Workshop - Half Moon Bay, CA - 1974 - Part 3 of 4

by
Robert Rhondell Gibson

In creating a companion to the audio files found in the “Links” section, we strive to give
the reader as close a verbatim transcript as possible. 
Dr. Bob’s laid-back “Kentucky-ese” is retained – not correcting his grammar makes reading it
sound like he’s actually talking.  In addition, he purposefully used not only specific words,
but also pronunciation, grammar, and dialect as tools to get the listener’s attention.
Honoring his choices, we’ve made sure in these Verbatim Transcripts
not to take it upon ourselves to “clean it up” for him. 
NOTE:
Audience (laughter) is noted; he was a master at keeping the mood up!
(Audience participation is parenthesized and separated from his words.)
Speakers’ emphasized words are in italics.
Some tenets of the Teachings are in bold type.
[Anything that offers clarity is added by the proofreader and italicized inside brackets.]
Access the mp3 at:
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CD #5 of 7

Choosing a Purpose

It is because you choose a purpose.  Now let’s say that I picked up some purpose in the world and said that this is my purpose other than being non-disturbed.  I see that that one didn’t work because the more I tried to be non-disturbed, the more disturbed I get, is that about correct?

(Mm-hmm.)

The harder you work at being non-disturbed, there’s more things disturbing you. 

So we have to look and see of what I could come up with as a purpose.  You know, you only need one purpose.  Now I’ve used several different purposes – only one at a time.  One purpose I picked up one time was to do what anybody asked me to do as long as I didn’t consider it illegal or harmful to someone.  Well, that worked pretty good.  Everything you did you worked on that score of it.

I worked on one for one time that I could contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I might be.  That one worked real good for quite a long time – still works if you want to use it.  Your whole purpose in livin’ is to contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever you may be under whatever the circumstance – not hard.  Now, it’s just you don’t forget it.  You forget to forget that – that’s your purpose all the time.  So if you have that purpose can you tell me how you’d have much static anywheres?  My whole purpose is contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood whether I’m workin’, playin’, home sittin’ by myself, drivin’ on the highway – you know, I want that mood out there to be all right.  You go into a place of business you – [new people enter the room] Hello, George, hi, Ellie! – we just started a minute ago.  (laughter)  

So you said, “have any number of moods.”  Well, let’s say that I looked at things and said, “Well I think what I will do as my purpose is, is that I will work with balancing everything that comes along.”  So somebody comes in and gives me a hard way to go.  Well, the balance to that would be to do something rather nice for somebody and give a compliment, okay?  Somebody steals somethin’ from me, I go give somebody somethin’.  I read in a book that if somebody stole your overcoat, go give him your suit coat – or give somebody else your suit coat, I guess.  That kind of balanced it up – you just kept on givin’ it or you create such an imbalance and it’ll have to come back – I don’t know which.  But I’m not takin’ that as that’s what you ought to do or not; but it would be the way that I would see to establish a balance.  And I find it works pretty good because it keeps you reminded that all these unpleasant situations that come along, you can do somethin’ rather nice for something or somebody – doesn’t matter you just threw it out there, doesn’t matter where it goes – it keeps you aware of your purpose.

Now then, so here comes in something that it only goes into one purpose; it doesn’t go into bein’ non-disturbed and it doesn’t have all these methods or anything.  That end post goes up and is a “concept.”  A concept is, shall we say, balance or the concept is rhythm or shall we say the concept is that everything’s pretty much all right in this world.  That’s pretty well the way it works.  So an impulse [he draws on the board] goes here – one goes to X and that neuro-endocrine impulse goes here and the function comes out as something rather constructive, hmm?  It’s not something you get even with, it’s not something to avoid, it’s not something to fight.  And it sets up a whole different mood that we talked about this mornin’ in the whole situation and everything around you.  It does all the things we talked about that it gives what you radiate.  You live in it.  Whatever it’s doin’, it’s a conscious thing.

Now you can talk about being a conscious individual because you have consciously chosen your purpose.  And once you have a purpose, you don’t have to figure out how to get it.  This purpose here was so far out in the first place that there was no way to get it because you had to come up with many different ways to try to get it because nothing would work to try to be totally non-disturbed.  In fact, we said you couldn’t get along without havin’ a pain once in a while, which is a little disturbance.  You get hungry now and then – thank goodness.  Is that right?  If you didn’t have any disturbance, you’d never get hungry.  Well, I think some people could tolerate that for a week or two, maybe; but indefinitely it wouldn’t work so well, right?

(After a while.)

You could do it for a few days and it’d be all right; but after that, you better get hungry once in a while, is that correct? 

(Right.)

So anywheres that you can come up now to be conscious.  Now, “conscious” is accurately reporting to Life as the real situation.  Now, we’ve seen that Life Principle always does the appropriate thing for the information it receives.  It doesn’t judge it as to whether it’s correct or incorrect, that’s what it made the Awareness Function down here was – to pick it up.  So when it’s not picked up and it gives it incorrect information, it acts upon it as though it’s true.  And that’s where all the chaos comes in the world is that X is doin’ the appropriate thing for the information it receives.  But it’s constantly being given false information by all this conditioning that was sitting here, so there is misinformation goin’ but it acts upon it as though it’s true. 

The Vicious Cycle

Now, most of us at one time or another have felt that we are being very mistreated and we’re angry because of the way we’ve been mistreated, right, Jeanine?  That happened to you, Darryl, once in a while? 

(Frequently.)

So then X, Life Principle, does the appropriate thing – it prepares you to fight.  And how many fights have you been in lately, little Jeanine? 

(Recently?)

Yeah, fist fights and hair pullin’s and bitin’ and all that – how long has it been since you’ve been in one? 

(I don’t ever remember being in one.)

So then you were prepared to do something that you wasn’t gonna do, is that right?  The body was prepared to fight and you didn’t fight, so that requires some severe adaptation to take place, huh?

(Mm-hmm.)

And that can be anything from the sniffles to AIDS, I guess, huh?  Jeanine gives me all her symptom reports about once every week or so and I always say she just has a mild case of AIDS, and it breaks the spell a little bit anyway.  (laughter)  Just a mild case of it.  It don’t look very serious; but she has all the symptoms – a mild case of AIDS.  So you can have anything in the book because when this does something it prepares the body to fight or run or some other violent activity and you don’t do it because you don’t indulge in much violence, do you? 

(Not much.)

Except to the body.

(Yes, that’s true.)

But every now and then you’re angry, every now and then you’re frightened, every now and then you have...

(I’d like to fight someone occasionally!)

But you don’t.

(That’s right.)

You don’t.

(It’s not ladylike, you know.)

It’s very unladylike; and so you don’t do it even though they need it, huh?

(That’s true.)  (laughter)  (How do you know all these things?)

I’m beginnin’ to catch on to you.

(I can see that.  You’re really getting me straightened around.)  (laughter)

I’m getting’ you straightened around finally.  So then your body is all prepared to go do violence, but you don’t do the violence to the other person.  And all it does then – the body’s got to adapt because it can’t keep all that hormones in there and everything’s generatin’ tons of energy – that’ll really tear ‘em up, commit murder and you don’t do anything; only set there.  And so then it comes up with all this group of symptoms – it’s absolutely essential now that they have symptoms.  Because if you didn’t the body would flat explode – boom, like that!  It’d go up because you generate enough energy and the energy can’t go back to the non-accumulated state, huh?  So it’s got to do something – ‘cause balance, balancing is the law of the universe and a body’s got to go to balancing so it burns it all up.  She didn’t fight anybody, she didn’t shoot ‘em, she didn’t hit ‘em with a ball bat or anything.  She’d just had it.  Now she has to have a lot of symptoms. 

And, of course, we say the symptoms are bad, huh?  And she gets all excited about all the symptoms and that builds up more mobilized energy and we call that the Vicious Cycle.  It goes on usually somewheres in the neighborhood of 70 years is about as long as the human body can stand it – about this long as it can tolerate it – about 70 years of that foolishness and it just blows it up then.  They call that aging.

(I do something that helps me burn it up.)

What do you do?

(I run.)

You run.  Well, you generate the energy for runnin’ when you set out to go runnin’.  You don’t use that other stuff up.  It was only gonna be used up in the way you said it – balance.  Now, if you go runnin’, you – impulse comes in here and you say, “Well, I’m gonna go runnin’,” and it generates the energy to run, you go out and run a mile, okay?  And if you say, “Well, I’m goin’ out and lift weights,” you generate the energy to lift weights.  You don’t burn up that other stuff, you just use up the energy to lift the weights, okay?

(I feel better when I get back.)

Well, naturally you feel better because you exercised some – still got the rest of it.  Let’s say you stood up on the chair – better still go over here and stand on that cabinet over there.  And you look at the floor and you see about how far it is, you don’t know in inches but you can see it, is that right?  You jump off – you generate the right amount of energy to protect you when you hit the floor?

(Yes.)

Right on, hmm?  If somebody cut a hole under the carpet about six inches deep and you got up on there and they stretched the carpet back on there where it looked real good and you jumped, what would happen to you?

(I would probably pull a muscle.)

You’d probably break some bones.

(Okay.)

And have a whiplash and a few other things because you had the exact amount of energy it takes to get to the floor; but the stoppin’ place was another three inches down or four, huh?  Terrific.  In other words, you generated enough energy – X, Life, generated exactly the amount of energy it took to get to here.  But you went four inches further and you didn’t have any generated for that, huh?  Now, by the same token, suppose the floor jumped up after you jumped – there was a jack under there and it met you about three or four inches above where you thought you was goin’.  What’ll happen?  You had too much energy generated for that one.  The other one, you didn’t have enough.  So it’s unbalanced, right?  And you’re gonna get hurt. 

So X did the appropriate thing in both cases.  One for where the fall where you reported the floor was, but the floor actually was three or four inches deeper than that.  And the other one you reported where it was and it was three or four inches closer.  And either one will tear you up, right?  Because you were prepared exactly for the amount there.  Now, the fact that you go runnin’ before you do that exercise; afterwards you won’t be able.  (laughter)  You see?

(No I don’t.)

You wouldn’t be able to run because your leg would be broken or somethin’ like that, okay? 

(You lost me.)

If you jumped off of there...

(Oh.)

...and you went four inches deeper, you won’t go runnin’ afterwards, I’ll assure you – not for several weeks.

(Okay.)

Now you could lift weights; but that won’t change, that won’t fix the strained muscles and the torn ligaments and the broken bones, will it? 

(No.)

You’d just have to let time take care of that.  So when you go for violence in your head, then violence is what’s got to be used to use it up.  You will feel nice from exercisin’ but you still got that violence to take care of, Jeanine.  It’s still there because it’s only for what it’s used for.  You mobilized energy to fight and you didn’t fight, you went runnin’ – that’s a wholly different activity, do you see?  Like you mobilized the energy to jump off the thing – you went too far so the hole was dug under there and you break up a bunch of bones.  Now, you could do weight liftin’ but that won’t put your bones back in – you can lay on your back and lift weights probably for a while, maybe.  But it still has to be for what it is. 

So if we have as our purpose is, shall we say,
to work with Life which is balancing at all times,
instead of to be working against it,
which is trying to get revenge and etcetera and etcetera and etcetera,
you might do it a little easier, right?

Now, let’s take some of these others that said, “Well my purpose is to be what to me is a good guest on this planet Earth.”  Now, that I like one, too – I like that one – I used that for a while.  I’ll be what to me is a good guest.  Now, a good guest would probably be considerate of everybody else at the party, huh?  And they might make some little contribution to the party; and they’d try to be as harmless as possible.  Now, if you had that as your purpose of living, would you get in a tangle very often, Marie?

(Never.)

There wouldn’t be anybody to fight with, would there?  Wouldn’t be anybody to be angry with.  Wouldn’t be anything because it’s only what you’re gonna do not what they should do.  Now, most of us never think about us having a purpose.  We think what those other people’s purpose should be, is that right? 

(Yeah, true.)

Huh?  We don’t think what my purpose is; but I sure do know what your purpose should be, and your purpose should be, and your purpose should be.  I know all of those.  But I never stop and think what my own is, is that right?  Because we are unconsciously knowing that the only purpose is, is to be non-disturbed – because I already got that set down there and there’s no way to get there so we go frustration all the time.  So we can have any kind of a purpose you want – I don’t care what it is.  Let’s say you made a purpose to make nothing but money – that’s fine as long as it’s a consciously chosen purpose and you’re going after it, okay?  It’s your purpose and you consciously chose it – not conditioned on you, not somebody told you you should do it, oughta do it, have to do it, or any of these other things; but that would be a purpose. 

Now, remember when you have chosen a purpose, you can change it to somethin’ else you choose at your convenience.  Whenever you want to.  It’s your purpose, right?  But if you ever have a purpose for living that’s your sole purpose for living – was somethin’ you chose or has it been laid on you all your life?  “Happened.”  Hmm?

(I think it’s been laid on me.)

And you never ever give it a though as I’m gonna consciously choose one purpose and one only.  I’m gonna use that under every situation that may arise.  You don’t have to have a slew of ‘em, just one.  In fact, I don’t think you could probably have more than one at a time.  You can change ‘em at your convenience. 

Do you know when we had the one to be nothin’ but be non-disturbed all the time, we had only one purpose.  We had several means of trying to get it, which none of ‘em worked; but nevertheless we tried ‘em all the time.  But we only had one purpose.  Now, if you look anywheres you look at a given time, you can only have one purpose for your living; but you can have anything you want as long as you choose it.  Now, some of ‘em I think will work easier than others but you could have any purpose you wanted to.  I can have the purpose of bein’ the biggest jerk around and it wouldn’t be hard to accomplish it – I could just act natural!  But you could get that done with the greatest of ease but it would be the only purpose you’d have.  You don’t have to wonder how to get it.  You don’t have to wonder about methods.  If you know what your purpose is, it’s gonna happen very quickly. 

So if I could kinda impress upon folks that it was worthwhile to choose a purpose.  And I’m certainly in no position to offer anybody what purpose they should have.  I don’t know what they should use – I just can tell you a few that I know work all right because I experimented with ‘em but I wouldn’t suggest that’s the one you use or anything else.  Why don’t you just pick one that suits you?  But only that you’ve consciously chosen it, okay?  You pick the purpose out, you don’t just have it carried over from infancy or that somebody tells you what you should have as a purpose.  Do you have any purpose, Miss Mary?

(Not yet.)

You’re going to, though. 

(Yes.)

Okay.  Pick out one that you can use and it seems reasonable to you – and only have one – and every time one of those old ones starts to get up, you don’t let it play.  You are going to act upon the other one.  Once you act upon it a few times – the new one that you would pick out yourself – once you act upon it a few times it becomes your frame of reference and you don’t have to go around thinkin’ about it. 

For the first week or two, you probably better think of it once in a while.  Maybe you tie a string on your finger or whatever, stick a ring in your nose or somethin’ that reminds you to pay attention, that’s all – but somethin’ that you would pay attention for a little bit until you acted upon it a few times.  Once you’ve acted on it a few times, you don’t even have to think about it, it’s there and it responds to you.  You just respond that way spontaneously because that frame of reference or that purpose is now established when you act upon it.  Now, not acting upon it, it never does anything; it’s just something you keep in your jewelry box or your memory box, whatever.  Okay, let’s have comments, discussions, questions, challenges.  Yes, Dmitry?

(That one purpose that you came up with was contributing to a harmonious –)

No, that was an attribute of a person who was being the purpose… had a purpose of being what to you is a good guest.  You know, if I’m – maybe I am a guest on planet Earth – I feel kind of like I am.  I arrived more or less uninvited but found a world well equipped, huh?  And it looks like you see a lot of people out here playin’ games and so it looks to me like a big party and I’m a guest here.  I’ve been provided with food, clothing, shelter, transportation, interesting things to do, interesting other guests to associate with ever since I’ve been here, have you?

(Yes.)

Okay, so I think I’m a guest so I might as well consciously be what to me is a good guest.  I don’t think a good guest would go around stompin’ the other guest’s toes or findin’ fault with ‘em or all that kind of stuff, is that right?  Huh?  So I said if I were a good guest that probably the attributes of that might be that I would be considerate of all the other guests, be as harmless as possible and make some little contribution to the party – a pleasant harmonious mood at all times would be a good contribution to the party.  Is that right?

(Yes, right.  And it seems like there’s a fine line between that and the pleaser side of –)

No, it has nothin’ to do with pleasin’ because most people won’t be pleased with what I’m doin’.  They’ll wonder what I’m up to.  In the first place, they won’t notice because they’re all wonderin’ how it’s affecting them. 

Very few people are paying any attention to you – I got news for you. 
You know, people are always wonderin’ “what will people think about me?” 
I can tell you –
nothin’!

(laughter)  The only thing they’re wonderin’ thinkin’ about you is they’re wonderin’ what you’re thinkin’ of them and isn’t that a waste of time.  You know, nobody’s gonna look at you and say, “Well, wonder why he wears that moustache and how come his hair’s curly; and grrrrrr [makes grumbling sounds] – they don’t bother with that.  They’re all interested in Number One; and they may wonder what you think of them, but they will never think anything worthwhile about you.  What difference would it make anyway?  Hmm?  It wouldn’t make any difference. 

So could you make a contribution to the party – that’s just to Life in general?  If I contribute to a pleasant, harmonious mood, would that be a contribution? 

(How will you know if you’re contributing to a –)

I’m the only guy in the world who will know whether I’m making a contribution or not, that’s me – and I know I’m contributing when I contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood, is that right?

(What if nobody else in the room is?)

Well, I could care less.

(And you are.)

Well, they’ll probably notice that I’m there; but if they don’t, it’ll be all right, too.  I can contribute to a pleasant mood and you can…  Run an experiment, Dmitry, that’s the best way to know.

(Okay.)

Go in a restaurant where it’s kind of noisy.  [he talks quieter] and you sit there and whisper to the pretty lady and don’t talk out too loud and everything; and you’ll hear the whole thing start crashin’ down.

(laughter)

That’s right.  And let’s say you go in a place and there’s very few customers there and you just smile and feel wonderful and all of a sudden people start comin’ in.  That place wonders what happened to ‘em – they’ve never had anything like that happen.  But there’s a good mood.  And we said this mornin’ that people gravitate towards it, is that right?  So you sit there and generate a good mood and people will come to the place whether it’s worth a durn or not; they’ll come there.  They might leave, but they’ll come.  Okay?  They’ll give ‘em a shot.  You want to experiment with that? 

(Yes.)

So you’re contributing to a pleasant harmonious mood.  Why?  Simply because it aids your purpose.  Okay, a big “what” to is a good guest here.  You’re not worryin’ about whether people like it or whether they notice it or whether they’re gonna pat you on the back for it.  They probably won’t, but you know what you’re doin’, is that right?  You are making a little contribution to Life.  You’re contributin’ a good mood to the space you’re in – not the whole world, you’re not that big.  But that little spot you’re in, that’s one good start on it, okay? 

(Okay.)

Okay?  All right?  Next comment, question, challenge?  Clear as mud, let’s all go out and take a break.  No…Charlie, I’ll get Charlie here first.

(We go along…contributing to a harmonious attitude and treating people with common decency –)

Well that seems to be.  Use simple good manners – it’s so uncommon.  (laughter)  Simple good manners is a very rare commodity, is that right?  Okay? 

(Well, I foul that up, too, I guess.)

Well, do you contribute to a pleasant mood or do you…

(I try to.)

Most the time, I think you do – you’re very good at it.

(Do you have any suggestions – everything’s just sailing along and then you run into somebody or somebody runs into you that’s nothing but a black hole or a vacuum and it really bums your high –)

Well, I just sit and go back and generate it up by myself instead of waitin’ for somebody else to get involved in it – go generate your own high, Charlie.  You can do that.  All you got to do is start actin’ like you’re high and you’ll feel that way in a few minutes.  Really, all you have to do is act it.  So just keep on actin’ – yes, somebody’ll come along and trip you once in a while, but you don’t have to let them have any control over you, right?  Pick it up and go on and have a good time.

(Do you count all your blessings and all that?)

Oh, I don’t know whether you count ‘em or not – I’d never get through countin’ if I did that.  Most of the rest of us do.  Yes?  Nah, I got one here in front of you and then we’ll come to you.

(It appears that the difference between consciousness and a state of sleep is whether one is inwardly determined or outwardly determined.)

Outward, it would mean other-determined and other people determines your state or whether you determined it.  That would be one of the ways to say it, yes.  That would be one. 

Are you gonna determine what your purpose is
or are you gonna let everybody in the world determine what it is, huh?

Right?

(Mm-hmm.)

And most of us have let other people or we never even consciously really had a purpose – very few people consciously have had a purpose.  We might say, “Well, I’m gonna make money – I gotta raise the kids, I gotta send the kids through school,” all this and this and this.  But those are not purposes, those are things they think that if that was to happen, then I would feel good, they never once looked at the purpose.  So to check up on our old purpose of living is a very rare thing to do, but I think very worthwhile, okay.  So let’s check up on it every now and then, okay?  Now then yours, sir, again?

(You told Charley to act –)

...like he felt real good and he’d begin to feel good.

(So if he’s not feeling really good and he chooses to act –)

Like he was...

(Like he was –)

He’ll start feelin’ real good real quick.

(So for a moment there, he’s not being real.  He’s being phony.)

He was being an “Intentional Function.”

(But with the goal of lifting –)

Who says that I gotta let everybody in the world know how I feel?

(Yeah.)

Huh?  I don’t see any reason to lump off my feeling on everybody I meet.  Most people says, “How are you?” and I tell ‘em the simple truth, “I couldn’t be better.”  (laughter)  That’s correct, isn’t it? 

(If you were you would be.)

You better believe it; but they think – “Well we try to say that.”  Well, that’s simple, truthful, to the point.  I’m not bein’ a phony when I tell you that I couldn’t feel better, huh?  But how would you take it ordinarily? 

(I’d say, “Top of the world.”)  (How can you be that way all the time and not be phony?)

Well, I’m not a phony. 
And Charlie’s not bein’ a phony
when he wants to act like he’s feelin’ a lot better than he is for a few minutes. 
Because he knows that’s the way to get what he wants:  to feel good. 
You see, the way you act and the way you feel is a two-way street.

Now, if you get up in the mornin’ and [grumbles] and so you don’t want to be a phony, you’re gonna act [grumbles] all day, you’ll feel [grumbles] all day.  But if you get up and you feel a little “downy” – you had dill pickles and pizza for dinner last night and a few raw onions, maybe about six beers on top of that – and you wake up feeling “grrrr!”  You say, “I don’t want to spend the day like this!  I’m gonna act like I feel good!”  Now what are you doin’?  You’re takin’ charge.  So you start actin’ like you feel real good and in about 30 minutes, you’ll be feelin’ an awful lot better than you were.

(How does that affect X?)

X does the appropriate thing for the information it receives – and you are given information from the activity that everything’s goin’ pretty good – and it acts upon it.  X is always happy.  (laughter)  X could care less.  If you wanna shoot some guy, fine, it’ll pull the trigger.  If you want to blow your brains out, it’ll pull the trigger.  If you wanna go out and build a monument to the unwed fathers of the world, why it’ll go build it.  It don’t make any difference.  X is to respond.  It’s your partner.  it will do anything you say is truth – no matter how erroneous you are reporting, okay?  It always does for you, it loves you.  That’s all right.

(Can’t it also be kind of a Guiding Force?)

If you let it. 

If you sit down and report accurately that so and so is goin’ on
and, “I don’t know what to do about it but I’m sure you do,”
and go on about your business,
it’ll probably report for you very nicely.

But most of us don’t do that.  We tell it what ought to be and just ask it to please get with it and get it done right quick so I won’t have to.  And it seems to respond by sayin’, “If you know so damn much, you do it,” you know.  If you went to an expert in doing something, Charlie, and you told him – and you don’t know very much about it – and you told him all the details how to do anything, what’s he apt to tell you? 

(Do it yourself.)

Right.  And it wouldn’t be being a smart ass or anything, it’s just telling you factually, isn’t that right?  You know so much about it, you do it!  You see, if I go to George and say, “George, I want you to make this kind of a engineering design,” and I start giving him all the details, he’d say, “What do you need me for?”  Right?  And X is very much the same way.  It says...

[END OF CD #5 OF 7]

CD #6 of 7

Okay, so is there another question, comment?  Yes…

(I feel like there’s something tellin’ me to slow down.)

Probably tellin’ you it’d be a good idea to go lay down somewheres a few minutes.  But you know better than that because you’ve got to keep on workin' and you gotta do this and do that, okay. 

(So what about, you know, sometimes when you just have no “get-up.”)

Well if you wanted to feel better, act like you feel better and you will.

(So it won’t –)

Well, you'll just have to pay for it later.  You better make arrangements to go rest after a while because it's gonna holler; but it'll let you put it off for a little while.  Sure! 

You act like you feel a lot better than you do and you will.

Did you ever do that, Miss Rochelle – act like you felt better than you do?  By the same token, act like you feel worse than you do and see how quick that'll work.  (laughter)  Most everbody's tried that a time or two.

(It’s more serious.)

Huh?

(It’s more serious.)

Right.  Yes?

(Bob, what about the adaptation, okay?  If you had the misconception, you go into anger and you do that and now the body has to adapt – it could take the form of a cold, let’s say.)

Right.

(Or a headache.)

Or bellyache or what-have-you.

(Okay, you got that.)

You're gonna have to have that one.  If you’ll be thankful for it that you know what it is – you're adapting to this “fit” you had yesterday – it'll be done pretty quick.  But most people don't see any connection between that and so they begin to bemoan their life and take a bunch of pills and what-have-you and then you got to adapt to that.  And sometimes you can set up a lifetime cycle of that. 

(Right.)

I know people that have been havin' the same cycle goin' on for years.

(How 'bout now that you got this anger, this unused energy?)

Well, let it get used up as quick as possible.

(Didn't you give the idea like goin' out and –)

...beatin' up a bathtub.  Yeah, you can do some very violent activity.  It's got to be violent, not something you intentionally gonna do as a job.

(Not like running.)

Not like goin' and doin' hard work – not like goin' out and runnin' through the vineyard and trimmin' all the grapes in one night or somethin' – nah, that won't do it.  You’ve gotta be violent.  And so I’ve suggested to people that they take a wet towel and beat the bathtub – name the bathtub and beat it.  You know, it makes you feel kind of cruddy – that you're so nutty – but at least it burns it up.  (laughter)  And that way it reminds you not to do it anymore 'cause you don't have to go through that foolishness.  (more laughter)  

(Okay, so then you can go back and there’s a whole bunch of people that have not used this stuff up.)

Right.  They’ll use it up in the next 72 hours – it always gets used up.

(There are some…they’re in this cycle continually.)

Yeah, that's true.  And I said you could survive in that cycle for approximately 70 years.  Did you notice that?  That people get old and die of old age?

(That’s why I've been discussing them.)

Right.  So that's long enough.  I think that we've all practiced it long enough to demonstrate the fact, now we can practice the other one.  I don't have to go through all that, I can choose a purpose and live by it.  I don't have to do all that, do you, Ruth?  Anybody forcin' you to do it?  

(No.)

Nope.  So, it's just a habit and we don't have to keep on doin' it.  We can turn it around any time we jolly well please.  We’ve been talkin' about it all day – we take charge of things and say, “I'm gonna do it.” 

We've got to have a purpose – a consciously chosen purpose.
So without that you're not gettin' anywheres, okay?

So that's all it is – don’t, no matter what it is, it's consciously chosen by you.  Yes, sir?

(Suppose you forget your purpose, and then you get –)

Well, we said we was gonna “forget to forget.”  But suppose you forget about it, okay – you agree to forget it and so you forget it for a while.  Now what?

(And then I become violent because –)

Well, then you better work it off and then start over again, okay?  There’s nothin’ – surely that would remind you.  Is that right?

(What if I’m reminded in the middle of my, in the midst of my violence?)

Well, I would stop and say, “Now, folks, you see what people do in violence.  Now I’ll show you what a conscious person does.”  Won’t nobody believe you, but you could have your fun doin’ that.  (laughter)  Just change right there in the middle – you might as well, you don’t have to go ahead.  Nobody is really gonna be concerned if you don’t finish your violent trip – it’s all right.  (laughter)  It’s all right; they don’t mind. 

(Then what did the Christ do on the cross?)

He cancelled or balanced off what a bunch of violence said – he said, “Forgive those jerks – they don’t know what they’re doin’.”  Is that right?

(Yes.)

So he made an act of, shall we say, forgiveness for an act of violence.  People who said they were settin’ out justice – you know, this man was a blasphemer and he made himself equal to God and a whole bunch of other weird things that they had him accused of doing.  So he said, “Fine, they don’t know what they’re doing,” so he forgive ‘em.  And I think that was a very balancing action, wouldn’t you?

(Mm-hmm.)

Good.  That was everything he taught all through the years – three and a half years he was out there teaching.  Now, everybody likes to forget what he taught and have you to worship the man, not what he taught.  I’m interested in what he’s taught and somebody came and asked me not more than a year or so ago did I believe Christ was born of a virgin.  I said I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but it didn’t make any difference.  I didn’t care whether his mother was a hooker or what – I was interested in what he had to teach.  I don’t think his ancestry had nothin’ to do with it.  Now is that sacrilege, Esther?  (laughter)

(I think I agree with you!)

Well, good…I don’t care what his mother did or didn’t do.  Now, she seemed to have been a sweet lady, but so what?  Today she would probably be a statistic in teenage pregnancy so that’s probably where it would wind up today – a statistic.  But I don’t know about those things – it really doesn’t matter, I’m only interested in what the person taught.  And what was taught was pretty much what we’ve been talkin’ about all day.  I put it in today’s language, you know, I don’t get all this holy stuff, verses and all that; but it has been essentially the same thing.  Is that right?

(Mm-hmm.)

Okay, what’s the word?

(We’re told that, of course, one can be consciously angry, so to speak or, as you put it, “put on an act” –)

That’s not bein’ angry, that’s just puttin’ on a good show – I’ve illustrated that.

(What about physical violence, however?  You’re talking about psychological, conscious activity to get something going – to get something accomplished, to put on a show.  Now, what about physical violence?)

What do you mean physical violence?

(Well, suppose that you decided that –)

You gonna chop your hands off...

Something on that order – I mean not quite that; but there certainly has been –)

Well, why not?  Let me get my little hatchet and go to work on ‘em, I’ll chop ‘em off, okay?  Then what would I do?  You don’t have hands anymore, that’s what.  So if I was gonna… I don’t think if you could really be a conscious person and commit a violence, you would look so ridiculous, you know… why would I do a ridiculous thing like…  My purpose is to, say, be a good guest or whatever the things we mean – contribute to a pleasant mood – on and on and on, it doesn’t matter.  Now, how could I give violence if that was my purpose?  My purpose can only be violent when I’m going to get an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, I’m gonna get revenge.  Or when I’m going to – “You’ve done wrong to me and I’ve got to get even,” which is still revenge, and so on down the line, see?  So violence is not the problem, it’s a sign there is a decided problem in the person’s head about purpose, you see.  Mm-hmm.

(Okay, we did have a fairly famous person in the Second World War who decided that he should help to eliminate Hitler.)

Mm-hmm, I don’t doubt that.  And I’d say, “Go to it,” I don’t care. 

(You’re simply saying that – )

I don’t know what his purpose was.  I would say his purpose was power.  So, you know, Hitler could have been eliminated a hundred times if people woulda had a purpose; but they only didn’t do that.  At first, he was praised all out of reason, you know, for all the great things he was doing for Russia, er, for Germany, if you vaguely remember.  I was around then and he was praised all over the place.  He was a hero.  And then one day they decided, “Well, he’s gone too far – he stepped on my toes.”  You know, it’s like the preacher that was preachin’ in a black church down south and he was givin’ a fit to people who stepped out on their wives.  And there was an old gal sittin’ in the front row and she’d say, “Amen, brother, you tell ‘em.”  And he give that whiskey drinkin’ a hard way to go, and she said, “Amen, brother, you tell ‘em the gospel.”  And he give a lot of it to people who made a lot of money and bet on race horses and she said, “Amen brother, you tell ‘em.”  And finally he got around to sayin’ those people that dipped snuff.  She said, “He done quit preachin’ and started meddlin’ now!”  (laughter)  So don’t get on my toes, you see?  So yes, I know that people have these ideas – they said they was gonna eliminate Hitler and so forth – but they used some of the same tactics and I don’t know whether they were answered in eliminatin’ him or havin’ power – I don’t know, I wasn’t there.

(You can always see something different in the papers.)

Right, if you wanna read somethin’ different in the papers, here’s somethin’ else to read, so it’d be the same thing.  But I don’t think that was the man’s sole purpose was to eliminate Hitler.  It was one of the ways he said to gain his purpose.

(Hmm.)

Hmm, I think you’ll find that a fact.  Yes, Marilyn?

(I’m going back to this Christ for a minute.)

(Okay.)

(If we’ll use up our toxins, let’s say, in about 72 hours –)

Yeah, about that usually does it.  Usually most of the adaptation has got started in a way well in 72 hours.

(Is this just hearsay evidence I have here that it says that Christ went – that man was on the verge of sort of going to real darkness and so he took on it.  The words I got he was takin’ on a big burden.)

Yeah, I think He took on a pretty good load to try to teach people and He had to use drastic methods to teach it, yes.  Now, I hardly think that you can drink water for me.  I may be dying of thirst, but you can’t drink water for me.

(Okay.) 

But I might get you some water, is that right? 

(Yes.)

Now, the whole idea that somebody else can take care of your darkness and so forth is a pretty poor idea because that’s sayin’, “Well, I could drink water for you; I could eat dinner for you; you got throat all jammed up so I’ll eat dinner for you – don’t worry about it, I’ll go eat a steak.  What would you like to have for dinner tonight?  Steak or chicken or what?  Well, I’ll go eat it for you.”  Would you like that one? 

(Mm-hmm.)

Good.  Even though you were sick, you’d like that one.  So when people do certain things for a teaching purpose, is far different than saying, “I did it for you, and now then you don’t have to pay your bills,” okay?  I’d say the Teaching was utterly fantastic and those phonies were spared in getting the Teaching across, okay?  So it’s not gonna do anything for you unless you understand the Teaching and use it.  Just to say, “Well, isn’t that wonderful, it’s all been done for me, goodbye.”  Hmm?  I hear that preached all the time but, you know, but I always ask, “Can you drink a glass of water for me when I’m thirsty?” 

(No you can’t.)

Can you eat dinner?

(So it was a teaching of –)

Having a purpose!  It’s purpose.  It was teaching that you hadn’t – needed a purpose, that you had something on your own, that you had Life dwelling within you and Life would do everything according to the information it receives, okay?  And he taught people over and over by example, not necessarily all the words.  Now, it took an example to say, “I will teach forgiveness under any and all circumstances,” and go through what’s necessary to make it real, okay?  Now, it’s easy to forgive somebody, you know, when they say, “Bob, you’re an S.O.B.,” and I already know that, so it’s easy enough to say, “Oh, I forgive you for that.”  (laughter)  And so on, you know – all that’s easy.  But here was a demonstration. 

Now, demonstrations are the greatest Teachings there are, okay?

And so somewheres along, the man said, if you want to go followin’ all the other things, he said that if you was goin’ out into the world, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils and feed the hungry, is that right?  They don’t ever talk about that very much because that’s what – you could do all those things.  But before you can do that, you have to be able to talk to this [X] directly, not through all this clutter.  [points to the board]  So again it was teaching.  And he went out and demonstrated that you could do those things, is that right?  And he said if you listened, you could do all those and bigger too, right?  Now we don’t try to talk about all that because that belongs to the theologians and so forth, but we do practice it a bit, okay?  And we use good earthy language in the middle – I tell people I’m earthy, I live on Earth, I’m gonna be earthy. 

Some young man from up in Canada came to me one time and said what he could do and he was very spiritual and all, and I said, “Well, you live on Earth – get earthy.”  It’s where you are.  When you get to bein’ nothin’ but spirit, why then you’d be up runnin’ around floatin’ out there; but in the meantime, you’re earthy.  So the next time I seen him, he was smokin’ cigarettes, drinkin’ highballs, dancin’ with the pretty girls and what-have-you.  He got over his wild stuff out there and he said, “You know, this makes a lot more sense.”  (laughter)  He got earthy right away, you know, and it seemed to fit in. 

But when all these things that you read about and you’ve heard about all your life were teachings – they were practical teachings – they were demonstrations.  You know you get a lot more done with a demonstration than you do with a long dissertation of some kind, a harangue of something.  And if you ever read that book, if you want to take it serious, see if you can’t find what it is that you demonstrate – not what you dream up about all the wonders and the magic and all this kind of stuff.  ‘Cause you read it one way, it looks like a bunch of magic.

(Uh-huh.)

Right?  And so let’s stick down that it’s a demonstration.  You know, if we follow the demonstration you’ll understand a lot better.  Okay, I would say it’s time to take a small break again for about 10 minutes – and stand up, stretch, go to the washroom, what-have-you.  Come back and we will do another session and, who knows, we might quit.

LOVE

We’re gonna talk about a subject called “love.”  What it is, what goes on with it, and maybe a few misconceptions about it – how would that be?  I’d rather talk about misconceptions than conceptions most any day.  I can demonstrate the misconceptions.

(Easily.)

Huh?  Easily.  They’re goin’ on.  So, of course, this is an English word and it’s a substitute for four Greek words.  So we all know those so I’ll put ‘em down real quick.  Pia, which is love for child or the child for the parent.  Eros, which is the boy/girl attraction.  Philia, which is simply another word for “I like.”  And Agape, which means understanding.  So we will take those around.  

Now, about all mammalian creatures to say the least – that’s all those that got a backbone of any sort – have the first two, very definitely.  You’ve noticed that, I’m sure, that they all have it –   you go pinch a baby pig and mama will chew you up, is that right?  Or you pinch a baby calf and he bellers.  Mama comes running ready to blow you or knock you out of the fence.  She’s gonna protect it.  Birds do likewise, etcetera.  And certainly you have noticed that they have the attraction of male and female at times, is that right?  You’ve noticed that.  So then all this business that we sing songs about and so forth – which is essentially number two – we share with the cats and the dogs and the possums and the skunks and the pigs, so let’s don’t get all excited about it.  It’s wonderful, it’s here to stay and it’ll be around for a long, long, long time to come and it’s been here long, long, long time and it’s gonna be; but it’s not anything to get real excited about.  It’s gonna be here and it’s wonderful and it’s nice but, you know, it’s not anything that we don’t share with a lot of other creatures on this planet, is that right?  You’ve noticed that?

(We pay a lot for it though.)

Well, yes, I’ve noticed it’s a good commodity, the price is right.  So we’ll go along with it.  It costs a lot, but the horses and the cows and stuff don’t make so much issue out of it – ‘course their owners sometimes charge a lot for it if you have the right kind – is that, Leland?

(That’s right.)

Huh?  You got a stallion, why you can charge a lot.  The horse doesn’t think anything of it, but the owners do, okay, so they get a lot out of it. 

Philia merely means “I like” – it expresses taste.  So I like green trees and I like pretty weather and I like the desert and so forth and you could say all those are Philia.  I have Philia for the desert.  I like to live there.  I like the coast – I like to come here and enjoy that but whatever.  I like about everything I think – especially if you can eat it.  Do you?

(Yes, sir.)

If you can eat it, you like it.

(I like food.)

Right.  So I don’t care whether it’s pig ribs or whether it’s somethin’ else.  So most of us have Philia.  And we certainly have Pia – you’re going to stick up for your kid no matter what.  You may scold it, but you better not catch me doin’ it, is that right?  Hmm?

(Mm-hmm.)

Now, you can scold a little bit, but you better not catch me doin’ it, is that right?

(Yes, that’s right.)

You might just mow me down.  So we have that and we have Eros – an attraction – and they last and last and last in many cases.  Many of ‘em last, they last for some length of time or tastes can change at times.  And we don’t know why, it can change without notice.

So those three are pretty well what Life dishes out and they are very wonderful accordin’ to whether we chose our own purpose or whether they was just acted upon, we just happen to have ‘em.  When they are conscious purposes as well as instinctive things, then they have very much greater value.  So we’ll stick with that one for now but let’s, for this moment, we’re gonna talk about the bottom one.  And we’re going to put it says “understanding,” [he writes it on the board] which is another word for it – that’d be the English version of that rather than say “love” – but it’s been used so much.  It’s also been called charity and etcetera.  Now, I will try to simply state what that refers to. 

It [Agape] says that I see and understand
that whatever I’ve ever done, you have ever done, or another has ever done,
that I understand that at the moment of the doing,
the person felt it to be right, or proper, or justifiable. 
Or else it simply cannot be done.

Now, you cannot do something that you feel is wrong, improper, and unjustifiable.  Now, you may can do a number of things that you ordinarily would feel is wrong and improper if at this moment it feels justifiable, you know, “The way that dirty jerk treated me, why I can cut his ears off.”  And, of course, there’s only one thing wrong with justifications – they always break down later.  But at the moment it can be justified – I can go ahead and do an act that I ordinarily would feel was wrong and improper.  But, otherwise, you cannot do something you feel is wrong, improper, and unjustifiable. 

So with what light each of us has at a given moment, we are doing what we feel is either right or proper or justifiable or all three, who knows, huh?  And if I can understand that, I don’t have turmoil within me about other people.  You know, that’s what we generally have turmoil about is peoples – is that right?  We don’t have too much turmoil about – I’ve seen guys kick front ends of cars but, you know, they’re nuts, you know?  (laughter)  Did you ever see a guy go out and kick his tire and scream at it?  I used to see a guy had a crank.  He cranked his old car and one day the crank flew out at him when the car started – hit him on the arm.  He grabbed it up and beat the hood of that car into a jelly, you know, he really fixed it up.  But the biggest part of folks don’t get too upset with mechanical things and what-have-you.  We only get upset with peoples. 

(They knew better, but they went ahead –)

...and did wrong anyway. 

So here is the greatest anti-love, anti-understanding is:
The belief that about every human on Earth carries around in a good state
and that is that people know what’s right,
individuals know what’s right,
but they go on and do wrong anyway.

Now, of course, it follows, therefore, they should be punished, is that right?  I should get even with ‘em ‘cause they knew what was right, but the dirty dogs went on and did wrong anyway, is that right? 

(Mm-hmm.)

Now, as long as that idea is set within anybody’s head, you’re not very conscious – that’s the only thing you can say.  You’re relatively unconscious, right?  So with what light anybody has, what they do they feel is right or proper or justifiable at that moment.  Now, maybe I couldn’t justify it but that don’t mean that person didn’t.  I’ve seen a lot of things I couldn’t justify that people do; but that don’t mean that I’m the epitome or anything else.  I just couldn’t justify it. But who knows what could happen to me that I could justify it – I don’t know that.  I can’t justify stealin’ but I’m sure that if I was hungry enough or somebody that I thought a lot of was hungry enough, I could probably find a justification for it, you know?  That probably right?

(Yeah.)

Think you could justify stealin’ if you or Donelle or any of the other kids was starvin’, hungry?

(I think I could.)

I’m pretty sure I could for Donelle before I could for me; but you know, I think I get hungry enough, I’d justify it, too, quick – climb over the fence and get a few carrots out of the field or somethin, you know.  What would happen?  But you see we all look at everybody else as though they know what’s right but go on and do wrong anyway, is that correct?  Huh?  Could you be angry with anyone – unless you first had this idea of anti-agape, anti-love, anti-understanding for other people?  Could you be upset with them – whether they’re somebody near to you or far away or anything else?  Could you be angry, ready to kill ‘em or what-have-you or fight with ‘em or anything unless you thought knew what was right but went on and did wrong anyway.  How about that, Jeanine?  But, boy, if you can have that idea, it makes it very easy, doesn’t it?  Hmm?  If you have an idea they know what’s right but they go on and do wrong anyway.  You know, husbands do that, wives do that, children especially teenagers – Lord, they’re notorious for it – knowin’ what’s right and goin’ on and doin’ wrong anyway.  “I told ‘em repeatedly what was right and they did wrong anyway.”  Is that right, Esther?  Huh? 

[she’s laughing] (That’s right.)

And they knew better, didn’t they – ‘cause you told ‘em, didn’t you?

(I told them all their life that.)  (laughter)

But they didn’t do it.  So, therefore, you could be annoyed, upset, aggravated or whatever with the person, is that right?  And perfectly justified on your part.  Now, if you should see that they couldn’t possibly do anything unless they felt it was first right or proper or at least justifiable with what light they have to look at it at that moment – is that right?

(Uh-huh.)

– could you be angry with ‘em?

(No, but I’d like to see that.)

Well, can you see that – right now?  Did you ever try to do somethin’ you felt was wrong, improper, and unjustifiable?  I know about the wrong and improper; but how about the unjustifiable?  Huh?

(I couldn’t do it.)

You couldn’t do it – neither can anyone else.  Now there is all kinds of stuff talked about – anti-Christ, anti-everything in the world.  Well, only the “anti” there is, is the false belief that you can do something you feel is wrong, improper and unjustifiable but you’re gonna do it wrong anyway.  That is “Mr. 6-6-6” if you want his name or anything, that’s where it all comes from.  So you can go do those things, okay?  Can you do a lot of things that you feel is wrong and improper under certain circumstances, Darryl?

(If I can justify it.)

And you can usually find a good one if you look for it, is that right, huh?  You can find a perfectly good justification.  But if we started to look that, “Look, if I have to justify it I’d better leave it alone ‘cause it’s gonna break down in a little while, anyway,” we wouldn’t have very much problem on our own.  And certainly we could look at everybody else and we could communicate with that person on a communicable basis that I know you felt it was all right to do that when you did it, huh?  I don’t have to come at you with revenge or threats or any of these sort of things, is that right?  You see, I have a lot of people call me and says, “Well, I can’t communicate with my husband.  I can’t communicate with my wife.  I can’t communicate with my boss,” and etcetera.  Now, there’s only really one block to communication.

(Understanding?)

Yes! 

You believe that they knew what’s right and proper and justifiable
and they went on and did wrong anyway! 
That’ll block any communication under the sun.

Try it, hmm?  Could you communicate with Donelle if you had in your head that that kid knew what was right, proper and went on and did wrong anyway?  You couldn’t communicate, huh?

(Right.)

You and I work with people that’s troubled and bothered sometime.  Now, if I start off with any idea that that person knew better than what they did, am I communicating or working as a counselor with them?

(No, you already killed it.)

You already killed it before you started, right?  Huh?

(Yes, you have.)

Now all power plays in the world is…  

[END OF CD #6 OF 7]

Continued............

Half Moon Bay Part 1

Half Moon Bay Part 2

Half Moon Bay Part 4