School Talk 44 - Asking

Today we’re going to talk about asking. Many, many months ago, I’ve forgotten how many; but more than 36, I agreed with a number of people that I would attempt to supply everything I was asked to do. So I agreed to do this; not because it was going to be beneficial to anybody except me. I was going to find out how many people really listened to “what to ask for.” We have remarked over and over that until a person has a new purpose, that they were only struggling to achieve the four dual basic urges over and over and over and over. We tried to point out over the past several years that the four dual basic urges attempt is doomed to failure before you start. No matter how hard you try to be non-disturbed, you’re going to get more disturbed because the more you set it up to be.

I read a little story one time about a man who went fishing one day and he caught a fish. The fish said, “If you throw me back in, you can have anything you ask for.” The man was so shocked at having a talking fish in his hand that he threw the thing back in the ocean and went home without any fish. He told his wife and she was very upset and called him a knucklehead and a great many other uncomplimentary names. She told him to go back down there and get that fish and tell it that she wanted a nice cottage to live in instead of this stupid little old shack.

So he went back and hollered “O mighty fish, will you come.” The fish stuck his head up and said, “What do you want.” He said, “I want my wife to have a nice cottage.” He said, “Go home.”

So the man went home and when he got there, why here was a lovely cottage where the little shack used to sit.

They were very happy in it for about a week, but about a week later, the lady said “I want a manor house.” “Go get that fish again.” So he runs down there and he hollers to the fish, and the fish sticks his head up and says, “What do you want.” “She wants a manor house—a big one.” He goes home and there it is—a big manor house.

They got along real nicely with that for about 24 hours and she decided she’d like to have a palace. So she sent him down and he hollered at the fish and told it she wanted a palace. The fish said, “Go home.” So when he got there, sure enough, there was a beautiful palace sitting there with servants running all over the place, and everything was pretty wonderful.

Now that lasted about 10 or 12 hours, and the lady decided that she would like to be Queen. So she sends him back, and he runs down to the fish. The fish comes up and the water’s were pretty boiling and things looked a little stormy; and the fish said, “What do you want.” “My wife wants to be Queen.” “Go home”, said the fish, and here she was Queen and running and giving orders for everything under the sun; and that lasted about two hours. She then sent him back to the fish to become the Empress over many kingdoms and queendoms or whatever they were. So she got that, and that lasted 1 ½ hours; and she sent him back again. She now wanted to control what time the sun came up; and when the moon was full.

So he ran down there to ask the fish, and there was a mighty storm rising; but the fist stuck his head up and said, “What do you want?” He told the fish and the fish said, “Go home.” So when he got home, the little hovel was back again, and everything was pretty much like it was before he threw the fish back.

So people getting what they think would supply the four dual basic urges to gain pleasure and escape all pain, and to gain attention and escape being ignored, and to gain approval and to escape all disapproval; and to feel important and to escape all sense of inferiority doesn’t work. No matter how long you work at it--it simply doesn’t work. Now since we’ve been doing this bit of trying to supply people with whatever they ask for, we’ve had one person who has called more than once and asked about something that would gain higher consciousness—has not asked for any favors or change this or change that or make anything over.

I have had innumerable calls—have no way of keeping up with them—but an average of better than ten a day—day in and day out, and all for requests for something that would enhance the four dual basic urges. Now, so far nobody’s asked to have the sun and moon under their control; but just about everything short of that including palaces, including fine automobiles—I’m not talking about the ordinary variety—a million dollars in the bank, glamorous jobs, glamorous companions, etc. etc.—all for the four dual basic urges--that is up to two hours ago; and there’s no telling what will happen from here on.

We put a little note on the board today that is attributed to a young lady named Carmen Aretha. She said, we can’t ask for anything, we can only ask to see what we already have. Now we all have higher consciousness available—it’s definitely sitting here. X is in everybody or we wouldn’t be breathing. Also we all have the four dual basic urges and all the conditioning factors. Once you have been exposed to teaching ideas, there’s bound to be somewhat of a conflict in between. The not “I’s” want you to go their way; and they want you to complain. They want you to stick up for your rights. They want you to moan, and they want you to cry, and all these emotions. They want you to struggle to be non-disturbed and by all means that you are not responsible for. And, of course, X is much gentler, and is quiet, and is loving, and doesn’t make a big lot of noise. It doesn’t scream at you or anything like the not “I’s” do.

An old man told me many years ago, you grease the wheel that squeaks. So the not “I’s” do all the squeaking, and everybody tries to gratify the not “I’s”—no matter what it takes—gratify all the not “I’s.” They make a lot of noise—so we grease that wheel.

Now X never screams or hollers at you to gain higher consciousness. It’s available and wants to do. Now we have put out that there is only one way to approach higher consciousness, and that is to have a new purpose. Now, obviously, people over and over ask for various and sundry things that they feel that, at the moment, would give them some of the four dual basic urges. They don’t have a new purpose.

Now if you truly had a new purpose, and were not interested in all those things, then you probably have more than you’ve ever had in your life. They’re a by-product of not struggling for them. As long as you struggle to get the four dual basic urges, you have less and less on the gain side and more and more of the side you want to escape.

Once a person has a whole new purpose of living, they’re not interested in being non-disturbed, but probably have less disturbance than anybody has ever experienced up to date. That’s about the only way you’ll ever get it. So there are people who come and quote to me various things that’s very “in” these days. They quote the Bible. Even the President and Ted Kennedy and all kinds of good people get involved in that trait these days. They quota the Bible, but they usually grab just one little place off out here somewhere. So somewhere in one of the quotes is “Ask and you shall receive.” So everybody says, “Goody, goody, all I got to do is ask, and it’s going to be there”. But they didn’t read a little farther that says, “You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss.” You ask in order to spend it on the four dual basic urges—it uses the word “passion” there, but it means the same thing. Your appetites, your greed’s and etc. So it tells you very quickly that this asking is only honored when you’re asking for the proper things. The proper thing is to ask how to have knowledge to achieve higher consciousness—how to withstand the onslaught of the four dual basic urges and all their little games—all the complainers and the sticking up for rights, and the blaming. Most everybody year round wants to sell you a little bit of that. Is that about right? No matter, you know, if you visit with a bunch of people, they’re trying to tell you who needs to be changed, who needs to be told off, who needs to be shot, who needs to be kicked out, and all these other things.

So basically we ask amiss when we’re asking for all these things; and this is why I run the experiment of seeing what people would ask for after they were given the reasonable assurance that every effort would be made to see that they got what they asked. Now a lot of people could have been in a higher state of consciousness and be able to really deliver a service to the world, and enjoy living also—which is a by-product of it--not the purpose of it at all—but the by-product is. Instead they wasted it away on a lot of little wishes for a jillion pieces of trivia.

Now we are not putting any handles out, but we have found that if we ask properly, that people can have these things. So they’ve had them, it hasn’t been fizzled—most everything they asked for. They’ve received. Once in a while one got to the point of being like the lady wanting to set the moon and the stars in motion, and it didn’t quite happen. Some of them get as many as ten in a week. They keep thinking bigger and bigger things that they could have; and if they had those, boy it would really be all right. Now there is a place somewhere, as long as we’re going to quote the book a little bit that says. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all this trivia will be added unto you.” But I notice that people think that they will be at peace, and at ease, and happy if they get all the trivia. So they didn’t read that one very well; and if they did, they didn’t know what it meant. What it means. Obviously, that one is in another kingdom. One is in the kingdom of peace where one is quite peaceful when you are doing something. Now we have one on the board here which Miss Bonnie put up which says, “I can contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood.” Now you don’t have to ask for any great shakes to do that, do you? Anybody can do that unless they flat don’t want to.

Now an awful lot of people obviously for reasons of their own (which I don’t choose to try and fathom), would rather complain, stick up for their rights and claim to be a victim, than they would to contribute to a pleasant mood. It certainly is their privilege; and they can have what goes with it which is misery and physical, mental, emotional, and economic and any other way you want to go about it—you can have it. There’s no sweat, you can have it.

But there is a different one—contribute to a pleasant mood changes everything inside and outside you. You now have a different purpose than to be non-disturbed. You are maybe seeing if you can pour a little oil on troubled waters around you. So somebody comes and tells you what a horrible mess the world is in, and how it’s “all going to Hades with it’s back broke”, and they’re in a worse shape, and you’re probably even worse than that. But you can contribute to a pleasant mood.

Now that’s not being Pollyanna-ish or anything, it’s merely doing what’s to my advantage. Simply I have started a new purpose; and I’m practicing on it. If I have a purpose to contribute to a pleasant mood—I don’t know how anybody in the world, except me, could interfere with it. Can you keep me from contributing to a pleasant mood?

(No.)

Can you?

(No.)

But I can. I can—I feel sorry for myself. “I’m in such a terrible shape.” And “Ah, how horrible it is.” One lady called me today and the first thing she said was “I had a horrible weekend.” I said, “Well, how is it doing today.” Well, it’s a little better today. I said, “Well, I wanted to know about today, I didn’t want to know about the weekend.” But she began to tell me that it was pretty bad today to; and if I worked on it a while, I could probably get it in a real bad shape. But all weekend was terrible.

It used to be when I ran a practice, some dear folks would come in and I’d say “How are you?” “I’m all right today, but I thought I was dying last night.” And you lived over it, so I suppose that what you thought wasn’t very accurate. They lived over it; but nevertheless, they want to tell you all the sad and miserable things. I don’t know whether many of you have run into people from Texas much, but the nicest way they can give you a compliment is when you ask them about anything or about themselves, they can always say, “Well, it’s not too bad.” So that is a compliment beyond all comprehension—it wasn’t too bad. They sit down and eat a marvelous dinner; and you say, “How was your dinner?” “Not too bad.” How are you feeling today? “Not too bad.” How is your new car, do you like it? “Well, it’s not too bad.” So you see there is only one way to look at things—it’s bad. It’s just to what degree of badness it is. It would be just as easy to say it had some degree of well being, or some degree of liking it. I like it pretty well, or I like it very well, or it is fantastic to me. But at least you can say, “Well, it was fairly all right.” That would get it down to the bottom. But you mustn’t do that. You must say, “Not too bad.”

So let’s see if we could take a new look at today and say. “All right, enough of this stuff of supplying everything that’s asked for.” I think I’ll probably resign in a few days. I’m going to give notice all over the country that I’m resigning—I’m not giving whatever you ask for; but I will put the word out that I will assist in any way possible, to me, that the person achieves a higher state of consciousness. I’m not in the business now of trying to get new yellow corvettes, dates with kings and queens or anything of the sort--or making mansions. We’ve done that long enough to kind of see the point. In fact, I don’t even think I’ll work on the ailments because if you re contributing to a pleasant mood, you have a different purpose. There is only one thing that’s going to happen—you’re going to feel good. Now if you insist on complaining, sticking up for your rights, blaming, trying to please people you don’t want to please because you think it’s your job to do so, and you’re doing a bunch of things you don’t want to do—don’t expect to feel good. It just won’t work. You’re not doing anybody else any good either. So let’s just say that from here on, we’re going to work at what the teaching ideas are all about—that a person will have a higher state of consciousness.

The by products of doing that are too varied to mention. They’re everything that man has dreamed he wanted and then some.

We told you a story not too long ago where the people had three wishes. I think you all remember that. In sight of five minutes, they didn’t have anything—they’d used them up, and didn’t have anything anyway except a little experience which didn’t do them any good. But we can see that starting now, I’m going to have a different purpose in life than proving I’m a victim, or that I’m very unfortunate, or that I am very pathetic, or that I have asked and I didn’t receive. We don’t go to that other part of it that we ask amiss and spend it on the four dual basic urges.

So it goes on and on and on that we cannot over emphasize that nothing can really be done until one changes their purpose. That maybe could sum it all up, that all the teaching ideas are about. That one has a consciously chosen purpose, and that without a consciously chosen purpose, and the will to exercise it enough until it becomes second nature—that no matter what was given any one of us—we could have the lovely cottage, we could have the manor house, we could have the castle, we could be the Queen or the King of a country, we could be the Emperor over a continent, and we’d still need to control what time the sun came up and went down, and that is probably a little too much to ask for.

You see, we have no conception of what would make me happy. We have a lot of misconceptions about what would make me happy—as if we really deserve to be happy anyway in the way most of us live. But let’s say that I was not interested in being happy. I was interested in making a contribution of one sort or another—such as contributing to a pleasant mood, or I was contributing to the party by being what to me is a good guest, or any number of things that we could come up with—now we’re not talking about being happy.

I have observed is that as long as a person wants to be happy, they’re not; and the day they don’t give a “hoot” whether they’re happy or not, they probably wouldn’t change places with anybody in the world.

But you see, we all figure out—should I do this or should I do that? All asking indirectly, “If I do this will I be happy.” “If I don’t do this will I feel guilty, and therefore not be happy.” But if you’re only interested in making a contribution, you’re not interested in being happy, feeling guilty or any of these other little good items, is that about right?

Ok, so we will stop with the idea that it is urgent. If I may say so, it is very urgent that we choose a purpose and that we act upon it—to live on it.

Now we’ve been here approximately one year, and in this one location--it’s unusual for me to stay in one place very long—but we have worked and worked at trying to get the idea across that it is necessary, if anything is, to have a new purpose in living; and that we practice that new purpose until it becomes second nature. You might find it would be more wonderful that all the things you have dreamed—if I had this, if I had that, if I just wasn’t responsible.

They’re a lot of people who will tell you they will be responsible for you for adequate fees. You all know that. They don’t deliver, but they will go through the motions. They’ll keep you kidded for a while.

Ok, we’ve talked long enough; now let’s have conversation all the way around the table. Yes?

(I was wondering if I could have just one more thing. I swear it would work this time.)

Fire away. She wants the last one before the program is over.

(I just want a million dollars, that’s all.)

Is that all? Well, just go out and work for it. We’ll set you in a place where you can earn a million in three years. Is that soon enough. That will be by the time you’re 24, and a 24-year-old girl with a million dollars.

(It won’t be worth as much then, though.)

Well, it might. It might be worth more, who knows. Things may go broke, and we’ll have more money out of the same amount. So you can have your million, I don’t think I’ll try to work very hard on that one. I’m not going to lose any sleep or time on it, or get bruises on me or anything of the sort for that one.

Who else has got a question?

(Are you saying that higher consciousness is not conflict on pursuing that direction?)

If you’re going in that direction, what would you have conflict over? You always get close to that by making a contribution, and nobody’s going to interfere with your contribution. Now I said there was a conflict that the not “I’s” will be screaming and hollering for you going in their direction which is complaining, sticking up for your rights, blaming and all those things.

(That’s the pull.)

Whenever you start your new purpose, they’ll do that. I do know that—I’m well aware that the not “I’s” put up a mighty scream. They don’t want to lose a good account. They’ve got a good account from you. The food of the not “I’s” is human misery.

(Yes.)

Ok, you’ve been a good account, and they don’t want to lose that. So they will put up a mighty squawk when you start having a whole new purpose, and that’s the only conflict involved, and that’s kind of fun to watch them. So you don’t have to go along with them, ok?

(So just being aware that the conflict is going to be there….)

That the not “I’s” are going to be crying for you to go back to your old way.

(That’s ok if they do?)

Oh, let ‘em holler, who cares, it’s like listening to the guy go down the street with a “beach boomer.”

I went in the mall the other day to look at some old cars, and there was a guy coming through with a “beach boomer” that was so noisy that the police ran him out of the place. He was in there with his “beach boomer.” So the not “I’s” are no louder than that. So throw them out—the cop threw him out of there. We can throw them out, so what! He had the choice of cutting his “beach boomer” off or getting out, so he chose to get out. Obviously, you can’t let that noise slow down any.

Ok, who else has got a word. Mary?

(Not today.)

Not today—tomorrow. Well, why not give me the one you were going to have tomorrow, today. Might as well work on it?

(I got to wait until tomorrow to see what it is.)

Oh, ok. Tomorrow never gets here, so you’ll never know. You got a question here John? Throw one out. Mary, you got anything to pick at us today. Anybody else got one?

(Asking amiss is……..)

Asking that you could serve the four dual basic urges.
That whatever it is is going to make me comfortable or escape a pain, or it’s going to get me some attention, or it’s going to avoid some disapproval.

(Ok, I got it.)

That’s asking amiss. Now we have said that we set out some three or more years ago that we would try to see that people had everything they ask for—that they called up and asked about. We’ve done a fairly good job of it. I won’t say 100%, but we got close. It hasn’t changed a thing for those people—not a one has stopped to think, I would like to have higher consciousness—even though we put a tape out on it every week. We put articles in the newsletter. We have promoted it a bit; and we haven’t promoted that you call and ask for a yellow corvette or a mansion in Bellaire or wherever. We’ve had many requests for those—precious few of the other kind.

So now we’re going to say—well, the party’s over on this and get down and ask for something that is meaningful, or we won’t play games—we’re not playing now. We’ve gathered up considerable information saying that no matter how plain you attempt to make it, how precise you try to put it across, that a new purpose is essential. I think we have gone all out on that. Any of you get a tape every week. You read them every now and then. Does it always have that in there somewhere? You read the newsletter? Does it have it in there? Never once says, well, look it’s a magic deal. We’ve got a wonderful new celestial welfare department. All you do is call up and we’ll get you whatever you want. I don’t think that’s been in there. I checked it very carefully, and we haven’t announced that, but that’s the way it’s been used. Bob’s got a hot line to the celestial welfare department. So you call up and it will cure your aches and pains and miseries. Or it will get you new clothes, a new car, new apartment, new job—just anything and everything you’re little heart desires, and it’s all in magic. And, of course, nobody feels that they should contribute anything for that financially because the good Lord pays my phone bill and the rent and all these things. It’s all taken care of. Nobody has to even consider contributing a little bit to it because it’s all adequately taken care of. That’s totally beside the point, but the point is that everybody has a little quirk that says—magic is quite available.

Now real magic is being a whole person. You’re only a new person when you have changed your purpose, and I don’t mean in words only! I said in words, and you really set out to see that’s what it is. You’ve understood the reason, and you’ve acted upon it until it becomes kind of second nature.

Ok, questions? No? Any more? Ok, we’ll call it a day.