembles Present Data holds good 
news? (Remember, not all  Judged Past Data is negative data. Some of your previous 
experiences could have been judged to be quite positive.) So now, what if your Judged Past Data tells you, Don’t worry. You’ve been through this 
before. Everything’s going to be alright . . . ? That  would surely alter your here -and-now 
experience of the change that is presently occurring, yes? That would eliminate negative 
emotions, and produce a positive experience, right? Well, it could  do that . . . if we all learned  from our “good” Judged Past Da ta. But there’s 
something almost insidious that happens. The mind may bring up this positive data, but it 
will pay little attention to it . It’s almost as if that good stuff never even happened. Remember, your mind will always pay primary attention to “bad”  past data, and scarce 
attention to “good” past data, because this is the mind’s job . Your mind has been 
programmed to do this, in order to ensure your safety and survival. In this sense it could be said that “good news is no news.”  
Are you getting this? A re you hearing this? This is really important, because it explains 
why in so many situations the first thing many people think about is what could go wrong , 
the first thing they focus on is how bad things are , the first thing they tell themselves is, 
what a bummer! Wouldn’t it be nice if this trend could be reversed? Wouldn’t it be nice if in most 
situations the first thing most people think about is what could go right , the first thing they 
focus on is how good things are , and the first thing they tell the mselves is what an 
opportunity? Some people have a hard time with this. They don’t understand how someone can see 
life as being so wonderful when they see life as being so difficult. My father told me from 
the time I was nine, “Son, get your head out of th e clouds.” And when friends see me 
downplaying or simply ignoring the possibility of bad outcomes, they have been known to 
say, “What, are you out of your mind? ” And my answer is, YES!!! In order to experience life the way I am telling you that you can exp erience it, you’ve got 
to be OUT . . . OF . . . YOUR . . . MIND. At least, for a while. At least until you have come to a really good understanding of how 
the mind works, of the Mechanics of the Mind, and of how you can change your truth in 
order to change  your thought in order to change your emotion in order to change your 
experience in order to alter your reality of the event that is occurring in your life! So, give yourself permission to Think Twice about what is occurring. Stay in the moment 
of Now, as Eckart Tolle would advise, and by so doing, raise your awareness from the 
Imagined Truth to the readily Apparent Truth. If you can do that, you may come to a whole new conclusion about all that is going on. Let’s see. Let’s just see what happens when using  this technique in our “make believe” 
example of your relationship having ended. Looking at how you’re feeling, you may be aware that you’ve created the following 
Distorted Reality:  
I’ve been abandoned/Now I’m all alone again/This is really bad/I’ve been u njusted/I can’t 
live without this person/I’ll never be happy again/It was unfair the way it ended/I’m hurt and 
I will never forgive. . . . Now —as you Think Twice —you are invited to consider an extraordinary question. One 
single question that can change you r world. One inquiry that can change your emotion by 
changing your thought by changing the truth behind that thought. Here is the Life Altering Question:  
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE REALITY I AM EXPERIENCING IS NOT REAL? At first this question might seem gratuitous and silly. You certainly know how you’re 
feeling. You certainly know what is so. Your mind will argue with you if you try to squiggle 
out of the experience you’re now having. Open your eyes and look around! it will scream. You’re abandoned! You’re all alone again! That person’s gone! GONE! You’re going to be sad! You’re going to be miserable! This is horrible! But if you have the courage to keep asking the Life Altering Question, eventually your 
mind will stop ar guing with you and will at least look at all this again. It will Think Twice. Quietly and without judgment, watch with simple curiosity and compassion (as Mary 
O’Malley would say) as your mind shouts inside your head: “Hey, don’t give it a second 
thought! Don’t give it a second thought!” because it knows what’s coming if you do . Then 
gently insist that you are going to give it a second thought, you are going to take another 
look at it, before you carve your experience in stone. Your mind will eventually coo perate. You can actually train  your mind to cooperate. In 
this, you have to be like a master teaching an old dog new tricks. You have to be a master 
mind. Now, if you have any questions on how this Life Altering Question process can work, you 
can check in with any of a number of people who are familiar with this material by jumping 
on the Internet at www.ChangingChange.net . I hope you’ll give yourself permission to do that, and to connect often at this intera ctive 
site, if it feels that this might be a good resource for you. And for now, how about if we take 
a little  
Breathing Space  
Breathe into what you’ve just read, then decide now if you want to go on right now, or 
rest with it for a while and meet with me here later. If you’re ready to go on, drop down to . . . WHAT’S BEING WITNESSED? Now let’s run a dialogue here, shall we? Let’s look at what is right in front of you on this day of your life. (We’re using, of course, 
our “pretend” example, since I can’t  talk directly with you right now . . . but I could  if you 
and I were on one of our regularly scheduled group conference calls . . . .) So let’s look at this “pretend” example . . . but in our new way: let’s limit the encounter 
with this moment to simply wh at is witnessed, rather than what is being felt about it. If you 
were in a workshop with me I would say, “Tell me, what happened here?”  
And you might respond: “My partner just left me. I have been abandoned. I’m all alone 
again.”  
And I might say, “I unders tand that your partner just left you. This is something you have 
witnessed. This is Observed Reality. But have you been ‘abandoned’? Are you ‘all alone’? Is 
this what you have witnessed, or is this what you have overlaid  on what you have 
witnessed . . . ?”  
And you might respond, “I don’t know what you mean. I’m not ‘overlaying’ anything. I 
have been abandoned. That is factual. I am all alone again. That’s what’s so!”  
And here is how the dialogue might go from there . . . “Really? What does ‘abandoned’ mean to you?”  
“It means to be rejected, deserted, left. What the hell do you think it means?”  
“By whom?”  
“What?”  
“Rejected, deserted, left . . . by whom?”  
“By the one you love! By your partner! By the person you thought would be with you the 
rest of your life.”  
“Well, you’ve created a new meaning for that word in your imagination.”  
“What’re you talking about?”  
“Objectively, to be ‘abandoned’ means literally that: to be rejected, deserted, left . . . by 
everyone . To be literally  ‘all alone again.’ Is that your Ob served Reality? Is that what you 
observe about your situation right now?”  
“You’re playing with words here. You’re just playing with words to make a point.”  “No, you are . It is you who are playing with words, so that you can make a point with you. You are t elling yourself something using words that you have loaded with emotion rather 
than witnessing.”  
“Man, you’re losing me.”  
“No, you’re  losing you. You’re losing you to your imagined self. You’ve embraced an 
Imagined Truth. But don’t feel bad here. This is all quite normal. Just remain willing to 
change this experience if you can. Are you willing to change this experience?”  
“I guess so.”  
“You guess so?”  
“Okay, okay, I know so. I’m willing to change my experience.”  
“Good. Now tell me what you are able to witness today about your life. Are you 
abandoned?”  
“My partner abandoned me, yes.”  
“Good. Who else abandoned you?”  
Pause  
“I’m sorry. Did you not hear my question?”  
“I heard your question.”  
“Good. So who else abandoned you?”  
“Nobody else.”  
“Nobody else?”  
“No.”  
“So you have not actually been ‘abandoned’ —that is, left absolutely, completely, utterly 
alone. You have merely been left by one person.”  
“Yes. But that’s enough.”  
“It’s enough to feel sad, for sure. But is it enough to feel totally abandoned?”  
“That’s how I feel. I can’t change how I feel.”  
“Sure you can. If you want to. You don’t have  to, but you can if you want to. Does having 
this experience make you feel good? Are you happy?”  
“Of course not! You can see that I’m not happy.”  
“Well, if you’re not happy, why do you keep giving yourself this experience?”  
“I am not giving myself anything . This is what’s happening .” 
“All right, let me  ask you this. Are you all alone?”  
Pause  
“Not in the sense that you mean.”  
“Well, what other sense is there? What do the words ‘all alone’ mean?”  
“I meant that I no longer have my life partner.”  “I know that. But are you all alone? What is your witnessing? What do you see? Do you 
see any people in your life?”  
“Of course.”  
“People who care?”  
“Some of them do, I suppose.”  
“You suppose?”  
“Okay, okay , some of them care. Geez . . .”  
“So then you’re not ‘abandoned.’ You’re not ‘all alone.’ Right?”  
“You’re just tr ying to make me wrong about this. You’re just trying to make me feel 
better about what’s going on. You’re not solving anything, you’re just trying to make me 
look at every tiny detail so that you can prove your point, rather than listen to how I feel.”  
“Actually, I am listening to how you feel. And you’re right, I am hoping to make you feel 
better. But I’m not doing it by lying  to you. I’m not doing it by telling you something that 
isn’t so. In fact, I’m trying to do it by telling you something that is so. I’m trying to get you to 
change the Point of Origin of your thought about all this. I’m inviting you to elevate from 
your Imagined Truth to your Apparent Truth, so that you can move from a Distorted 
Reality to the Observed Reality. I’m offering you an oppo rtunity to see things from a 
different perspective. It is readily apparent to you that you are not abandoned and you are 
not ‘alone again.’ It is also apparent to you that your partner is no longer with you. You’ve 
mixed these two pieces of data and made t hem one. Can you see that?”  
(Reluctantly) “Yes.”  
“Okay. Good. Let’s start there, then. Now we’re on our way. . . .”  
(And the dialogue would go on, but we will not continue it here.) That’s a powerful dialogue even though I made it up, because, in a sense, I did not make 
it up. You see, I’ve gone through the “make believe” experience I used here. I’m not just 
remembering conversations that I’ve had with others in retreats and workshops . I’m 
remembering my own inner dialogues. When I had the experience of being abandoned by a spouse (I came home in the middle 
of the day and found everything gone . . . a house empty of furniture and all of my wife’s 
personal possessions), I had all of the se same thoughts myself. I thought . . . I’ve been abandoned . . . I’m all alone again . . . This is really bad . . . I’ve been unjusted . . . I 
can’t live without her . . . I’ll never be happy again . . . It was unfair the way it ended . . . I’m 
hurt and I’ll never forgive her. . . . All of these ideas have since been put to the test of time. They all seemed very real when 
I had them, reflecting my innermost truth. Yet I saw before too long that I was living my 
Imagined Truth, not the Apparent Truth. It be came apparent to me over time that every 
one of these statements was false. Every one. So what does that tell you about the thoughts that you’re having right now about your  
situation? I am simply dreaming a way  
to love Everyone within arm’s reach. I have h elp: 
you, come toward me  
with an aching in your eyes,  
and a sadness leftover in your smiles. In this new dream I am dreaming for me  
I include all of you. Do you want to know what my love is? It is your  love. And all of us  
Puppies  
curling into  
one 
warm  
heap . —‘Puppies’  © 2006 Em Claire  15. THE END OF PART ONE  
SO NOW WE’RE  approaching an important time in our conversation. We’ve looked closely —
perhaps more closely than ever before —at the Mechanics of the Mind. Now that we 
understand how everything works, we’v e arrived at the moment when you have an 
opportunity to make a decision about the second, third, and fourth of the Nine Changes that 
you are being called to consider. I see that you have already decided to make the First Change, to change your decision to 
“go it alone,” otherwise you wouldn’t still be with me. The next three are . . . Change #2 : Change your choice of emotions  
Change #3 : Change your choice of thoughts  
Change #4 : Change your choice of truths  
You can do this right now. You can use the Mechanics of the Mind to change  your mind 
about the change that is taking place in your life right now. Look right now at the emotion you’ve been feeling these past few days. Is it anger? It is 
fear? Is it grief? Is it frustration? Is it worry? Is it sadness? Is it disappointment, 
disillusionment? Write down on a sheet of paper the emotions you have been feeling as a result of the 
change in your life circumstance. Finish the followin g sentence . . . In the aftermath of what has happened. . . . No, really, do this. This can help you. So go grab a piece of paper and do this. Describe in 
a few words the emotions you’ve been feeling and are feeling now. You might write, I have 
been feelin g . . . fearful . Or you might write, I have been feeling . . . sad . Or you might write, I 
have been feeling . . . angry . Or all of the above. Good. Now write down the thoughts that you’ve had that have sponsored those emotions. Finish the following sentenc e . . . When I contemplate all that has occurred and is occurring, I think that I . . . . . . now complete the sentence. You might write, I think that I . . . will never be happy 
again . Or you might write, I think that I . . . have been treated unfairly . Or you might write, I 
think that I . . . am in trouble here and am not going to be able to easily get out . Or whatever 
you think when you contemplate the change in your life. Good. Now, write down the truth that you hold that sponsored those thoughts. Finish the 
following sentence . . . My truth about this situation is that . . . . . . now complete the sentence. You might write, My truth about this situation is that . . . it 
is hurtful . . . or . . . it is dangerous . . . or . . . it cannot be  solved . . . or . . . it. . . . Now, look at the Judged Past Data from which this truth emerges. See now if you can 
look past that Judged Past Data for just a moment, to the Factual Past Data. What is factual, 
without making a judgment one way or the othe r, about situations such as the present 
situation? What has your past told you, factually , about these situations? Pretend that you are Mr. Spock on the starship Enterprise . Look at it logically. Looking at 
Past Data logically, and utterly without judgment , what do you see is true about the last two 
or three times this sort of thing has happened to you? Has it inflicted any kind of life -
damaging injury, from which you have not been able to recover? Have you, in fact, 
recovered from a lot worse than this? Ha ve, in some instances, things even turned out for 
the better when all was said and done? What is the Factual  Past Data about all of this? Now look to see . . . does this impact your truth about the Present Moment experience in 
any way? Can you cause it  to impact your truth in any way? If you could, how would you 
cause it to affect your truth? Could you go so far as to create a brand new truth about what 
just happened? Can you see yourself elevating from the Imagined Truth to the Apparent Truth? This stuff w orks, my wonderful friend. This stuff works. But right now, listen to what 
your mind is telling you. Is it saying, “Yeah, yeah, for you it works. But for me, life is a 
constant struggle” —? Is that what your mind is saying right now? If not, great . But if i t is, 
then start where Mary O’Malley, in her deep wisdom, would advise: curiosity and 
compassion. Just allow yourself to be curious about what your mind is saying, and have 
compassion for what you learn. Mary softly suggests asking these questions of yours elf: 
What is the way through this? What am I really? What is asking to be seen? What do I need 
to say, do, or be that is for the highest good? What is needing my loving attention? What is 
the next step in my life? “Bear witness.” Watch gently where your mi nd is going, what your mind is doing. Do not 
make yourself “wrong” for it. Do not scold yourself or berate yourself, and above all, do not 
abandon yourself. Just be with yourself and be curious about yourself and ask yourself 
questions about yourself. And most of all, love yourself through all of it. Stay with yourself, bring yourself to the present moment, maybe by just listening to your 
breath, maybe by looking at something in the room. Then quietly, softly, give yourself 
permission to make a new choice i f you wish. Embrace a new truth. We will conclude part 1  of this extraordinary exploration of how you can change 
everything . . . with a final insight about the Mechanics of the Mind:  
TRUTH IS CREATED, IT IS NOT DISCOVERED. God  says, “Lay the Hammer down.”  
Which is really my own voice, make no mistake. And it is your own voice, too. So “Lay the Hammer down”  
and bring your hand to your lips,  or lay it against your heart, whispering  
“Sweet forgiveness,”  
though there is nothing to forgive. All we do is try to Love. It appears as everything: anger, fear, and hurt of every kind. But all we do is try to Love. There is nothing to forgive  
save, lifting the Hammer again . . . —‘Lay the Hammer Down’  © 2007 Em Claire  PART TWO  
The  System of the Soul  
And how knowing about that can help you create the changes in your life, rather than endure 
them  16. THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING  
NOW WE LAUNCH INTO  what I consider to be the most exciting portion of this or any other 
book. Did I just say, “Or any other book?” Yes, I did. Because I don’t think there’s any book ever 
written  that contains information more vital, more crucial, more critical, more important, 
more empowering, and more directly connected to your ability to experience life as you 
have always wished and hoped and aspired to experience it, than the information you are 
going to be given right now. I hope you will make notes in the margins everywhere. I hope that the pages become 
ragged and dog -eared and thin from wear. If you’re readin g this electronically, I hope you 
will highlight every line and paragraph that shouts to you in your soul’s own voice: This is 
what you came here to hear. I want to tell you now about the System of the Soul. The Mechanics of the Mind were just that: the me chanics, the interlocking, interacting 
devices in what I like to call “the engine of your experience.” What we’ll be examining now 
is the fuel. This is where the engine gets its power. And when we finish with the 
explorations in the second part of this boo k, you’ll have everything you need to change 
everything when everything changes. In a world that is constantly changing and a personal life that seems buffeted by major 
changes every time you turn around, it is important to understand how and why you 
exper ience change the way that you do, so that you can change  your experience of change if 
you wish. It is not easy to observe collapse, calamity, and catastrophe and remain at peace. Yet it 
can be done —and here, you and I are going to look at how. We’ll begin our exploration of the System of the Soul by announcing that you have  a soul. This is not a “given” for all people. There are those who believe that humans are simply 
particular forms of life, that there is no “spirit” that lives inside of them. The discus sion that 
follows presumes that the previous statement is mistaken. It further presumes the 
existence of what we might call an Oversoul —or what some people refer to as God. These presumptions are based on more than blind faith. They are based on observation, 
logic, and the extrapolation of both. We know from just a casual look at the Universe that energy exists. This energy appears 
to be at the core of every living thing —and, indeed, of everything , whether we normally 
refer to it as “living” or no t. 
For instance, to use our previous example, a rock. A rock appears to be inert, and would not normally be categorized as a living organism 
in the usual use of those words. Yet if you define that which lives as that which moves  
according to an impeccable and precise design (which seems to suggest some level of intelligence  at its core) that is clearly part of a larger and elegant system , then rocks are 
very much alive —for a close examination of rocks under a powerful magnifier will reveal a 
microcosm that is a virtual duplicate of the macrocosm. It has not been lost on scientists and it should not be lost on you that telescopes and 
microscopes see the same thing: a system  of particles or “balls” of energy, whirling at 
terrific speed around a core, or nucleu s, the whole configuration of which is held together 
by some invisible yet obviously present and pervasive force. Put another way, peer deeply into the sub -molecular structure of a rock (or anything ) 
and you will see a small “universe.” You will also see t hat something is driving that universe . This “something” cannot be seen. Its effects  can be seen, but the energy itself that creates 
those effects is not visible to the naked eye. Does this mean that energy does not exist? It does not. All that can be seen  is not all that is. Now I come to tell you that what we have decided to call “the soul” is part of that which 
cannot be seen: an energy system that makes all things move and animates life. So, too, is 
what we have decided to call “God.” In fact, God is the system itself. God Is the Largest Manifestation of a System That Replicates Itself in Smaller and Smaller 
Versions through a Process That Empowers the System Itself to Exist and to Expand. This is the System of the Soul, and it is impeccable. Its functio ning is perfect. Its design is 
elegant. Its purpose is clear. Its power is immutable. It can be no other way or the System itself would dis -integrate. That is, it would stop 
integrating itself, and thus, cease to be. This would mean that God is in everythi ng; that life is in everything. And this is true. And 
at a soul level, we know this . That is why we personify inanimate objects. We give our boats 
names and we fall in love with them. When our car won’t start we pet it and say, “C’mon, 
Sweetheart, you can do it.” And the car starts. Mom makes a decision to redecorate and refurnish the li ving room and Dad says, “Fine, 
but my chair stays .” We find our baby blanket in an old trunk up in the attic and we hold it 
to our face and a tear comes to our eye and we thank it  for all the comfort and love it gave 
us. We thank the blanket. Do you think the soul is not clear that the Energy of Life is everywhere? I tell you that nothing  is not alive, and the soul knows it . The soul sees itself in everything . It knows our unity with all of life. It watches then, sadly, as the mind talks us out of this. Because the mind, you see, has only Past Data with which to come to its conclusions. Yet the 
soul goes beyond Past Data, to a place where time itself does not exist. The soul knows the 
Actual Truth, while the mind stops at the Apparent Truth. Unless it does n ot. And that is what the soul encourages the mind to do. It encourages the mind to not stop 
at the apparency of things. Do not stop there , it gently calls out. Come with me, to a place you 
never even dreamed existed. All very interesting, you might say . . . but what does this have to do with my life, and the 
changes that have taken place, and how I am going to deal with them? Ah, yes, there is that. . . . (Phew .) Is this a good time for at least a tiny breath? Good. Let’s both  take a little  
Breather right here  
Let’s take a moment to consider the implications of all that —and to consider that these 
implications do have to do with your life, with the changes that have taken place, and with 
how you are going to deal with them. Then . . . . . . when, and only if , you’re ready, drop down to . . . THE ASTONISHING TRUTH ABOUT CHANGE  
I consider that this entire conversation I am having with you will contain, in the end, two 
sentences that you will want to remember verbatim. I mean, really remember . As in, never 
forge t. As in, tattooed on your left wrist, written in soap on your bathroom mirror, or 
magnetized to your refrigerator door. These two utterances are paradigm -shifting and life changing. I call them . . . 1. The Life -Altering Question  
2. The Answer to Everything  
The Life -Altering Question marked the end of our exploration of the Mechanics of the 
Mind. Do you remember the question? Here it is again:  
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE REALITY I AM EXPERIENCING IS NOT REAL? It is the soul that encourages this questio n. 
And now comes The Answer to Everything . What I am about to tell you can make it 
possible for you to never have a negative experience of change again. This is the final piece 
of the puzzle. This is the lost key, the unknown combination, the secret of sec rets. And 
while the Life -Altering Question was the culmination of the first part of this book, the 
Answer to Everything will be the launching point for the second. Here it is . . . ALL CHANGE IS FOR THE BETTER. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CHANGE FOR THE WORS E. 
And that  is what the energy system I have been describing has to do with you and your 
life. That is what your soul  has to do with the changes that have taken place —and that will 
take place in the days and times of your future. Life says for me to tell Y ou This:  
nothing needs fixing;  
everything desires  
a Celebration. You were made to bend  
so that you would find  
all of the many miracles at your feet. You were made to stretch  
so that you would discover,  
your own beautiful face of Heaven  
just above  
all that you think you must shoulder. When I appeal to God to speak to me,  
I’m feeling just as small and alone as you might be. But this is when, for no particular reason at all,  
I begin to  
shine  
—‘Shine’  © 2007 Em Claire  17. THE FIFTH CHANGE  
WHAT I HAVE JUST  told you changes everything. No other piece of information is needed, no 
other data is required. The mind is now empowered to come to a whole new set of 
conclusions about Life. Very early in this conversation I said that there were Nine Changes That Can Ch ange 
Everything, but the truth is, the only one you need is . . . CHANGE #5:  
Change your idea about Change Itself  
We have been seeing change as a disruption, as a break in the flow, as a shift in direction, 
as an alteration in the condition or circumstance  of our lives. Especially with regard to 
what we view as unwelcome change, this has been our truth. From this truth has emerged 
our thought, which has created our emotion, which has produced our experience, which 
has eventuated our reality. I want you to t hink about what I just said. An event  is what brings about our reality. Our 
reality is, in the literal sense, eventuated. This is true until we are out of our mind . When we leave  the mind and enter the realm of 
the soul, then it is no longer events  that br ing about our reality, but pure awareness. From awareness emerges Actual Truth, while from events emerges, at best , Apparent 
Truth and, more usually, Imagined Truth. Thus, from events we travel into a Distorted 
Reality, while from awareness we move at last  into the Ultimate Reality. And what is it of which we become aware, that produces such a quantum shift in our 
overall experience? We become aware of the Actual Truth about Change Itself. We see that 
change is not a DISruption, but an Eruption. It is life erupting into fuller bloom. We see that 
change is not a break in the flow, it IS the flow. We see that change is not a shift in direction, 
it IS the direction itself in which all life moves. We see that change is not an alteration in the 
condition and circ umstance of our lives, it IS the condition and circumstance of our lives. In our expanded awareness we observe that without change, life itself would not be, for 
life is movement, and movement is change, by definition. The question is not, therefore, wheth er life will contain change, but what kind of change life 
will contain. And the answer to that  question depends upon how you utilize the Mechanics of the 
Mind —and whether you integrate them with the System of the Soul, seeing these as two 
handles of the sa me Larger Tool. Let us, then, examine this System of the Soul, even as we examined the Mechanics of the 
Mind, and let us begin where we began . . . with a definition of the Soul itself. The soul is energy. It is the energy of life itself, animating life it self. Life energizes and 
animates life itself through the process of life itself. It is a self -feeding, self -sustaining 
system. Those last few words are vitally important to remember. Life is a self-sustaining system . It never ends, but sustains itself ete rnally. How? By adapting . Why? So that it can remain 
forever functional . When it can no longer function in a particular way, it adapts. By its 
adaptation does it render itself sustainable. Life is making its adaptations in every moment. It is always changing. The question is not 
whether life is always changing, but why? Life is always changing in order to remain always 
sustainable. Thus, every change that ever occurs is change for the better . This new idea about change that I’m inviting you to embrace, when put on a more 
personal level, reads like this:  
All change is for your own good. Most of us experience this —after the fact. Most of us have experienced events which we have called, when they were happening, 
the worst moments of our lives, only to find, as time went by, that what occurred was one of 
the best things that ever happened to us. The fact is that this is true of every thing  that has ever happened to us, but we do not 
know this, we cannot accept this, because some things have  turned out for the worst —
according to our definition . Yet our definition is warped, constrained as it is by the 
Mechanics of the Mind, and their in herent limitations. The mind may very well know all about what has gone before, but it does not know why . The mind may very well hold all of life’s Past Data, but it does not hold all of life’s 
information (which is another thing altogether). The mind may very well contain 
knowledge, but it does not contain wisdom. Wisdom lies outside the mind. Wisdom resides within the soul . That is why we need to hold both handles of this magnificent tool of creation that I shall 
now call by its proper name: YOU. Let me m ake something very clear. “Facts” and “awareness” are not the same thing. We 
can know all the facts about gravity, but if we do not have an awareness of why gravity 
works, we know nothing . We can know all the facts about electricity, and we can even use 
electricity, but if we have no awareness of what electricity is and of why  it works, we know 
nothing . We can know all the facts about light, and we can even use light, but if we have no 
awareness of what light is and of why  it works, we know nothing. Likewis e, we can know all the facts about change, but if we have no awareness of what 
change is and of why  it occurs, we know nothing. For instance, we may not know that . . . NOTHING CHANGES FOR THE WORSE. EVERYTHING ONLY CHANGES FOR THE 
BETTER. That’s a pretty big statement, and I understand if it’s hard for you to believe. Yet it is 
true. Let’s step back a little from this enormous idea and give it some basis in physics. Yes, I 
said physics. I have been saying that the mind is a mechanism. Now I want to say, so  is life. All of life is 
a mechanism, and like all mechanisms, life operates on energy. Unlike most other 
mechanisms, life is the energy on which life operates. That is, it feeds on itself. And so, stars implode and entire star systems disappear into black  holes; and so, 
earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes ravage the earth; and so, big fish consume little 
fish; and so, humans are born, live their lives, and die —ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Yet the 
energy of none of this —none of it — disappears, but mer ely changes form. Energy is never, 
and can never be, lost; it can only be transformed. It is through the transformation of energy that light is produced. It is through the 
transformation of energy that heat is produced. It is through the transformation of energy 
that electricity is produced. It is through the transformation of energy that gravity is 
produced. It is through the transformation of energy that everything  is produced, including 
Life itself. Energy acts upon itself. The transformation of energy p roduces energy in formation. Energy is life’s information . Life is always in formation. It is forever forming itself into 
something it was not before it became what it is. It is through the becoming that life 
breathes life into Life itself.
When_Everything_Changes_Change_Everything__In_A_Time_Of_Turmoil,_A_Pathway_To_Peace.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        then, put it on the 
back burner and let it simmer. Only if you’re ready to go on, drop do wn to. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO GO ON. Are you able to see yet how any of this could apply to you. Are you starting to put 
together how your experience of what is happening right now in your life could be changed 
dramatically by understanding —and then using —the mechanism I’ve been describing 
here. All you have to do is change your innermost truth about what is happening. Begin your 
thinking in a new place. Yet here is a new challenge. There is no clean starting point. No fresh perspective. Someone once  said, “Within human life no fresh perspective is possible after Day One. ” 
That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is clear. We are almost always coming 
from Prior Data when considering any given moment. How else could it be. We have 
nothing to  go on  except what’s been going on. Or do we. What creates your thought is the “truth” you buy into. And what determines the truth 
you buy into —Apparent Truth or Imagined Truth —is which past data you look at. Here we go, deeper and deeper down the r abbit hole. Soon the Mad Hatter will appear, 
swearing to us that what is so is not so, and that what is not so is so. Here we go, deeper 
and deeper into the Matrix. Soon the Man in the White Suit will take us to the White Room 
with all the television scree ns and explain it all to us. What we will learn is not only that it is from your Past Data that your innermost truth 
emerges, but from the choice you make  of the Past Data you select to look at. During the truth -creation process (yes, your mind creat es the truth, it does not observe 
it) the mind travels backward in time to retrieve every piece of data from all previous 
moments that look, feel, taste, sound, or smell like this moment. If the mind finds a match, it 
compares the two data to see just how close the match is, then adds to the present moment  
all information from the past that it considers relevant, thereby creating a whole new set of 
data not at all resembling the data that was originally observed. This revised and supplemented data is enormo usly influential in producing what you 
call your “experience. ” Your “reality” is not what you are seeing, but what you think  you are 
seeing after you have added past data. It is based on the “truth” that your mind has 
extracted from your Past Data and expo rted to the Present Moment. It is “reality” as you 
have experienced it. Ten other people may have experienced it in ten other ways. This is 
important to always keep in mind. To always  keep in mind. Now comes the tricky part. The fact is that you hold in yo ur mind two kinds  of Past Data. I’m going to call this Judged Past Data  and Factual Past Data. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if things just came in ones. But no, we have to have the Triune 
Reality and the Three Brands of Truth, and now we get down to the two ki nds of Past Data. But at least this is the bottom of it. This is the real culprit. If there were only one kind of Past Data we would have only one brand of Truth and only 
one version of Reality. So at least now we know what the problem is. Now. Judged  Past Data can contain what you call Good Memories or Bad Memories, 
the labels depending upon how you judged the events that originally produced those 
memories. which, of course, was a judgment based on prior  events viewed within the 
context of prior  Judged Past Data. which, in turn, was based on even more prior events. and so on, right back to your birth —and beyond. (Yes, you began taking in data about 
what was going on around you in the womb. ) An example of Judged Past Data: the breakup of a romantic relationship is painful. An example of Factual Past Data: the breakup of a relationship is the end of the time that 
two people will spend together in intimate living arrangements. This can be either “bad” or 
“good”. or neither, but just wha t’s so. All of this stuff is rolling around in your mind all of the time. It resides there, and it 
cannot be deleted. There is no delete button on this computer. Your mind will “bring to 
front” this Past Data the moment any Present Data looks even a little like it. You will then 
make an assessment of the Present Data based on prior data that you, and only you, 
possess. Nobody else is walking around with your past. Nobody else has your history. This means that no one else in the universe can encounter, understand, or experience 
anything at all in precisely the way you do. Not so long as you stay in your mind. In strictly 
literal terms, it is impossible to have a “meeting of minds. ” You can, howev er, have a 
blending of souls. This is the blessed relationship for which every human yearns. This is 
where the truth is known. Humans yearn for this blessed relationship because they have a 
cellular awareness that not only is it possible, not only has it h appened, but it is happening 
right now. The only thing standing in the way of our experiencing  this relationship is the 
Emotion that is based on the Thought that is based on the Truth that is based on Judged 
Past Data. How is it possible for the soul to si destep this Line of Causality when the mind 
apparently cannot. Simple. In Ultimate Reality (where the soul resides) there is no such 
thing as Past Data. It is always Right Here, Right Now. Ah, but that is a whole different discussion, saved for part 2. Returning to the human experience of what is happening in most people’s lives, we see 
that our minds are constantly rolling around in Judged Past Data or Factual Past Data, 
producing, at the end of the Line of Causality, what psyc hiatrists and psychologists label 
Objective Reality and Subjective Reality. Subjective Reality emerges from Judged  Past Data. (Not all of this is negative, by the way, 
and that should not be inferred. Often we judge prior events as having been quite 
wonder ful. ) Objective Reality emerges from Factual  Past Data. (What you might call “raw 
data” as opposed to “analyzed data. ”)  In my own model I call Objective Reality “Observed Reality,” and I label Subjective 
Reality “Distorted Reality. ” Why don’t I use the sam e terms that the therapeutic community 
uses. Why have I created my own model. Because my terminology is more descriptive and, more important, because the 
traditional therapeutic model does not recognize the existence of a third reality. Everything came tog ether for me when I started looking at life using a model that 
showed something above  Distorted Reality and Observed Reality —something that I labeled 
Ultimate Reality. The existence of this third reality is what makes it possible for all people to dramatic ally 
change their lives. Not merely alter their lives, but transform  them. Paying attention to the second reality —what you objectively observe, as opposed to 
what you subjectively experience —can certainly alter one’s experience for the better, and 
good psy chologists have helped people do that. But paying attention to the third reality —
what is ultimately  happening as opposed to what we observe  to be happening —can so 
affect your life that you may never have to endure emotional turmoil again. Ever. This is whe re Buddha lived. This is where Christ resided. This is where all true Masters 
live. It was the home of Paramahansa Yogananda. It is the home of the Dalai Lama. It is 
where you will find Thich Nhat Hanh. And Western masters too, such as Stephen Levine, 
Eckh art Tolle, Byron Katie, and Mary O’Malley. These are people who understand, and who 
some say have mastered life. I have put this understanding in my own words. To me it seems clear that to really 
utilize the mind at optimal levels (and, hence, experience life itself  at those levels) we must 
move beyond the standard therapeutic model. Modern psychological constructs hold very little space (if any) for spirituality. That is to 
say, for God and for the soul. This is a supreme irony  since the original idea was exactly the 
opposite. The very word “psychology” gives us our clue. “Psyche” comes from the Greek word 
meaning “soul. ” “Logy” is also Greek, and means “knowledge. ” We see that “psycho+logy”= 
“soul knowledge” —which is what the ancient Greeks knew that all h ealthy behavior was 
anchored in. The constructs that I employ (including those in this book) know the same thing. The 
model I use to study and affect behaviors is based  in spirituality; it has its foundation  in 
theo+logy —that is, knowledge of God. Does thi s make it therapeutically more effective. What do you think. In my observation the third reality, Ultimate Reality, emerging as it does from Actual 
Truth, finally offers an explanation (that neither of the first two realities does) for not only 
what  is goi ng on, but why. And once we know why  something is happening (sudden change, 
for instance), we can employ the immense power of the mind, combined with the eternal 
clarity of the soul, to not only alter our experience of what has happened, but to create our 
experience of what will happen. This is the next evolutionary step for humankind. And humans do not have to wait years 
to take it. You, yourself, can take this step in minutes. Indeed, in the time required to finish 
this book. And here’s the best thing. Yo u don’t have to share my point of view about God in order to 
do it. You don’t have to believe in God at all. You’re free. This book does not seek your 
religious conversion. I’m not going to try to convince you of anything here. I’ve simply been 
sharing som e tools with you. You’ll see if they work for you or not, but you don’t have to 
believe in anything in order to use them. But know that what will change here, should you use these tools, is not just your 
experience of the life change that you are moving th rough right now. These tools will also 
impact all the changes that you will experience from now until the day you die —when you 
will undergo the Biggest Change of All. When you die, what will happen to you, what you will become aware of, will change 
everyth ing about the way you view the life you have lived. Every event will be viewed from 
a larger perspective, every moment will be viewed with love and acceptance, every misstep 
will be viewed with understanding and compassion, every achievement will be viewed  with 
sweet pride and soft joy and a willingness, at last, to accept and embrace one’s own 
magnificence. The conversation we are now having is about bringing that same view forward. It is 
about moving it from Then to Now. I can remember my father saying, “If I knew then  what I know now. ” This is about 
knowing “now” what you will know “then. ” Exciting, yes. All of This:  
it is preparation for walking in the world  
as Light. You have been found now,  
and the running of man y lifetimes  
is over. So as each layer of dust  
is wiped clean  
from the surface,  
the You  
you have known  
must  disperse. Let this Light become  
Your speech & Your silence. Let the grief  
that has lived you,  
pass away. Let the people  
who love You,  
love Themselves. Let the earth shake,  
the stars burn  
the skies break  
when You do. As painful as this part is,  
You were meant to know your Light. —‘You Were Meant’  © 2007 Em Claire  13. OF SNAKES AND LIONS AND HUMANS, TOO  
WE ARE VERY NEAR  the end of part 1  of this book. This first half of this wonderful 
conversation brought us into deep focus on the Mechanics of the Mind in order that you 
might change the way you experience change. In the second half of our time together we 
will look at changing the way you create  change, by exploring the System of the Soul. It would have been impossible to explain how the second —and more exciting —tool 
works without us deeply understanding the mechanics of the first. And it will be impossible  
to fully utilize the first, no matter how thoroughly we explain it, without the fuel (that is to 
say, the power ) that the second gives  to the first. All of which is to notice that life in both  its parts has a purpose and a function just the 
way it is. We are truly served by using life in all the ways that it presents itself, physical and 
spiritual, as a means and a pathway to the Ultimate Reality. So now we shall go just one more, final, layer deep in exploring life in the physical —for 
this final exploration will lead to a life -altering question  that will make everything you have 
read in the past several chapters usable and workable in a way that you might never have 
imagined. As we do this I wi ll come right back to you and your experience of life on this day. All along I have been presuming that on this day you are standing in what I call “the 
middle of a moment” of significant change in your life. I hope you now see that, 
fascinatingly, your experience  of this change may have nothing to do with what you actually 
saw, felt, tasted, heard, or smelled. It’s your Past Data that formed your innermost truth 
about it, and it is from your innermost truth that your thought, emotion, and experience 
emerge s producing your present reality. Is it a Distorted Reality, the Observed Reality, or is it the Ultimate Reality in which you 
stand. Well, you can tell by how you feel. If you feel terrible, you are standing in a Distorted Reality. If you feel just fine, y ou are 
standing in the Observed Reality. If you feel blissful, you are standing in the Ultimate 
Reality. All of this depends on what kind of match your mind is finding for the data that exists in 
this present moment. But now let’s ask an intriguing questio n. What if you encounter in 
your life a piece of here -and-now data for which your mind cannot find a match. I ask the question because, as a person who is thinking this all through with me, you may 
have already asked it in your own mind. The answer is that  this situation is highly unlikely. As I’ve noted before, it is virtually impossible to not find some kind of match in Past Data 
for what is going on now. Almost everything that you are experiencing is a version of 
something you have experienced before. Gr anted, it may have been as far back as the crib 
(and therefore perhaps out of your conscious memory), but it is there in your data bank, I 
assure you. In my own case, to give you an example, I happen to vividly remember a time when I was 
under two years ol d and standing in my crib. I was just being potty trained and I needed to 
go to the bathroom. I called for my mom, who was in another room, to lift me out of the 
crib. She heard me and said, “I’ll be right there, sweetheart. ” But she never came. I called a nd called, and then began to cry. She kept calling back to me that she was 
coming, but she was taking a terribly long time. I don’t know what she was doing in that 
other room, but it was something that she clearly did not want to be interrupted. The 
troubl e was, that exact moment was when I needed her. I knew that she heard me because 
she called back to me. But she was not coming. I felt abandoned. Why wasn’t she coming. I tried and tried to get out of the crib. I can still see myself trying to hoist m yself up, 
then working to lift my leg up over the railing. but it was no use, it was too high. I 
couldn’t get out. MAH -MEE I cried one last time, but it was no use. Finally, through a lake of tears, I had 
no choice but to soil my diaper. Now look, I k now that this was not a Big Deal. Now  I know that. But then  I did not know 
that. And then  is when the data was stored. You see. You understand. I had been told that Big Boys use the potty. I was devastated at having failed to be a Big 
Boy. To this day I ha ve had to deal with abandonment issues. You think I am making this up. This is how it works. This is how the mind works. It does not know the difference between 
Then and Now. I can’t erase this memory. In fact, the harder I tried through the years, the mor e indelible 
the memory became. Of course. I was burning it in there. And it is as I said before. There is 
no delete button on this machine. So. it is highly unlikely —not impossible, but very unlikely —that your mind will not be 
able to find a match in Past Data for a Present Moment encounter. Your mind will do its 
best to find something  to match it up with because your mind understands that your 
survival depends  on it finding something to compare Now with. Otherwise, how will you 
know how to proceed. But let us say that it just cannot. Let us say that something that’s occurring right now is 
so unique, so unusual, so first -of-its-kind, that you truly have nothing at all from any yester -
moment with which to compare it. Not to worry. Your mind will search a  “sub -directory” in your memory comprised of data 
that is held beneath the first level of consciousness, in your molecular encoding —or your 
“subconscious. ” This is called your cellular memory —or what some people refer to as 
instinct. (This is where “fight -or-flight” comes from, among other reactions. ) Actually, your mind went to this sub -directory first. It does that as the first means of self -
preservation, just in case you don’t have time to think. In the moment that any outward 
event occurs, your initial impulse will be to react instinctively. Then, i f you do have time to 
think (Remember when we talked about this before. We said this only takes seconds. Nanoseconds, really) you can decide how you wish to respond, rather than how you would 
react  if you hadn’t thought about it. Response Time is a luxury. Reaction Time is instant. Yet when you respond, always 
know that you are never responding to what is happening now. You are responding to your 
past. Again, so that you are clear. if your Past Data really and truly can produce no match 
whatsoever to y our Present Data, you will revert back to instinct —which is also  Past Data. It is simply Past Data of a different sort. Your instinct  is what pushes you into your future. It says, if you want a future, listen to 
your past —even if it is a past that you cann ot consciously remember. Your cellular 
memory, this “sub -directory,” holds the history of your entire species. So if anyone  in your 
biological line has encountered data about what you are now witnessing, that data will 
immediately be made available to you. This is the Reptilian Brain at work. The what. Yes, I said the Reptilian Brain. And all of this —all of it — relates directly to the 
experience that you are having right now, on this very day. This short course in the 
Mechanics of the Mind is something that should be taught in every school, in age -
appropriate ways, so that when we all become adults we know what we are dealing with 
here —and can create the lives we always imagined we would lead.
The author is discussing the importance of understanding how the mind works and how to change one's experience of life by changing one's innermost truth. This is achieved by recognizing that the truth you buy into is based on the past data you choose to look at, and that you can change your innermost truth to alter your experience.
What is the author's message about the human experience and the way to change one's life?
The author emphasizes that our reality is not what we see, but what we think we see after adding past data, and that this is why it is essential to change our innermost truth to change our reality.
What is the author's view on the concept of "reality"?
The author explains that Judged Past Data contains what we call Good Memories or Bad Memories, while Factual Past Data is simply the raw, unanalyzed data.
What is the difference between Judged Past Data and Factual Past Data?
The author states that emotions are not inherent, but rather chosen, and that the mind decides how to respond to a situation based on past data.
What is the author's stance on the concept of "emotion"?
The author emphasizes that the mind and the soul are separate entities, and that the soul is the source of wisdom, whereas the mind is limited by its own mechanisms.
What is the author's main point about the relationship between the mind and the soul?