September 1973 - Michael Teachings Transcripts

Sept 14, 1974

It seems to me that the dropout rate due to mental illness in esoteric schools is high. If we are to “spread the word”, we have to be mentally healthy. It seems if we were conscious, we could spread the word better then if we were asleep. I do not feel that I can help others until all my Centers are working correctly. My question is: Is there some advanced therapy which would enable a person to reach this state of awareness without going psychotic?

OF COURSE, ONE MUST REALIZE THAT SPIRITUALLY- ORIENTED GROUPS OF PERSONS, WHERE ACCEPTANCE IS THE CARDINAL RULE, WILL ATTRACT MANY LONELY, MALADJUSTED PERSONS SEARCHING FOR REAFFIRMATION OF THEIR HUMANNESS, AND THESE PERSONS WILL NOT BE HELPED TO GROW SPIRITUALLY, BUT WILL BASK IN THE WARMTH OF THE ACCEPTANCE FOR A TIME, AND THOSE TRULY ON THE PATH WILL STILL BE ABLE TO SEE THE SICKNESS. THE LADY _____ IS AN EXAMPLE. THIS PHENOMENON IS CERTAINLY NOT UNUSUAL. IT IS ONLY THAT THESE GROUPS ARE FOUNDED UPON THE PRINCIPLES OF LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE, AND OFTEN THE MEMBERS FAIL TO CONFRONT EVEN THE MOST OBNOXIOUS BEHAVIOR IN THESE SPIRITUAL INTERLOPERS. WHAT IS APPARENT HERE IS THAT THESE PERSONS ARE NOT GOING TOWARD GROWTH AT ALL, AND ARE IN FACT ACTING AS BALLAST, AND MAKING THE PATH MORE DIFFICULT FOR OTHERS. THE THERAPEUTIC APPROACH MUST, YES, BE INDIVIDUALIZED TO CONFORM WITH THE ABNORMAL HABIT PRESENT. FIRST YOU MUST BE ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE WHAT IS GOING ON. FOR INSTANCE, IS THE PERSON HAVING A NORMAL REACTION TO AN ABNORMAL SITUATION, OR AN ABNORMAL REACTION? THESE REQUIRE RADICALLY DIFFERENT THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES, AND THE RATE OF “CURE” IS HIGHER IN THE FORMER, CERTAINLY, THAN IN THE LATTER.

It seems to me that a person on the path should not be lashing back at “sick people”. Is Michael inferring that we confront these obnoxious people?

BY THE THERAPEUTIC APPROACH, WE SPEAK OF THAT METHOD BY WHICH THE PERSON BECOMES STRIPPED OF THE TOUGH OUTER FIBERS OF THE FALSE PERSONALITY, AND BECOMES VULNERABLE TO OTHER DEMANDS OF ESSENCE. IT IS TRUE, _____, THIS PERSONALITY CANNOT LOVE. ONLY THE ESSENCE IS CAPABLE OF LOVING, AND ONLY WHEN ITS DEMANDS ARE MET WILL YOU LOVE. WE HAVE SUGGESTED TO YOU THAT THE WAY TO ACHIEVE THIS IS THROUGH GIVING UP THE PERSONALITY’S EXPECTATIONS OF THE EXPERIENCE — AND YOU ARE YET SCORNFUL OF THIS TRUTH. YET, IT GOES FAR DEEPER THAN THIS. WHEN YOU STRIP DOWN TO THE OLD SOUL’S PERCEPTIONS OF OTHERS — THAT IS, AS A PART OF SOMETHING: AND MAKE NOTE OF THAT “A PART” — ONLY A MINUTE PART OF SOMETHING GREATER WHICH INCLUDES SELF. ONLY WHEN YOU BECOME WILLING TO PART WITH YOUR ULTRA-PRECIOUS IDENTIFICATION [with personality] WILL YOU GLIMPSE THE TRUTH IN THIS.

RH: I become irritated with people who have expectations who tell me not to have any. One cannot initiate anything unless he has expectations. There are rare times when I can just “be”, and have no expectations, and that is beautiful. This leads me to a topic I could not understand with RB’s group, where it was the goal to give up one’s ego. As I see it, from one’s ego comes one’s self-image, one’s power, one’s strength. If my ego is deficient, then I am in a depressed state, and for sure cannot love. In RB’s group they continue to put down ego, one way by calling I “it”: e.g., “It went to dinner”, instead of, “I went to dinner”. I have been trying the EST and Ken Keyes’s way to experience experiences. If I’m down, I don’t ask myself what to do to go up. I aggravate the down so I can feel it as full as possible. I have burned out a number of things in this way, but I do not feel better for it. It seems that if I have lightened my load I should feel more buoyant and better. Maybe I haven’t tackled the basic problems. Could Michael comment on ego strength?

WHAT YOU WISH TO GIVE UP IS THE STRENGTH OF THE EGO OF THE PERSONALITY. THE ESSENCE HAS MUCH STRENGTH OF ITS OWN. THEY ARE SEPARATE AND DISTINCT. REMEMBER, WHEN YOU BECOME YOUR ESSENCE, THERE WILL NOT BE THE ALBATROSS OF [the] REPRESSION [Mode] TO DEAL WITH. PERHAPS IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO POINT OUT TO YOU AT THIS TIME, R.H., THAT YOU COME FAR CLOSER TO LOVING WHEN YOU ARE PAINTING THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO START WITH LOVING DIFFICULT PERSONS. THIS IS NOT THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE AT THIS TIME. LOVING IS HIGHER EMOTION AND THAT REQUIRES BALANCE. THE PERSON WHO IS “CONSCIOUS” IS NOT A DOER ANYWAY. MOST WHO HAVE REACHED THAT EXALTED STATE OF PHYSICAL BEING PREFER NOT TO DO. THEY ARE CONTENT MERELY TO BE WITH THE PRESENT. YOU HAVE GLIMPSED THAT FEELING WHEN YOU WERE IN THOSE STATES BRIEFLY. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE ASKED YOU TO CONSIDER BEFORE: WHAT IS IT YOU WISH TO DO, LEARN TO BE MORE FRUITFUL AND HAPPIER IN LIFE, OR GO ON TO SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT? THE GOALS ARE VERY DIFFERENT, AND THE METHODS OF APPROACH, THEREFORE, WOULD HAVE TO BE QUITE DIFFERENT. LIVING IN LIFE REQUIRES WHAT YOU ARE CALLING SELF-IMAGE AND EGO STRENGTH. SPIRITUAL ACCELERATION DOES NOT REQUIRE THIS — IT REQUIRES NEGATION OF THE CULTURAL FACADE. THOSE WHO DEFINED THE EGO AND EGO STATES THEREOF WERE NOT, AFTER ALL, CONSCIOUS BEINGS, AND WERE OBSERVING ONLY THE PERSONALITIES OF OTHERS WITH THEIR OWN PERSONALITIES. THE ESSENCE, SEPARATE FROM THIS, HAS AN INNATE STRENGTH OF ITS OWN, AND CAN SURVIVE IF THE BODY IS PREPARED FOR THE SURGE WHEN IT COMES. DISINTEGRATION ONLY COMES WHEN THE PERSONALITY IS LOST AND THE ESSENCE IS FREED PREMATURELY, SUCH AS IN SOME PSYCHOTIC STATES. OTHERWISE, THOSE ON THE PATH FIND THE SURGE EXHILARATING AND LIBERATING AND ARE PREPARED FOR IT WHEN IT COMES, BUT THIS ONLY COMES AFTER THE GROUNDWORK HAS BEEN LAID. THOSE TOOLS WE HAVE GIVEN YOU ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL. YOU MIGHT SAY THAT THE ESSENCE HAS ITS OWN EGO — YOU ARE JUST NOT ACQUAINTED WITH IT. THE ARTISAN EGO IS WHAT HAS PRODUCED THE WORLD’S GREAT MASTERPIECES, NOT ALWAYS FOR THE KING’S RANSOM EITHER — MANY TIMES IN A LONESOME GALLERY.

I feel I have trouble because of my own personality. I’d like to ask if Michael has been monitoring my own personal work with my personality, and if there is a comment on how I’ve been doing with this work.

WE THINK THAT UNLESS THE PERSONALITY TAKES HOLD AND WALLOWS IN THAT, IT IS EXCELLENT WORK. IT IS TRUE, HOWEVER, THAT THE AREA IN WHICH PERSONALITY HAS THE MOST TENACIOUS HOLD IS IN SORROW.

I think have identified the axis around which my personality turns. Am I correct in this?

ESSENTIALLY, YES, YOU ARE CORRECT.

I never become depressed. It must be my bland Overleaves.

SOME OVERLEAVES ARE SIMPLY NOT DEPRESSIBLE.

I’ve been observing my friend, _____. He has all good Overleaves, and life is so good to him. It is so good that it seems that he is entranced in Maya. His son seems miserable to me and it does not bother him.

I am surprised repeatedly when memories surface and I have insight upon insight, and I am exactly where I was before the insights.

PERHAPS SOMEDAY SOON IT WILL NOT SO MUCH SURPRISE YOU AS IT WILL TO SPUR YOU ON TO CHANGING THOSE FACTORS IN YOU STANDING IN THE WAY OF THE SURGE. IT IS MUCH LIKE THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE THE SURGE WELL IN SPOTS SUCH AS ESALEN AND EXPECT TO CARRY OVER IN THEIR FIXED LIFE PATTERNS. IT IS THE PATTERNS THAT MUST BE ALTERED AS THE INSIGHTS COME.

When I talk about changing patterns, _____ becomes nervous as to how the bills will be paid at the end of the month. It would mean giving up the house, the piano, cars, ad infinitum. When Michael talks of pooling resources to save energy, the problem is personality. At the other ranch there were those who would shove groats down throats and vitamins. I saw it as a battle for leadership and power. There are not too many people I could live with in a sharing situation. I do not feel that communal living is any closer now than a year ago.

What is the SRG on ______: First Level Old, Lunar, Stoic, Intellectual part of Moving Center, in Caution, no Chief Feature?

THIS PERSON IS A SIXTH LEVEL MATURE ARTISAN, YES, A STOIC IN THE CAUTION MODE, AND IN THE INTELLECTUAL PART OF MOVING CENTER; YES, MOSTLY LUNAR.

I would like to ask Michael about what ______ said, that my creativity possibly lay in writing or poetry, and was not in music, and that it would be in something rapid.

WE WOULD DISAGREE WITH THAT, BUT WOULD SAY THAT HE IS RIGHT ABOUT THE QUICK TEMPO. THIS WOULD BE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO EXPRESS YOURSELF THROUGH MUSIC.

(If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.)

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